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trade winds Relatively permanent winds on each side of the doldrums, blowing from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisphere. Sometimes shortened to "trades." See G216. The circulation pattern that gives rise to the trade winds was first explained by George Hadley in 1735. See ART-10 on global winds. The tradewind belt extends poleward from the doldrums (near the Equator) to about 30° latitude or so, with much variation in location and steadiness to the winds along the extremes. G187 illustrates the tell-tale signs of the tradewinds. See also global winds and antitrades. See the World Atlas under Global Winds for a pictorial presentation and more details on climatic locations, speeds and directions. See also AM-1202.

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