The Coriolis Effect and Geostrophic Motion - on a rotating planet winds get deflected off to the side, and how that leads to the wind above the boundary layer circling around high and low pressures
Atmospheric Circulation – Part One - Geopotential Height and “Meridional Winds” (N-S winds)
Atmospheric Circulation – Part Two – Thermal Wind - How the N-S winds combined with the Coriolis force causes the “thermal wind”, where zonal winds (W-E winds) increase with height
Atmospheric Circulation – Part Three – Instability - How angular momentum implies ever increasing W-E winds and destabilizes an equator – pole overturning cell, instead creating the Hadley cell that goes from the equator only to 30°N and 30°
And some background useful for understanding Atmospheric Circulation..
Density, Stability and Motion in Fluids - some basics about instability
Potential Temperature - explaining “potential temperature” and why the “potential temperature” increases with altitude
Temperature Profile in the Atmosphere – The Lapse Rate - Lots more about the temperature profile in the atmosphere
