Posted: January 26th, 2016

Due to the fact our Earth spins, the Coriolis Effect gives weird responses to wind fields in pressure fields. By now you should be familiar with contour maps.

Due to the fact our Earth spins, the Coriolis Effect gives weird responses to wind fields in pressure fields. By now you should be familiar with contour maps. In a previous homework, the contours were constant heights above sea level. Here the contours represent constant pressures (or isobars). The areas denoted by the CapitalH represent High Pressure areas and the areas denoted by the capital L represent Low Pressure areas.  If our Earth had no spin, the wind field from Albany, NY to Dallas, TX would be almost a straight line since high pressure always wants to flow directly to low pressure. This is not the case on our Earth. Read the section in Chapter 8 related to the Coriolis Effect to determine how winds would move.

For each of the following cities, fill in which direction the winds are blowing (ie. to the North, to the East, etc.)  (9 pts).

Seattle, WA To the South

Bismarck, ND To the South

Albany, NY To the East

Dallas, TX To the North

You may recall from the previous homework the question about what hill had the steepest slope. To determine this, you simply looked to see which contour lines were closer together. The same idea holds true here. Where you see contour lines closer together, the wind fields are stronger.

From the map above place the 4 cities in order of least windy to most windy (9 pts).

Least windy Atlanta, GA

More windy New York, NY

Even more windy Oklahoma City, OK

Most windy Bismarck, ND

For all low and high pressure systems, what general direction will they travel across the central United States? (2 pts)