why does the region of wind near the equator have little or no wind?

Question

answer quick ,please i forgot my science book

Answer 1

You mean the Intertropical Convergence Zone, or ITCZ. It is the convergence zone of the Hadley Cell to the north and the Hadley Cell to the south. At the equator, the southerly moving winds in the north collide, sort of anyway, with the northerly moving winds from the south, creating a stagnation point, sort of, at the equator.

Colloquially, the ITCZ is called the doldrums, the band of lower winds farther to the north and south is called the horse latitudes (supposedly because early sailing ships threw the horses overboard when they were becalmed and running short of provisions). The horse latitudes form for the same reason as the ITCZ, except these are the convergence zones of the Hadley cells and the Ferrell Cell.

If you google any of those terms you will get lots more information.

Answer 2

In the equatorial low pressure belt, the pressure gradient is very weak.Moreover the trade winds from both hemisphere meet here cancelling each other's strength and rise as convection current.So this has become a region of calm winds called Doldrums.

Answer 3

i assume your talking about the doldrums, they're not really near the equator but around 25-30 degrees latitude. this is because of a belt of high pressure in that region that circles the globe in both the N and S hemispheres.

also in general theres less wind in the tropics because theres less of a temperature gradient from south to north than outside of the tropics.