Download prevailing winds & coriolis_SMART

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Prevailing winds are major wind patterns that cover large
geographical areas
In Ontario the prevailing wind direction is from the West
Prevailing winds help to distribute large amounts of solar
energy and moisture from the equator to colder parts of the
planet (advection)
Because the sun hits most directly around the equator, air rises
in this area and forms the equatorial convection current
Rising air sucks in air from both north and south which creates
wind at the surface
If the earth were flat and did not move the winds would flow
from S to N and N to S in one continuous circulation cell
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The atmosphere of the
earth rotates along with
the earth at about
300m/s
Different points on
earth move at different
speeds
When air begins to
move N or S due to
convection it continues
to move east at the
same speed it was
moving before it
changed latitude
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This means that fast air
moving north will
appear to be to curve
to the right (east)
creating a prevailing
west wind
The influence of
earth’s rotation on air
or on any object
moving on the earth’s
surface is called the
Coriolis effect
Depending on the
direction of
convection/advection
different prevailing
winds are set in motion
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The Jet stream(s) are
ribbons of extremely
fast moving air near
the top of the
troposphere.
They are caused by
convergence between
cold and warm air
creating a large
pressure differential
Therefore Jet streams
only occur between
circulation cells