What causes prevailing winds?
The prevailing wind is the wind that flows most frequently across a particular region.Prevailing winds are dependent upon the nature of the general circulation of the atmosphere and the latitudinal wind zones.The three global winds which are referred to as the trade winds,the prevailing westerlies and the polar easterlies(forming part of Hadley cell,Ferner cell and Polar cell) are prevailing winds only.The prevailing wind over the Doldrums(over the equator) is calm. Sometimes variations occur due to the position and differential heating rates of the continents and oceans.The prevailing wind over the Indian ocean is north easterly.But,during summer,a large low pressure system forms over southern Asia due to continental heating.Hence winds in this region are now reversed and blow from south-west to become south-west monsoons. In general,winds flow from a high pressure area to a low pressure area.Sometimes,due to the reasons mentioned above,these low and high pressure areas are shifted to
