What causes wind and breezes?

The energy that drives wind originates with the sun, which heats the Earth unevenly, creating warm spots and cool spots. Two simple examples of this are sea breezes and land breezes. Sea breezes occur when inland areas heat up on sunny afternoons. That warms the air, causing it to rise.

Are there breezes in caves?

“You can also get wind in a cave which develops as the air pressure outside of the cave changes, which leads to an equalization of pressure inside the cave in the form of a breeze or wind.

How is the wind name?

A wind is always named according to the direction from which it blows. For example, a wind blowing from west to east is a west wind.

Why are westerlies stronger in winter?

Polar easterlies flow to low-pressure areas in sub-polar regions. Westerlies are strongest in the winter, when pressure over the pole is low, and weakest in summer, when the polar high creates stronger polar easterlies.

Why is there often a wind at the mouth of a cave?

Because Wind Cave is so large and has a lot of space, it also has an air pressure system. When there is a low pressure system on the surface the high pressure in the cave forces air out so the cave will have a low pressure system also. This is referred to as cave breathing.

Why is there wind in a cave?

Caves can have a somewhat mysterious property of blowing wind. An external high pressure system forces air into the cave to create a high pressure system in the cave. Conversely, an external low pressure system with high pressure in the cave forces air out to achieve a low pressure system in the cave.

What is a cold breeze called?

2. Mistral. A cold wind that blows over the northwest Mediterranean coast when pressure differences funnel it through the Rhone valley.

What does Hot wind mean?

Hot-wind meaning Any wind characterized by intense heat and low relative humidity. noun.

What causes westerly winds?

The westerlies, anti-trades, 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 and trend towards the poles and steer extratropical cyclones in this general manner.

Why the westerlies are very strong in the Southern Hemisphere?

Westerlies are particularly strong, especially in the southern hemisphere, where there is less land in the middle latitudes to cause the flow pattern to amplify or become more north-south oriented. This creates frictional or drag in the motion which ultimately slows the Westerlies down.

What are land breezes?

land breeze, a local wind system characterized by a flow from land to water late at night. The land breeze is typically shallower than the sea breeze since the cooling of the atmosphere over land is confined to a shallower layer at night than the heating of the air during the day.

Why is there so much wind at Wind Cave?

However the wind at Wind Cave is very noticeable because of its very small natural entrance. Wind Cave, one of the longest caves in thw world, is also one of the most complex. Currently almost all of the cave lies beneath about a 1 mile square area of land.

Why do caves stay at the same temperature year-round?

Caves stay at the same temperature year-round because they are thermally insulated from the external substances that flow into them. The temperature of the air and liquids that flow into caves has little impact on the crust that forms the cave, which has a much larger thermal capacity than liquid or air.

What causes air currents in a cave to increase?

The air currents that form inside a cave become more intense when the disparity between the entrances increases, and also when the difference between the internal and external temperatures increases. Often strong air currents at the entrance of a cave are a clue to the possible existence of a karst system.

Why is there appreciable air circulation in caves?

Hence there is appreciable air circulation as a result of the differences in pressure and temperature at the entrances of the caves. The air currents that form inside a cave become more intense when the disparity between the entrances increases, and also when the difference between the internal and external temperatures increases.