ON THE PLANETARY ATMOSPHERIC DYNAMICS

Abstract

The modern and very accurate means for recording air mass movement direction and speed on planetary level, point out a dominant E-W direction. Nevertheless, this movement is false. The earth rotates, together with its atmosphere, from W to E, with a speed of 1,669.79 km/h at the equator. The atmosphere is not solidary to the earth, and registers a delay, a lower speed, caused by inertia. The easterlies do not always represent a real movement of the air mass towards west, but this is the way we perceive such a movement . The easterlies caused by this rotation difference (inertia) are predominant under the conditions of small pressure differences between the baric centers . It is the case of the doldrums. In the areas where the baric centers are already developed, their interaction is obvious. These contrast baric centers are actually the main energy engines of the atmospheric dynamics. They cause the wind intensity and direction. The circular shape of the wind vectors in the areas situated beyond the doldrums is the result of the Coriolis phenomenon (“force”). Within the equatorial easterlies, the Coriolis Effect is practically absent. Therefore, the wind vectors keep the E-W direction unaltered. The hydrosphere is not solidary to the earth either, but it has almost the same rotation speed as the earth because water is captured in smaller or larger depressions of the crust.