What is the Ferrel cell?

Asked by: Sara Manning

What is Ferrel cell in geography?

Ferrel cell, model of the mid-latitude segment of Earth’s wind circulation, proposed by William Ferrel (1856). In the Ferrel cell, air flows poleward and eastward near the surface and equatorward and westward at higher altitudes; this movement is the reverse of the airflow in the Hadley cell.

What is the Ferrel cell responsible for?

The Ferrel Cell plays a major part in the poleward energy (mainly heat) transport. North of about latitude 38N in the northern hemisphere the precipitation exceeds evaporation, so that water vapor (representing latent heat) must be transported northward.

What is the Ferrel cell and where is it found?

Ferrel cell refers to a model that belongs to the mid-latitude region of the Earth’s wind flow. The term was first proposed by William Ferrel in 1856. The air inside the Ferrel cell flows eastward and poleward near the equator and in higher altitude areas westward.

What are the Ferrel and Polar cells?

Ferrel cell – A mid-latitude atmospheric circulation cell for weather named by Ferrel in the 19th century. In this cell the air flows poleward and eastward near the surface and equatorward and westward at higher levels. Polar cell – Air rises, diverges, and travels toward the poles.

What are Hadley and Ferrel cells?

Hadley cells, Ferrel (mid-latitude) cells, and Polar cells characterize current atmospheric dynamics. Hadley Cells are the low-latitude overturning circulations that have air rising at the equator and air sinking at roughly 30° latitude.

What is a Ferrel cell quizlet?

Ferrel cell. The middle atmospheric circulation cell in each hemisphere. Air in these cells rises at 60° latitude and falls at 30° latitude. See also westerlies. front.

What weather does the Ferrel cell bring?

The Ferrel cell



Air on the surface is pulled towards the poles, forming the warm south-westerly winds in the northern hemisphere and north-westerly winds in the southern hemisphere. These winds pick up moisture as they travel over the oceans.

Is Ferrel cell high pressure?

At around 30º North the sinking air creates an area of high pressure. This cell is thermally direct. The Ferrel cell is found between the Hadley and Polar cells and lies between 60º North and 30º North.

What happens when Hadley and Ferrel cells meet?

south of the Equator High pressure as a result of sinking air where Hadley and Ferrel cells meet. This creates a belt of deserts including the Sahara in northern Africa and the Namib in southern Africa.

Does the Ferrel cell exist?

In short, the Ferrel cell does not exist. Air that flows north moves aloft along the Polar front swirls east and settles at the poles to move south and make its way as an unsteady ground flow back to the tropics.

What is a Polar cell?

A weak meridional circulation in the high-latitude troposphere characterized by ascending motion in the subpolar latitudes (50°–70°), descending motion over the pole, poleward motion aloft, and equatorward motion near the surface.

What is the meaning of Hadley cell?

Hadley cell, model of the Earth’s atmospheric circulation that was proposed by George Hadley (1735). It consists of a single wind system in each hemisphere, with westward and equatorward flow near the surface and eastward and poleward flow at higher altitudes.

Why Hadley cell is formed?

In the Hadley cell, air rises up into the atmosphere at or near the equator, flows toward the poles above the surface of the Earth, returns to the Earth’s surface in the subtropics, and flows back towards the equator. This flow of air occurs because the Sun heats air at the Earth’s surface near the equator.

What are Hadley and Polar cells controlled by?

Between the Hadley and polar cells are the feral cells unlike the other cells the feral cells are not driven by temperature.