When dealing with these usually small scale circulations, the pressure gradient force is often so much stronger than the Coriolis force that the Coriolis force can be ignored.

We will learn how thermal circulations develop and then apply to concept to the earth as a whole in order to understand large global scale pressure and wind patterns.  You really can't ignore the Coriolis force in a situation like that so the concept is not really applicable on that scale.  But much of what it predicts is actually found in the real world.  That's why we'll cover and study this topic. 

Thermal Circulations
You'll find this discussed on p. 131 in the photocopied Class Notes.

The figures below are more carefully drawn versions of what is in the ClassNotes.

We've situated ourselves along a sea coast.  There aren't any temperature differences yet in this picture (both the ocean and the land are shaded green), so the pressure at the ground and above the ground are the same over the land and over the ocean.

A beach will often become much warmer than the nearby ocean during the day (the sand gets hot enough that it is painful to walk across in bare feet). The ocean is much harder to warm and won't change temperature much during the day.  The warm ground will warm the air above.  Pressure decreases more slowly as you move upward through warm low density air (this is something we covered early in the semester).  As you move from the ground to the level of the green line in the picture above pressure decreases 90 mb in the warm air and a little more, 100 mb, in the cooler denser air over the ocean.

Here's another way of figuring out what happens.  The warm air expands pushing the 900 mb pressure level to a higher level than it would normally be found.  910 mb pressure from a little lower altitude moves in to take its place. 

The temperature differences at the ground have created an upper level pressure gradient (pressure difference), higher pressure (910 mb) on the left and lower pressure (900 mb) on the right.  The resulting pressure gradient force (PGF) causes air to start to blow from left to right.

The upper level winds (which remove air from the left side of the picture and add it to the right) will then affect the surface pressure pattern.

Air leaving the left side of the picture will lower the surface pressure (from 1000 mb to 990 mb).  Adding air aloft to the right side of the picture will increase the surface pressure (from 1000 mb to 1010 mb).  Surface winds will start to blow from right to left.

You can complete the circulation loop by adding rising air above the surface low pressure at left and sinking air above the surface high at right.  The surface winds which blow from the ocean onto land are called a sea breeze (the name tells you where the winds come from).  Since this air is likely to be moist, cloud formation is likely when the air rises over the warm ground.  Rising air expands and cools.  If you cool moist air to its dew point, clouds form.

Here's a short cut that will allow you to quickly figure the directions of the winds in a thermal circulation without going through a long-winded development like we just done.  Just
Draw in a rising air arrow above the warm part of the picture, then complete the loop.

At night the ground cools more quickly than the ocean and becomes colder than the water (the water temperature didn't change at all in the picture below).  Rising air is found over the ocean water because it is warmer than the land.  The thermal circulation pattern reverses direction.  Surface winds blow from the land out over the ocean.  This is referred to as a land breeze.

Here are some additional examples of thermal circulations or large scale circulations that resemble thermal circulations. 

Cities are often warmer than the surrounding countryside, especially at night.  This is referred to as the urban heat island effect.  This difference in temperature can create a "country breeze."  This will sometimes carry pollutants from a factory outside the city back into the city or odors from a sewer treatment plant outside of town back into town.

The Asian monsoon is a large scale circulation pattern and is much more complex than a simple thermal circulation.  However you can use the thermal circulation concept to get a general understanding of what to expect at different times of the year.  Before looking at that let's be clear about the meaning of the term monsoon.

Monsoon just refers to a seasonal change in the direction of the prevailing winds.  In southern Arizona it is often used (incorrectly) to just mean a thunderstorm.

In the summer land masses in India and SE Asia become warmer than the oceans nearby.  Surface low pressure forms over the land, moist winds blow from the ocean onshore, and very large amounts of rain can follow.  A map view (top view) is shown at left, a crossectional view is shown at right.

The winds change directions in the winter when the land becomes colder than the ocean.

You can also use the thermal circulation to understand some of the basic features of the El Nino phenomenon (you find a discussion of the El Nino on pps 135-139 in the photocopied Classnotes). 

First here is what conditions look like in the tropical Pacific Ocean in non-El Nino years (top and side views again)

Cold ocean currents along the west coasts of N. America and S. American normally converge at the equator and begin to flow westward (see top view above).  As the water travels westward it warms.  Some of the warmest sea surface waters on earth are normally found in the western Tropical Pacific (this is also where hurricane are most frequent).  A temperature gradient becomes established between the W. and E. ends of the tropical Pacific. The crossectional view above shows the normal temperature and circulation pattern found in the equatorial Pacific Ocean.   You would find surface high pressure in the east and low pressure in the west.  Note that the wind circulation pattern is the same as the simple thermal circulation we studied above.

During a La Nina event, waters in the Eastern Pacific are even colder than normal.  This generally produces drier than normal conditions during the winter in the desert SW.  This was the case last winter and La Nina conditions are again in effect this winter.  You can read more about La Nina here.

Every few years El Nino conditions occur and the cold currents don't make it to the Equator.  Warm water is carried from the western Pacific to the eastern Pacific.  The temperature and pressure basically reverses itself.

Now surface high pressure is found in the west and surface low pressure and rising air is found in the E. Pacific (the reversal in the surface pressure pattern is referred to as the southern oscillation).  Indonesia and Australia often experience drought conditions (and devastating wildfires) during El Nino years.  In the desert SW we expect slightly wetter than normal conditions (perhaps 20% wetter than normal).  Wetter conditions are also found in California and in the SE US.

The second main topic of the day: using the thermal circulation idea to learn something about global scale pressure and wind patterns on the earth.  Ordinarily you couldn't apply a small scale phenomena like a thermal circulation to the much larger global scale.  However if we make some simplifying assumptions, particularly if we assume that the earth doesn't rotate or only rotates slowly, we can ignore the Coriolis force and a thermal circulation could become established.

Some additional simplifications are also made and are listed below (p. 133 in the photocopied Classnotes).  The figures are more carefully drawn versions of what was done in class.

Because the earth isn't tilted, the incoming sunlight shines on the earth most directly at the equator.  The equator will become hotter than the poles.  By allowing the earth to rotate slowly we spread this warmth out in a belt that circles the globe at the equator rather than concentrating it in a spot on the side of the earth facing the sun.  Because the earth is of uniform composition there aren't any temperature differences created between oceans and continents.

You can see the wind circulation pattern that would develop.  You'd find rising air at the equator (the "warm air rises" shortcut rule again).  Upper level winds would blow from equator toward the N and S Poles.  Winds would converge and sink at the poles.  Surface winds would blow from the poles toward the equator.  The term one cell just refers to the single complete loop in each hemisphere.

Next we will remove the assumption concerning the rotation of the earth.  We won't be able to ignore the Coriolis force now.