The relative vorticity is the vorticity relative to the Earth induced by the air velocity field. This air velocity field is often modeled as a two-dimensional flow parallel to the ground, so that the relative vorticity vector is generally scalar rotation quantity perpendicular to the ground. Vorticity is positive when – looking down onto the Earth's surface – the wind turns counterclockwise. In the northern hemisphere, positive vorticity is called cyclonic rotation, and negative vorticity is anticyclonic rotation; the nomenclature is reversed in the Southern Hemisphere.
The absolute vorticity is computed from the air velocity relative to an inertial frame, and therefore includes a term due to the Earth's rotation, the Coriolis parameter.
The potential vorticity is absolute vorticity divided by the vertical spacing between levels of constant (potential) temperature (or entropy). The absolute vorticity of an air mass will change if the air mass is stretched (or compressed) in the vertical direction, but the potential vorticity is conserved in an adiabatic flow. As adiabatic flow predominates in the atmosphere, the potential vorticity is useful as an approximate tracer of air masses in the atmosphere over the timescale of a few days, particularly when viewed on levels of constant entropy.
The barotropic vorticity equation is the simplest way for forecasting the movement of Rossby waves (that is, the troughs and ridges of 500 hPa geopotential height) over a limited amount of time (a few days). In the 1950s, the first successful programs for numerical weather forecasting utilized that equation.
In modern numerical weather forecasting models and general circulation models (GCMs), vorticity may be one of the predicted variables, in which case the corresponding time-dependent equation is a prognostic equation.
Related to the concept of vorticity is the helicity , defined as
where the integral is over a given volume . In atmospheric science, helicity of the air motion is important in forecasting supercells and the potential for tornadic activity.