Doldrums
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The Doldrums, also called the "equatorial calms", is a nautical term for the intertropical convergence zone, with special reference to the light and variable nature of the winds.[1] It affects areas of the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean that are within the Intertropical Convergence Zone, a low-pressure area around the equator, where the prevailing winds are calm. The low pressure is caused by the heat at the equator, which makes the air rise and travel north and south high in the atmosphere, until it subsides again in the horse latitudes. Some of that air returns to the Doldrums through the trade winds. This process can lead to light or variable winds and more severe weather, in the form of heavy squalls, thunderstorms and hurricanes.
[edit] Reputation
This region is also noted for calm periods when the winds disappear altogether, or are light and shifting. Hurricanes originate in this region. Because of the unpredictable weather patterns, the Doldrums became notorious with sailors because this region's periods of deadly calm could trap ships for days or weeks on end as they waited for enough wind to power their sails.
Even today the doldrums have a nasty reputation and may cause unexpected delays for the circumnavigators. Yachts may get stuck to the intertropical convergence zone for days for seeking suitable winds.
[edit] In language
In colloquial usage, "being in the doldrums" refers to being in a state of listlessness, despondency, inactivity, stagnation, or a slump, as characterised in Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner:
All in a hot and copper sky,
The bloody Sun, at noon,
Right up above the mast did stand,
No bigger than the Moon.
Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.
[edit] References
- ^ "Doldrums". Glossary of Meteorology. American Meteorological Society. http://amsglossary.allenpress.com/glossary/search?p=1&query=doldrums. Retrieved 2009-06-04.
