Wind

Within the tropics, thermal low circulations over terrain and high plateaus can drive monsoon circulations.

Monsoon is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation, but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea.

Winds have various aspects: velocity (wind speed); the density of the gas involved; energy content or wind energy.

Wind power or wind energy is the use of wind to provide the mechanical power through wind turbines to turn electric generators and traditionally to do other work, like milling or pumping.

In coastal areas the sea breeze/land breeze cycle can define local winds; in areas that have variable terrain, mountain and valley breezes can dominate local winds.

A sea breeze or onshore breeze is any wind that blows from a large body of water toward or onto a landmass; it develops due to differences in air pressure created by the differing heat capacities of water and dry land.

Long-duration winds have various names associated with their average strength, such as breeze, gale, storm, and hurricane.

Winds can shape landforms, via a variety of aeolian processes such as the formation of fertile soils, such as loess, and by erosion.

Aeolian processes, also spelled eolian or æolian, pertain to wind activity in the study of geology and weather and specifically to the wind's ability to shape the surface of the Earth (or other planets).

Areas of wind shear caused by various weather phenomena can lead to dangerous situations for aircraft.

Wind shear (or windshear), sometimes referred to as wind gradient, is a difference in wind speed or direction over a relatively short distance in the atmosphere.

Winds can shape landforms, via a variety of aeolian processes such as the formation of fertile soils, such as loess, and by erosion.

In earth science, erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location (not to be confused with weathering which involves no movement).

Outside the tropics and aloft from frictional effects of the surface, the large-scale winds tend to approach geostrophic balance.

The geostrophic wind is the theoretical wind that would result from an exact balance between the Coriolis force and the pressure gradient force.

Hot air balloons use the wind to take short trips, and powered flight uses it to increase lift and reduce fuel consumption.

Hot air balloons that can be propelled through the air rather than simply drifting with the wind are known as thermal airships.

Weather vanes pivot to indicate the direction of the wind.

A weather vane, wind vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind.

Winds have various aspects: velocity (wind speed); the density of the gas involved; energy content or wind energy.

Wind speed is now commonly measured with an anemometer.

Wind speed is measured by anemometers, most commonly using rotating cups or propellers.

The term is derived from the Greek word anemos, which means wind, and is used to describe any wind speed instrument used in meteorology.

Wind direction is usually expressed in terms of the direction from which it originates.

For example, a northerly wind blows from the north to the south.

To determine winds aloft, rawinsondes determine wind speed by GPS, radio navigation, or radar tracking of the probe.

Modern radiosondes measure or calculate the following variables: altitude, pressure, temperature, relative humidity, wind (both wind speed and wind direction), cosmic ray readings at high altitude and geographical position (latitude/longitude).

A short burst of high speed wind is termed a wind gust, one technical definition of a wind gust is: the maxima that exceed the lowest wind speed measured during a ten-minute time interval by 10 kn for periods of seconds.

A gust or wind gust is a brief increase in the speed of the wind, usually less than 20 seconds.

Long-duration winds have various names associated with their average strength, such as breeze, gale, storm, and hurricane.

Strong winds from any storm type can damage or destroy vehicles, buildings, bridges, and other outside objects, turning loose debris into deadly flying projectiles.

Wind engineering describes the study of the effects of the wind on the built environment, including buildings, bridges and other man-made objects.

Wind engineering is a subsets of mechanical engineering, structural engineering, meteorology, and applied physics to analyze the effects of wind in the natural and the built environment and studies the possible damage, inconvenience or benefits which may result from wind.

Alternatively, movement of the parent weather balloon position can be tracked from the ground visually using theodolites.

To obtain wind data, they can be tracked by radar, radio direction finding, or navigation systems (such as the satellite-based Global Positioning System, GPS).

Isotach maps, analyzing lines of equal wind speed, on a constant pressure surface of 300 or 250 hPa show where the jet stream is located.

This allows map users to analyze patterns in atmospheric pressure, temperature, wind speed & direction, cloud cover, precipitation, and other parameters.

It flows parallel to isobars and approximates the flow above the atmospheric boundary layer in the midlatitudes.

The distribution of isobars is closely related to the magnitude and direction of the wind field, and can be used to predict future weather patterns.

Wind shear, sometimes referred to as wind gradient, is a difference in wind speed and direction over a relatively short distance in the Earth's atmosphere.

is the vertical gradient of the mean horizontal wind speed in the lower atmosphere.

Jagged terrain combines to produce unpredictable flow patterns and turbulence, such as rotors, which can be topped by lenticular clouds.

They are periodic changes of atmospheric pressure, temperature and orthometric height in a current of air caused by vertical displacement, for example orographic lift when the wind blows over a mountain or mountain range.

In Argentina, the local name for down sloped winds is zonda.

Zonda wind (viento zonda) is a regional term for the foehn wind that often occurs on the eastern slope of the Andes, in Argentina.

As a natural force, the wind was often personified as one or more wind gods or as an expression of the supernatural in many cultures.

Air deities may also be considered here as wind is nothing more than moving air.