|  Share | Cite   Scales of Motion  In the study of atmospheric
motions, little swirls are observed to feed on bigger swirls,
which feed on, or spin off, even larger ones. This swirling
feeding frenzy is just part of our daily weather. Splitting the
atmosphere into its many spinning components really helps us
understand what's going on. These scales of motion start from
the smallest circulation blowing through a pile of leaves to the
largest circulation extending from one end of the globe to
another. Each is distinguished by its size and structure, and
each generates different forms of weather, depending on—you
guessed it—its vertical velocity. The following figure shows the
spectrum of atmospheric motions, along with the different
characteristic forms of weather.   Because the earth is
rotating, the atmosphere also rotates and creates circulations
of different sizes. Circulation is simply the atmosphere moving
in a closed path.  All the circulations we experience can be
grouped into these different categorie