High-pressure area

The direction of wind flow around an atmospheric high-pressure area, as seen from above, depends on the hemisphere. High-pressure systems rotate clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. A simple rule is that for high-pressure areas, where generally air flows from the center outward, the coriolis force given by the earth's rotation to the air circulation is in the opposite direction of earth's apparent rotation if viewed from above the hemisphere's pole. These results derive from the Coriolis effect. In the Southern Hemisphere the result is similar. Australia and the southern cone of South America get hot, dry summer weather from the subtropical ridge and cooler wetter winter weather as cold fronts from the southern oceans take over. The term cyclone was coined by Henry Piddington of the British East India Company to describe the devastating storm of December 1789 in Coringa, India. A cyclone forms around a low-pressure area. Anticyclone, the term for the kind of weather around a high-pressure area, was coined in 1877 by Francis Galton. ==Formation==

on 21 October 2006. High pressure areas are labeled "H". High-pressure areas form due to downward motion through the troposphere, the atmospheric layer where weather occurs. Preferred areas within a synoptic flow pattern in higher levels of the troposphere are beneath the western side of troughs. On weather maps, these areas show converging winds (isotachs), also known as convergence, near or above the level of non-divergence, which is near the 500 hPa pressure surface about midway up through the troposphere, and about half the atmospheric pressure at the surface. High pressure systems are also called anticyclones. On English-language weather maps, high-pressure centers are identified by the letter H in English, within the isobar with the highest pressure value. On constant pressure upper level charts, it is located within the highest height line contour. ==Typical conditions==

Highs are frequently associated with light winds at the surface and subsidence through the lower portion of the troposphere. In general, subsidence will dry out an air mass by adiabatic, or compressional, heating. Thus, high pressure typically brings clear skies. During the day, since no clouds are present to reflect sunlight, there is more incoming shortwave solar radiation and temperatures rise. At night, the absence of clouds means that outgoing longwave radiation (i.e. heat energy from the surface) is not absorbed, giving cooler diurnal low temperatures in all seasons. When surface winds become light, the subsidence produced directly under a high-pressure system can lead to a buildup of particulates in urban areas under the ridge, leading to widespread haze. If the low level relative humidity rises towards 100 percent overnight, fog can form. Strong, vertically shallow high-pressure systems moving from higher latitudes to lower latitudes in the northern hemisphere are associated with continental arctic air masses. Once arctic air moves over an unfrozen ocean, the air mass modifies greatly over the warmer water and takes on the character of a maritime air mass, which reduces the strength of the high-pressure system. When extremely cold air moves over relatively warm oceans, polar lows can develop. However, warm and moist (or maritime tropical) air masses that move poleward from tropical sources are slower to modify than arctic air masses. == In climatology ==

carries heat and moisture from the tropics towards the northern and southern mid-latitudes. It deposits drier air, contributing to the world's great deserts. The horse latitudes, or torrid zone, ==Connection to wind==

Atmospheric air flows from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure resulting in wind. Since stronger high-pressure systems contain cooler or drier air, the air mass is more dense and flows towards areas that are warm or moist where air is less dense and atmospheric pressure at the surface is lower. The larger the pressure difference between a high-pressure system and a low-pressure system, the higher the wind speed. The coriolis force caused by the Earth's rotation is what gives winds within high-pressure systems their clockwise circulation in the northern hemisphere (as the wind moves outward and is deflected right from the center of high pressure) and counterclockwise circulation in the southern hemisphere (as the wind moves outward and is deflected left from the center of high pressure). Friction with land slows down the wind flowing out of high-pressure systems and causes wind to flow more outward than would be the case in the absence of friction. This results in the 'actual wind' or 'true wind', including ageostrophic corrections, which add to the geostrophic wind that is characterized by flow parallel to the isobars. == See also ==