What are planetary winds?

Planetary Winds

Planetary or permanent winds blow from high-pressure belts to low-pressure belts in the same direction throughout the year. They blow over a vast area of continents and oceans. They are easterly and westerlies and polar easterlies.

• Easterlies: The winds that blow from subtropical high-pressure areas towards equatorial low-pressure areas called trade or easterly winds. As the trade winds tend to blow mainly from the east, they are also known as the Tropical easterlies.
• The Westerlies: The winds that move poleward from the sub-tropical high pressure in the northern hemisphere are detected to the right and thus blow from the southwest. These in the southern hemisphere are deflected to the left and blow from the northwest. Thus, these winds are called westerlies.
• Polar Easterlies: Polar easterlies blow from polar regions towards sub-polar low-pressure regions. Their direction in the northern hemisphere is from north-east to southwest and from south-east to north-west in the southern hemisphere.

Further Reading:

• Atmospheric Pressure
• Pressure Belts of the Earth