Recommended Readings from Moran and Morgan (1997):
pages 201-210.
Today's Lecture Objectives:
To briefly describe Newton's three laws of motion.
To describe the relationship between the observed winds and the horizontal
atmospheric pressure field pattern, relating the spacing of isobars to
the speed of wind.
To identify the various forces that could act upon an air parcel to initiate,
maintain and modify atmospheric motion.
To explain why gravity only influences vertical motion and not horizontal
motion of air.
To describe the factors that influence the magnitude and direction of the
pressure gradient force and its components - the horizontal and vertical
pressure gradient force.
To describe the influence of the Coriolis effect upon free-moving objects
or fluids and list two factors that influence the magnitude of this effect.
To describe the effect of friction upon the speed and direction of the
horizontal surface winds and identify two factors influencing the magnitude
of the friction force.
To distinguish between centripetal force and centrifugal force and describe
the factors that influence the magnitude and direction of the centripetal
force.
The Forces
& Wind module from Weather World 2010 (Univ. of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign).
See especially animation in "Coriolis Force Section"
Last revision 26 May 1999
Produced by Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D.
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI 53706
hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu