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EOSC 112: THE FLUID EARTH

EOSC 112: THE FLUID EARTH. Atm3 Read: Kump et al. Chap.4, p. 61-68 Why do weather / climate vary around the globe? Why is the response to a global climate perturbation not necessarily uniform around the globe? Objectives: To explain the Coriolis effect; T o describe Geostrophic balance ;

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EOSC 112: THE FLUID EARTH

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  1. EOSC 112: THE FLUID EARTH • Atm3 Read: Kump et al. Chap.4, p. 61-68 • Why do weather / climate vary around the globe? • Why is the response to a global climate perturbation not necessarily uniform around the globe? • Objectives: • To explain the Coriolis effect; • To describe Geostrophic balance; • To describe the general pattern of Global Winds on a rotating planet. CORIOLIS EFFECT AND GEOSTROPHY

  2. Hadley circulation • Hadley (1735): Warm Eq. => rising air & low p. Cold Pole => sinking air & high p Surface air flows from Pole to Eq. Upper air flows from Eq. to Pole. => Hadley cell Assumes: No rotation, no continents.

  3. Average Sea-level Pressure (July)

  4. 1. Coriolis effect on a rotating platform • Coriolis effect seen on a rotating platform, as 1 person throws a ball to another person.

  5. Coriolis effect on Earth • Coriolis “Force”: • directed at right angles to the airflow, • hence, affects only wind direction, not speed, • has magnitude proportional to wind speed, • maximum at poles, weakens toward equator.

  6. Relationship between Surfaces of Constant Elevation and Surfaces of Constant Pressure NH looking East 500mb 800mb Z=2km Equator Pole 800mb Top view at Z = 2 km 500mb Equator Top view of 800 mb surface 1.5km 2km 0.5km 1.9km 1km Pole

  7. 2. Geostrophic balance • P diff. => pressure gradient force (PGF) => air parcel moves => Coriolis force • Geostrophy = balance between PGF & Coriolis force

  8. PGF wind PGF wind Coriolis Coriolis N. Hem. S. Hem. • Approximate geostrophic balance for large-scale flow away from Equator • Why no geostrophic balance at Equator? • In N. Hem., geostrophic wind blows to the right of PGF • In S. Hem., geostrophic wind to left of PGF.

  9. Surface Cyclone • Low pressure cells are cyclones, (high pressure cells anticyclones). • Air driven towards the centre of a cyclone by the PGF gets deflected by the Coriolis “force” to spiral around the centre.

  10. 3. Global Winds on a rotating planet Comma-shaped cloud structure of a cyclone in temperate latitudes

  11. Role of Friction • Ground friction slows wind => CF weakens. • CF+friction balances PGF. • Surface wind tilted toward low pressure region.

  12. Vector addition for Geostrophic Balance with Friction Net sum of force vectors must be zero. For this to happen, surface wind must point slightly toward L. L PGF Surface Wind Coriolis Force H

  13. Convergence & divergence • Cyclone has convergence near ground but divergence at upper level. • Anticyclone: opposite of Cyclone.

  14. Average Sea-level Pressure (January)

  15. Global winds on a rotating planet

  16. The Jet Stream

  17. Global upper-level winds (300mb)

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