GEOL 212 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Smog, Atmospheric Models, Intertropical Convergence Zone
26 Dec 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
The cells meet in broad zones roughly 30 and 60 deg. north and south. These zones are the location of the tropical and polar jet streams, respectively - rapid high altitude westerly air currents. When we translate the schematic above into three dimensions, we see that on earth"s surface we perceive the atmospheric circulation cells as latitudinal wind zones, with easterly trade winds at the bottom of the. Hadley cells, westerlies with the ferrel cells, and polar easterlies at high latitudes. As we have seen, mars displays a normal atmospheric profilewith vigorous convection in the troposphere on most days. Two circumstances sometimes disrupt this: global dust storms: mars" winds are sufficient to raise significant dust storms. When large dust clouds are raised, they tend to absorb heat, causing a temperature differential that increases wind speeds that pump more dust into the atmosphere, in a positive feedback loop.
