5. CORIOLIS EFFECT
SHIFT IN WIND
DIRECTION
DUE TO
EARTH’S
ROTATION
6.
7. As air moves from high to low pressure in the northern hemisphere, it is deflected to the
right by the Coriolis force. In the southern hemisphere, air moving from high to low
pressure is deflected to the left by the Coriolis force.
8. Flushing Toilets on the Equator
Myth or Real:
Toilets flushed in the northern hemisphere
apparently spin to the right, in the southern
hemisphere the water spins left -- this is
supposedly caused by the Coriolis effect. And
on the equator? It's a straight shot down.
10. The global wind belts are formed by two main factors:
the unequal heating of the earth by sunlight and the earth's spin.
The unequal heating
makes the tropical
regions warmer than
the polar regions.
As a result, there is
generally higher
pressure at the poles
and lower at the
equator.
Source: http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/whys/globalwinds.htm
The atmosphere tries to send the cold air toward the equator at
the surface and sends warm air northward toward the pole at
higher levels.
11. Click on the link to watch an animation:
Animation 1 Animation 2
http://www.mhhe.com/biosci/g http://www.geography.hunter.cuny.edu/~t
enbio/tlw3/eBridge/Chp29/ani bw/wc.notes/7.circ.atm/animations/Globa
mations/ch29/global_wind_circ lWind.html
ulation.swf
37. When warm air rises, other cooler air rushes in to take its place. The air that
rushes in moves parallel to the ground. It is this moving air that we call
“wind”.
Wind is caused by the uneven heating of the earth’s surface. Air that moves
up and down is important in making winds. This is called a current.
Warm air near the surface of the Earth can hold more moisture than cool air
above the Earth’s surface.
Water from the Earth’s lakes, oceans, land surfaces, and plants evaporates
into this warmer air. Eventually, the warm moisture-filled air rises and
becomes cool. Now the air can no longer hold all the moisture it had
acquired when it was near the surface of the Earth. As a result, much of the
water vapor in the air condenses.
Water vapor that condenses and forms clouds can fall to the Earth as
rain, sleet, snow, or hail. Water that falls from the atmosphere to
the Earth is called precipitation.
41. A hurricane is a tropical storm that has winds of 119
kilometers per hour or higher.
A hurricane begins
over warm water as
a low-pressure
area, or tropical
disturbance.
If the tropical
disturbance grows
in size and strength,
it becomes a
tropical storm,
which may then
become a hurricane.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iN352idLks&feature=fvwrel How Hurricanes Form
49. http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/2
0110428/ts_yblog_thelookout/watch-
tuscaloosas-terrifying-tornado
Yahoo video clips
Tornado Outbreak
of 2011
The jet stream is the main reason for all
the severe weather. The warm humid
air from the south is clashing with the
cool dry air coming down from Canada
and where the two meet is where we
find severe thunderstorms and
tornadoes.
50. Including yesterday's storm, there
have been a whopping 800 reports
of tornadoes in April, easily
surpassing April 2003's all-time
record of 543 twisters.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/20
11/04/28/us/map-of-the-tornadoes-
across-the-south.html
53. http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/2
0110428/ts_yblog_thelookout/watch-
tuscaloosas-terrifying-tornado
Yahoo video clips
Tornadoes
A tornado is a rapidly whirling, funnel-shaped
cloud that reaches down from a storm cloud to
touch Earth’s surface.
Tornadoes develop in low,heavy cumulonimbus
clouds—the same clouds that bring
thunderstorms.
