PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Explaining coriolis when the relevant pressure systems are at the same latitude
Old 6th Oct 2011, 21:29
  #18 (permalink)  
gfunc
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: EGNM
Age: 44
Posts: 177
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I hope you'll excuse my intrusion, I'm not a flying instructor, but I am a research meteorologist.

The key to understanding the Coriolis effect (I avoid the term force deliberately) is to recognise that it is essentially a correction for our frame of reference. If you were perfectly stationary high above the Earth in space (i.e. standing off the roundabout in the video), all air parcels would travel in straight lines in the direction of the force applied.

However, since we are looking at everything from the Earth's surface, which is a rotating frame of reference the air parcels appear to peel off left or right (depending on your hemisphere) as if a mystical force were acting. It's simply because we (on the ground) are moving relative to free space - essentially sitting on some shifting goal posts.

I think that lots of confusion arises from the name 'force' as it implies something is doing work to force the air parcels to curve, hence I favour Coriolis 'effect' or 'correction'.

Hope this helps!

Gareth.
gfunc is offline