Named from Old English Trade = path, because of their regular course, these winds are the tropical easterlies, northeast Trades in the Northern Hemisphere and southeast Trades in the Southern Hemisphere. Trades are known as Alisios , Alisei, Alizées in Spanish, Italian, and French, respectively, and Passat (usually in the singular) in German, all names of unknown origin. In Saharan Africa, they are exceedingly dry and hot, and they are known as the Harmattan. In South Asia they are called the winter monsoon. In northern Australia (Arnhem Land), the most common aboriginal name is Dir'mala.
They are primary planetary winds, characteristic of the high-pressure belts of the subtropical latitudes, which flow into the Intertropical Convergence (ITC) and rise to 30,000 ft or 40,000 ft (Fig. 1). They expand and cool enough to reach equilibrium with the surrounding air and cease rising. They are gradually pushed away from the ITC by more air from underneath and begin to flow as westerlies....
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© 1987 Van Nostrand Reinhold
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Gentilli, J. (1987). Trade winds . In: Climatology. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-30749-4_181
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-30749-4_181
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