Interactive demo: Rotation rate and jet latitude

A tiny Observable JS sketch to illustrate how faster planetary rotation pulls midlatitude jets equatorward.

This page is a placeholder / template for adding interactive pedagogical tools to the site. Quarto supports Observable JS out of the box, which is perfect for small, self-contained climate demos that students can tweak in the browser.

Drag the slider below to change the (dimensionless) rotation rate and see a toy scaling for the Hadley cell edge latitude, \phi_H \propto \Omega^{-1/3}.

viewof omega = Inputs.range([0.1, 5], {value: 1, step: 0.05, label: "Rotation rate Ω (Earth = 1)"})

phi_H = 30 * Math.pow(omega, -1/3)
md`**Estimated Hadley cell edge latitude:** ${phi_H.toFixed(1)}°`

Plot.plot({
  width: 640,
  x: {label: "Ω (Earth units)", domain: [0.1, 5]},
  y: {label: "ϕ_H (degrees)", domain: [0, 90]},
  marks: [
    Plot.line(d3.range(0.1, 5.01, 0.05), {x: d => d, y: d => 30 * Math.pow(d, -1/3)}),
    Plot.dot([[omega, phi_H]], {r: 5, fill: "red"})
  ]
})

This is a toy relationship for illustration only — see Held & Hou (1980) for the real derivation.