The etesians ( or ; ; sometimes found in the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

form etesiae), meltemia (; pl. of meltemi), or meltem ( Turkish) are the strong, dry north winds of the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans and Anatolia, and covers an area of some . In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea, which in turn con ...

, which blow periodically from about mid-May to mid-September. The Etesian winds are a dominant weather influence in the Aegean Basin. They are at their strongest in the afternoon and often die down at night, but sometimes etesian winds last for days without a break. Similar winds blow in the

Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...

and Ionian regions. Etesian winds are dangerous to

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. While the term ''sailor'' ...

s because they come up in clear weather without warning and can blow at force 7–8 on the

Beaufort scale The Beaufort scale ( ) is an empirical measure that relates wind speed to observed conditions at sea or on land. Its full name is the Beaufort wind force scale. It was devised in 1805 by Francis Beaufort a hydrographer in the Royal Navy. It ...

. Some

yacht A yacht () is a sail- or marine propulsion, motor-propelled watercraft made for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a ...

s and most inter-island

ferries A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus. ...

cannot sail under such conditions. However, they often provide a good, steady

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, Windsurfing, windsurfer, or Kitesurfing, kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (Land sa ...

wind favored by leisure sailors. The word ''etesian'' ultimately derives from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

word ''etos'' "year", connoting the yearly fluctuation in frequency of appearance of these winds. Etesians have been described since ancient times; their Turkish and the Modern Greek names are probably a

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

from

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

''mal tempo'' 'bad weather'. Though it is sometimes called a

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...

wind, the meltemi is dry and does not correspond to an opposite wind in the winter. However, the etesians are distantly correlated with the summer monsoons of the Indian subcontinent, as it is a

trough Trough may refer to: In science * Trough (geology), a long depression less steep than a trench * Trough (meteorology), an elongated region of low atmospheric pressure * Trough (physics), the lowest point on a wave * Trough level (medicine), the l ...

of low pressure into the Eastern Mediterranean region that enforces, if not causes, the etesians to blow in summer. Etesians are due chiefly to the deep continental depression centered over southwest Asia and blow from a direction which may be anywhere between north-east and north-west depending on local topography; etesian winds weather is ordinarily fine and clear, the northerly winds tempering the, at times, fierce summer heat of the region. In the Northern Aegean sea, the etesians blow as winds of northeasterly to northerly direction. Moving south, in the central Aegean, they blow as winds of northerly direction, while in the southern Aegean, the Cretan and the Carpathian sea, they blow as northwesterlies. The same winds blow in

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

as westerlies to southwesterlies, being more humid. Historically,

Philip II of Macedon Philip II of Macedon (; 382 BC – October 336 BC) was the king (''basileus'') of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedonia from 359 BC until his death in 336 BC. He was a member of the Argead dynasty, founders of the ...

timed his military operations so that powerful southern fleets could not reach him: their ships could sail north only very slowly while the etesian winds were blowing.

References

* C.Michael Hogan. 2011
''Aegean Sea''. Eds. P.Saundry & C.J.Cleveland. Encyclopedia of Earth. National Council for Science and the Environment. Washington DC
*

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

online, 2007

External links

{{Commons category
Etesian winds - SailingIssues
Winds Sailing Climate of Greece

See also

References

External links