easterly wave

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easterly wave A type of weak trough in a tropical easterly airflow, which has a wavelength generally of 2000–4000 km. Such waves occur, for example, over West Africa and in the Caribbean area, where they develop in summer and autumn with a weak or absent trade-wind inversion, and in the central Pacific, when the equatorial trough is displaced northwards. Disturbances in such waves often lead to tropical storms, which vary in intensity.

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