Concept in Definition ABC
Miscellanea / / July 04, 2021
By Florencia Ucha, in Jan. 2009
Wind is a meteorological phenomenon produced by natural causesLike rain or snow and it's the responsible for movement of the air in the troposphere, which is one of the four layers into which the earth's atmosphere is divided and the fundamental one at the time of breathing of living beings. The meeting of various pressures in different areas is what produces the current of air or wind.
Basically the origin of the winds is given by the movements of translation and rotation of the earthIn turn, they are the ones that also cause important differences in terms of solar radiation, especially long-wave radiation that is indirectly absorbed by the atmosphere. thanks to the diathermic property that the air has and that causes solar radiation to only indirectly heat the atmosphere since the sun's rays can pass through it but without reaching heat the. But the heat rays (infrared) reflected by the terrestrial and aquatic surfaces are those that will manage to heat the air, giving rise to the movement of the air, that is, the wind.
Also the uneven heating of the air causes differences in pressure that can sometimes translate into winds.
Types of winds
According to the scale or dimension of the path of the winds, we will have 3 different types of winds: planetarium, local and regional.
The planetariums are generated preeminently by the movements of the Earth's rotation that originate in turn the uneven heating of the atmosphere, while the regional as the local ones will have a similar origin to the previous ones but they will be determined mainly by characteristics that occur in each place in particular. Even more, and depending on the place, these types of local or regional winds are usually more important than those of the planetary type. These include: sea and land breezes, valley breezes, Mountain, catabatic and anabatic wind.
In tato, it is also possible to find indigenous winds from a particular geographical area, for example in Argentina we find ourselves
to the Pampero, the Zonda and the Sudestada and in Mexico the North.
Wind intensity. Types
When the wind blows very hard for a short or intermittent period it is referred to as burst, precisely because of the speed with which it manifests itself and then disappears. The squalls on the other hand, they are strong winds that last very little, generally a minute. Meanwhile, long-duration winds have different names depending on the force that they present, such is the case of: breeze, hurricane, typhoon.
Wind measurement
There are various instruments that allow determining the direction in which the wind will blow, among them we can distinguish the weather vane, a device consisting of a rotating cross with the cardinal points arranged; It will be placed in the highest places of the building and for the side that turns we will know in the direction that the wind blows.
The anemometer It is another instrument that allows measuring the same, although it is much more modern than the previous one.
The wind, source of wind power
Among the benefits of the wind, we must undoubtedly mention the ability to production of Energy, formally called wind power. Wind energy is then caused by air currents and in our days such energy is fundamentally used for produce electric power.
It should be noted that wind energy is found in abundance in our nature and it is a renewable resource, that is, it is achieved from natural and inexhaustible sources such as the wind in the case at hand.
Another of its great advantages is that it is a clean energy, which fortunately contributes to the decrease in the propagation of greenhouse gases, for example, is that it is also popularly call green energy.
However, among its disadvantages we must mention the intermittency that the wind presents and that of course ends up damaging the supply of this energy.
On the other hand, wind plays a very important and decisive role as a transport agent, for example in the displacement of the seeds that are sown in the field.
Disadvantages of the wind
But not everything is beneficial in terms of wind and therefore it is important to mention that the wind, especially that which has a velocity and remarkable strength can turn into a serious threat for the integrity of people and also of infrastructures. In cases such as typhoons, the speed that the wind can reach, more than three hundred kilometers per hour, it may be able to rip out a house and not to mention dragging people. Many times these unusual weather events are accompanied by strong storms that further complicate the outlook.
Topics in Wind