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In physics, the Coriolis force is an inertial (or fictitious) force that acts on objects in motion within a frame of reference that rotates with respect to an inertial frame. In a reference frame with clockwise rotation, the force acts to the left of the motion of the object. In one with anticlockwise (or counterclockwise) rotation, the force ...
The Coriolis force acts at right angles to the flow, and when it balances the pressure gradient force, the resulting flow is known as geostrophic. As stated above, the direction of flow is 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 direction of ...
If the air began to move in response to that force, however, the Coriolis force would deflect it, to the right of the motion in the northern hemisphere or to the left in the southern hemisphere. As the air accelerated, the deflection would increase until the Coriolis force's strength and direction balanced the pressure gradient force, a state ...
The Coriolis effect causes cyclones and tropical storms to spin clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere, as opposed to anticlockwise in the Northern Hemisphere. [5] The southern temperate zone, a subsection of the Southern Hemisphere, is nearly all oceanic.
The Coriolis frequency ƒ, also called the Coriolis parameter or Coriolis coefficient, [1] is equal to twice the rotation rate Ω of the Earth multiplied by the sine of the latitude . The rotation rate of the Earth (Ω = 7.2921 × 10 −5 rad/s) can be calculated as 2 π / T radians per second, where T is the rotation period of the Earth which ...
Those cells exist in both the northern and southern hemispheres. The vast bulk of the atmospheric motion occurs in the Hadley cell. The high pressure systems acting on the Earth's surface are balanced by the low pressure systems elsewhere. As a result, there is a balance of forces acting on the Earth's surface.
These deviations are caused by the Coriolis force and conservation of potential vorticity which leads to changes of relative vorticity. This is analogous to conservation of angular momentum in mechanics. In planetary atmospheres, including Earth, Rossby waves are due to the variation in the Coriolis effect with latitude.
The Rossby number is the ratio of inertial force to Coriolis force, terms and in the Navier–Stokes equations respectively. [1][2] It is commonly used in geophysical phenomena in the oceans and atmosphere, where it characterizes the importance of Coriolis accelerations arising from planetary rotation. It is also known as the Kibel number.