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atmospheric circulation
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large-scale movement of air, a means by which thermal energy is distributed on Earth's surface
~15 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Idealised depiction (at equinox) of large-scale atmospheric circulation on Earth Long-term mean precipitation by month
Atmospheric circulation is the large-scale movement of air and together with ocean circulation is the means by which thermal energy is redistributed on the surface of Earth. Earth's atmospheric circulation varies from year to year, but the large-scale structure of its circulation remains fairly constant. The smaller-scale weather systems – mid-latitude depressions, or tropical convective cells – occur chaotically, and long-range weather predictions of those cannot be made beyond ten days in practice, or a month in theory (see chaos theory and the butterfly effect).
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “atmospheric circulation” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.