Air is almost always moving. Some winds blow gently.

Others whip around

in a wild storm. What makes air move?
The sun heats some parts of the earth’s surface more than others. The heat
from the surface is then conducted to the nearby air. Air moves because of
differences in its temperature and humidity.
Since warm air does not have as much density as cool air, it does not push
down as much. We say it has a lower pressure. Heavy, cool air moves down
and under the warm, light air. So air moves from places where pressure is
high toward places where it is low. Winds are caused by differences in
temperature and pressure.
A wind vane shows the direction that the wind blows. It always points into
the wind. An anemometer is used to measure wind speed. It is made so that
it spins when the wind blows. The moving air pushes against the cups. The
faster the air moves, the faster the cups will turn.
 Movement of Air

Movement of air is caused by temperature or pressure differences and is eperienced

as wind. Where there are differences of pressure between two places, a pressure
gradient exists, across which air moves: from the high-pressure region to the low-
pressure region. This movement of air however, does not follow the quickest straight-line
path. In fact, the air moving from high to low pressure follows a spiralling route, outwards
from high pressure and inwards towards low pressure. This is due to the rotation of the
Earth beneath the moving air, which causes an apparent deflection of the wind to the right
in the Northern Hemisphere, and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere. The deflection
of air is caused by the Coriolis force. Consequently, air blows anticlockwise around a low-
pressure centre (depression) and clockwise around a high-pressure centre (anticyclone)
in the Northern Hemisphere. This situation is reversed in the Southern Hemisphere.

Wind caused by differences in temperature is known as convection or advection. In the

atmosphere, convection and advection transfer heat energy from warmer regions to
colder regions, either at the Earth surface or higher up in the atmosphere. Small-scale air
movement of this nature is observed during the formation of sea and land breezes, due
to temperature differences between seawater and land. At a much larger scale,
temperature differences across the Earth generate the development of the major wind
belts. Such wind belts, to some degree, define the climate zones of the world.

Air temperature is generally higher at ground level due to heating by the Sun, and
decreases with increasing altitude. This vertical temperature difference creates a
significant uplift of air, since warmer air nearer the surface is lighter than colder air above
it. This vertical uplift of air can generate clouds and rain. Sometimes air from warmer
regions of the world collides with air from colder regions. This air mass convergence
occurs in the mid-latitudes, where the warm air is forced to rise above the colder air,
generating fronts and depressions.