In global circulation, _______ move toward the equator and are deflected by the Coriolis effect.
A. westerlies
B. trade winds
C. polar easterlies
D. subtropic winds
my answer is b.
6 answers
Yes, b.
thanks!
You're welcome.
Well, yes:
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/kits/currents/05currents2.html
Coriolis effect is really just conservation of angular momentum though. I do not think of it as a defection force but merely a continuation of its motion over a spinning earth.
One way to look at it is that if air rises over the hot equator, new air comes in from the North in the northern hemisphere to replace it. However the earth is spinning toward the East (sunrise) and as the radius from the spin axis is less in the far north than at the equator, that air is not moving as fast east as the earth is as it approaches the equator. Therefore it is left behind, to the west, of an observer near the equator and looks like a steady wind from the East, a trade wind if you will.
By the way you can figure out why hurricane winds are counterclockwise around a low pressure in the Northern hemisphere the same way.
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/kits/currents/05currents2.html
Coriolis effect is really just conservation of angular momentum though. I do not think of it as a defection force but merely a continuation of its motion over a spinning earth.
One way to look at it is that if air rises over the hot equator, new air comes in from the North in the northern hemisphere to replace it. However the earth is spinning toward the East (sunrise) and as the radius from the spin axis is less in the far north than at the equator, that air is not moving as fast east as the earth is as it approaches the equator. Therefore it is left behind, to the west, of an observer near the equator and looks like a steady wind from the East, a trade wind if you will.
By the way you can figure out why hurricane winds are counterclockwise around a low pressure in the Northern hemisphere the same way.
Thanks again...
You are welcome :)
1 answer