The more I read I'm getting confused. Just want to make sure. Winds that pass through an upper level trough go counter-clockwise in the Northern Hemi & clockwise in the Southern Hemi, right?? Thanks
Thanks Ms. Sue but was my answer correct?
winds in the northern hemisphere go counterclockwise around a low pressure.
This can be derived from conservation of momentum or simple common sense.
If the low pressure is north of you and you are going north toward the low pressure, you have an east velocity equal to the speed of the earth under you equal to the angular velocity of earth times radius at that point from the axis through the poles.
as you go north, there is no force to change your east velocity, so you keep it.
when you get north a bit, the radius, and therefore the east velocity of the ground under you decreases as the radius decreases. However you are still going east faster than that, so you move east over the ground.
Similarly moving toward the south, you end up west.
That is counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere. This is all reversed in the southern hemisphere.
I don't know. If you want help from a subject expert who knows this field, you'll type your school subject in the appropriate box.
I was trying to alert other tutors that this is a science question.
Thanks
Yes, that's correct! Winds that pass through an upper-level trough generally flow counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. This wind pattern is known as cyclonic flow.
To understand why this is the case, it is helpful to know about the Coriolis effect. The Coriolis effect is a result of the Earth's rotation, which causes moving objects (including air) to be deflected to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere.
In the Northern Hemisphere, as the air moves through an upper-level trough, it experiences a pressure gradient towards the center of the trough. This pressure gradient force, combined with the Coriolis effect, results in a counterclockwise flow around the low-pressure center of the trough.
In the Southern Hemisphere, the pressure gradient force still drives the flow towards the center of the trough, but the Coriolis effect now causes the motion to be deflected to the left. As a result, the winds flow in a clockwise direction around the low-pressure center of the trough.
It's worth noting that this wind pattern can vary based on the specific atmospheric conditions, and there can be exceptions and deviations from this general rule. Additionally, the Coriolis effect only influences large-scale weather systems like troughs and doesn't have a noticeable effect on small-scale winds.