What is the atmosphere and how does it form?
Circulations of the Atmosphere
Many slides depicting the same thing. The equator is the source of the earth’s maximum heat content. That is where the sun beats down the hardest.
From there we can get a general picture. The warm air rises because it is less dense then the colder air (think of ice vs water, ice is thick and harder to penetrate).
The earth turns, so the air movement isn’t perfectly straight, it is sort of elliptical in nature and on an axis.
Philadelphia Weather Authority 