PLANETARY WINDS

In this session, I now finally understand how the earth’s tilt is so important. The fact that the earth is tilted on its axis is what's responsible for giving us different seasons. And it's why the southern hemisphere is getting ready for winter at the same time the northern hemisphere is heading into summer. I never understood why the seasons happened in the way that they did but this was actually a mind-blowing experience. Atmospheric circulation is the large-scale movement of air by which heat is distributed on the surface of the Earth. The wind belts and the jet streams girdling the planet are steered by three convection cells: the Hadley cell, the Ferrel cell, and the Polar cell. These cells contribute so much to the weather and climate of the various regions of the world. Therefore knowing these cells can make any learner understand simple weather forecast as well as determine the atmospheric conditions at any given time. Wind is caused by differences in the atmospheric pressure. When a difference in atmospheric pressure exists, air moves from the higher to the lower pressure area, resulting in winds of various speeds. On a rotating planet, air will also be deflected by the Coriolis effect, except exactly on the equator. This expression so meant in a previous geography course so it brought back some memory. Who knew that winds could be so important to us? After this session, I now have acquired how more knowledge than before and can now apply this to make lessons when teaching this topics as well as the various activities to engage my students’ interest.

As a prospective teacher, knowing all this content about winds and the atmosphere is very important. As a teacher in training, I would share this knowledge to my students so they to can understand how the Earth works and how they it can relate to the causes of weather and climate. These winds help the seasons that we know, and gives account for the various natural disasters like thunderstorms, cyclones and hurricanes, everything in geography works hand in hand and are connected in one way or the other. My love for geography has grown over the years and my thinking and perception has changed since geography is everywhere and in everything.