Pressure gradient the air to make it move as wind. Note that the pressure gradient force points from high towards low pressure zones, it is thus oriented in the opposite direction from the pressure gradient itself. Sound waves and shock waves are events that can induce very large pressure gradients, but these are often transitory disturbances. In acoustics the pressure gradient is proportional to the sound particle acceleration according to Euler's equation. Pressure gradient In atmospheric science (meteorology, climatology and related fields), the pressure gradient (typically of air, more generally of any fluid) is a physical quantity that describes in which direction
High-pressure area neighboring regions. These Highs change character and weaken once they move further over relatively warmer water bodies. Somewhat weaker but more common are high-pressure areas caused by atmospheric subsidence, that is, areas where large masses of cooler drier air descend from an elevation of 8 to 15 km after the lower temperatures have precipitated out the water vapor. Many of the features of Highs may be understood in context of middle- or meso-scale and relatively enduring dynamics of a planet's atmospheric circulation. For example, massive atmospheric subsidences occur as part of the descending branches of Ferrel cells and Hadley cells.