The wind rose symbol is in the shape of a circle. The invention is attributed to the Mallorcan Ramon Llull but it is said that it belonged to Pliny the Elder, as it was said in the old book II.
- In the so-called navigation charts there are a total of thirty-two diamonds that are joined at the ends and one of them indicates the course of the horizon on the circle. Above is the fleur de Lis and it is intended to represent the north.
- The wind rose is also recognized as the nautical rose and is a marine instrument that is used in navigation charts to represent the circumference of the horizon by using the 32 rhombuses joined at their ends.
- How to know the direction? To know how we should look at it and follow the course, you have to look at the wind rose and follow the number or the angle they have.
- You can see a clear and well-representative example in the Tower of Hercules that is in La Coruña (Galicia). There is the Rose of the eight winds.
- In ancient times, the navigators, mainly the Arabs of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, followed the Rose of the Winds to navigate the seas. They did not follow the winds as they are supposed to if we pay attention to the movies… No, the truth is that they followed the wind rose to guide themselves.
- What they used specifically was the rose with 32 points – all this before the end of the 10th century.
Instructions
- The four cardinal points are: are N (North), S (South), E (East), and O/W (West).
- To identify these points we can also use our bodies to be able to refer to know what they are.
- How to do it with our own body? You have to orient yourself in front of the North, if you turn back it would be the South, to the right the East, and to the left the West.
- The wind rose is divided into 6400 parts. This course is called “mil angle indication” also known as “artillery mils”.
- The scheme is represented and appears in magnetic compasses or compasses and therefore help to orient yourself.
What do you need
To follow the North: it will be necessary to look at the compass at 0º and 360º to the north. Always clockwise.
If we go clockwise, clockwise, it is divided into many parts, specifically into no more and no less than six thousand four hundred parts.
To orient themselves they were based on the positions of the stars. To the north always the northern hemisphere following the famous Polar star, the best known. And it was the one that set the course and to be able to take from there, the remaining directions.
The southern pole star is Sigma Octantis, but it is too faint to see easily with the naked eye. There are other sidereal points (specifically there are thirty points) and they are determined by the ortho and by the positioning of the fifteen stars that are very bright in the northern hemisphere. To read from North to South, they are guided by the sunrise and sunset positions.
The scheme is represented and appears in magnetic compasses or compasses and therefore help to orient yourself.
The 4 points are known as the cardinal points and these are the lateral directions. Always with the predominant cardinal point.
- NE: Northeast.
- SE: Southeast.
- SW: Southwest.
- NO: Northwest.
There are 8 points that are called collateral courses and they locate the distance between what is the cardinal point and the lateral points. The names are obtained after making the combination of the cardinal point that is farthest and the one that is closest. That is why the point that goes from North to Northwest is called Northwest (example).
- NNE: Northeast.
- ENE: Eastnortheast.
- ESE: Eastsoutheast.
- SSE: South-Southeast.
- SSO: South-Southwest.
- BEAR: Westsouthwest.
- WNW: West-Northwest.
- NNO: North-northwest.
Tips
As a curiosity, did you know that airports are based on the design of the Wind Rose?
- To be able to make sure, there are many studies that they carry out with the wind and air. Yes, as is… with this, what they find out is at what intensity and direction the air flows in those parts. Obviously, this is not a joke and they cannot take it lightly, since the lives of thousands of people are at stake. For several years they carry out multiple tests and calculate them daily even many times.
- When making an image and representing it, it is done with a so-called diagram that has the shape/image with concentric circles. They carry radios to scale the frequencies and the observations go each way. This diagram is called the wind rose.
- The wind rose has also been in fashion for some time to wear as tattoos and try to capture the meaning on the skin.
- There are many ways to orient yourself. For example; The best known is to be guided by the stars, the position of the sun, the shadows, the position of the moon, the features in nature, etc. But despite everything, everything has in common that the wind rose is represented by four to thirty-two cardinal points.