Word: circumpolar
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Waves Around the World. If the earth were a smooth sphere, the circumpolar wind might flow in a neat circle following the parallels of latitude. But the earth is ridged with mountains and mottled with alternate patches of land and ocean. These blemishes scallop the great wind into snakelike, horizontal waves whose southern lobes sometimes reach the tropics. On the western sides of the waves the wind aloft blows toward the southeast, carrying with it masses of cold northern air. On the eastern sides the wind blows toward the northeast, carrying tropical air into the temperate zone. When two such...