<p>If I recall correctly from my bachelor lectures the strength of the Hadley or Ferrell cells are often described in terms of kg/s (or sverdrup, so 10<sup>9</sup> kg/s), so i.e. mass flow of air.</p>
<p>I am not sure if this is also used for exoplanets but it is used for the Earth.</p>
<p>Source:
Fig. 7.19 on page 159 in <a href="https://archive.org/details/peixoto-j.-p.-oort-a.-h.-physics-of-climate-1992/page/159/mode/2up" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://archive.org/details/peixoto-j.-p.-oort-a.-h.-physics-of-climate-1992/page/159/mode/2up</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-06-29T08:36:22.473Z
2022-06-30T00:36:23.317Z
2022-06-30T00:36:23.317Z
smichel
<p>I'm reading articles about climate models for possible exoplanets, and I'm confused as to what the &quot;strength&quot; of a Hadley or Ferrell cell refers to. Does it refer to wind speed? Wind force?</p>

<atmosphere><climate-models><atmospheric-circulation>
What does the "strength" of a circulation cell refer to?
Elhammo
# What does the "strength" of a circulation cell refer to?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-06-22)

I'm reading articles about climate models for possible exoplanets, and I'm confused as to what the "strength" of a Hadley or Ferrell cell refers to. Does it refer to wind speed? Wind force?

**Tags:** atmosphere, climate-models, atmospheric-circulation


---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2022-06-29. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

If I recall correctly from my bachelor lectures the strength of the Hadley or Ferrell cells are often described in terms of kg/s (or sverdrup, so 109 kg/s), so i.e. mass flow of air.

I am not sure if this is also used for exoplanets but it is used for the Earth.

Source:
Fig. 7.19 on page 159 in <https://archive.org/details/peixoto-j.-p.-oort-a.-h.-physics-of-climate-1992/page/159/mode/2up>


---

