Topic summary
Geostrophy
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Balanced flow.
Geostrophic flow
This condition is called geostrophic equilibrium or geostrophic balance (also known as geostrophy). The name 'geostrophic' stems from the Greek words 'ge' (Earth) and 'strephein' (to turn). This etymology does not suggest turning of trajectories, rather a rotation around the Earth.