GlobalScaleWinds创新.docVIP

Global Scale Winds Mariners of centuries ago were well aware of geographic regions that lacked winds and those regions with prevailing winds good for sailing. The route of Christopher Columbus first voyage across the Atlantic took advantage of prevailing wind directions. The Portuguese used steady northeast winds to sail to Africa more than 50 years before Christopher Columbus set sail on his journey. Columbus used these winds at the start of his voyage by sailing to the Canary Islands and then across the Atlantic. These ocean goers were also aware of the existence of westerly winds to the west of Portugal. They consistently experienced this wind pattern regardless of season. Mariners attempted to sail west from the Azores but were confronted by westerly winds-winds coming from the west blowing toward the east. Attempts to sail west from the Azores confronted mariners with westerly winds(winds coming from the west blowing toward the east. On his return voyage Columbus first sailed northward and then used these westerly winds in the middle latitudes to return to Spain. Nearly 3 and 1/2 centuries after Columbuss first voyage, the HMS Beagle sailed around the world making scientific observations. Throughout its five-year voyage, which carried Charles Darwin, the HMS Beagle took advantage of the prevailing wind directions to circle the world. The crossings of the Pacific and Indian Ocean occurred around 20(S where the winds are steady from the southeast direction. Both voyages relied on the power of the wind and so avoided the subtropical regions in the vicinity of 30(N and 30(S. Mariners knew the winds in these regions where light or calm over large regions of the subtropical oceans. Each of these regions is referred to as the horse latitudes, so named because horses where thrown overboard when vessels were becalmed in this region and the supply of drinking water was low. Centuries before Europeans were sailing to the “New World” the mid-Pacific islands (Polynesi