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GCSE Geography · key term
A change in wind speed or direction with height. Low wind shear allows a tropical cyclone's storm clouds to remain vertically organised.
Used by AQA, Edexcel and OCR
Specification 3.1.1.3 · Paper 1
A change in wind speed or direction with height. Low vertical wind shear allows a tropical storm's rising clouds to remain organised.
Revise: Tropical Storms: Formation, Structure and Climate ChangeLow vertical wind shear allows the thunderclouds to grow upwards without being disrupted. Sufficient distance from the equator allows the Coriolis effect to support rotation.
Specification 2.5 · Paper 1
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A change in wind speed or direction with height. Low wind shear allows a tropical cyclone's thunderstorms to remain organised above its surface circulation.
The storm also needs moist air, converging surface winds, sufficient distance from the equator and low wind shear. If winds change greatly with height, they can disrupt the developing storm rather than allowing its thunderclouds to build vertically.
Paper 1
Revise: Global Distribution and the Role of Atmospheric CirculationLow wind shear allows the storm clouds to grow upwards without being strongly disrupted by changes in wind with height. The developing system must also be sufficiently far from the equator for the Coriolis effect to provide rotation. This effect is too weak at the equator, which explains why the warmest equatorial waters are not automatically cyclone source areas.
A change in wind speed or direction with height in the atmosphere.
Specification 1.1a · Paper 1, Paper 3
A change in wind speed or direction with height. Low wind shear helps a tropical storm remain organised.
Revise: Causes of Tropical Storms and El Niño/La NiñaStorms also need low wind shear: winds must not change too greatly in speed or direction with height. Strong wind shear can disrupt the developing system rather than allowing its storm clouds to remain organised above the surface circulation.