Global Circulation Cells

Also called

global circulation · atmospheric circulation · Hadley cell · Ferrel cell · polar cell · tricellular model · trade winds · westerlies · polar easterlies · ITCZ · inter tropical convergence zone · doldrums · horse latitudes · subtropical high · sub-polar low · Coriolis force · pressure belts · planetary winds · वायुमंडलीय परिसंचरण · व्यापारिक पवनें · पछुआ पवनें · हैडली कोशिका

Topics

• The sun heats the equator most; warm air rises there, making the equatorial low-pressure belt, the ITCZ.
• The risen air flows poleward aloft, cools and sinks at about 30° latitude, making the subtropical high-pressure belts.
• Surface air flowing from 30° back to the equator closes the Hadley cell; sinking air there gives the world its deserts.
• Between 30° and 60° the Ferrel cell turns the other way; air rises again at the sub-polar low near 60°.
• From the cold polar highs air sinks and flows toward 60°, closing the polar cell.
• The Coriolis effect bends winds to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left in the southern.
• So the surface winds are the north-east and south-east trades, the mid-latitude westerlies and the polar easterlies.
• The ITCZ and the whole system shift north in the northern summer and south in the northern winter, following the sun.

About this model

A GLB file of about 421 KB, shown in Lably's 3D viewer and, on a phone, placed in your room with AR. Credit: Model, science and animation: Lably (built procedurally with three.js; no downloaded meshes). | CC BY 4.0. Original geometry and animation made for Lably.

More in Social Science

"

"Pashupati" seal (Indus Valley)Class 6–123D model

"Pashupati" seal (Indus Valley)Class 6–123D model

"

"Priest-King" sculptureClass 6–123D model

"Priest-King" sculptureClass 6–123D model

Abyssal plain with seamountClass 9–113D model

Airborne remote-sensing camera podClass 113D model