Referring to the balance of forces in a horizontal, tightly circular flow of air. Cyclostrophic flow is a form of gradient flow parallel to the isobars where the centripetal acceleration exactly offsets the horizontal pressure gradient. The cyclostrophic wind is the horizontal wind velocity producing such a centripetal acceleration; see J. Dutton (2002). It equals the real wind only where the Coriolis force is small, or where wind speed and curvature, and hence centripetal acceleration, are great.