Hadley Cell

The Hadley cell is an atmospheric circulation cell, named after the English scientist George Hadley. In a 1735 paper, Hadley described the global circulation as consisting of one thermally direct cell in each hemisphere. Hadley's conceptual model consisted of rising air at the equator and sinking air at the poles. Surface flow was from the poles toward the equator, while upper-level flow was from the equator toward the poles, completing the cell. Hadley's early contribution did not consider the rotation of Earth, which results in the Coriolis force, an apparent deflection of moving air to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere. His description also did not consider seasonal variations due to the annual revolution of Earth around ...