Charles Sasop, age 8, of Long Island City, New York, for his question:

What are the trade winds?

The trade winds are children of the sun and the spinning earth. Over the equator the noon sun is directly overhead and the air becomes hot. Warm air rises and, over the equator, it is light and thin. The air north and south of the equatorial region flows in to replace this thin atmosphere. Moving air is wind, and the air moving from north and south towards the equator is the trade winds.

The spinning earth twists the trade winds. Those north of the equator blow from the northeast, those south of the equator blow from the southeast. The trades are most noticeable over the oceans, but they blow steadily day and night clear around the earth.

Find the equator on your globe. Now find latitudes 30 degrees north and 30 degrees south of the equator. From these latitudes the trade winds begin to blow towards the equator. Now find Jacksonville, Florida. You will see that every place in North America south of Jacksonville is in the trade wind belt north of the equator. Here the prevailing winds are from the northeast.