MAJOR HS KALSI’S BAALNOI ACADEMY

DELHI/JAIPUR
Wind System

Meaning and causes of winds

The wind is the horizontal movement of air caused by:
1. Heating by the Sun
2. Rotation of earth on its axis

Wind Measurement
 Winds are measured by their directions and speeds.
 Depending on the cause of the winds, they can blow in many directions. Ex: Easterly winds,
which blow from east to west, westerly winds which blow from west to east.
 There are also winds that blow from the north, southwards and also those from the south
blowing northwards.

Anemometers : Measures wind speed

The Wind Vane: Measures wind direction

Beaufort Wind Force Scale
In 1805, a British Naval Officer invented this scale to measure wind force. The scale has a read
of 0 up to 12 to classify wind force.

Convection: Meaning and importance

Differential heating of earth’s surface due to different cloud cover, mountains, valleys, water
bodies, vegetation and desert lands.
Air on surfaces with higher temperatures begins to rise because it is lighter (less dense),
creating low atmospheric pressure.
Air on surfaces with cooler temperatures sink (do not rise), creating higher atmospheric
pressure.
This behaviour or warm gases or liquids moving upward and being replaced by cooler particles
is called Convection. The energy moving during convection is called convectional current.
Ex: formation of tropical depression where warm air over hot tropical waters rise, and high-
pressure cold air quickly rushing to fill the space.
Advection: Meaning and importance
Horizontal movement of a mass of fluid (such as air or an ocean current

Leads to formation of fronts and cyclonic conditions

Coriolis Force
 It is an apparent force caused by the earth’s rotation.
 Responsible for deflecting winds towards the right in the Northern Hemisphere and towards
the left in the Southern Hemisphere. This is also known as ‘Ferrel’s Law’.
 As the winds blow from the north and south towards the equator, their flow path is
deflected by the earth’s rotation.
 When moving objects are viewed in a reference frame, their path looks curved. This is
the Coriolis Effect, and it is simply caused by the earth’s rotation.
 Impact- wind systems in the southern side of the equator (southern hemisphere) spin
clockwise and wind systems in the northern side (north hemisphere) spin counter-
clockwise.
Types Of Winds
Local Winds

 Created as a result of scenery such as mountains, vegetation, water bodies etc.

 They cover very short distances.
 They can move from mild to extreme winds in just hours.
Ex: sea breezes and land breezes, and mountain and valley breezes, loo, seasonal winds, etc
Permanent Winds
Large air masses that are created mainly as a result of the earth’s rotation, the shape of the
earth and the sun’s heating power.

Trade winds:
Belt extending as far as 30° north and south latitude of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone
(ITCZ).
Westerlies:
Belt extending from 30° to 60° latitude from the ITCZ.
Easterlies:
Belt covering from 60° latitudes to the north and south poles.

Prevailing Winds
Meaning: winds that are most frequent in their direction and speed over a specific geographic
region. Different geographic areas have different prevailing winds because of the factors that
shape them
Eg: the trade winds, the westerlies, and the polar easterlies

Jet Streams

 Discovered in the 1940s (during World War II). Pilots noticed that their flying speeds were
significantly reduced when flying against some areas in the upper troposphere. Jet streams
can be found in the upper troposphere. They are very strong winds.
 These are a narrow belt of high altitude (above 12,000 m) westerly winds in the
troposphere.
 Speed - varies from about 110 km/h in summer to about 184 km/h in winter.
 A number of separate jet streams have been identified. The most constant are the mid-
latitude and the sub-tropical jet stream.
 Jet Streams develop where air masses of differing temperatures meet. So, usually, surface
temperatures determine where the Jet Stream will form.
Air Mass
 Air Mass is an extremely large body of air whose properties of temperature
and moisture content (humidity), at any given altitude, are fairly similar.
 It can cover hundreds of thousands of square miles of area.
 It may have only a little horizontal variation in temperature and moisture
throughout the air mass.
 When an air mass remains over a homogenous area for a sufficiently longer
time, it acquires the characteristics of the area. The homogenous regions can
be the vast ocean surface or vast plains.

Front
 Meaning: boundary between two large air masses. It is the meeting point between cold,
dense air and warm light air.
 At a front, warm is pushed upwards because of its less density.
 A front can be very intense or mild, depending on the temperatures of the two air masses
meet.
 Air masses with extreme temperatures will produce a fierce front
 Air masses with little temperature difference will produce a very mild front.

Warm Air Front

A Warm Front forms when a relatively moist, warm air mass slides up and over a cold air mass.
As the warm air mass rises, it often condenses into a broad area of clouds.
Warm fronts typically travel between 10 and 25 miles per hour and contain warm, humid air. As
the warm air is lifted, the temperature drops and condensation occurs, forming clouds. Warm
fronts typically have a gentle slope, so the warm air rising along the frontal surface is gradual.
Cold air front
 The transition zone where a cold air mass is replacing a warmer air mass.
 Generally move from northwest to southeast.
 They move fast, up to twice as fast as a warm front.
 As a cold front moves into an area, the heavier (more dense) cool air pushes
under the lighter (less dense) warm air, causing it to rise up into the
troposphere.
 Lifted warm air ahead of the front produces cumulus or cumulonimbus clouds
and thunderstorms.
 As the cold front passes, winds become gusty.
 There is a sudden drop in temperature, and also heavy rain, sometimes with
hail, thunder, and lightning.
 Atmospheric pressure changes from falling to rising at the front.
 After a cold front moves through your area, you may notice that the
temperature is cooler, the rain has stopped, and the cumulus clouds are
replaced by stratus and stratocumulus clouds or clear skies.

When a front passes over an area, it means a change in the weather:

 Rain, thunderstorms, gusty winds, and tornadoes
 At a cold front, there may be dramatic thunderstorms.
 At a warm front, there may be low stratus clouds. Usually, the skies clear once
the front has passed.
Cyclones
Cyclones are rapid inward air circulation around a low-pressure area. The air
circulates in an anticlockwise direction in the Northern hemisphere and clockwise
in the Southern hemisphere.
Cyclones are usually accompanied by violent storms and bad weather.
The word Cyclone is derived from the Greek word Cyclos meaning the coils of a
snake. It was coined by Henry Peddington because the tropical storms in the Bay
of Bengal and the Arabian Sea appear like coiled serpents of the sea.

Classification
There are two types of cyclones:
 Tropical cyclones
 Extra Tropical cyclones (also called Temperate cyclones or middle latitude
cyclones or Frontal cyclones or Wave Cyclones).
Anticyclones
 An anticyclone is the opposite of a cyclone i.e. i.e., it has an outward-spiralling
air circulation around a high pressure centre.
 An anticyclone’s winds rotate clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere around a
center of high pressure.
 In anticyclones, air comes in from above and sinks to the ground. High
pressure centers generally have fair weather.

Tropical Cyclones
Tropical cyclones are violent storms that originate over oceans in tropical areas
and move over to the coastal areas bringing about large scale destruction caused
by violent winds, very heavy rainfall and storm surges.
Tropical Cyclones are one of the most devastating natural calamities in the world.
Tropical cyclones originate and intensify over warm tropical oceans.
The conditions favourable for the formation and intensification of tropical storms
are:
 Large sea surface with temperature higher than 27° C.
 Presence of the Coriolis force.
 Small variations in the vertical wind speed.
 A pre-existing weak low- pressure area or low-level-cyclonic circulation.
 Upper divergence above the sea level system

Stages of Formation: Tropical Cyclones

The development cycle of tropical cyclones may be divided into three stages:
Formation and Initial Development Stage
The formation and initial development of a cyclonic storm depends upon the
transfer of water vapour and heat from the warm ocean to the overlying air,
primarily by evaporation from the sea surface.
It encourages formation of massive vertical cumulus clouds due to convection
with condensation of rising air above the ocean surface.

Mature Stage
When a tropical storm intensifies, the air rises in vigorous thunderstorms and
tends to spread out horizontally at the tropopause level. Once air spreads out, a
positive pressure at high levels is produced, which accelerates the downward
motion of air due to convection.
With the inducement of subsidence, air warms up by compression and a warm
‘Eye’ (Low pressure centre) is generated. The main physical feature of a mature
tropical cyclone in the Indian Ocean is a concentric pattern of highly turbulent
giant cumulus thundercloud bands.

Modification and Decay

A tropical cyclone begins to weaken in terms of its central low pressure, internal
warmth and extremely high speeds, as soon as its source of warm moist air begins
to ebb or is abruptly cut off.
This happens after its landfall or when it passes over cold waters.

Extratropical Cyclone
Extratropical cyclones are referred to as mid-latitude depressions, temperate
cyclones, frontal depressions and wave cyclones.
These are active above the mid-latitudinal region between 35° and 65° latitude in
both the hemispheres. The direction of movement is from west to east and more
pronounced in the winter seasons. It is in these latitude zones the polar and
tropical air masses meet and form fronts

Formation of Extratropical Cyclones

The origin and development of temperate cyclones is best explained by the Polar
Front theory.
According to this theory, the warm-humid air masses from the tropics meet the
dry-cold air masses from the poles and thus a polar front is formed.
The cold air mass is denser and heavier and due to this reason, warm air mass is
pushed up.
This interaction of cold and warm air masses creates instability and a low pressure
is created at the junction particularly in the center of interactions.
Thus, a void is created because of lessening of pressure. The surrounding air
rushed in to occupy this void and coupled with the earth’s rotation a cyclone is
formed.
Extratropical cyclones present a contrast to the more violent cyclones or
hurricanes of the tropics, which form in regions of relatively uniform
temperatures.

Cyclones in India
Tropical Cyclones
Tropical cyclones originate over the Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea and the Indian
ocean. These tropical cyclones have very high wind velocity and heavy rainfall and
hit the Indian Coastal states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal,Odisha
and Gujarat (These five states are more vulnerable to cyclone disasters than
others in India).
Most of these cyclones are very destructive due to high wind velocity and
torrential rain that accompanies it.
There are three elements associated with cyclones which cause destruction
during its occurrence. These are-

1. Strong Winds/Squall: It damages installations, dwellings, communications

systems, trees etc., resulting in loss of life and property.
2. Torrential rains and inland flooding: Rain is a serious problem for the people
who become shelter less due to the cyclone. Heavy rainfall is usually spread
over a wide area and causes large scale soil erosion and weakening of
embankments.
3. Storm Surge: It is an abnormal rise of sea level near the coast caused by a
severe tropical cyclone. Due to storm surge sea water inundates low lying
areas of coastal regions drowning human beings and livestock, causes eroding
beaches and embankments, destroys vegetation and leads to reduction of soil
fertility.
Difference between tornadoes and cyclones

Working of the Monsoon

 The monsoon is a sea breeze
 It enters mainland India between the last week of May and the first week of
June.
 June 1 is its official onset date over Kerala.
The retreat of the monsoon:
 This doesn’t mean that the monsoon system ceases to pour rain over India
from October 1
 In fact, monsoon-related rain can continue well into the first fortnight of
October and only really retreats from India by late October.
 It is then replaced by the retreating, or northeast monsoon in November which
is the key source of rainfall for several parts of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh
and north interior Karnataka.
 The retreating southwest monsoon season is marked by clear skies and rise in
temperature.
 The land is still moist. Owing to the conditions of high temperature and
humidity, the weather becomes rather oppressive. This is commonly known as
the ‘October heat’.

Working of the Monsoon

1. Movement of the ITCZ towards the North (above Tibet) during summers
The Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ,) is a broad trough of low pressure
in equatorial latitudes. This is where the northeast and the southeast trade
winds converge. This convergence zone lies more or less parallel to the
equator but moves north or south with the apparent movement of the sun.

2. Development of low pressure area over Tibet

3. Development of a High pressure area over Mascarene High near

Madagascar region
 4. Role of Findlater Jetstream and the Somalian Jet stream

The monsoon approaches the Indian landmass in two branches:

The Arabian Sea branch - The monsoon winds originating over the Arabian Sea.
The Bay of Bengal branch - The Arakan Hills along the coast of Myanmar deflect a big portion of
this branch towards the Indian subcontinent. The monsoon, therefore, enters West Bengal and
Bangladesh from south and southeast instead of from the south-westerly direction.
Monsoon Breaks

 The monsoon is its tendency to have ‘breaks’ in rainfall

 The monsoon rains take place only for a few days at a time
 They are interspersed with rainless intervals
 These breaks in monsoon are related to the movement of the monsoon trough.

Southern Oscillation (SO): Normally when the tropical eastern south Pacific Ocean experiences
high pressure, the tropical eastern Indian Ocean experiences low pressure. But in certain years,
there is a reversal in the pressure conditions and the eastern Pacific has lower pressure in
comparison to the eastern Indian Ocean. This periodic change in pressure conditions is known
as the SO.
El Nino
This is a name given to the periodic development of a warm ocean current along the coast of
Peru as a temporary replacement of the cold Peruvian current. ‘El Nino’ is a Spanish word
meaning ‘the child’, and refers to the baby Christ, as this current starts flowing during
Christmas. The presence of the El Nino leads to an increase in sea-surface temperatures and
weakening of the trade winds in the region.
South Westerly Disturbances

An extratropical storm originating in the Mediterranean region that brings sudden

winter rain to the northwestern parts of the Indian subcontinent, which extends
as east as up to northern parts of Bangladesh and South eastern Nepal.
Driven by the Westerly Jet Stream, they bring much-needed rain to the north,
nurturing the rabi crop and clearing pollution.
These storms are extra-tropic cyclones. This disturbance is usually associated with
a cloudy sky, higher night temperatures and unusual rain.