# Tag Info

19

The subtropical jetstream The subtropical jetstream can be explained with angular momentum arguments. In an idealized circulation model of the atmosphere, there is a hadley cell that circulates upward at the equator, poleward along the tropical tropopause, downward around 30 N/S and equatorward at the surface. Parcels rising at the equator have a fair bit ...

10

As your diagram shows, the jet stream actually has two circulating components: one is "around the earth" (which is why the transatlantic crossing is so much faster going East than going West), while the second is more like a vortex, with a circulating flow "around" the main direction. This circulating flow is vertical in two places: North of the jet stream ...

9

I wouldn't characterize the movement of the jetstream as a "less well known" problem, at least not to anyone who has sat through a synoptic meteorology class. The jetstream from a dynamic point of view is just an enhanced gradient in the heights on a constant pressure surface (or pressures on a constant height surface) and there are many factors the ...

8

Looking at the annual climatology of the 200 hPa winds as shown below from NCAR NCEP reanalysis it is noted that the mid latitudes have by and large westerly winds (for a planet that rotates west to east). On the other hand averaged over a latitude circle(zonal average) the low latitude tropics and equator have by and large easterly winds. The reference ...

5

Jet streams are caused by a combination of a planet's rotation on its axis and atmospheric heating. These form air masses near each other of different temperatures, which cause jet streams. Also, a links that might help you: What causes the jet stream?

4

FlightAware suggests there are no non-stop flights from LA to Delhi. Was certainly going to point out that we're pretty limited on ultra long-haul flights still, and it'd take a very special flight setup to make your scenario. You'd need both: Two locations about 180° longitude apart so that the distance going east vs. the distance going west is ...

4

Keep in mind that your jetstream map is only a schematic description. In reality you will experience shear (strong wind along jet axis, decreasing outwards). Assuming that the airship would drift with the wind, the shear would throw you off the jetstream and you would sooner or later been taken to convergent areas in the upper troposphere (poles, or ...

3

In theory, maybe you could do it, but some of the jet stream loops are even tighter than in Aabaakawad's examples. The wind shear and associated turbulence in and around the jet stream's are so severe that no 'light plane' could survive. Any glider-like aircraft would break up almost immediately.

3

I have gone through both the references - The effect of jet streak curvature on kinematic fields and the background reference in that paper - Isolation of the inertial gravity component in a nonlinear atmospheric model and neither of those references mention any connection to a Cartesian based NS and defining curvature in that coordinate space. To me the ...

3

Based on the state of the discussion in the comments I was not sure whether this has an answer now, but I stumbled over it, and I think I can give a short answer from which one can learn a lot. I'll base my discussion on polar $(\rho,\phi)$ coordinates, for the sake of clarity. In classical mechanics we use for the position vector \vec r= r \vec{e}_r = r \...

3

My answer will only relate to the question in the title: Why is pressure on the poles higher in summer and lower in winter? Due to the axis tilt of the earth the winter hemisphere gets less heated by solar radiation. This leads to a high temperature gradient from equator to the winter hemisphere pole (strong baroclinicity). In contrast we have a low ...

3

I'll look at the climates of the town of Inuvik In Canada's Northwest Territory at a latitude of 68°21′42″N against that of Mexico City at a latitude of 19°26'N. In July, the daily mean temperatures are 14.1°C in Inuvik and 18.2°C in Mexico City — a difference of 4.1°C. Compare that small difference with the daily mean temperatures in January of -26.9°C in ...

1

Because in summer the Arctic and sub-Arctic are quite warm, some days even hot, so winds blowing north from the Med or North Africa will not produce so great a contrast as they would in the winter. The reason for the Arctic's hot summers is that for a while the sun is in the sky 24 hours a day.

1

It can't be done. That is my guess. I think you would need a pressure suit or cabin. I am a former USAF weather officer with flight experience. I have a Masters Degree in Meteorology and a BS in Space Physics. I have working experience in analyzing the jet stream and also using data for vertical airspeed (or omega, as some call it). That does not give me ...

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