A secondary circulation is a circulation induced in a rotating system. For example, the primary circulation of Earth's atmosphere is zonal. If however a parcel of air, that moves in a purely zonal direction, is accelerated or decelerated zonally, the Coriolis force will add a meridional component to its velocity. This meridional circulation is then the secondary circulation.

See also

• Hough function
• Primitive equations

Geophysics | Physical oceanography | atmospheric dynamics | Fluid mechanics