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Outside storm systems, the impact of the Coriolis effect helps define regular wind patterns around the globe. As warm air rises near the Equator, for instance, it flows toward the poles. In the Northern Hemisphere, these warm air currents are deflected to the right (east) as they move northward.
The Coriolis Effect influences wind patterns, which in turn dictate how ocean currents move. Imagine wind near the equator flowing to the north. That wind starts with a certain speed due to Earth’s rotation (near the equator, Earth rotates at a speed of roughly 1,600 kilometers per hour (1,000 miles per hour) from west to east). As the wind ...
The Coriolis effect causes equatorial-bound winds to curve to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern hemisphere. This is the reason why hurricanes in the northern hemisphere rotate counterclockwise, but in the southern hemisphere, they rotate clockwise.
The Coriolis effect also helps shape regular wind patterns. For example, warm air near the Equator flows toward the poles . In the Northern Hemisphere , these warm air currents are deflected to the right, or east, as they move northward.
Outside of storm systems, the Coriolis effect also helps define regular wind patterns around the globe. As warm air rises near the Equator , for instance, it flows toward the poles . In the Northern Hemisphere , these warm air currents are deflected to the right, or east, as they move northward.
The Coriolis effect also has an impact on regular winds. For example, as warm air rises near the Equator , it flows toward the poles . In the Northern Hemisphere , these warm air currents move to the right as they travel north.
As these currents flow westward, the Coriolis effect —a force that results from the rotation of the Earth—deflects them. The currents then bend to the right, heading north. At about 30 degrees north latitude, a different set of winds, the westerlies, push the currents back to the east, producing a closed clockwise loop.
In real life, the Coriolis effect has a large effect on the weather. It changes how winds blow. It makes winds bend to the right in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, it makes them bend left. It also causes cyclones. These are large, rotating masses of air.
The actual paths of winds—and of ocean currents, which are pushed by wind—are partly a result of the Coriolis effect. The Coriolis effect is named after Gustave Coriolis, the 19th-century French mathematician who first explained it. The key to the Coriolis effect lies in the Earth’s rotation.
The Coriolis effect makes wind systems twist counter-clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. The Coriolis effect causes some winds to travel along the edges of the high-pressure and low-pressure systems.