Quote:
Originally Posted by Hornblower
I don't know what they said, because the main article link is not working for me.
I do not see an anomaly here. Stronger prograde wind means more atmospheric angular momentum. Slower rotation of the solid Earth at the same time means less angular momentum in that component. If these are the only variables it looks consistent with conservation of angular momentum, and makes sense in action/reaction terms. There would have to be some sort of ground/air coupling to change the net amount of atmospheric motion, since it is a closed system.
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Here is the original article (since the link back doesn't work):
A New Spin on Earth's Rotation (By Michael Schirber, LiveScience Staff Writer
posted: 25 February, 2005 7:00 a.m. ET)
http://www.livescience.com/environme...ly_planet.html
Perhaps I misunderstood what the article said, and what you describe as 'conservation of momentum' fits in with what they said. I had it where increased atmospheric winds in direction of Earth's spin would
add momentum, not detract. But then the question would remain, where did the accelerated winds come from? Only possible source, in my opinnion, from outside Earth would be solar, but that was not what they claimed. Thanks for pointing this out.