General Circulation of the Climate

☞ The global system of atmospheric motions that is generated by the uneven

heating of Earth’s surface by the Sun is called the general circulation.

☞ Wind circulates in each hemisphere in three distinct cells which help

transport energy and heat from the equator to the poles.

☞ The General Circulation of the Atmosphere refers to as the mean (time and
zonal mean) condition of the three dimensional atmosphere structure over
a long enough period.

☞ The major factors influences on the general circulation of the atmosphere

are:
➢ Differential heating
➢ Rotation of the Earth
• Topography
• Atmospheric and oceanic fluid dynamics
☞ Theory of general circulation of the atmosphere is helpful to build the
models of the Earth’s atmosphere, both past, future
Variations in Heat Balance
☞ Incoming solar radiation
• Stronger at low latitudes
• Weaker at high latitudes
☞ Tropics receive more solar
radiation per unit area than Poles.

☞ Global Atmospheric Circulations

are driven by the uneven horizontal
distribution of the net incoming
radiation.
General Circulation-Three Cell Circulation
➢ Hadley cell (Tropical Cell)
➢ Ferrel cell (Midlatitude cell)
➢ Polar cell (Polar)

Trade ships used these trade winds in order

to get from Europe / Africa to the Americas

What explains the direction of the trade winds?

Hadley cell (Tropical Cell)

➢ The largest and deepest cell extend from the equator to between 30 and 40 degrees north and
south, and are named Hadley cells, after English meteorologist George Hadley.

➢ Within the Hadley cells, the trade winds blow towards the equator, then ascend near the equator
which forms the Inter-Tropical-Convergence Zone (ITCZ).

➢ From the top, the air flows towards higher latitudes, where it sinks to produce high-pressure
regions over the subtropical regions.

Ferrel cell (Midlatitude cell)

➢ In the Ferrel cell, air converges at low altitudes (30) to ascend along the boundaries between cool
polar air and the warm subtropical air that generally occurs between 60 and 70 degrees north and
south.
➢ The circulation within the Ferrel cell is complicated by a return flow of air at high altitudes towards
the tropics, where it joins sinking air from the Hadley cell.
➢ The Ferrel cell moves in the opposite direction to the two other cells (Hadley cell and Polar cell) and
acts rather like a gear.

Polar cell (Polar)

➢ The smallest and weakest cells are the Polar cells, which extend from between 60 and 70 degrees
north and south, to the poles.
➢ Air in these cells sinks over the highest latitudes and flows out towards the lower latitudes at the
surface.
Components of general circulation
❖ Intertropical Convergence Zone

❖ Trade Winds

❖ The Westerlies

❖ Subtropical Highs

❖ Subpolar Lows

❖ Polar Easterlies

❖ Polar Highs

Low vs. High Pressure

Analogy of Ferrel Cell
Components of the Three Cell circulations:
➢ Equatorial Low or Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ)
Warm air rises near the equator where trades meet; cloudy, rainy
ITCZ shifts with movement of sun, north in our summer, south in winter.

➢ Trade Winds Air flowing from subtropical highs towards ITCZ deflects by Coriolis
forces into NE trades and SE trades. Trade winds are the most consistent winds in
the atmosphere.

➢ Westerlies Air flowing poleward from subtropical highs are deflected by Coriolis
force into westerlies at mid-latitudes.

➢ Subtropical Highs occur where rising tropical air at the equator moves poleward,
cooling and sinking creating warm, dry conditions.

➢ Polar Highs occur at the two polar regions as cold air sinks and spreads
equatorward. Coriolis deflection turns these high latitude winds into polar
easterlies.

➢ Polar front Where cold polar easterlies meet warmer westerlies, low pressure
and rising air forms the polar front, a zone of traveling cyclones.
Trade wind belts:
In the tropics, on both sides of the equator, lies a wide region where winds blow from east to
west (easterlies) with a slight equatorward tilt. This region is named the trade wind belt, because
of the steadiness of the air flow here.

Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ):

The trade winds from the Northern and Southern Hemispheres converge into a narrow belt
close to the equator, nowadays generally referred to as the Intertropical Convergence Zone
(ITCZ). The convergence of the trade winds results in rising motion of the colliding air masses (to
obey the law of mass continuity).

Midlatitude westerlies: North and south of the trade wind belt (in the Northern and Southern
Hemispheres, respectively) lie regions where winds tend to blow from west to east (westerlies),
and are therefore referred to as the westerly wind belts. Here the winds are highly variable and
unsteady, especially so during winter.
Subtropics: Between the trade wind regions lie the subtropics - regions of divergence and
subsidence, where sunny weather with little clouds and no rain prevails. Most of the Earth’s desert
regions are found near 20-30° north and south of the equator.
Polar easterlies: Poleward from the westerly wind belt, winds with a generally easterly
component prevail. The air here is cold, dry and stable, especially during winter, and is
accompanied by subsidence from above.
Polar front: The convergence zone between polar easterlies and midlatitude westerlies is
referred to as the polar front. It separates between the cold (and dry) polar air, and the relatively
warm (and more humid) midlatitude air. The polar front can be thought of as the average
expression of the transient frontal systems that move along with midlatitude cyclones.
Intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ)
➢Belt of low air pressure
around equator
➢Forms from surface heating
➢Associated with clouds and
rain
➢Associated with convergence
between the NE and SE trades
➢Not necessarily on the
equator (generally north of it)
➢Also known as the doldrums
 Descending branch

Ascending branch

Very wet: Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ)

Basic Theory of ITCZ
➢ The Conditional Instability of the Second Kind (CISK; Charney et al. 1971) was the
earliest theory of ITCZ.
➢ According to this theory, “boundary layer frictional convergence” leads to the growth of
the tropical disturbance through increased moisture convergence.
➢ The growth of this disturbance in turn promotes further strengthening of the boundary
layer convergence leading to a positive feedback.
 Visualization of Intertropical
convergence zone (ITCZ)

#1
Use surface (u,v) winds (1000 hPa) and rainfall data:

Plot the ITCZ during JJAS and DJF. Check if you can see any changes in
its position. (Time period 1980-2020)

#2
Use vertical velocity (Omega) data at 500 hPa pressure level

Plot the ITCZ during JJAS (Time period 1980-2020)

Data link:
https://downloads.psl.noaa.gov/Datasets/ncep.reanalysis2/Monthli
es/pressure/omega.mon.mean.nc
General Circulation -Pressure Belts

Global mean sea-level

pressure (mb) patterns in
January (A) and July (B).
 Visualization of Surface Pressure Belts

#1

Plot the mean (Climatology) sea level pressure during Annual Mean,
JJAS mean and DJF mean. Check if there are any changes in pressure
system positions (Time period 1980-2020)
Circulation in a Global Context

Westerlies

Westerlies
Westerlies

Mean surface pressure and winds during DJF (winter)

Mean surface pressure and winds during JJA (summer)

TRADE WINDS ARE EASTERLY WINDS

Westerlies Westerlies
What will happen in the upper troposphere ?

Jet Stream:
Jet streams are narrow belts of high wind speeds that blow in the upper troposphere.

Jet stream is produced by thermal wind relation.

They form between areas of Low and High Pressure centres (interface of two different
air).
It has the ability to separate the warm and cold air.
(Strongest) Jet Streams
Subtropical jet stream

• The jet stream typically found between 20° and 30° latitude and at heights
between 12 and 14 km.
• A jet stream is located at the poleward limit of the equatorial tropical air
above the transition zone between tropical and mid-latitude air.

Polar jet stream

• The jet stream that is associated with the polar front in middle and high
latitudes. Usually located between 9 and 12 km.
• Jet stream core often exceeds 100 kts (more than 180 km/hr)
• Jet streams found at the upper levels at 200 hPa pressure level

Jet streams are formed or intensified by mechanisms that increase the pressure (or
height) gradient in a concentrated area. There are four processes that can do this:

1) Differential heating
2) Differential temperature advection
3) Differential adiabatic cooling
4) Differential vorticity advection
Subtropical and polar jets:

50 − 600 N

20 − 300 N

Large temperature gradients at

the surface correspond to strong
winds aloft!
Subtropical Jet: Polar Jet:
Located at the higher-latitude end of the Hadley Cell. Located at the thermal boundary between the
The jet obtains its maximum wind speed (westerly) tropical warm air and the polar cold air. The jet
due the conservation of angular momentum (of obtain its maximum wind speed (westerly) due
course as a consequence of thermal wind balance) the latitudinal thermal gradient (thermal wind
relation).
 • Normally the jet stream runs
fairly directly from west to east
and pushes weather systems
through quite quickly.

• However, sometimes the

steering flow of the jet stream
can meander (a wavy like),
curving north and south as it
heads east.

❖ The jet stream guides

weather (or low pressure)
systems which bears rain and
unsettled conditions

❖ The STJ is stronger over the

western Pacific region, on
average, than any other
place in the world. T
Vertical Structure of zonal wind circulation at 45º N

Explain the peak, Why ?

Which components of
winds ?
200 hPa Jet stream – Uttarkhand flood

Entrance region
Kedarnath

16-17 June 2013

 Subtropical jet
during active and break spells of monsoon

Subtropical westerly jet

Tropical easterly jet

Winds and geopotential height at 200 hPa T = Tibetan anticyclone

Somali Jet or Low level Jet (Findlater)
➢ The Somali jet is one of the most prominent wind systems of the lower
troposphere during the Asian/Indian summer monsoon.
➢ Its strongest winds are found during the months of June-July-August at a height
of roughly 1 to 1.5 km above the Earth’s surface off the coast of Somalia and
extending over the northern Arabian Sea.
➢ Max speeds at the core of LLJ

18-20 m/s
Regional Jet streams: Tropical Easterly Jet stream

✓ The Tropical Easterly Jet is an upper level easterly wind that starts in June and
continues until September (Summer). This strong flow of air that develops in
the upper atmosphere during the Asian monsoon is centred on 15°N, 50-80°E
and extends from South-East Asia to Africa.
✓ The strongest development of the jet is at about 15 km above the Earth's
surface with wind speeds of up to 40 m/s over the Indian Ocean.
✓ Jet formed due to intense heating over Asian (Tibet) plateau.
✓ Formation: Thermal gradient is reversed, resultant wind is the tropical eastrly
jet.
➢ Found between 200 and 100 hPa pressure levels.
➢ Core of Tropical Easterly jet is
• 15ºN over India and
• 5 ºN over West Africa.
➢ Usually found in Summer.
➢Feature: Band of easterly winds from equator to about 25º N.

➢ Jet speeds reached in only 2 zones.

• Philippines to Sudan (max mean speed 100 Kt) and
•Over W. Africa (max mean speed 60-70 Kt).
 Tropical Easterly Jet during monsoon

Tropical easterly jet

Winds and geopotential height at 200 hPa T = Tibetan anticyclone

Weaker TEJ
Stronger TEJ
 Maintenance of General Circulation of the Atmosphere

Solar Input Thermal

Equator to Pole Temp.
Net Q +ve in Gradient dT/dy Wind
tropics, -ve in dU/dz
polar regions

Baroclinic Instability

Decreases dT/dy and

Waves transport heat and
stabilizes Baroclinic
momentum poleward
Instability

Baroclinic Instability: Instability that arises due to the existence of a meridional

temperature gradient (vertical shear of the mean flow and a thermal wind).
 Some important features of the observed Mean
condition of the atmosphere
➢ Surface easterlies in the tropics & surface westerlies in the middle latitudes

➢ Westerly jet stream in the upper atmosphere subtropics. Winter hemisphere jet
tends to be stronger than the summer hemisphere one.

➢ Easterly jet in the upper atmosphere over the equatorial region during summer
monsoon region

➢Three cell meridional structure

➢ Equatorto pole temperature difference is about 600K in the winter hemisphere
and about 350K in the summer hemisphere

➢The temperature gradient in the meridional direction is weak in the tropics and
strong in the middle latitude.

➢ Height of the tropopause is much lower in the polar region as compared to the
equatorial region
Question 1:

Use surface winds (1000 hPa) and rainfall data from NCEP database and Plot the ITCZ (from winds and
rainfall) during JJAS and DJF. Check if you can see any changes in its position. (Time period 1980-2020)

Question 2:

Use vertical velocity data (500 hPa) from NCEP database and Plot the ITCZ during JJAS (Time period 1980-
2020).

Question 3:

Plot the mean (Climatology) sea level pressure during Annual Mean, JJAS mean and DJF mean. Check if
there are any seasonal changes in pressure system positions (Time period 1980-2020).

Question 4:

Using U-wind data, plot climatology (Time period 1980-2020) of global upper level jet streams at 200 hPa
pressure levels.

Question 5:
Find the vorticity, divergence at 200 hPa pressure level for summer season for the period of 1980-2020
over 30S-50N, 40E-150 region using U and V wind data from NCEP data.