HORSE LATITUDE

either of two subtropical atmospheric high-pressure belts that encircle the Earth around latitudes 3035 N and 3035 S and that generate light winds and clear skies. Because they contain dry, subsiding air, they produce arid climates in the areas below them. The belts are best developed over the oceans; the Southern Hemisphere, which has more water area than the Northern, has the larger and more continuous belt. The belts contain several separate high-pressure cells and shift a few degrees away from the equator in summer. The horse latitudes were possibly named by the crews of sailing ships, who sometimes threw horses overboard to conserve water when their ships were becalmed in the high-pressure belts. The Northern Hemisphere belt is also called the calms of Cancer and the Southern Hemisphere belt the calms of Capricorn.