If there were no continents and seasonal variation on the Earth, an ideal atmospheric circulation system would be denoted by: (1) an equatorial belt of low pressure; (2) polar centers of high pressure; and (3) two intermediate belts, one of high pressure (the Horse Latitudes) at about 30 degrees and the other of low pressure in the vicinity of 60 degrees. The low-pressure zones would be centers of convergence and the high-pressure zones centers of divergence. Since the Earth is rotating, wave patterns would develop along the convergences and these would become the great storm-generating belts. However, the critical modification in this ideal pattern is the asymmetric presence of continents; meridional land masses and mountain belts block the 60 degree convergence zone in the northern hemisphere, but in the southern hemisphere this is a clear waterway — the Southern Ocean — all around the Earth.
Due to the different thermal characteristics of continents and oceans, semipermanent centers...
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Cross-references
Airmass Climatology
Aleutian Low
Atmospheric Circulation, Global
Azores (Bermuda) High
Icelandic Low
North American (Canadian) High
North Pacific (Hawaiian) High
Oscillations
Siberian (Asiatic) High
Teleconnections
Zonal Index
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Hordon, R.M. (2005). Centers of Action. In: Oliver, J.E. (eds) Encyclopedia of World Climatology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht . https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3266-8_36
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