pl.n.
Either of two belts of latitudes located over the oceans at about 30° to 35° north and south, having high barometric pressure, calms, and light, changeable winds.
[Possibly from Spanish golfo de las yeguas, mares' sea.]
horse latitudes
| Dictionary: horse latitudes |
pl.n.
Either of two belts of latitudes located over the oceans at about 30° to 35° north and south, having high barometric pressure, calms, and light, changeable winds.
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| US Military Dictionary: horse latitudes |
A belt of calm air and sea occurring in both the northern and southern hemispheres between the trade winds and the westerlies.
See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.
| Geography Dictionary: horse latitude |
Those latitudes stretching from 30 to 35 ° North and South of the equator where winds are light and weather is stable and dry. The origin of this term is uncertain.
| Columbia Encyclopedia: horse latitudes |
horse latitudes, two belts of latitude where winds are light and the weather is hot and dry. They are located mostly over the oceans, at about 30° lat. in each hemisphere, and have a north-south range of about 5° as they follow the seasonal migration of the sun. The horse latitudes are associated with the subtropical anticyclone and the large-scale descent of air from high-altitude currents moving toward the poles. After reaching the earth's surface, this air spreads toward the equator as part of the prevailing trade winds or toward the poles as part of the westerlies. The belt in the Northern Hemisphere is sometimes called the "calms of Cancer" and that in the Southern Hemisphere the "calms of Capricorn." The term horse latitudes supposedly originates from the days when Spanish sailing vessels transported horses to the West Indies. Ships would often become becalmed in mid-ocean in this latitude, thus severely prolonging the voyage; the resulting water shortages would make it necessary for crews to throw their horses overboard.
| Boating Encyclopedia: Horse Latitudes |
Where sailing ships had to jettison their precious cargo
In the vicinity of latitudes 3° N and 30° S, on the outer edges of the trade-wind belt, there are areas of capricious light winds and calms known as the horse latitudes.The name is more commonly given to the area in the North Atlantic, where the effect is accentuated in summer. This area of comparatively high atmospheric pressure also used to be called the Calms of Cancer, after the nearby Tropic of Cancer.According to an eighteenth-century authority, the name “horse latitudes” was given to the area because sailing ships often began to run out of provisions and water in the calms. In the days when navies had to transport horses on sailing ships, each horse was allowed 1,350 pounds of stores and water every five days. When the supply ran out, the horses had to be killed
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| Wikipedia: Horse latitudes |
This article is about geographical area. For other uses, see Horse latitudes (disambiguation).
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This article or section appears to contradict itself about source of name. Please help fix this problem. |
Horse latitudes or Subtropical High are subtropic latitudes between 30 and 35 degrees both north and south. This region, under a ridge of high pressure called the subtropical high, is an area which receives little precipitation and has variable winds mixed with calm.
The term horse latitudes supposedly originates from when Spanish sailing vessels transported horses to the West Indies. Ships would often become becalmed in mid-ocean in this latitude, thus severely prolonging the voyage; the resulting water shortages would make it necessary for crews to throw their horses overboard.
The term might be derived from the "dead horse" ritual, a practice in which the seaman would parade a straw-stuffed effigy of a horse around the deck before throwing it overboard. Seamen were often paid partly in advance before a long voyage (see Beating a dead horse), and the "dead horse" was this period of time (usually a month or two). The ceremony was to celebrate having worked off the "dead horse" debt. As European west bound shipping would reach the subtropics at about the time the "dead horse" was worked off, the region became associated with the ceremony.[1]
The consistently warm, dry conditions of the horse latitudes also contribute to the existence of temperate deserts, such as the Sahara Desert in Africa, the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, and parts of the Middle East in the Northern Hemisphere, and the Atacama Desert, the Kalahari Desert, and the Australian Desert in the Southern Hemisphere.
See also
- Atmospheric circulation
- Circle of latitude
- Doldrums
- Horse Latitudes (book)
- Horse Latitudes (The Doors song)
- Intertropical convergence zone
- Subtropical ridge
References
- ^ Kemp, Peter. The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. Oxford University Press: London, 1976. p233, 399.
Sources
- The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Columbia University Press., 2003.
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| US Military Dictionary. The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. Copyright © 2001, 2002 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Geography Dictionary. A Dictionary of Geography. Copyright © Susan Mayhew 1992, 1997, 2004. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more |
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| Boating Encyclopedia. The Practical Encyclopedia of Boating. Copyright © 2003, 1994, 1989, 1984, 1978, 1976, 1974 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Horse latitudes". Read more |
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Mentioned in
- calm belt (meteorology)
- calms of Capricorn (meteorology)
- Trades, the
- calms of Cancer (meteorology)
- trade winds (in meteorology)
- Sargasso Sea (body of water, the Atlantic Ocean/West Indies)
- The Doors: The Best of the Doors (1997 Music Film)
- Horse Latitudes (1997 Album by The Promise Ring)
- Buy One Get Eleven Free (2001 Album by The Groobees)
- Falsetto Keeps Time (1996 Album by The Promise Ring)
- climate (in meteorology)
- Latitude (2004 Album by Groundtruther with Greg Osby)
- Subtracks (2006 Album by Massonix)
- Horse latitudes (disambiguation)
