Aero-Terms!

Aero-Terms are designed to be a daily reminder of the terms, names, acronyms and explanations of the unique language that populates the aviation world. Aerospace, sport aviation, fixed wing, helo, you name it... it's all fair game.

Aero-Terms should serve as a quick but intriguing reminder of the terms you may use every day, or an introduction to an aspects of the Aero-World you may not yet be familiar with. ANN also encourages readers to go beyond the FMI link, and further research any intriguing terms.

Suggestions for future Aero-Terms are ALWAYS welcome, as are additions or discussion of the explanations given for each Aero-Term.

Walker Circulation

A deep east-west overturning in the atmosphere normally confined to within about 20 degrees latitude of the equator extending from low-levels to near the tropopause.
One side of the Walker Circulation is associated with rising motion, clouds, and rain while the opposite side with sinking motion, generally fair weather and little or no rain. This circulation is large in spatial extend normally extending anywhere from way around the world or completely around the world (thus either 1 or 2 upward and 1 or 2 downward branches to the circulation).

The rising and sinking branches are climatologically anchored to specific geographical locations, but these locations are seasonally dependent. In winter the the rising branch is centered near the "maritime continent" of greater Indonesia while in summer it is centered near southern India. The sinking branches are generally found in the eastern equatorial Pacific in winter and summer. Sub-branches of rising motion are generally tied to equatorial areas of South America and Africa in summer.

FMI: www.weather.gov