As alluded to in previous pages, the conditions that allow for the "Energy Tower" to function as an energy source are created by what is known in the scientific community as the Hadley Cell Principle. The Hadley Cell Principle is an air circulation pattern located near the equator that can be thought of as a large-scale overturning of the atmosphere driven by solar heating (Webster 2004), which on average is largest near the equator and smallest at the poles. The atmospheric circulation transports energy polewards, thus reducing the resulting equator-to-pole temperature contrast. In other words, warm moist air near the equator rises to a height of about 14 kilometers and then begins to flow toward the North and South poles, respectively. At about 30° North and South latitudes the air descends back to the surface as cool, dry air. Some of the air then travels back towards the equator (known as the trade winds), creating a kind of closed loop (see figure 4.1)
Figure 4.1 Taken from the website for the Data Discovery Hurricane Science Center
http://www.newmediastudio.org/DataDiscovery/Hurr_ED_Center/Easterly_Waves/Trade_Winds/Trade_Winds.html
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