Planetary Weather Systems Part I: The Coriolis Effect

We’ve finally reached a point where we can see the Coriolis Effect in action. Let’s say that the gal wants to toss the guy a rock. When she throws it, the sucker goes in a straight line in the direction she threw it, right? If you’re standing next to her that’s what it looks like. The problem is that this circle is turning. The rock is now traveling toward where the guy was standing when she first threw it. This rather straightforward issue is the Coriolis Effect.

Now we have to zoom out again. All I described here was two people tossing things in a circle. A planet is (roughly) a pile of differently sized circles all turning simultaneously. All of these circles rotate within our atmosphere. While it looks to us that the sky is always moving (clouds pass, the sun passes, the moon passes, the stars pass) it’s actually the planet that’s moving. Of course, you knew that already. We’ve known that one for centuries. But, the Coriolis Effect comes into play again when dealing with motion in the sky in relation to the planet. While clouds do move partially because of winds, they also often appear to move much faster than they are because the planet is rotating beneath them. Ocean currents are subject to this too. The oceans are being continually spun with the planet.

This is the essence of the Coriolis Effect. Next time we’ll take a look at how this phenomenon works on our planet’s weather and water systems.

Go To Page: 1 2