BAT - Rotovection

» Why an Eastward air movement when Suns hotspot goes Westwards in the afternoon?

The airflow cycles become stable relatively quickly allowing the cyclone and anti-cyclones to continue rotating without seemingly affected by the motion of the sun. The hotspot and cold spot are detectable and known by available meteorological measurements and data.

Lower pressure air, which is often just heated air reduced in pressure by losses in convection, moves away from the source of heat of the sun towards the cooler regions northward in the northern hemisphere, and southwards towards the Antarctic in the southern hemisphere. Low pressure systems are free (irrotational) vortexes, the air moves faster at different points of the cyclone. They rotate due to the losses in air pressure from convection.

This air is pushed around in a circular rotation - anti-clockwise in the Northern hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern hemisphere - by two factors. The first is the onrushing air flows from the opposite direction and, more predominantly, from the East. The air flow also turns into a rotative movement, or weather system due to the tendency for the air to move again towards the hotspot because as the air cools it again is drawn towards the hot spot

Importantly, the direction of the heated airflow from the hotspot is mainly toward the northeast in the northern hemisphere and the southeast in the southern hemisphere, or the path of the lowest resistance, setting up an increased tendency to spin back inwards, anti-clockwise in the northern hemisphere and clockwise in the southern hemisphere.

This is why lows most often are much smaller than high pressure cyclonic systems and occur at the equator (and often more violently) as well as lower latitudes more frequently than the middle latitudes.

Low pressure systems in the cooler latitudes form for much the same reason. Airflow braking away from the lower latitudes to proceed northwards in the southern hemisphere and southwards in the northern hemisphere leaving low pressure systems behind, with other low pressure air due to elasticity wishing to remain static, so the air breaks off and tries to return back to it's original position. It becomes a vortex due to the movement of the air predominantly eastwards towards the rising sun.

In these locations the arc of the sun is reduced throughout the day: it is always travelling in a southerly direction in the northern hemisphere and northerly in the southern hemisphere, just eastward and westwardly influenced, picking up more force. This air is also being drained from the Equator, so low pressure systems become more intense as a result of air-mass losses to the Hot-spot.

At whatever location on the planet, the sun rises in the relative east, not in the apparent north. Sunrise is usually earlier in areas north and south of the Equator, particularly because the Earth is elliptical. This makes the air predominantly travel from west to the east in a seemingly straight path west to east rather than north to south. The movement of the sun throughout the day, as well as elasticity of momentum are also small factors preventing air moving toward and from at the equator in a cyclic motion.

Tropical cyclones average tracks are westward with the northerly turn towards the arctic in the northern hemisphere, and opposite direction in the southern hemisphere towards the south. This movement follows the sun westward, and also turns towards the cooler regions. In both instances this air can be seen as escaping the higher pressure air near the equator.

Certain westerly flows of air seem to go against a theory of convection when actually confirming it. The morning air moves outward in all directions, it is split towards the west by the oncoming airflow from the west, until the afternoon when the air can move westward unhindered. The eastward flow of air is strongest at the equator although is often neutralised by the westward flow.

Weather system formation is not dependent upon the direct heat of the Sun. Often stored energy in the form of ocean temperature for example can have a marked effect upon the formation of weather systems. Again the cool air moving over the warm water wishes to escape outwards from it. This flow is towards the north in the Northern hemisphere and to the South in the Southern Hemisphere, because this is where the cooler air lies, like a lava lamp. This effect is seen as a major factor in the formation of hurricanes in the Caribbean Sea, as well as other Typhoon and Cyclone areas elsewhere on the planet.

The presence of mountain ranges, deserts, other weather systems and other geographic features also creates areas where the air-flows and movements are influenced, to either accelerate, change direction, cool or heat faster than on a typical Maritime or Continental system flow.

Despite the higher density of high pressure systems, the greater energy is associated with lower pressure: the destructive energy of a hurricane is produced by low pressure air, not high pressure air. The two types of weather systems, coupled with elasticity principles, are reluctant to merge showing airflow does not always correspond to the principle that high pressure air moves towards that of lower pressure, because high pressure weather systems do not move towards low pressure systems. Generally these systems move independently, balanced by Rotovection.

» Gyres Ocean Currents

With an initial detailed view based upon the Coriolis force, the world's five main ocean gyres, located in the north and south Pacific and Atlantic oceans and the Indian ocean demonstrate Rotovection.

These ocean currents rotate clockwise in the northern hemisphere and anticlockwise in the southern hemisphere. With Coriolis theorem applied the rotation of the earth would initially send these currents in exactly the direction of rotation. The differences in the speed of relative rotation speed at the equator - around supersonic speed - and at the poles - where the rotation speed is stationary - means that because the water at the Equator is rotating faster oceans would move in the opposite directions as present.

What is going on is the suns heat in the east as it rises expands the ocean, particularly at the Equator where the heat from the sun is most intense. This pushes the water westwards because the suns heat expansion effect is also occurring north and south, and the coast prevents the water moving eastwards. As the sun hits the east coast of the nations in the western parts of the ocean, the preheated water is forced northwards in the northern hemisphere and southwards in the southern hemisphere.

As the sun sets in the western shores of the eastern side of the ocean, the ocean begins to cool, with the most heat lost at the equator. This contraction draws the denser, cooler water in from the north and south continuing the cyclic rotation.

Another component in forming the rotation of Gyres currents is from evaporation. At the equator - where the suns energy is highest - evaporation is also strongest, creating a trench in the water level which is filled with the cooler waters in the north in the northern hemisphere and south in the southern hemisphere. This line of evaporation extends from the east to the west following the sun, and with it the flow of water.

» The Coriolis Effect

The air is moving as a part of the world, if it were not, we would be subject to an airflow moving close to, or faster at the equator, than the speed of sound westwards. The air on this planet is moving eastwards.

In reality people cannot detect subtle difference in air pressure; air moves around a person at a uniform rate in both directions: an airflow indicator, made from a stick and 2 pieces of wool at either end will demonstrate this. The air will accelerate around the body if it is not directly faced to the wind, visible in either direction conforming to Coanda and Bernoulli’s principles.

If vortex flow patterns are analysed, turbulent air forming would be seen behind the person as the air spun back with the drag of the person slowing the airflow. This drag currents vortexes and spinning eddies result, similar to those off airplane wings but in three dimensions. The air by-passing the body forms higher speed flows, giving illusion of faster air flow.

This is an urban myth incorrectly explaining basic fluid dynamics; water simply spins due to encountering an area of increased drag or accelerated flow caused by the large mass of water trying to go down the plughole all at once. Any tiny inconsistency in the movement towards the drain will create a flow favouring an accelerated flow rate possible by rotation, rather than simple uniform draining: energy is retained. In most cases water in sinks can be made to sustain rotation in the opposite direction it started spinning in, unless the plughole is badly unaligned.

A plate with water in it will demonstrate the formation of vortices similar to rotating weather systems.

The water flows in the direction of rotation, not against it as the weather systems do on Earth. In this instance it is again a movement due to fluid dynamics rather than inertia.