GEOG 1120 Lecture Notes - Astrophysical Jet, Horse Latitudes, Trade Winds
Document Summary
High air pressure -> clockwise direction of air circulation, outward (aka anticyclones) Low air pressure -> counterclockwise direction of air circulation, inward (aka cyclones) Pressure gradient: areas of high pressure going to areas of low pressure, no reversibility. Hadley said: once air reaches top (horizontally), it can either go north or south. Then, the air goes back to earth"s surface at north and south poles. Tropopause goes around the upper atmosphere of earth. Equator, being hot, has the hot air rising toward the tropopause at the horizontal sides of earth. The air having nowhere to go, just goes to the sides, near the north and south poles, respectively. Special latitudes are 30 degrees n and s, where the air hits and then sinks back to surface of earth. Has no choice but to go to either right or left at surface level. At special latitudes, they can choose to go either way.