One mechanism explaining their formation is the "hot tower" hypothesis of Simpson and Riehl. Kerry Cook of Cornell has famously used GCM simulations to show how they are affected by continental surfaces. In the southern Pacific their theory must be modified due to the Walker circulation between the waters of South America and Australia. They draw warm, moist air into the intertropical convergence 
One mechanism explaining their formation is the "hot tower" hypothesis of Simpson and Riehl. Kerry Cook of Cornell has famously used GCM simulations to show how they are affected by continental surfaces. In the southern Pacific their theory must be modified due to the Walker circulation between the waters of South America and Australia. They draw warm, moist air into the intertropical convergence zone and follow the "thermal equator" of highest temperature. Meeting the Ferrel cells at the horse latitudes, FTP, identify these patterns of wind circulation that lie in the equatorial latitudes and explain the trade winds, named for an English lawyer.
One mechanism explaining their formation is the "hot tower" hypothesis of Simpson and Riehl.
Hadley cells