In a reference frame with clockwise rotation, the force acts to the left of the motion of the object. In one with anticlockwise (or counterclockwise) rotation, the force acts to the right. Deflection of an object . Winds blow across the Earth from high-pressure systems to low-pressure systems.

The Earth rotates to the east at an effectively constant angular velocity, but different latitudes have different linear speeds. A point at the equator has to go farther in a day than a point in Ohio, so it must go .

In the northern hemisphere, big storms spin counterclockwise as they travel, but in the southern hemisphere. If the Earth did not rotate on its axis, the atmosphere would only circulate between the poles and the equator in a simple back-and-forth pattern. Click the image for a larger view.

On the Earth an object that moves along a north-south path, or longitudinal line, will undergo apparent deflection to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere. There are two reasons for . Coriolis effect on atmospheric circulation. The rotation of the Earth causes an interesting phenomena on free moving objects on the Earth.

Objects in the Northern Hemisphere are deflected to the right, while objects in the Southern Hemisphere are deflected to the left.

The coriolis effect thus tries to force winds to shift towards the . As you may have noticed while tracking a hurricane on the news, storms in the Northern Hemisphere spin counterclockwise, while those in the Southern Hemisphere spin clockwise. Why do storms spin in different directions depending on their location? Once air has been set in motion by the pressure gradient force, it undergoes an apparent deflection from its path, as seen by an observer on the earth. It affects weather patterns, it affects ocean currents, and it even affects air travel. In general, the effect deflects objects moving along the surface of the Earth to the right in the Northern hemisphere and to the left in the Southern hemisphere.

Winds generally blow out from the subtropics towards the equator and subpolar regions and from the polar regions to the subpolar latitudes. I have an explanation of how it works on that debunking page linked above. This can be visualized if you imagine putting a pan of water on a turntable and then spinning the turntable in a counterclockwise direction, the direction in which the earth rotates as seen from above the north pole.

Because the planet has a spherical shape, points on the equator move faster . The water on the bottom of the pan will be dragged . Unfortunately, there are . Regions along the equator, therefore, have the highest temperatures all year round. Warm, less heavy equatorial air over very large . If it started out going due north it would end up northeast of where it started (blue arrow). If you were trying to hit a target due north of you then you would have to point your cannon toward the . Freely- moving objects are deflected to the right of their direction of motion in the northern hemisphere and to the left of their direction of motion in the southern hemisphere.

Many translated example sentences containing coriolis effect – Russian- English dictionary and search engine for Russian translations.

This Penn State science page by Professor of .