What does atmospheric movement look like?

The atmosphere around the earth is like an invisible wild horse, running endlessly under the influence of sunlight and heat. Its movement takes many forms, ranging from large to small. It is this constant movement of the atmosphere that creates different weather and climate in different areas of the earth.

Each area on the earth receives light and heat from the sun differently. The equator and low latitudes receive more heat, so the air expands easily, becomes lighter and rises; the polar regions and high latitudes receive less heat, and the air contracts and sinks. In this way, the air pressure over the equatorial regions is higher than the air pressure over the polar regions. This difference in air pressure between the north and the south causes air above the equator to flow toward the poles.

The air above the equator continues to flow out, the air quality gradually decreases, and the surface pressure drops to form a low pressure area that exists all year round. This low pressure area is called the equatorial low pressure area.

Over the polar regions, due to the continuous inflow of air, the surface pressure will rise and form a high-pressure area, called the polar high-pressure area.

As a result, there is a pressure difference in the lower layers of the atmosphere where the polar air pressure is higher than the equatorial air pressure, resulting in atmospheric movement from the poles to the equator. When this airflow reaches the equatorial region from the poles, it heats up and rises, replenishing the air quality flowing away from the equator. In this way, a north-south closed circulation is formed between the equator and the pole, which is called the "Hartley circulation" in meteorology.

At the same time, the movement of the atmosphere is affected by the deflection force generated by the rotation of the earth at all times. In the Northern Hemisphere, the direction of air flow is deflected to the right; in the Southern Hemisphere, the direction of air flow is deflected to the left. In this way, when the air above the equator flows toward the north and south poles, its direction of movement will continue to deflect to the right or left. At high altitudes around 30-35° latitude, the airflow deflection direction is close to 90°. In other words, the air flow that was originally north-south direction gradually changed to the east-west direction. In this way, the air that continuously flows from the equator is blocked by this east-west air flow, gradually accumulates, and the air begins to sink. As a result, the atmospheric pressure in the middle and lower layers of this area increases, forming a stable and powerful force all year round. Subtropical high pressure zone. Due to the prevailing downdrafts in the subtropical high-pressure belt, there is a lack of clouds and rain all year round, so it is a broad windless zone.

In addition, there are the majestic westerly belts and easterly belts that circle the world. The atmosphere in the westerly belt has obvious fluctuations, which are like the ups and downs of waves in a river, and they are constantly rushing. Because our country is located in the mid-latitudes, the large-scale westerly belt passes over our country, which has a great impact on our country's weather and climate.