On this day in 1781, General George Washington, commanding a force of 17,000 French and Continental troops, begins the siege known as the Battle of Yorktown against British General Lord Charles Cornwallis and a contingent of 9,000 British troops at Yorktown, Virginia, in the most important battle of the Revolutionary War.
Earth's rotation causes the trade winds, in a way. If Earth didn't rotate, the wind at these latitudes would blow straight from the subtropical highs to the ITCZ.n the Northern Hemisphere, the Earth rotates counterclockwise so the wind is deflected to the right. The Southern Hemisphere rotates clockwise deflecting the wind to the left. Regardless, the Coriolis effect only influences the direction of the wind, not its speed.
As the trade winds blow warm surface waters away from the west coast of continents, cold, nutrient-rich water is drawn to the surface. Â© 2011 Nature Education All rights reserved. Just as Earth's rotation creates the prevailing winds, it creates surface currents within the oceans. Under the influence of the trade winds, surface waters near the equator flow from east to west.