west to east for the wind

The term planetary winds can be defined in different ways:

--Planetary wind can refer to any wind system of the earth's atmosphere which owes its existence and direction to solar radiation and to the rotation of the earth.

--Planetary wind can refer to major winds that affect great portions of the earth rather than just local winds.

--Planetary wind can also refer to gas loss from a planet into space, when the hydrodynamic wind in the upper portion of the planet's atmosphere allows light chemical elements to move up to the exobase. Those gases can then achieve escape velocity.

Janet G. Luhmann has written:

'Co-investigator participation in the Mars-94 mission studies of the Mars-solar wind interaction' -- subject(s): Magnetometers, Magnetotails, Mars atmosphere, Mars probes, Mission planning, Orbital mechanics, Plasma interactions, Russian space program, Solar wind velocity

'[An investigation of solar wind effects on the evolution of the Martian atmosphere]' -- subject(s): Mars atmosphere, Photochemical reactions, Planetary evolution, Solar planetary interactions, Solar wind

'Solar wind effects on atmospheres of the weakly magnetized bodies--Mars, Titan, and the moon' -- subject(s): Mission planning, Planetary atmospheres, Planetary magnetic fields, Plasmas (Physics), Solar planetary interactions, Solar wind, Space plasmas

Earth's rotation and unequal heating of earth's surface

winds diverge and air sinks