How do horizontal winds cause air to rise or sink? What is the significance of this vertical motion?

Answer 1

Vertical movement of water or air causes Ekman spirals to develop. The vertical, cone-shaped spiral destabilizes and mixes adjacent layers of air which then either rise or sink because the density of the air changes from mixing. This process is part of the driving force in the development of thunderclouds, tornadoes, and hurricanes because it accelerates vertical mixing when air masses with different densities meet.

Answer 2

Well rising and sinking air has a a lot to do with the temperature of the air. Hot air rises and cold air sinks. This circulation is important to weather patterns and how heat is distributed around the Earth. Look up Hadley, Polar, and Ferrel cells.

Answer 3

Vertical motion in the air column is not caused by winds. It is caused either by surface or radiative heating, and the rate of rise or sink is determined by the level of water saturation and temperature difference.

Rapid vertical motion, or instability, gives rise to cloud formation and precipitation.

Answer 4

The horizontal flow of surface air can be lifted to higher altitudes by, 1. being heated (warm air rises) as it travels over warm land or warmed by the sun, 2. being diverted to the vertical as the flow meets geological features like hills and mountains, and, 3. warm breezes can be lifted as they "bump up against" a mass of cooler air (cool air is denser than warmer air).

"So what?", you ask. If the rising air has enough moisture in it, clouds are formed when it reaches the critical altitude where cooler temperatures prevail. When enough clouds form, rain may fall out of them. Within clouds, especially big, thick ones, currents of air rise and fall as they are warmed and cooled. As warm air rises it cools , then warms on the way down. All of these up and down drafts contribute to the instability of the air which can lead to more rain, snow, hail, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, etc.

Other than that, rising and sinking air has no significance to our daily lives whatsoever. Afterall, its just air. ;o)