Hello everyone,
I am having some problems with a question about the coriolis acceleration in a particular region. Attached is an image showing velocity measurements going in a circular motion at the surface of the ocean. A to B is 200 km and the fastest velocity is .5 m/s. The center is located at 30 degrees N. I am asked to make vectors of coriolis acceleration at the small circles, which I am assuming would go to the right of each one. I am also asked to sketch the magnitude of the coriolis acceleration as a function of x along the line from A to B. X is the distance from the center of the figure along the line AB. It is also asked to sketch the x (eastward) and y (northward) component of the coriolis acceleration. I am really stumped on these last two things and any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

The figure is a bit hard to understand, so please clarify something: do the arrows signify that a particle starting near the center slowly spirals outward? Or is this intended to show concentric circles? I assume the former, because coriolis acceleration requires movement in the radial direction.

The amount of coriolis acceleration is:


a_c = -2 v_r \omega

where v_r is velocity in the radial direction and \omega is rotational velocity in radians/second. The direction of the coriolis acceleration as the particles spiral outward is in the direction opposite of rotation. The tricky part here is that the rotational velocity is equal to

\omega = \frac v r

So you need to estimate the relative magnitude of \omega based on the ratio of the tangential velocity (as signified by the length of the arrows) to the distance from the center. As for v_r - you can assume that its magnitude is bigger where the current is fast, as that would cause the particle to gain distance from the center quicker.