Model for the cyclonic bias of convective vortices in a rotating system

We address the long-standing mystery surrounding the rotational bias of convective vortices in the atmosphere (dust devils) and the ocean. We investigate the bias using large-eddy simulations of free convection configured for the ocean, but the idealization of our simulations makes the results more broadly relevant to a wide range of flows. We propose a theory that the addition of many small convective vortices, each of which exhibit a small bias, leads to a much more significant bias for large convective vortices. We apply this new theory to typical convective conditions in the ocean and the terrestrial and Martian atmospheres.