The Hadley circulation (or Hadley cell) is traditionally described as a large-scale atmospheric circulation phenomenon driven by differential heating of the Earth surface: warm, moist air rises near the equator, diverges poleward in the upper troposphere, and subsides in the subtropics. In this article, the mechanism of the Hadley circulation is revisited and a new model is provided to explain its mechanism. The new model is based on a form of the atmospheric dynamic equation which substitutes pressure with temperature and density; thereby categorizing weather systems into thermal and dynamic systems. Such classification is useful for explaining large-scale weather systems such as the Hadley cell. The proposed explanation for the mechanism of the Hadley circulation argues that subtropical highs are the driving force of the Hadley cell, rather than the conventionally-believed ITCZ (Intertropical Convergence Zone). To support our theory, we analyze the atmospheric air density flux divergence with the results from the Community Earth System Model (CESM) and derive a new continuity equation by adding source/sink terms, in which evaporation serves as the air-mass source, and precipitation (condensation) as the air-mass sink. Results found that the equatorial easterlies could be linked to the solar diurnal cycle, demonstrating that the trade wind can be generated by the solar diurnal cycle, especially in the spring and fall seasons, as well as from the equatorial branch of the subtropical high.

Wei Huang

Hadley cells dominate the meridional circulation of terrestrial atmospheres. The Solar System terrestrial atmospheres, Venus, Earth, Mars and Titan, exhibit a large variety in the strength, width and seasonality of their Hadley circulation. Despite the Hadley cell being thermally driven, in all planets, the ascending branch does not coincide with the warmest latitude, even in cases with very long seasonality (e.g., Titan) or very small thermal inertia (e.g., Mars). In order to understand the characteristics of the Hadley circulation in case of extreme planetary characteristics, we show both theoretically, using axisymmetric theory, and numerically, using a set of idealized GCM simulations, that the thermal Rossby number dictates the character of the circulation. Given the possible variation of thermal Rossby number parameters, the rotation rate is found to be the most critical factor controlling the circulation characteristics. The results also explain the location of the ascending branch on Mars and Titan.

Ilai Guendelman Yohai Kaspi

Planets with high obliquity receive more radiation in the polar regions than at low latitudes, and thus, assuming an ocean-covered surface with sufficiently high heat capacity, their meridional temperature gradient was shown to be reversed for the entire year. The objective of this work is to investigate the drastically different general circulation of such planets, with an emphasis on the tropical Hadley circulation and the mid-latitude baroclinic eddy structure. We use a 3D dry dynamic core model, accompanied by an eddy-free configuration and a generalized 2D Eady model. When the meridional temperature gradient $T_y$ is reversed, the Hadley cell remains in the same direction, because the surface wind pattern and hence the associated meridional Ekman transport are not changed, as required by the baroclinic eddy momentum transport. The Hadley cell under reversed $T_y$ also becomes much shallower and weaker, even when the magnitude of the gradient is the same as in the normal case. The shallowness is due to the bottom-heavy structure of the baroclinic eddies in the reverse case, and the weakness is due to the weak wave activity. We propose a new mechanism to explain the mid-latitude eddy structure for both cases, and verify it using the generalized Eady model. With seasonal variations included, the annual mean circulation resembles that under perpetual annual mean setup. Approaching the solstices, a strong cross-equator Hadley cell forms in both cases, and about 2/3 of the Hadley circulation is driven by eddies, as shown by eddy-free simulations and using a decomposition of the Hadley cell.

Wanying Kang Ming Cai Eli Tziperman

The Hadley circulation describes a planetary-scale tropical atmospheric flow, which has a major influence on climate. Contemporary theoretical understanding is based upon angular momentum conservation, the basic dynamical constraint governing the state of the flow pattern. However, despite the degree of success in representing the Hadley circulation, the canonical theoretical model does not treat interactions with other regions, particularly the mid-latitudes. Here, we extend the original model of Held and Hou (1980) to include the influence of mid-latitude large-scale atmospheric dynamics, which we treat using the planetary-scale heat equation with a parameterized poleward heat flux driven by synoptic eddies. The energy flux balance within the Hadley cell includes the poleward heat flux at the poleward edge of the cell, which is controlled by the baroclinic instability of the sub-tropical jet. We find that an increase (decrease) in the poleward heat flux leads to a strengthening (weakening) tropical convection, driving an equatorward (poleward) shift of the edge of the Hadley cell. Thus, our theoretical solutions suggest that global warming, which can reduce the baroclinicity of the subtropical jet, can lead to the poleward expansion of the Hadley cell due to the change in energy flux balance within it.

W. Moon J. S. Wettlaufer

Classical particle-like solutions of field equations such as general relativity, could account for dark matter. Such particles would not interact quantum mechanically and would have negligible interactions apart from gravitation. As a relic from the big bang, they would be a candidate for cold dark matter consistent with observations.

Mark J Hadley

The symmetry of Nature under a Space Inversion is described by a Parity operator. Contrary to popular belief, the Parity operator is not unique. The choice of the Parity operator requires several arbitrary decisions to be made. It is shown that alternative, equally plausible, choices leads to the definition of a Parity operator that is conserved by the Weak Interactions. The operator commonly known as CP is a more appropriate choice for a Parity operator.

Mark J Hadley

Using public HIRISE images of MARS, I derive the wind directions at high Northern lattitudes, where many interesting eolian features are observed. BArchan dunes show prominent wind direction from the North indicating that they formed during the southern summer. But a few record consistent SE winds near the UTOPIA PLANITIA basin. The wind reversal is consistent with a local perturbation of the solsticial Hadley cell caused by geological depression.

M. Kuassivi

We present theories for the latitudinal extents of both Hadley cells throughout the annual cycle by combining our recent scaling for the ascending edge latitude (Hill et al. 2021) with the uniform Rossby number (Ro), baroclinic instability-based theory for the poleward, descending edge latitudes of Kang and Lu 2012. The resulting analytic expressions for all three Hadley cell edges are predictive except for diagnosed values of Ro and two proportionality constants. The theory captures the climatological annual cycle of the ascending and descending edges in an Earth-like simulation in an idealized aquaplanet general circulation model (GCM), provided the descending edge prediction is lagged by one month. In simulations in this and two other idealized GCMs with varied planetary rotation rate ($\Omega$), the winter, descending edge of the solsticial, cross-equatorial Hadley cell scales approximately as $\Omega^{-1/2}$ and the summer, ascending edge as $\Omega^{-2/3}$, both in accordance with our theory.

Spencer A. Hill Simona Bordoni Jonathan L. Mitchell

We consider the relevance of known constraints from each of Hide's theorem, the angular momentum conserving (AMC) model, and the equal-area model on the extent of cross-equatorial Hadley cells. These theories respectively posit that a Hadley circulation must span: all latitudes where the radiative convective equilibrium (RCE) absolute angular momentum ($M_\mathrm{rce}$) satisfies $M_\mathrm{rce}>\Omega a^2$ or $M_\mathrm{rce}<0$ or where the RCE absolute vorticity ($\eta_\mathrm{rce}$) satisfies $f\eta_\mathrm{rce}<0$; all latitudes where the RCE zonal wind exceeds the AMC zonal wind; and over a range such that depth-averaged potential temperature is continuous and that energy is conserved. The AMC model requires knowledge of the ascent latitude $\varphi_\mathrm{a}$, which need not equal the RCE forcing maximum latitude $\varphi_\mathrm{m}$. Whatever the value of $\varphi_\mathrm{a}$, we demonstrate that an AMC cell must extend at least as far into the winter hemisphere as the summer hemisphere. The equal-area model predicts $\varphi_\mathrm{a}$, always placing it poleward of $\varphi_\mathrm{m}$. As $\varphi_\mathrm{m}$ is moved poleward (at a given thermal Rossby number), the equal-area predicted Hadley circulation becomes implausibly large, while both $\varphi_\mathrm{m}$ and $\varphi_\mathrm{a}$ become increasingly displaced poleward of the minimal cell extent based on Hide's theorem (i.e. of supercritical forcing). In an idealized dry general circulation model, cross-equatorial Hadley cells are generated, some spanning nearly pole-to-pole. All homogenize angular momentum imperfectly, are roughly symmetric in extent about the equator, and appear in extent controlled by the span of supercritical forcing.

Spencer Hill Simona Bordoni Jonathan L. Mitchell

The poleward extent of Earth's zonal-mean Hadley cells varies across seasons and years, which would be nice to capture in a simple theory. A plausible, albeit diagnostic, candidate from Hill et al (2022) combines the conventional two-layer, quasi-geostrophic, baroclinic instability-based framework with a less conventional assumption: that each cell's upper-branch zonal winds are suitably captured by a single, cell-wide Rossby number, with meridional variations in the local Rossby number neglected. We test this theory against ERA5 reanalysis data, finding that it captures both seasonal and interannual variations in the Hadley cell zonal winds and poleward extent fairly well. For the seasonal cycle of the NH cell poleward edge only, this requires empirically lagging the prediction by one month, for reasons unclear to us. In all cases, the bulk Rossby number value that yields the most accurate zonal wind fields is approximately equal to the actual, diagnosed cell-mean value. Variations in these cell-mean Rossby numbers, in turn, predominantly drive variations in each cell's poleward extent. All other terms matter much less -- including the subtropical static stability, which, by increasing under global warming, is generally considered the predominant driver of future Hadley cell expansion. These results argue for developing a predictive theory for the cell-mean Rossby number and for diagnosing its role in climate model projections of future Hadley cell expansion.

Spencer A Hill Simona Bordoni Jonathan L Mitchell Juan M Lora