Editing Katabatic wind (section)

{{Short description|Downslope wind due to a high-density air}}
[[File:מכתש רמון - גלישת עננים (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=1.7|Plateau-cooled air falls into the [[Makhtesh Ramon]], traced by [[radiation fog]], just after dawn. Radiative cooling of the desert highlands chills the air, making it [[unstable stratification|more dense]] than the air over the lowlands. Cooler air can also [[relative humidity|hold less water vapour]]; it condenses out as tiny fog droplets, which re-evaporate as the air warms. Here, the falling air is warming [[adiabatically]], and so the fog re-evaporates as it falls.{{citation needed|date=August 2024}}]]
[[File:Vent catabatique - Catabatic Wind.jpg|thumb|upright=1.7|Katabatic wind in Antarctica]]

A '''katabatic wind''' (named {{etymology|grc|''{{wikt-lang|grc|κατάβασις}}'' ({{grc-transl|[[katabasis|κατάβασις]]}})|descent}}) is a downslope wind caused by the flow of an elevated, high-density air mass into a lower-density air mass below under the force of gravity. The spelling '''catabatic'''<ref>
{{cite book
| title = The NASA Scope and Subject Category Guide
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=IMLZAAAAMAAJ
| series = NASA SP
| volume = 7603
| publisher = National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Scientific and Technical Information Office, Center for Aerospace Information
| date = 2000
| page = 71
| access-date = 2018-01-17
| quote = Katabatic winds (also catabatic)
}}
</ref> is also used. Since air density is strongly dependent on temperature, the high-density air mass is usually cooler, and the katabatic winds are relatively cool or cold.

Examples of katabatic winds include the downslope [[Mountain breeze and valley breeze|valley and mountain breezes]], the [[piteraq]] winds of Greenland, the [[Bora (wind)|Bora]] in the [[Adriatic Sea|Adriatic]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Grisogono |first1=Branko |last2=BelušIć |first2=Danijel |date=January 2009 |title=A review of recent advances in understanding the meso- and microscale properties of the severe Bora wind |url=http://tellusa.net/index.php/tellusa/article/view/15531 |journal=Tellus A |language=en |volume=61 |issue=1 |pages=1–16 |doi=10.1111/j.1600-0870.2008.00369.x|bibcode=2009TellA..61....1G |url-access=subscription }}</ref> the [[Bohemian Wind]] or ''Böhmwind'' in the [[Ore Mountains]], the [[Santa Ana wind|Santa Ana winds]] in [[southern California]],  the [[oroshi]] in [[Japan]], or "the Barber" in [[New Zealand]].<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Wright |first1=Les |last2=Taonga |first2=New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu |title='The barber' |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/21007/the-barber |access-date=2024-12-22 |website=teara.govt.nz |language=en}}</ref>

Not all downslope winds are katabatic. For instance, winds such as the [[Foehn wind|föhn]] and [[Chinook wind|chinook]] are [[rain shadow]] winds where air driven upslope on the [[Windward and leeward|windward]] side of a mountain range drops its moisture and descends [[Windward and leeward|leeward]] drier and warmer.