PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - ATPL Meteorology: Buys Ballots Law and wind?
Old 26th Sep 2011, 11:01
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Da-20 monkey
 
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coriolis

You forget about coriolis. As wind starts to move it will bend to the right (in the Northern hemisphere).
Air starts to move from a high pressure area to a Low, but as it starts to move it will bend to the right. The bending is proportional to the PGF, the more wind, the more bending.
As an example, you can explain with this why most jetstreams blow from the west. There are bands of low and high pressure around the earth, and if there was no coriolis the wind would blow north or south. However, as the wind picks up speed, coriolis will bend it, because jetstreams are fast, it will bend nearly 90 degrees so that is blows from the west.

Another example: in the NH the wind will veer with an increase in altitude, as seen from the ground. This is because the wind close to the surface (up to +- 300oft agl) is slowed due to surface friction. Above this height wind speed increases, so coriolis also increases (it's horizontal component). So the wind will bend to the right with 20 degrees or so.
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