What does the wind do in nature. Scheme, description

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What does the wind do in nature. Encyclopedia of radio electronics and electrical engineering

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Encyclopedia of radio electronics and electrical engineering / Alternative energy sources

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Great and varied is the activity of the wind on Earth.

Look at Figure 10. How did these unusual rocks form? This is the work of the wind.

What does the wind do in nature

What does the wind do in nature
Fig.10. Rocks of the most bizarre appearance are formed by the action of the sun, water and wind.

Such bizarre rocks are known in many countries. Often the shape of the rocks is even more fantastic - they resemble giant human figures, castles, etc.

The wind destroys not only individual rocks. Under its action, over time, over the course of millennia, entire mountains and mountain ranges are being destroyed, becoming smaller!

Here's how it goes.

We have already said that in the summer the rocks are very strongly heated by the Sun. This is especially noticeable in areas with a dry climate, remote from the seas. In the Central Asian deserts, for example, sand and stones heat up so much during the day that they burn their feet. In Kara-Kum, the sand is so hot that even hares living in the desert cannot run on it at noon! Lizards and other small animals hide in burrows at this time.

At night, in such areas, the rocks and sand heated during the day quickly and strongly cool. At the same time, the air temperature drops so much that abundant dew falls on the surface of the Earth; often in the summer night the temperature here drops to zero degrees, while during the day it reaches 45-50 degrees!

Such a sharp change in temperature during the day does not pass without a trace for rocks. Stone, like other bodies, expands when heated and contracts when cooled. But of course, he does not remain intact. The heating and cooling of the rocks occurs only along their surface, and due to this, the surface of the rocks is gradually covered with numerous cracks. Day by day the rocks are cracking more and more. Their upper layer becomes more and more loose, fragile.

Drops of water penetrate into the cracks of the rocks and also destroy the stone - freezing at night, the water in the cracks destroys them even more. In addition, water dissolves some minerals and thereby widens cracks.

So, under the influence of the Sun and water, strong rocks gradually turn into crushed stone and sand.

And then the wind kicks in. It blows all the small particles out of the collapsing rocks. The wind raises into the air not only fine dust, but also sand, blows away small gravel from the mountains.

A strong wind drives myriad grains of sand in the air. These grains of sand, meeting rocks on their way, produce a mechanical effect on them - they grind and destroy rocks. Less durable rocks easily succumb to the action of sand, more durable ones resist it for a long time. Furrows, depressions, cracks appear on the surface of the rocks. Sand raised into the air creates niches and caves on the slopes of the mountains. Often, through holes are formed in the rocks - windows.

Mountains are made up of various minerals, from various rocks. Naturally, under the influence of the Sun, water and wind, weak rocks, such as, for example, limestone, are destroyed first of all. This gives the collapsing rocks often an extremely bizarre appearance.

This is how the weathering of mountains occurs.

The older the mountains, the more they are destroyed. Centuries pass, and the wind smoothes mountains and mountain ranges more and more. Whole countries are changing. In the place where once there were high mountains, their dilapidated remnants remain. And these remnants are gradually more and more destroyed.

Weathering of rocks gives huge masses of sand and fine clayey dust.

Sand is either carried away by water into rivers and seas, or deposited in deserts, forming portable, flying sands - dunes.

And fine dust is lifted by the wind to great heights (often up to 5-XNUMX kilometers) and carried away for many hundreds and thousands of kilometers. Such dust stays in the air for a long time, covering the sky with haze.

What does the wind do in nature
Fig.11. Portable sands in the desert

In Central Asia, in China and in other parts of the world, there are areas where the top fertile soil layer consists of the so-called zheltozem or loess. Such soil gives high yields. It has been established that loess is dust that is carried by the wind.

In China, loess dust is carried by wind from the deserts of Central Asia.

Dust carried by the wind from the Sahara Desert (North Africa) is deposited on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.

Portable sands of deserts - a product of weathering of rocks - pose a constant threat to cultivated, cultivated lands. In the history of peoples, many examples have been preserved of how portable sands, under the influence of wind, covered cities and even entire areas of the most fertile lands. Not having the strength to fight the advancing sands, people left for new places.

In many places, man is retreating in the fight against the desert even now. So, for example, the number of oases in North Africa is gradually decreasing - they are covered by flying sands.

An effective measure to combat the encroaching desert is the creation of forest plantations in the zones of sand movement.

What does the wind do in nature
Fig.12. In the steppe and semi-desert regions of our Motherland, more and more new forest belts are growing.

The new forest strips on the fields of our Motherland, in addition to the fight against shifting sands, are also an excellent protection against the harmful effects on agriculture of "dry winds" - the dry sultry winds of the Central Asian deserts.

Dry winds have a detrimental effect on plants - the grass turns yellow, the leaves of trees dry up, the stems and ears of bread dry out.

In addition, in areas where there are no forests, where most of the land is plowed up, dry winds bring with them not only drought, dust storms arise here. A hot drying wind lifts masses of shallow dry earth into the air, blows away the surface fertile layer of soil. In the spring, along with the earth, the wind often carries away the sown seeds from the fields.

What does the wind do in nature
Fig.13. On the collective farm fields, protected from the sultry winds of the desert, rich harvests ripen.

Various winds have a great influence on the climate.

Here are some examples.

Constant winds - northeast trade winds - give rise to a more powerful current in the Atlantic Ocean near the equator. The wind drives huge masses of water to the shores of North America. This water enters the Gulf of Mexico (Caribbean Sea) and from here, having described an arc, goes first near the coast of North America, and then through a narrow strait between Florida and Cuba goes out into the open ocean. Combining with the Antilles current, this water gives the most powerful current in the world - the Gulf Stream.

The Gulf Stream reaches the shores of Europe and brings here the warmth of the south. The mild climate of the northwestern part of Europe is created mainly by the warm waters of the Gulf Stream.

The warm climate of Western Europe also depends to a large extent on the fact that southwestern winds from the ocean are frequent here, bringing heat and moisture with them.

The Indian Ocean monsoons regulate all agricultural activities in India and Pakistan. In winter - from mid-December to the end of May - a dry northeast wind blows here - the winter monsoon. At this time, the weather is dry and clear. From June, the summer monsoon begins - a humid southwestern ocean wind. There are heavy rains all over India. The harvest in the country depends on these rains. If the monsoon rains begin later than usual (June) or end earlier, crop failure and famine are inevitable.

Southeasterly winds, which blow in the summer months in Primorye (Far East) and represent the summer monsoon, bring large amounts of precipitation. Thanks to this, the summer here is always very rainy; From June to September, 2/3 of all precipitation falls in Vladivostok in a year.

Local winds also have a significant impact on the climate. So, in many countries, in mountainous regions, sultry dry winds - foehns - blow from time to time. Fans sharply increase the air temperature, large masses of snow melt in a short time.

Hair dryers are well known in the Alps and the Caucasus. In winter, this wind in the Caucasus raises the temperature sometimes up to 25 degrees Celsius!

The “chinook” wind blowing on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains (America), which is related in nature to the hair dryer, is so hot and dry that under its sultry breath a thick layer of snow evaporates without turning into water!

We have given only a few examples of what the wind does in nature. The impact of the wind on our lives is far from being limited to what has been said. We must not, for example, forget that none other than the wind purifies the air we breathe.

The wind carries moisture around the globe. Powerful air currents bring moisture to dry, waterless areas. How great is the work of the wind in carrying water over the Earth, can be seen from the fact that every second on the globe falls at least 15 million tons of atmospheric precipitation!

Thus, the wind produces a huge mechanical work in nature.

Author: Karmishin A.V.

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