Hadley cell

The Hadley cell, also known as the Hadley circulation, is a global-scale tropical atmospheric circulation that features air rising near the equator, flowing poleward near the tropopause at a height of 12–15 km (7.5–9.3 mi) above the Earth's surface, cooling and descending in the subtropics at around 25 degrees latitude, and then returning equatorward near the surface. It is a thermally direct circulation within the troposphere that emerges due to differences in insolation and heating between the tropics and the subtropics. On a yearly average, the circulation is characterized by a circulation cell on each side of the equator. The Southern Hemisphere Hadley cell is slightly stronger on average than its northern counterpart, extending slightly beyond the equator into the Northern Hemisphere. During the summer and winter months, the Hadley circulation is dominated by a single, cross-equatorial cell with air rising in the summer hemisphere and sinking in the winter hemisphere. Analogous circulations may occur in extraterrestrial atmospheres, such as on Venus and Mars.

Global climate is greatly influenced by the structure and behavior of the Hadley circulation. The prevailing trade winds are a manifestation of the lower branches of the Hadley circulation, converging air and moisture in the tropics to form the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) where the Earth's heaviest rains are located. Shifts in the ITCZ associated with the seasonal variability of the Hadley circulation cause monsoons. The sinking branches of the Hadley cells give rise to the oceanic subtropical ridges and suppress rainfall; many of the Earth's deserts and arid regions are located in the subtropics coincident with the position of the sinking branches. The Hadley circulation is also a key mechanism for the meridional transport of heat, angular momentum, and moisture, contributing to the subtropical jet stream, the moist tropics, and maintaining a global thermal equilibrium.

The Hadley circulation is named after George Hadley, who in 1735 postulated the existence of hemisphere-spanning circulation cells driven by differences in heating to explain the trade winds. Other scientists later developed similar arguments or critiqued Hadley's qualitative theory, providing more rigorous explanations and formalism. The existence of a broad meridional circulation of the type suggested by Hadley was confirmed in the mid-20th century once routine observations of the upper troposphere became available via radiosondes. Observations and climate modelling indicate that the Hadley circulation has expanded poleward since at least the 1980s as a result of climate change, with an accompanying but less certain intensification of the circulation; these changes have been associated with trends in regional weather patterns. Model projections suggest that the circulation will widen and weaken throughout the 21st century due to climate change.