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The Coriolis effect strongly affects the large-scale oceanic and atmospheric circulation, leading to the formation of robust features like jet streams and western boundary currents. Such features are in geostrophic balance, meaning that the Coriolis and pressure gradient forces balance each other.
The atmospheric circulation can be viewed as a heat engine driven by the Sun's energy and whose energy sink, ultimately, is the blackness of space. The work produced by that engine causes the motion of the masses of air, and in that process it redistributes the energy absorbed by the Earth's surface near the tropics to the latitudes nearer the ...
In meteorology, air currents are concentrated areas of winds. They are mainly due to differences in atmospheric pressure or temperature . They are divided into horizontal and vertical currents; both are present at mesoscale while horizontal ones dominate at synoptic scale .
If the Earth were tidally locked to the Sun, solar heating would cause winds across the mid-latitudes to blow in a poleward direction, away from the subtropical ridge. . However, the Coriolis effect caused by the rotation of Earth tends to deflect poleward winds eastward from north (to the right) in the Northern Hemisphere and eastward from south (to the left) in the Southern Hemisph
A geostrophic current is an oceanic current in which the pressure gradient force is balanced by the Coriolis effect. The direction of geostrophic flow is parallel to the isobars, with the high pressure to the right of the flow in the Northern Hemisphere, and the high pressure to the left in the Southern Hemisphere.
The strong atmospheric circulation in the autumn, combined with significant areas of open water, demonstrates the effect that wind stress has directly on the surface geostrophic currents. [36] The Beaufort Gyre and the Transpolar Drift are interconnected due to their relationship in their role in transporting sea ice across the Arctic Ocean.
In atmospheric science, geostrophic flow (/ ˌ dʒ iː ə ˈ s t r ɒ f ɪ k, ˌ dʒ iː oʊ-,-ˈ s t r oʊ-/ [1] [2] [3]) is the theoretical wind that would result from an exact balance between the Coriolis force and the pressure gradient force. This condition is called geostrophic equilibrium or geostrophic balance (also known as geostrophy).
The Ekman spiral occurs as a consequence of the Coriolis effect. The Ekman spiral is an arrangement of ocean currents: the directions of horizontal current appear to twist as the depth changes. [1] The oceanic wind driven Ekman spiral is the result of a force balance created by a shear stress force, Coriolis force and the water drag. This force ...