Height Pressure and Height Temperature and Height Height Contours Height Questions Vorticity Planetary Vorticity Relative Vorticity Absolute Vorticity Maxes and Mins Convergence and Divergence Advection Vorticity Questions Using the Upper Left Panel Final Questions

Vorticity Planetary Vorticity: The spin imparted to an object by our spinning earth about a local vertical. It is always positive in the Northern Hemisphere. The earth rotates around its axis, which goes through the poles. If you were to stand on the north pole, all of the earth's rotation would be imparted on you. However, you probably will never go stand on the north pole. That doesn't mean that planetary vorticity isn't important elsewhere; we have to look at local verticals. A local vertical, seen in the figure, is a line that is perpendicular to the surface of the planet. Figure 2 When the local vertical is the same as the earth's axis, like when you are at the pole, all of the earth's vorticity is imparted to objects there. When the local vertical is perpendicular to the axis, there is no rotation by the earth in that direction. Therefore, planetary vorticity decreases as you travel from the poles to the equator. But remember, planetary vorticity is always positive in the Northern Hemisphere. Figure 3