See how uneven heating sets Earth's air in motion.
Explore wind systems, including pressure, local breezes, global circulation, jet streams, monsoons, and wind measurement.
Air moves from higher toward lower pressure, while Earth's rotation bends its path through the Coriolis effect.
Learn MoreLand heats and cools faster than water, creating sea breezes by day and land breezes at night.
Learn MoreHadley, Ferrel, and polar cells redistribute heat between the equator and poles.
Learn MoreJet streams are narrow bands of fast wind near the top of the troposphere.
Learn MoreMonsoons are seasonal wind shifts caused mainly by different heating of land and ocean.
Learn MoreAnemometers measure speed and wind vanes show direction.
Learn MoreAir moves from higher toward lower pressure, while Earth's rotation bends its path through the Coriolis effect. Friction near the ground slows and redirects the flow.
Land heats and cools faster than water, creating sea breezes by day and land breezes at night. Mountains and valleys also develop daily upslope and downslope winds.
Hadley, Ferrel, and polar cells redistribute heat between the equator and poles. Their surface branches help create trade winds, westerlies, and polar easterlies.
Jet streams are narrow bands of fast wind near the top of the troposphere. Their bends steer weather systems and can speed or slow aircraft traveling across continents.
Monsoons are seasonal wind shifts caused mainly by different heating of land and ocean. They often create distinct wet and dry seasons that shape farming and water supplies.
Anemometers measure speed and wind vanes show direction. Meteorologists combine surface stations, balloons, radar, satellites, and aircraft reports to map winds through the atmosphere.