Astrophysics (Index)About

superrotating wind

(prograde wind)
(wind traveling in the same direction as the planet is rotating)

A superrotating wind (or prograde wind) is a wind carrying atmosphere around a world (planet or moon) in the same direction as the world is rotating (prograde). The concept can seem non-intuitive even though in daily life, there is nothing unusual about a wind coming from the west; wind can as easily be prograde as retrograde, and the Coriolis force provides a mechanism for orienting the direction of winds in both, i.e., in Hadley cells and similar circulation patterns. On Earth, the westerlies and jet streams are examples of superrotating winds.

Planets and moons with multiple zonal flows, such as Jupiter and Saturn typically have jet streams (in their case, often shortened to jets, which demarcate their visible bands), some being prograde (superrotating jets). Venus has a strong superrotating wind, reaching 700 km/hour and Titan has similar superrotating winds. The possibility and effects are of interest in the study of extra-solar planets.


(atmosphere,weather)
Further reading:
https://arxiv.org/abs/0911.3170
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2018SoSyR..52..223C/abstract
http://www.astro.ex.ac.uk/exoclimes/2012/pdf/talks/Day01_Vallis.pdf
https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/atsc/72/11/jas-d-15-0030.1.xml
https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/climatology2012/pdf/8051.pdf

Referenced by page:
Hadley cell

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