George Hadley was born in London, England, and educated at Oxford University where he trained in law. He also developed an interest in atmospheric physics and produced meteorological observations for the Royal Society of London. Hadley built on the 1686 work of Edmond Halley, who presented basic ideas about the rising of heated equatorial air and its replacement with cooler air flowing in from higher latitudes. Halley had not been able to describe a cause for the tropical easterlies, or tradewinds, however.
Hadley’s key publication, “Concerning the cause of the general trade winds”, appeared in 1735. In this paper he described variable speeds of rotation with latitude and deflection of air- flow dependent on differences in Earth circumference between the equator and the tropics. Hadley combined this with an understanding of rising warm air in the tropics and sinking cold air in higher latitudes to explain the easterly direction of the tradewinds. He also described upper air motion in...
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Harrington, L.M.B. (2005). Hadley, George, 1685–1768. In: Oliver, J.E. (eds) Encyclopedia of World Climatology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht . https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3266-8_91
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