This supercomputer animation of water vapor circulation on
Earth, produced by the US Dept. of Energy and National Science
Foundation's CHAMMP program, shows banding in Earth's
atmosphere. Look closely at the band of swirls near the top
and bottom (middle latitudes). Each swirl is a cyclone, where
a low pressure center is sucking a high pressure system into
it like water swirling into a drain.
Animation: National Center for Atmospheric
Research/Scientific Computing Division: Sponsored by the
NSF.