Where is deflection of wind due to the Coriolis effect the strongest?
1 Answer
At the poles
Explanation:
This is one of the things I find most difficult to explain. At the exact equator there is no Coriolis effect. The further one moves away from the equator the greater the effect. The reason for this is the rate of change of the size of the circle as one moves north or south is the greatest at the poles.
Lets start at a point 1 m off the pole (if you start on the pole the distance you travel is zero and no one wants to divide by zero). The distance you travel in one day of Earth's rotation will be 6.28m m. If you move 1 km from the pole the distance you travel becomes 6.28 km (radius times pi times 2), so the distance is 1000 times greater. If you start at the equator the distance you travel in a day is 40,075 km (the circumference of the Earth). Now if you move 1 degree of latitude (60 NM or over 110 km) the circumference of the Earth only drops by about 6 kilometers or a change of 0.02%.
If you want to try it yourself here is the circumference calculator I used:
http://www.easysurf.cc/circle.htm#cetol1
