Do you ever wonder why cyclones, hurricanes, or tornadoes move in a definite pattern? Have you ever noticed that when you are on a merry-go-round and you throw an object at the person sitting opposite to you, the object doesn’t reach them?
The answer to these questions lies in the understanding of the Coriolis Effect.
What Is The Coriolis Effect?
The path of deflection of any object that is
moving across long distances around the earth and not steadily connected to the
land is traced by the Coriolis effect. In other words, the Coriolis effect
dictates the path of the trajectory of such objects.
The Coriolis effect arises due to the Earth's
rotation and is responsible for many wide-ranging weather patterns. The pace of
the earth's rotation at the equator is much faster than the pace at poles. At
the equator, the speed of rotation is nearly 1,600 kilometers per hour whereas
at poles it is just 0.00008 kilometers per hour.
Trajectory In The Coriolis Effect
Suppose you are standing at the equator and
your friend is standing in the middle of North America. Now if you throw a ball
to him in a straight line, the ball will appear to land to the right of him as
he is moving slower and hence, he has not caught up yet.
Now imagine yourself standing at the north
pole. When you throw a ball to your friend it will again land to the right of
him but this time you are moving slow (as you are standing on the pole) and he
is moving fast. Thus, he has to move ahead of the ball. Wherever, in the
northern hemisphere, you play such a global-catch game, the ball will always
deflect to the right due to the Coriolis effect.
When fluids, such as air current, are moving
across a wide range, they are likely to take the path of the ball. If they are
in the northern hemisphere, they will bend towards the right and if they are in
the southern hemisphere, they will bend towards the left. Coriolis effect
behaves opposite in northern and southern hemispheres.
The influence of the Coriolis effect is dependent upon or defined by two factors:
- The velocity of rotation of the earth
- The velocity of the object or fluid that is under the influence of the Coriolis effect.
The significance of the impression of the
Coriolis effect is high with high speeds and long distances.
Relation of Coriolis Effect with Cyclones and Weather
Patterns
The occurrence of weather patterns like
cyclones, hurricanes, tornadoes, and trade winds are some examples of the
effect of Coriolis effect in nature. The center of the cyclone is called the
'eye' through which a cyclone sucks the air in it as it is a low-pressure
system.
If the cyclone is present in the northern
hemisphere, a Low-pressure system would be passed to their right due to the
fluids from the high-pressure system. Being a low-pressure system, the cyclone
would pull air currents inside it through the eye.
These air currents are deflected and the storm
system- a cyclone or hurricane, seems to move counter-clockwise. If the cyclone
is present in the southern hemisphere, the air currents will be deflected to
the left. Thus, the cyclone would like it is rotating clockwise.
There are other implications of the Coriolis
effect outside the storm system. One such implication is the wind pattern
around the globe. For example, when warm air rises around the equator, it
starts to move towards the poles.
If these warm currents are in the northern
hemisphere, they will be deflected to the east (right) while moving northward.
At about 30 degrees north latitude, the currents will descend back to the
ground.
The current will slowly move from the
northeast to the southwest as it descends back to the equator. These constant
circulating paths/patterns of the air are known as trade winds.
Many fast-moving objects that impact the weather patterns such as rockets, airplanes, etc. are also influenced by the Coriolis effect. Coriolis effect largely dictates the directions of prevailing winds and pilots take the Coriolis effect into account when they chart flight paths over long distances.
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