No horses were harmed writing this blog.... Among old salty men of the sea there is a tale about the "horse latitudes". Legend says that in the days of old sailing ships, horses were transported across the oceans. About 30 degrees north and south of the equator is a ridge of high pressure that comes vertically down upon the area causing the winds to stop blowing and the sea is like glass. Ships would get stuck in this place that is without wind and drift in the ocean currents until they were out of this high pressure area. This could take days or months! Water would run out, the live cargo (the horses!) needed water and so did the salty old sea men, so they would throw the horses overboard to conserve water. Whether this legend is true or not is questionable, but the name stuck and on almost every map ever made is the label "horse latitudes" at 30 degrees north and south of the equator. So I get how sad it is that these crusty crabs had to throw horses over board to save their lives, but what is up with the part, "the winds flow vertically downward creating high pressure"... Using this diagram helps a little. At the equator the air is warm and lifts or rises upwards creating a low pressure zone (heated, excited and expanded air particles). As the air mass cools over the 30 degree north latitude the gases sink creating a high pressure zone (cold, closely packed gases) that is made of dry, cold air. To understand this model we have to understand that air masses convect in the atmosphere. The heat source of course is our Sun. What if we want to see what it looks like at the horse latitudes? Oh look! Here's a picture! That is a calm ocean...compared to the normal seas... What about a satellite image? Could we see what cloud formation looks like on Earth from space? Well, there we go. Cloud formations at the equator. Just like they said...and then what happens? Because the Earth isn't heated equally everywhere on its surface, warm air masses (high pressure) mixes with cold air masses (low pressure). This mixing of air pressure creates winds that blow certain directions depending on latitude. The trade winds are found between 0 and 30 degrees north and south of equator. Scientists have shown that these winds are very predictable all year long. Between 30 to 60 degrees latitude both north and south latitudes have winds called "westerlies". These winds are not as predictable but continue to drive ocean currents toward the poles. What if there wasn't any wind on the planet? Could we survive? To get rid of wind we would need to heat the planet equally on every square foot land and sea. To do that the Earth can't be round, it would have to be hammered perfectly flat..no mountains, no hills, all flat. So the answer to that question would we survive? No. Get used to the wind! Wind is good! Alrighty! Keep the wind!
13 Comments
kajetan
3/27/2019 03:27:29 pm
those guys getting blowed around were really light weight so if they were fat it would be just fine
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Jackson Baird
3/27/2019 03:59:23 pm
WHAT THE HECK??!!
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Ryker Bement
3/27/2019 03:59:27 pm
Those pictures of the sea are really cool.
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Michael Mandaa
3/27/2019 04:47:27 pm
Nobody claimed first so, FIRST!! THAT CALM SEA LOOKS COL
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OLIVER ROPER
3/27/2019 05:01:42 pm
No one claimed Second so, second! RIP in the chat for the horses.😢😢😢 Thos people that were flying looked pretty LIT. Hehehe hehehe hehehe hehehe hehehe hehehe hehehe hehehe hehehe hehehe hehehe😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌What is going on at school my dudes? Also who is A I think it someone that has a name that starts with a B cause I feel like it PUN Intended. Jackson and Ryker give me a full report on ALL the courts so I can rearrange top 10 most wanted! See ya tomorrow!✌✌✌✌✌✌✌✌👌👌👌👌👌
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OLIVER ROPER
3/27/2019 05:03:59 pm
*FLIRTZ not courts
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Sebastian Lei
3/27/2019 05:53:26 pm
that horse jump scared me LOL
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Audrey
3/27/2019 06:22:16 pm
The wind was gonna make those people blow away!!!
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Andrew
3/27/2019 07:21:32 pm
No one claimed third. Something is wrong with that horse.
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danny araya
3/27/2019 07:41:18 pm
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danny araya
3/27/2019 07:40:26 pm
third
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italia
3/27/2019 08:38:50 pm
That horse looked really weird!!! When I first saw it I was like "That is one weird donkey." But it's not even a donkey at all!!!😂 Before this post I wanted to get rid of wind entirely..... but now that I know without wind..... I say let's keep it!!!!!😉 Now what do you say, would you rather die..... or support wind!!!! 👍 Go wind!! But..... that doesn't make any sense, if there was no wind than every day would be like a nice summer day. It would be just really sunny and maybe some clouds once or twice and maybe some rainy days in the spring and some snowy days in the fall. WHAT? Now I'm changing my mind. Maybe i'm going back to the no wind side. I search up what would happen if there was no wind at all and this is what I found:
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Alice
3/27/2019 08:53:48 pm
I love the picture of the horse! it is so weird!!!!!
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Mrs. TaylorI love science! Everything about the world is interesting and never boring. I love to study plants, animals, insects, and people. My favorite subjects are my students who are the most unique organisms on the planet! Categories |