# Questions tagged [atmospheric-circulation]

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1 answer
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### Air pressure, fronts and temperature

I have spent hours on this topic and I seem unable to make sense of it. If air moves from high pressure toward low pressure, and wind is the movement of air due to differences in pressure, how can, ...
6 votes
1 answer
50 views

### What does the "strength" of a circulation cell refer to?

I'm reading articles about climate models for possible exoplanets, and I'm confused as to what the "strength" of a Hadley or Ferrell cell refers to. Does it refer to wind speed? Wind force?
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1 vote
0 answers
20 views

• 143
7 votes
1 answer
1k views

### Why do the dry and moist adiabatic lapse rates converge with height?

Near the surface, the slope of the moist adiabats are much steeper than dry adiabats due (as I understand it) to the the latent heat released as water vapour condenses. The difference is amplified at ...
12 votes
1 answer
472 views

### Relation between direction of shear and tropical cyclone formation

In an earlier question/answer Why are there no cyclones in the southern Atlantic basin there was a point raised about direction of shear(abetting/retarding) cyclone formation. It appears ...
• 6,277
9 votes
1 answer
244 views

### Monsoonal interactions with mid latitude disturbances

For the past few years in succession India has witnessed extreme flooding events caused by monsoonal troughs colloding with what appears transitory mid latitude disturbances and these appear to ...
• 6,277
3 votes
3 answers
183 views

### Is everything affecting everything on Earth?

If a single butterfly can alter the future, then can't every single action keep the future in chaos? According to the question about butterfly effects, this must be so, is it not? If this is an ...
• 61
14 votes
1 answer
1k views

### How long does it take for the atmosphere to mix?

If I release a say, one litre of gas, at a particular point on the planet, how soon, on average, would it take to be distributed evenly (mixed) across the entire earth's atmosphere?
• 151
33 votes
1 answer
5k views

### What factors determine the number of Hadley cells for a planet?

We know (think?) that Earth has three Hadley cells per hemisphere, but from observing gas giants such as Jupiter, we see that they have many more cells. According to a link from a comment in this ...
• 1,803
26 votes
0 answers
510 views

### Is it possible for a sting jet to form over a continental landmass?

Sting jets are thought to be responsible for some of the most damaging winds associated with extratropical cyclones in the mid-latitudes. So far they have only been confirmed in the European region, ...
• 2,105
18 votes
2 answers
8k views

### Why does the Hadley cell descend at 30 degrees?

George Hadley's initial model of the Hadley cell described air as being heated at the equator, ascending, and then moving aloft pole-wards where it would cool and descend. Meanwhile surface air would ...
• 7,426
16 votes
2 answers
2k views

### Why does the El Niño Stop?

The reason for the initiation of the El Niño is unknown, but what is well known is how it progresses once initiated. The West Pacific warm pool begins to drift East, and the strength of the trade ...
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11 votes
1 answer
1k views

### Why does the meandering pattern of the jet stream itself propagate?

It is well known that the jet stream follows an overall meandering pattern, but what is less well known is that this meandering pattern itself moves as a wave with a velocity much slower than the ...
• 7,426