There are three ways heat and energy from the sun are transferred into the atmosphere: radiation, conduction, and convection. Solar radiation warms the Earth's surface and the resulting heat is transferred to the atmosphere mainly by convection. Conduction contributes little to the overall process since heat transfer via air is a slow and inefficient process. Convection is the vertical process that carries warm air from the ground upward to be replaced by colder air, which in turn is warmed and circulates upward again. Globally, convection is responsible for atmospheric circulation that redistributes heat from warm equatorial regions toward the poles. The Coriolis effect, the apparent curvature of winds and ocean currents due to the Earth's rotation, causes the atmospheric circulation to be divided into three convective zones per hemisphere: the Hadley cells (tropical), the Ferrell cell (temperate ) and the polar cell (UXL Encyclopedia of Meteorology and Natural Disasters). These convection cells, along with horizontal advection, are responsible for the overall wind pattern. On a smaller local scale, convective currents are linked to the development of deep convective clouds and local storm systems. Because precipitation is central to Earth's energy balance, circulation, and water cycle, atmospheric scientists have focused their efforts on understanding the impact of pollution on development and intensity. convection currents, cloud cover, precipitation and thunderstorms. The development of cumulonimbus or storm clouds is an example of a convective cell. For a thunderstorm to develop, the sun warms the earth's surface, which also warms the air above it. As air rises, it is transf...... middle of paper ......fication of rain from the tropics to the mid-latitudes. " Nature Geoscience, (2012): Print. Li, Zhanqing, Feng Niu, Jiwen Fan, Yangang Liu, Daniel Rosenfeld and Yanni Ding. "Long-term impacts of aerosols on the vertical development of clouds and precipitation." Nature Geoscience, 4. 12 (2011): 888--894 and Grabowski, W. 2011. Cloud system resolution model simulations of indirect aerosol effects on tropical deep convection and its thermodynamic environment, 11 (20), pp. . 10503--10523. "Weather Almanac of Thunderstorms". introduction” and Natural Disasters Vol. 1: Weather Overview: UXL, 2008. 1-55 Web... 2013.