What are some natural cycles that convection currents are apart of?

Question

What are some natural cycles that convection currents are apart of?

Answer 1

Convection is a part of many things in our atmosphere, from very small scale processes to very large scale processes.  On the smaller scale, convection mixes air in the lowest few centimetres to metres of our boundary layer; hence the 'ripples' of heat we see when it's hot out.  On a larger scale, convection forms thunderstorms, through warm moist air condensing (creating the cloud we see) then cooling and ascending (the area of rain and wind we experience).  Convective currents also spawn hurricanes in much the same way (just on an even larger scale).  On the largest of scales, convection plays an important role in transporting hot, moist equator-borne air northward to the colder, dryer poles (search for Hadley cells for more detail on this).  All of these things, from the big to the little, help maintain a global energy balance.

Answer 2

Convection of course is the lifting of air relative to the heat below and cooling that take places aloft.  Convection currents are seen in clouds and thunderstorms and even hurricanes.