Naked Science Forum

Life Sciences => The Environment => Topic started by: katieHaylor on 24/07/2018 09:29:29

Title: Do weather patterns move faster than Earth rotates?
Post by: katieHaylor on 24/07/2018 09:29:29

Ashley says:

It seems in general that weather patterns globally move from west to east in the same direction as Earth's rotation. In relative terms, the weather patterns seem to be moving faster than Earth's rotation. Is this the case and what causes this?

What do you think?

Title: Re: Do weather patterns move faster than Earth rotates?
Post by: evan_au on 24/07/2018 13:18:18

Quote from: Ashley

It seems in general that weather patterns globally move from west to east

This depends on where you live.
This direction is generally true where I live, too, but if you lived nearer the equator, you might come to the opposite conclusion.
This is because there are adjacent bands of atmospheric circulation which move in different directions.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_circulation

The most spectacular example of this in our Solar System must be on Jupiter, which has many bands of atmospheric circulation, with jets moving in opposite directions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Jupiter#Zones,_belts_and_jets

Title: Re: Do weather patterns move faster than Earth rotates?
Post by: Janus on 24/07/2018 15:33:58

Here's a an image showing the jet stream patterns.
http://i.cdn-surfline.com/forecasters/blog/2014/01_jan/012914_4.jpg

The overall pattern is due to convection cells and the Coriolis effect generated by the Earth's rotation. 

Title: Re: Do weather patterns move faster than Earth rotates?
Post by: RjMaan on 04/08/2018 13:19:05

I agree with your point of view but the weather pattern is disturbed due to global warming.