1 / 18

Wind

Wind. Wind is the general horizontal motion of air from one location to another based on differences in air pressure Air speed is measured by an anemometer Air movement is governed primarily by Pressure gradient force Coriolis force Friction force. What causes wind movement.

thor-schroeder
Download Presentation

Wind

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Wind • Wind is the general horizontal motion of air from one location to another based on differences in air pressure • Air speed is measured by an anemometer • Air movement is governed primarily by • Pressure gradient force • Coriolis force • Friction force

  2. What causes wind movement • Direction is governed by the path of least distance between high pressure and low pressure • Pressure gradient • Speed will increase if there is a larger difference between pressures • Steep pressure gradient

  3. RESULTANT WIND • FUNCTION OF 3 THINGS • PGF + CF + FRICTION • PGF AND CF ARE AT ODDS • FRICTION DEFLECTS WINDS SLIGHTLY IN FAVOR OF PGF • WHAT HAPPENS IN THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE?

  4. BIRD’S EYE VIEW NORTHERN HEMISPHERE H L

  5. H L Pressure gradient

  6. Pressure gradient

  7. The Coriolis Effect • When wind moves from zones of high pressure to zones of low pressure it veers due to earth rotation • To the right in the northern hemisphere • To the left in the southern hemisphere • Equator faster rotation than the poles • Demo – • http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/visualizations/es1904/es1904page01.cfm?chapter_no=visualization

  8. Remembering the direction of bend in the coriolis effect Bends to the right Bends to the left

  9. Effect of coriolis force • Strongest at higher latitudes • Weakest at the equator • The effect of coriolis increases with increasing windspeed • The combined effect of coriolis and pressure gradient force makes winds travel parallel to isobars = • Geostrophic Wind

  10. Friction force • Effects of surface friction occur to ~ 5000 ft above the ground • Cause winds to slow down and generally move across isobars • More pronounced when wind speeds are higher

More Related