Coriolis Effect and Force : 1 Understand The Principle
"The observed effect of the Coriolis force, especially in which case the deflection of objects or substances (such as air) moving along side the surface of the Earth, rightward in the Northern Hemisphere and leftward in the Southern Hemisphere. The Coriolis effect is named after the French engineer Gustave Gaspard Coriolis (1792-1843)." - Google
"The Coriolis effect, whereby a mass moving in a rotating system experiences a force (the Coriolis force ) acting perpendicular to the direction of motion and to the axis of rotation. On the earth, the effect tends to deflect moving objects to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern and is important in the formation of cyclonic weather systems."
"Coriolis effect is an inertial force described by the 19th-century French engineer-mathematician Gustave-Gaspard Coriolis in 1835. Coriolis showed that, if the ordinary Newtonian laws of motion of bodies are to be used in a rotating frame of reference, an inertial force--acting to the right of the direction of body motion for counterclockwise rotation of the reference frame or to the left for clockwise rotation--must be included in the equations of motion.
The effect of the Coriolis force is an apparent deflection of the path of an object that moves within a rotating coordinate system. The object does not actually deviate from its path, but it appears to do so because of the motion of the coordinate system."
"The Coriolis forces is a force due to the earth's rotation; acts on a body in motion (airplane or projectile) in a rotating reference frame; in a rotating frame of reference Newton's second law of motion can be made to apply if in addition to the real forces acting on a body a Coriolis force and a centrifugal force are introduced" -http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Coriolis+force
"The Coriolis effect is most apparent in the path of an object moving longitudinally. On the Earth an object that moves along a north-south path, or longitudinal line, will undergo apparent deflection to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere. There are two reasons for this phenomenon: first, the Earth rotates eastward; and second, the tangential velocity of a point on the Earth is a function of latitude (the velocity is essentially zero at the poles and it attains a maximum value at the Equator). Thus, if a cannon were fired northward from a point on the Equator, the projectile would land to the east of its due north path. This variation would occur because the projectile was moving eastward faster at the Equator than was its target farther north. Similarly, if the weapon were fired toward the Equator from the North Pole, the projectile would again land to the right of its true path. In this case, the target area would have moved eastward before the shell reached it because of its greater eastward velocity. An exactly similar displacement occurs if the projectile is fired in any direction.
The Coriolis deflection is therefore related to the motion of the object, the motion of the Earth, and the latitude. For this reason, the magnitude of the effect is given by 2 sin , in which is the velocity of the object, is the angular velocity of the Earth, and is the latitude.
The Coriolis effect has great significance in astrophysics and stellar dynamics, in which it is a controlling factor in the directions of rotation of sunspots. It is also significant in the earth sciences, especially meteorology, physical geology, and oceanography, in that the Earth is a rotating frame of reference, and motions over the surface of the Earth are subject to acceleration from the force indicated. Thus, the Coriolis force figures prominently in studies of the dynamics of the atmosphere, in which it affects prevailing winds and the rotation of storms, and in the hydrosphere, in which it affects the rotation of the oceanic currents." - http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/glossary/coriolis_effect.html