REVIEW: Summary

Summary

Flooding after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Photo courtesy of CK-12. 

• Greenhouse gases come from anthropogenic (human) and natural sources
• The most common greenhouse gases found in earth's atmosphere are carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane. 
• Greenhouse gases contribute to Earth's greenhouse effect.
• The greenhouse effect is the warming of Earth's atmosphere. 
• The atmosphere has 6 major convection cells, three in the northern hemisphere and three in the southern
• Coriolis Effect results in there being three convection cells per hemisphere rather than one
• Winds blow at the base of the convection cells
• Global winds blow from high to low pressure at the base of the atmospheric circulation cells
• The winds at the bases of the cells have names: the Hadley cell is the trade winds; the Ferrel cell is the westerlies; the Polar cell is the polar easterlies
• Where two cells meet, weather can be extreme, particularly at the polar front

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