From the Greek for 'going downhill' and most commonly found in Antarctica and Greenland, what is the name of the wind that carries high density air from a higher elevation down a slope under the force of gravity?
"over Antarctica is largely determined by the katabatic winds, particularly outside the summer season, except in coastal regions when storms may impose their own wind field. Katabatic winds are most commonly found blowing out from the large and elevated ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland. The buildup of high density cold air over the ice sheets and the elevation of the ice sheets brings into play enormous gravitational energy. Where these winds are concentrated into restricted areas in the coastal valleys, the winds blow well over hurricane force, reaching around . In Greenland these winds are called piteraq and are"
"Anabatic wind An anabatic wind, from the Greek ""anabatos"", verbal of ""anabainein"" meaning moving upward, is a warm wind which blows up a steep slope or mountain side, driven by heating of the slope through insolation. It is also known as an upslope flow. These winds typically occur during the daytime in calm sunny weather. A hill or mountain top will be radiatively warmed by the Sun which in turn heats the air just above it. Air at a similar altitude over an adjacent valley or plain does not get warmed so much because of the greater distance to the"
"mythology and Roman mythology Christianity Norse religion and Finnish mythology Welsh mythology Other Air cooled by a glacier flows down the glacier and generates wind movement known as a ""katabatic wind"". In Antarctica, katabatic winds perpetually flow off the Antarctic plateau and are channelled through mountain passes, descending down steep glaciers to the oceans. They blow at storm force year round. Katabasis Katabasis or catabasis (, from ""down"" and ""go"") is a descent of some type, such as moving downhill, the sinking of the winds or sun, a military retreat, a trip to the underworld, or a trip from the"
"subjected to relatively consistent winds (for example, the trade winds), a more moist climate usually prevails on the windward side of a mountain than on the leeward or downwind side. Moisture is removed by orographic lift, leaving drier air on the descending and generally warming, leeward side where a rain shadow is observed. Winds that flow over mountains down into lower elevations are known as downslope winds. These winds are warm and dry. In Europe downwind of the Alps, they are known as foehn. In Poland, an example is the halny wiatr. In Argentina, the local name for downsloped winds"
"are thus ""fall winds"", which occur most typically down the coastal ice slopes of Antarctica and Greenland. Berg winds blow off the African escarpment in response to large scale weather systems in the South Atlantic Ocean, the African interior, and the Southern Indian Ocean. Berg winds are usually accompanied by coastal lows. These coastal lows owe their existence to the configuration of the plateau, escarpment and coastal plain (see diagram on the right, above), in that they are confined to the coastal areas, always below the escarpment. Though they can arise almost anywhere along the coast, they often first appear"
"high latitudes, accelerated by the force of gravity. Thus the williwaw is considered a type of katabatic wind. Williwaw In meteorology, a williwaw is a sudden blast of wind descending from a mountainous coast to the sea. The word is of unknown origin, but was earliest used by British seamen in the 19th century. The usage appears for winds found in the Strait of Magellan, the Aleutian Islands and the coastal fjords of the Alaskan Panhandle, where the terms ""outflow wind"" and ""squamish wind"" are also used for the same phenomenon. On Greenland the word ""piteraq"" is used. The williwaw"
"flow more outward than would be the case in the absence of friction. This is known as a geostrophic wind. High-pressure area A high-pressure area, high or anticyclone is a region where the atmospheric pressure at the surface of the planet is greater than its surrounding environment. Winds within high-pressure areas flow outward from the higher pressure areas near their centers towards the lower pressure areas further from their centers. Gravity adds to the forces causing this general movement, because the higher pressure compresses the column of air near the center of the area into greater density – and so"
"its coldness. A katabatic wind originates from radiational cooling of air atop a plateau, a mountain, glacier, or even a hill. Since the density of air is inversely proportional to temperature, the air will flow downwards, warming approximately adiabatically as it descends. The temperature of the air depends on the temperature in the source region and the amount of descent. In the case of the Santa Ana, for example, the wind can (but does not always) become hot by the time it reaches sea level. In Antarctica, by contrast, the wind is still intensely cold. The entire near-surface wind field"
"South wind A south wind is a wind that originates in the south and blows north. Words used in English to describe the south wind are auster, buster (a violent south gale), föhn/foehn (alps), gibli (Libya with various spellings), friagem (a cold south wind blowing into Brazil from the Antarctic), khamsin (a hot spring wind in Egypt, with various spellings), kona (stormy southwest wind in Hawaii), notus (see mythology below for origin) and sirocco (North Africa). In Native American Iroquois tradition, the south wind is brought by the Fawn, and has a warm and gentle temperament reminiscent of the sweet"
"Wind Wind is the flow of gases on a large scale. On the surface of the Earth, wind consists of the bulk movement of air. In outer space, solar wind is the movement of gases or charged particles from the Sun through space, while planetary wind is the outgassing of light chemical elements from a planet's atmosphere into space. Winds are commonly classified by their spatial scale, their speed, the types of forces that cause them, the regions in which they occur, and their effect. The strongest observed winds on a planet in the Solar System occur on Neptune and"
"North American High The North American High (also ""Canadian High/Anticyclone"", sometimes in Europe ""Greenland High/Anticyclone"") is an impermanent high-pressure area or anticyclone created by ""anticyclogenesis"" (""anticyclone"" + the Greek word ""genesis"", meaning ""birth, origin""), a formative process that occurs when cool or cold dry air settles over North America. In summer it is replaced with an Arctic Low, or if it moves to continental land, a North American Low. North American Highs move eastwards across the continent, often in the company of one or more low-pressure cells or cyclones. Its cold, dense air does not extend usually above , lower"
"to the northeast, it is common for ""sundowner"" wind events to precede Santa Ana events by a day or two. Winds blowing off the elevated glaciated plateaus of Greenland and Antarctica experience the most extreme form of katabatic wind, of which the Santa Ana is a type, for the most part. The winds start at a high elevation and flow outward and downslope, attaining hurricane gusts in valleys, along the shore, and even out to sea. Like the Santa Ana, these winds also heat up by compression and lose humidity, but because they start out so extraordinarily cold and dry"
"in areas poleward of the high pressure area known as the subtropical ridge in the horse latitudes. These prevailing winds blow from the west to the east, and steer extra-tropical cyclones in this general manner. The winds are predominantly from the southwest in the Northern Hemisphere and from the northwest in the Southern Hemisphere. They are strongest in the winter when the pressure is lower over the poles, such as when the polar cyclone is strongest, and weakest during the summer when the polar cyclone is weakest and when pressures are higher over the poles. Together with the trade winds,"
"Foehn wind A föhn or foehn (, ) is a type of dry, warm, down-slope wind that occurs in the lee (downwind side) of a mountain range. It is a rain shadow wind that results from the subsequent adiabatic warming of air that has dropped most of its moisture on windward slopes (""see"" orographic lift). As a consequence of the different adiabatic lapse rates of moist and dry air, the air on the leeward slopes becomes warmer than equivalent elevations on the windward slopes. Föhn winds can raise temperatures by as much as 14 °C (25 °F) in just a"
"is zonda. In Java, the local name for such winds is koembang. In New Zealand, they are known as the Nor'west arch, and are accompanied by the cloud formation they are named after that has inspired artwork over the years. In the Great Plains of the United States, these winds are known as a chinook. Downslope winds also occur in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains of the United States, and they can be as strong as other downslope winds and unusual compared to other foehn winds in that the relative humidity typically changes little due to the increased moisture"
"sub-polar, or Arctic cyclone (also known as a polar vortex) is a vast area of low pressure that strengthens in the winter and weakens in the summer. A polar cyclone is a low-pressure weather system, usually spanning to , in which the air circulates in a counterclockwise direction in the northern hemisphere, and a clockwise direction in the southern hemisphere. The Coriolis acceleration acting on the air masses moving poleward at high altitude, causes a counterclockwise circulation at high altitude. The poleward movement of air originates from the air circulation of the Polar cell. The polar low is not driven"
"means ""hairdryer,"" and the form ""phon"" is used in French-speaking parts of Switzerland as well as in Italy. The form ""fen"" is used in Croatia and Slovenia. Regionally, these winds are known by many different names. These include: Foehn wind A föhn or foehn (, ) is a type of dry, warm, down-slope wind that occurs in the lee (downwind side) of a mountain range. It is a rain shadow wind that results from the subsequent adiabatic warming of air that has dropped most of its moisture on windward slopes (""see"" orographic lift). As a consequence of the different adiabatic"
"flowers, babbling brooks, and the voices of birds of summer. In Greek mythology, Notus was the god of the south wind and bringer of the storms of late summer and autumn. In Egyptian mythology, Shehbui is the god of the south wind. He was depicted as a man with the head of a lion. South wind A south wind is a wind that originates in the south and blows north. Words used in English to describe the south wind are auster, buster (a violent south gale), föhn/foehn (alps), gibli (Libya with various spellings), friagem (a cold south wind blowing into"
"Williwaw In meteorology, a williwaw is a sudden blast of wind descending from a mountainous coast to the sea. The word is of unknown origin, but was earliest used by British seamen in the 19th century. The usage appears for winds found in the Strait of Magellan, the Aleutian Islands and the coastal fjords of the Alaskan Panhandle, where the terms ""outflow wind"" and ""squamish wind"" are also used for the same phenomenon. On Greenland the word ""piteraq"" is used. The williwaw results from the descent of cold, dense air from the snow and ice fields of coastal mountains in"
"Atmosphere An atmosphere (from Modern Greek ἀτμός ""(atmos)"", meaning 'vapour', and σφαῖρα ""(sphaira)"", meaning 'sphere') is a layer or a set of layers of gases surrounding a planet or other material body, that is held in place by the gravity of that body. An atmosphere is more likely to be retained if the gravity it is subject to is high and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. The atmosphere of Earth is composed of nitrogen (about 78%), oxygen (about 21%), argon (about 0.9%) , carbon dioxide (0.03%) and other gases in trace amounts. Oxygen is used by most organisms"
"Polar easterlies The polar easterlies (also Polar Hadley cells) are the dry, cold prevailing winds that blow from the high-pressure areas of the polar highs at the North and South Poles towards low-pressure areas within the Westerlies at high latitudes. Cold air subsides at the poles creating the high pressure, forcing an equatorward outflow of air; that outflow is then deflected westward by the Coriolis effect. Unlike the westerlies in the middle latitudes, the polar easterlies are often weak and irregular. These prevailing winds blow from the polar easterlies are one of the five primary wind zones, known as wind"
"Berg wind Berg wind (from Afrikaans ""berg"" ""mountain"" + ""wind"" ""wind"", i.e. a mountain wind) is the South African name for a katabatic wind: a hot dry wind blowing down the Great Escarpment from the high central plateau to the coast. When the air that has been heated on the extensive central plateau flows down the escarpment to the coast it undergoes further warming by adiabatic processes. This accounts for the hot and dry properties of these off-shore winds, wherever they occur along South Africa's coastline. Although berg winds are often called a Föhn winds, this is probably a misnomer,"
"this is known as orographic lift. The wind creates a region of rising air directly above the slope, which may extend some distance upwards and outwards from its face because the airflow follows the upward contour of the hill. However, at near vertical cliffs, there is usually an area of turbulence with descending air near the base of the cliff. Downwind of the hill, lee waves can form; these are also used by glider pilots to gain height, but this should not be confused with slope lift. Near slopes rather than vertical cliffs, the strongest lift is often to be"
"to that effect. The thermal wind is the change in the amplitude or sign of the geostrophic wind due to a horizontal temperature gradient. The geostrophic wind is an idealized wind that results from a balance of forces along a horizontal dimension. Whenever the Earth's rotation plays a dominant role in fluid dynamics, as in the mid-latitudes, a balance between the Coriolis force and the pressure-gradient force develops. Intuitively, a horizontal difference in pressure pushes air across that difference in a similar way that the horizontal difference in the height of a hill causes objects to roll downhill. However, the"
"the atmosphere outside the tropics is close to geostrophic flow much of the time and it is a valuable first approximation. Geostrophic flow in air or water is a zero-frequency inertial wave. Air naturally moves from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure, due to the pressure gradient force. As soon as the air starts to move, however, the Coriolis ""force"" deflects it. The deflection is to the right in the northern hemisphere, and to the left in the southern hemisphere. As the air moves from the high-pressure area, its speed increases, and so does its Coriolis deflection."
"Antarctic oscillation The Antarctic oscillation (AAO, to distinguish it from the Arctic oscillation or AO) is a low-frequency mode of atmospheric variability of the southern hemisphere. It is also known as the Southern Annular Mode (SAM). It is defined as a belt of westerly winds or low pressure surrounding Antarctica which moves north or south as its mode of variability. In its positive phase, the westerly wind belt that drives the Antarctic Circumpolar Current intensifies and contracts towards Antarctica, while its negative phase involves this belt moving towards the Equator. Winds associated with the Southern Annular Mode cause oceanic upwelling"
"bergwind are rain shadow winds where air driven upslope on the windward side of a mountain range drops its moisture and descends leeward drier and warmer. Examples of true katabatic winds include the bora (or bura) in the Adriatic, the Bohemian Wind or ""Böhmwind"" in the Ore Mountains, the Santa Ana in southern California, the piteraq winds of Greenland, and the oroshi in Japan. Another example is ""the Barber"", an enhanced katabatic wind that blows over the town of Greymouth in New Zealand when there is a southeast flow over the South Island. ""The Barber"" has a local reputation for"
"traveling by wind current and sail only, counted upon the reliability of the trade winds to help them along on their voyages. Similarly, they sought to avoid the doldrums, where the wind was so scant they risked coming to a complete stop. Polar easterlies The polar easterlies (also Polar Hadley cells) are the dry, cold prevailing winds that blow from the high-pressure areas of the polar highs at the North and South Poles towards low-pressure areas within the Westerlies at high latitudes. Cold air subsides at the poles creating the high pressure, forcing an equatorward outflow of air; that outflow"
"According to the Kutta–Joukowski theorem, lift is the product of circulation, airspeed, and air density. The relative vorticity is the vorticity relative to the Earth induced by the air velocity field. This air velocity field is often modeled as a two-dimensional flow parallel to the ground, so that the relative vorticity vector is generally scalar rotation quantity perpendicular to the ground. Vorticity is positive when - looking down onto the earth's surface - the wind turns counterclockwise. In the northern hemisphere, positive vorticity is called cyclonic rotation, and negative vorticity is anticyclonic rotation; the nomenclature is reversed in the Southern"
"descends, it is compression heated. The warm foehn wind, locally known as the Chinook wind, Bergwind or Diablo wind or Nor'wester depending on the region, provide examples of this type of wind, and are driven in part by latent heat released by orographic-lifting-induced precipitation. A similar class of winds, the Sirocco, the Bora and Santa Ana winds, are examples where orographic lifting has limited effect since there is limited moisture to remove in the Saharan or other air masses; the Sirocco, Bora and Santa Ana are driven primarily by (adiabatic) compression heating. As air flows over mountain barriers, orographic lift"
"The hydrodynamic wind within the upper portion of a planet's atmosphere allows light chemical elements such as Hydrogen to move up to the exobase, the lower limit of the exosphere, where the gases can then reach escape velocity, entering outer space without impacting other particles of gas. This type of gas loss from a planet into space is known as planetary wind. Planets with hot lower atmospheres could result in humid upper atmospheres that accelerate the loss of hydrogen. In ancient times, it was widely thought that the land mass floated on a body of water, and that most of"
"states: Force 8, defined as ""Gale"". Wind speed 39-46 mph, equal to 34-40 knots. Inland, twigs break off trees; progress generally impeded. At sea, moderately high waves of greater length; edges of crests begin to break into spindrift; foam is blown in well-marked streaks along the direction of the wind. Relatedly, ""spindrift"" can also be used to describe fine sand or snow that is blown off by the wind. ""Spindrift"" is a southern English word, ""Spoondrift"" a northern or Scottish word. The Scottish word ""spoondrift"" can be used to describe fine snow that is blown off the hills by the"
"lie near the average latitude of the subtropical ridge, where descent reduces the relative humidity of the air mass. The strongest winds are in the mid-latitudes where cold polar air meets warm air from the tropics. The trade winds (also called trades) are the prevailing pattern of easterly surface winds found in the tropics towards the Earth's equator. The trade winds blow predominantly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisphere. The trade winds act as the steering flow for tropical cyclones that form over the world's oceans. Trade winds also steer African"