OCS 1005 : Test 3 Review

• School: LSU
• Department: Oceanography & Coastal Sciences
• Course: OCS 1005
• Professor: All

Document Summary

Atmospheric circulation model: understand basic concepts of model pg. 171 (locations of vertical air movement: circulation cells the greater heating of the atmosphere over the equator causes the air to expand, to decrease in density, and to rise. As the air rises, it cools by expansion because the pressure is lower, and the water vapor it contains condenses and falls as rain in the equatorial zone. The resulting dry air mass travels north or south of the equator. The masses of air that move across earth"s surface from the subtropical high-pressure belts toward the equatorial low-pressure belt constitute the trade winds. These steady winds are named from the term to blow trade, which means to blow in a regular course. Coriolis effect causes the westerlies to blow from southwest to northeast in the. Northern hemisphere and from northwest to southeast in the southern. Hemisphere: air moves away from the high pressure at the poles, producing the polar easterly wind belts.