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The term originally derives from the early fourteenth century sense of trade (in late Middle English) still often meaning "path" or "track". [2] The Portuguese recognized the importance of the trade winds (then the volta do mar, meaning in Portuguese "turn of the sea" but also "return from the sea") in navigation in both the north and south Atlantic Ocean as early as the 15th century. [3]
The trade winds (also called trades) are the prevailing pattern of easterly surface winds found in the tropics near the Earth's equator, [4] equatorward of the subtropical ridge. These winds blow predominantly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisphere. [5]
The westerlies, anti-trades, [2] or prevailing westerlies, are prevailing winds from the west toward the east in the middle latitudes between 30 and 60 degrees latitude. They originate from the high-pressure areas in the horse latitudes (about 30 degrees) and trend towards the poles and steer extratropical cyclones in this general manner. [ 3 ]
The winds that flow to the west (from the east, easterly wind) at the ground level in the Hadley cell are called the trade winds. Though the Hadley cell is described as located at the equator, it shifts northerly (to higher latitudes) in June and July and southerly (toward lower latitudes) in December and January, as a result of the Sun's ...
The trade winds act as the steering flow for tropical cyclones that form over the world's oceans. [32] Trade winds also steer African dust westward across the Atlantic Ocean into the Caribbean, as well as portions of southeast North America. [33] A monsoon is a seasonal prevailing wind that lasts for several months within tropical regions.
If they leave in late summer they will hit the trade winds sooner, since wind systems move north and south with the seasons. The problem was to get back again. The solution was the volta do mar, in which captains would sail northwest across the winds and currents until they found the westerlies and were blown back to Europe.
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The Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ / ɪ tʃ / ITCH, or ICZ), [1] known by sailors as the doldrums [2] or the calms because of its monotonous windless weather, is the area where the northeast and the southeast trade winds converge. It encircles Earth near the thermal equator though its specific position varies seasonally.