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The horse latitudes are the latitudes about 30 degrees north and south of the Equator. [1] They are characterized by sunny skies, calm winds, and very little precipitation. They are also known as subtropical ridges or highs. It is a high-pressure area at the divergence of trade winds and the westerlies.
As a result, at the surface, winds can vary abruptly in direction. But the winds above the surface, where they are less disrupted by terrain, are essentially westerly. A low pressure zone at 60° latitude that moves toward the equator, or a high pressure zone at 30° latitude that moves poleward, will accelerate the Westerlies of the Ferrel cell.
Around 30° in both hemispheres, air begins to descend toward the surface in subtropical high-pressure belts known as subtropical ridges. The subsident (sinking) air is relatively dry because as it descends, the temperature increases, but the moisture content remains constant, which lowers the relative humidity of the air mass.
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]
A pressure system is a peak or lull in the sea level pressure distribution, a feature of synoptic-scale weather. The surface pressure at sea level varies minimally, with the lowest value measured 87 kilopascals (26 inHg) and the highest recorded 108.57 kilopascals (32.06 inHg).
Hadley's model of the global atmospheric circulation being characterized by hemisphere-wide circulation cells was also challenged by weather observations showing a zone of high pressure in the subtropics and a belt of low pressure at around 60° latitude. This pressure distribution would imply a poleward flow near the surface in the mid ...
In the study of Earth's atmosphere, polar easterlies are the dry, cold prevailing winds that blow around the high-pressure areas of the polar highs at the North and South Poles. [1] Cold air subsides at the poles creating high pressure zones, forcing an equatorward outflow of air; that outflow is then deflected westward by the Coriolis effect.
The westerlies or the prevailing westerlies are the prevailing winds in the middle latitudes (i.e. between 35 and 65 degrees latitude), which blow in areas poleward of the high pressure area known as the subtropical ridge in the horse latitudes.