Atmospheric circulation is the large-scale movement of air, and together with the ocean circulation is the means by which thermal energy is redistributed on the surface of the Earth.

The Earth's atmospheric circulation varies from year to year, but the large scale structure of its circulation remains fairly constant. The smaller scale weather systems – mid-latitude depressions, or tropical convective cells – occur "randomly", and long range weather predictions of those cannot be made beyond ten days in practice, or a month in theory (see Chaos theory and Butterfly effect). The large scale atmospheric circulation of the Earth, however, is an average of its systems and patterns, and is considered stable over longer periods of time.