Cyclones

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Cyclone
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This article is about the meteorological phenomenon. For other uses, see Cyclone (disambiguation).

Polar low over the Barents Sea on February 27, 1987
In meteorology, a cyclone refers to an area of closed, circular fluid motion rotating in the same direction as the Earth[1][2]. This is usually characterized by inward spiraling winds that rotate counter clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere of the Earth.
Large-scale cyclonic circulations are almost always centred on areas of low atmospheric pressure[3][4]. The largest low-pressure systems are cold-core polar cyclones and extratropical cyclones which lie on the synoptic scale. Cyclogenesis describes the process of cyclone formation and intensification [9]..
Tropical cyclogenesis describes the process of development of tropical cyclones. Tropical cyclones form due to latent heat driven by significant thunderstorm activity, and are warm core.[10]
Contents[hide]   * 1 Structure   * 2 Formation   * 3 Types       * 3.1 Polar cyclone       * 3.2 Polar low       * 3.3 Extratropical       * 3.4 Subtropical       * 3.5 Tropical       * 3.6 Mesoscale   * 4 Extraterrestrial cyclones   * 5 References   * 6 External links |
[edit] Structure
There are a number of structural characteristics common to all cyclones. As they are low pressure areas, their center is the area of lowest atmospheric pressure in the region, often known in mature tropical cyclones as the eye.[13] Near the center, the pressure gradient force (from the pressure in the center of the cyclone compared to the pressure outside the cyclone) and the Coriolis force must be in an approximate balance, or the cyclone would collapse on itself as a result...