Jet streams are fast flowing, narrow
air currentThe thermal wind is a vertical shear in the geostrophic wind caused by a horizontal temperature gradient. Its name is a misnomer, because the thermal wind is not actually a wind, but rather a wind shear.- Physical Intuition :...
s found in the atmospheres of some
planetA planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...
s, including
EarthEarth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
. The main jet streams are located near the
tropopauseThe tropopause is the atmospheric boundary between the troposphere and the stratosphere.-Definition:Going upward from the surface, it is the point where air ceases to cool with height, and becomes almost completely dry...
, the transition between the
troposphereThe troposphere is the lowest portion of Earth's atmosphere. It contains approximately 80% of the atmosphere's mass and 99% of its water vapor and aerosols....
(where temperature decreases with
altitudeAltitude or height is defined based on the context in which it is used . As a general definition, altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The reference datum also often varies according to the context...
) and the
stratosphereThe stratosphere is the second major layer of Earth's atmosphere, just above the troposphere, and below the mesosphere. It is stratified in temperature, with warmer layers higher up and cooler layers farther down. This is in contrast to the troposphere near the Earth's surface, which is cooler...
(where temperature increases with altitude). The major jet streams on Earth are westerly winds (flowing west to east). Their paths typically have a
meanderA meander in general is a bend in a sinuous watercourse. A meander is formed when the moving water in a stream erodes the outer banks and widens its valley. A stream of any volume may assume a meandering course, alternately eroding sediments from the outside of a bend and depositing them on the...
ing shape; jet streams may start, stop, split into two or more parts, combine into one stream, or flow in various directions including the opposite direction of most of the jet. The strongest jet streams are the
polar jets, at around 7–12 km (22,965.9–39,370.1 ft) above sea level, and the higher and somewhat weaker
subtropical jets at around 10–16 km (32,808.4–52,493.4 ft). The
northern hemisphereThe Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of its equator—the word hemisphere literally means “half sphere”. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator...
and the
southern hemisphereThe Southern Hemisphere is the part of Earth that lies south of the equator. The word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' or "half sphere"...
each have both a polar jet and a subtropical jet. The northern hemisphere polar jet flows over the middle to northern latitudes of
North AmericaNorth America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
,
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, and
AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
and their intervening oceans, while the southern hemisphere polar jet mostly circles
Antarctica all year round.
Jet streams are caused by a combination of a planet's rotation on its axis and atmospheric heating (by solar radiation and, on some planets other than Earth,
internal heatInternal heat is the heat source from the interior of celestial objects, such as planets, brown dwarfs, and stars, caused by gravity, nuclear fusion and decaying radioactive materials. The amount of internal heating depends on mass; the more massive the object, the more internal heat it has...
). Jet streams form near boundaries of adjacent air masses with significant differences in
temperatureTemperature is a physical property of matter that quantitatively expresses the common notions of hot and cold. Objects of low temperature are cold, while various degrees of higher temperatures are referred to as warm or hot...
, such as the
polar regionEarth's polar regions are the areas of the globe surrounding the poles also known as frigid zones. The North Pole and South Pole being the centers, these regions are dominated by the polar ice caps, resting respectively on the Arctic Ocean and the continent of Antarctica...
and the warmer air towards the equator.
Meteorologists use the location of some of the jet streams as an aid in
weather forecastingWeather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the state of the atmosphere for a given location. Human beings have attempted to predict the weather informally for millennia, and formally since the nineteenth century...
. The main commercial relevance of the jet streams is in air travel, as flight time can be dramatically affected by either flying with the flow or against the flow of a jet stream.
Clear-air turbulenceClear air turbulence is the turbulent movement of air masses in the absence of any visual cues such as clouds, and is caused when bodies of air moving at widely different speeds meet....
, a potential hazard to aircraft passenger safety, often is found in a jet stream's vicinity. One future benefit of jet streams could be to power
airborne wind turbineAn airborne wind turbine is a design concept for a wind turbine that is supported in the air without a tower. Airborne wind turbines may operate in low or high altitudes; they are part of a wider class of airborne wind energy systems addressed by high-altitude wind power...
s.
Other jets also exist. During the northern hemisphere summer, easterly jets can form in tropical regions, typically in a region where dry air encounters more humid air at high altitudes. Low-level jets also are typical of various regions such as the central United States.
Discovery
After the
1883 eruption of the Krakatoa volcanoThe 1883 eruption of Krakatoa began in May 1883 and culminated with the destruction of Krakatoa on 27 August 1883. Minor seismic activity continued to be reported until February 1884, though reports after October 1883 were later dismissed by Rogier Verbeek's investigation.-Early phase:In the years...
, weather watchers tracked and mapped the effects on the sky over several years. They labelled the phenomenon the “equatorial smoke stream.” In the 1920s, a Japanese meteorologist,
Wasaburo Oishiwas a Japanese meteorologist. Born in Tosu, Saga, he is best known for his discovery of the high-altitude air currents now known as the jet stream. He was also an important Esperantist, serving as the second Board President of the Japan Esperanto-Institute from 1930 to 1945.-Jet stream:He wrote the...
, detected the jet stream from a site near
Mount Fujiis the highest mountain in Japan at . An active stratovolcano that last erupted in 1707–08, Mount Fuji lies about south-west of Tokyo, and can be seen from there on a clear day. Mount Fuji's exceptionally symmetrical cone is a well-known symbol of Japan and it is frequently depicted in art and...
. He tracked pilot balloons, also known as pibals (balloons used to determine upper level winds), as they rose into the atmosphere. Oishi's work largely went unnoticed outside Japan. American pilot
Wiley PostWiley Hardeman Post was a famed American aviator, the first pilot to fly solo around the world. Also known for his work in high altitude flying, Post helped develop one of the first pressure suits. His Lockheed Vega aircraft, the Winnie Mae, was on display at the National Air and Space Museum's...
, the first man to fly around the world solo in 1933, is often given some credit for discovery of jet streams. Post invented a pressurized suit that let him fly above 6200 metres (20,341.2 ft). In the year before his death, Post made several attempts at a high-altitude transcontinental flight, and noticed that at times his ground speed greatly exceeded his air speed.
German meteorologist
Heinrich SeilkopfHeinrich Seilkopf was a German meteorologist.From March 1916 to March 1919 he was a research assistant at the weather office in Berlin and until the end of the year scientific assistant at the Meteorological Observatory in Essen.From 1920 to March 1946 he was a meteorologist at the German Naval...
is credited with coining a special term,
Strahlströmung (literally "
jetA jet is an efflux of fluid that is projected into a surrounding medium, usually from some kind of a nozzle, aperture or orifice. Jets can travel long distances without dissipating...
streaming"), for the phenomenon in 1939. (Modern German usage is
"Strahlstrom".) Many sources credit real understanding of the nature of jet streams to regular and repeated flight-path traversals during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Flyers consistently noticed westerly tailwinds in excess of 100 mile per hour in flights, for example, from the US to the UK.
Description
Polar jet streams are typically located near the 250
hPaThe pascal is the SI derived unit of pressure, internal pressure, stress, Young's modulus and tensile strength, named after the French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer, and philosopher Blaise Pascal. It is a measure of force per unit area, defined as one newton per square metre...
pressure level, or 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) to 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) above
sea levelMean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
, while the weaker subtropical jet streams are much higher, between 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) and 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) above sea level. In each hemisphere, both upper-level jet streams form near breaks in the tropopause, that is at a higher altitude near the equator than it is over the poles, with large changes in its height occurring near the location of the jet stream. The northern hemisphere polar jet stream is most commonly found between latitudes
30°NThe 30th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 30 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It stands one-third of the way between the equator and the North Pole and crosses Africa, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America and the Atlantic Ocean....
and
60°NThe 60th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 60 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean....
, while the northern subtropical jet stream located close to latitude 30°N. The upper level jet stream is said to "follow the sun" as it moves northward during the warm season, or late spring and summer, and southward during the cold season, or autumn and winter.
The width of a jet stream is typically a few hundred miles and its vertical thickness often less than three miles.
Jet streams are typically continuous over long distances, but discontinuities are common. The path of the jet typically has a meandering shape, and these meanders themselves propagate east, at lower speeds than that of the actual
windWind is the flow of gases on a large scale. On Earth, wind consists of the bulk movement of air. In outer space, solar wind is the movement of gases or charged particles from the sun through space, while planetary wind is the outgassing of light chemical elements from a planet's atmosphere into space...
within the flow. Each large meander, or wave, within the jet stream is known as a
Rossby waveAtmospheric Rossby waves are giant meanders in high-altitude winds that are a major influence on weather.They are not to be confused with oceanic Rossby waves, which move along the thermocline: that is, the boundary between the warm upper layer of the ocean and the cold deeper part of the...
. Rossby waves are caused by changes in the
Coriolis effectIn physics, the Coriolis effect is a deflection of moving objects when they are viewed in a rotating reference frame. In a reference frame with clockwise rotation, the deflection is to the left of the motion of the object; in one with counter-clockwise rotation, the deflection is to the right...
with latitude, and propagate westward with respect to the flow they are embedded, that slows down the eastward migration of upper level troughs and ridges across the globe when compared to their embedded shortwave troughs. Shortwave troughs are smaller packets of upper level energy, on the scale of 1000 kilometres (621.4 mi) to 4000 kilometres (2,485.5 mi) long, that move through the flow pattern around large scale, or longwave, ridges and troughs within Rossby waves. Jet streams can split into two due to the formation of an upper-level closed low, that diverts a portion of the jet stream under its base, while the remainder of the jet moves by to its north.
The wind speeds vary according to the temperature
gradientIn vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar field is a vector field that points in the direction of the greatest rate of increase of the scalar field, and whose magnitude is the greatest rate of change....
, exceeding 92 kilometres per hour (46.9 kn), although speeds of over 398 kilometres per hour (203.1 kn) have been measured. Meteorologists now understand that the path of jet streams steers cyclonic storm systems at lower levels in the atmosphere, and so knowledge of their course has become an important part of weather forecasting. For example, in 2007,
BritainThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
experienced severe flooding as a result of the polar jet staying south for the summer.
The polar and subtropical jets merge at some locations and times, while at other times they are well separated.
Cause
In general, winds are strongest under the tropopause (except during
tornadoA tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider...
es, hurricanes or other anomalous situations). If two air masses of different temperatures or densities meet, the resulting pressure difference caused by the density difference (which causes wind) is highest within the transition zone. The wind does not flow directly from the hot to the cold area, but is deflected by the Coriolis effect and flows along the boundary of the two air masses.
All these facts are consequences of the
thermal windThe thermal wind is a vertical shear in the geostrophic wind caused by a horizontal temperature gradient. Its name is a misnomer, because the thermal wind is not actually a wind, but rather a wind shear.- Physical Intuition :...
relation. The balance of forces on an atmospheric parcel in the vertical direction is primarily between the pressure gradient and the force of gravity, a balance referred to as hydrostatic. In the horizontal, the dominant balance outside of the tropics is between the Coriolis effect and the pressure gradient, a balance referred to as
geostrophicA geostrophic current is an oceanic flow in which the pressure gradient force is balanced by the Coriolis force. The direction of geostrophic flow is parallel to the isobars, with the high pressure to the right of the flow in the Northern Hemisphere, and the high pressure to the left in the...
. Given both hydrostatic and geostrophic balance, one can derive the thermal wind relation: the vertical derivative of the horizontal wind is proportional to the horizontal temperature gradient. The sense of the relation is such that temperatures decreasing polewards implies that winds develop a larger eastward component as one moves upwards. Therefore, the strong eastward moving jet streams are in part a simple consequence of the fact that the equator is warmer than the north and south poles.
The thermal wind relation does not immediately provide an explanation for why the winds are organized in tight jets, rather than distributed more broadly over the hemisphere. There are two factors that contribute to this sharpness of the jets. The first factor is the tendency for developing cyclonic disturbances in midlatitudes to form fronts — sharp localized gradients in temperature. The polar front jet stream can be thought of as the result of this
frontogenesisFrontogenesis, in meteorology, refers to the formation or strengthening of an atmospheric front. During frontogenesis, the temperature gradient tightens and as a result the thermal wind becomes imbalanced. To maintain balance, the geostrophic wind aloft and below adjust, such that regions of...
process in midlatitudes, as the storms concentrate the north-south temperature contrast into relatively narrow regions.
Polar jet
The polar jet stream can be thought of as the result of this
frontogenesisFrontogenesis, in meteorology, refers to the formation or strengthening of an atmospheric front. During frontogenesis, the temperature gradient tightens and as a result the thermal wind becomes imbalanced. To maintain balance, the geostrophic wind aloft and below adjust, such that regions of...
process in midlatitudes.
Subtropical jet
A second factor which contributes to jet sharpness is more appropriate for the subtropical jet. The subtropical jet forms at the poleward limit of the tropical
Hadley cellThe Hadley cell, named after George Hadley, is a circulation pattern that dominates the tropical atmosphere, with rising motion near the equator, poleward flow 10–15 kilometers above the surface, descending motion in the subtropics, and equatorward flow near the surface...
and to first order this circulation is symmetric with respect to longitude. Tropical air rises to the
tropopauseThe tropopause is the atmospheric boundary between the troposphere and the stratosphere.-Definition:Going upward from the surface, it is the point where air ceases to cool with height, and becomes almost completely dry...
, mainly because of thunderstorm systems in the
Intertropical Convergence ZoneThe Intertropical Convergence Zone , known by sailors as The Doldrums, is the area encircling the earth near the equator where winds originating in the northern and southern hemispheres come together....
, and moves poleward before sinking; this is the Hadley circulation. As it does so it tends to conserve angular momentum, since friction is slight above the ground. In the northern hemisphere motions are deflected to the right by the Coriolis force, which for poleward (northward) moving air implies an increased eastward component of the winds. Around 30 degrees from the equator the jet wind speeds have become strong enough that were the jet to extend further polewards the increased windspeed would be unstable; thus the jet is limited.
Other planets
JupiterJupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
's atmosphere has multiple jet streams, forming the familiar banded color structure, caused by internal heating. The factors that control the number of jet streams in a planetary atmosphere is an active area of research in dynamical meteorology. In models, as one increases the planetary radius, holding all other parameters fixed, the number of jet streams increases.
Uses
On Earth, the northern polar jet stream is the most important one for aviation and weather forecasting, as it is much stronger and at a much lower altitude than the subtropical jet streams and also covers many countries in the
Northern HemisphereThe Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of its equator—the word hemisphere literally means “half sphere”. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator...
, while the southern polar jet stream mostly circles
Antarctica and sometimes the southern tip of
South AmericaSouth America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. The term
jet stream in these contexts thus usually implies the northern polar jet stream.
Aviation
The location of the jet stream is extremely important for aviation. Commercial use of the jet stream began on 18 November 1952, when Pan Am flew from Tokyo to Honolulu at an altitude of 7600 metres (24,934.4 ft). It cut the trip time by over one-third, from 18 to 11.5 hours. Not only does it cut time off the flight, it also nets fuel savings for the airline industry. Within North America, the time needed to fly east across the
continentA continent is one of several very large landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, with seven regions commonly regarded as continents—they are : Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia.Plate tectonics is...
can be decreased by about 30
minuteA minute is a unit of measurement of time or of angle. The minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour or 60 seconds. In the UTC time scale, a minute on rare occasions has 59 or 61 seconds; see leap second. The minute is not an SI unit; however, it is accepted for use with SI units...
s if an
airplaneA fixed-wing aircraft is an aircraft capable of flight using wings that generate lift due to the vehicle's forward airspeed. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct from rotary-wing aircraft in which wings rotate about a fixed mast and ornithopters in which lift is generated by flapping wings.A powered...
can fly with the jet stream, or increased by more than that amount if it must fly west against it.
Associated with jet streams is a phenomenon known as
clear air turbulenceClear Air Turbulence is an album by British jazz-rock fusion band Ian Gillan Band, released in 1977 with cover by Chris Foss. The album was reissued in 1989 by Virgin Records on CD.- Track listing :...
(CAT), caused by vertical and horizontal
wind shearWind shear, sometimes referred to as windshear or wind gradient, is a difference in wind speed and direction over a relatively short distance in the atmosphere...
connected to the jet streams. The CAT is strongest on the cold air side of the jet, next to and just underneath the axis of the jet. Clear air turbulence can cause aircraft to plunge and so present a passenger safety hazard that has caused fatal accidents, such as the death of one passenger on United Airlines Flight 826 (1997).
Future power generation
Scientists are investigating ways to harness the wind energy within the jet stream. According to one estimate, of the potential wind energy in the jet stream, only 1 percent would be needed to meet the world's current energy needs. The required technology would reportedly take 10–20 years to develop.
Hurricane protection
The jet stream is thought to be one of the reasons most of the Hawaii Islands have been resistant to the long
List of Hawaii hurricanes that have approached. For example, when Hurricane Flossie approached and dissipated just before reaching landfall, the NOAA cited vertical wind shear as evidenced in the photo.
Unpowered aerial attack
Near the end of
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
the Japanese
fire balloonA , or Fu-Go, was a weapon launched by Japan during World War II. A hydrogen balloon with a load varying from a incendiary to one antipersonnel bomb and four incendiary devices attached, they were designed as a cheap weapon intended to make use of the jet stream over the Pacific Ocean and wreak...
was designed as a cheap weapon intended to make use of the jet stream over the
Pacific OceanThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
to reach the west coast of
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. They were relatively ineffective as weapons, but were used in one of the few
attacks on North America during World War IIThe American Theater of World War II was a minor area of operations mainly due to the continent's geographical separation from the central theaters of conflict in Europe and Asia...
, causing six deaths and a small amount of damage.
Effects of ENSO
The
El Niño-Southern OscillationEl Niño/La Niña-Southern Oscillation, or ENSO, is a quasiperiodic climate pattern that occurs across the tropical Pacific Ocean roughly every five years...
(ENSO) influences the average location of upper-level jet streams, and leads to cyclical variations in precipitation and temperature across North America, as well as affecting
tropical cycloneA tropical cyclone is a storm system characterized by a large low-pressure center and numerous thunderstorms that produce strong winds and heavy rain. Tropical cyclones strengthen when water evaporated from the ocean is released as the saturated air rises, resulting in condensation of water vapor...
development across the eastern Pacific and Atlantic basins. Combined with the
Pacific Decadal OscillationThe Pacific Decadal Oscillation is a pattern of Pacific climate variability that shifts phases on at least inter-decadal time scale, usually about 20 to 30 years. The PDO is detected as warm or cool surface waters in the Pacific Ocean, north of 20° N...
, ENSO can also impact cold season rainfall in Europe. Changes in ENSO also change the location of the jet stream over South America, which partially affects precipitation distribution over the continent.
El Niño
During El Niño events, increased precipitation is expected in California due to a more southerly, zonal, storm track. During the El Niño portion of ENSO, increased precipitation falls along the Gulf coast and Southeast due to a stronger than normal, and more southerly, polar jet stream. Snowfall is greater than average across the southern Rockies and Sierra Nevada mountain range, and is well-below normal across the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes states. The northern tier of the lower 48 exhibits above normal temperatures during the fall and winter, while the Gulf coast experiences below normal temperatures during the winter season. The subtropical jet stream across the deep
tropicsThe tropics is a region of the Earth surrounding the Equator. It is limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at S; these latitudes correspond to the axial tilt of the Earth...
of the
Northern HemisphereThe Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of its equator—the word hemisphere literally means “half sphere”. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator...
is enhanced due to increased convection in the equatorial Pacific, which decreases
tropical cyclogenesisTropical cyclogenesis is the term that describes the development and strengthening of a tropical cyclone in the atmosphere. The mechanisms through which tropical cyclogenesis occurs are distinctly different from those through which mid-latitude cyclogenesis occurs...
within the Atlantic tropics below what is normal, and increases tropical cyclone activity across the eastern Pacific. In the Southern Hemisphere, the subtropical jet stream is displaced equatorward, or north, of its normal position, which diverts frontal systems and thunderstorm complexes from reaching central portions of the continent.
La Niña
Across North America during
La NiñaLa Niña is a coupled ocean-atmosphere phenomenon that is the counterpart of El Niño as part of the broader El Niño-Southern Oscillation climate pattern. During a period of La Niña, the sea surface temperature across the equatorial Eastern Central Pacific Ocean will be lower than normal by 3–5 °C...
, increased precipitation is diverted into the
Pacific NorthwestThe Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
due to a more northerly storm track and jet stream. The storm track shifts far enough northward to bring wetter than normal conditions (in the form of increased snowfall) to the Midwestern states, as well as hot and dry summers. Snowfall is above normal across the Pacific Northwest and western Great Lakes. Across the North Atlantic, the jet stream is stronger than normal, which directs stronger systems with increased precipitation towards Europe.
The Dust Bowl
Evidence suggests the jet stream was at least partially responsible for the widespread drought conditions during the 1930s
Dust BowlThe Dust Bowl, or the Dirty Thirties, was a period of severe dust storms causing major ecological and agricultural damage to American and Canadian prairie lands from 1930 to 1936...
in the Midwest United States. Normally, the jet stream flows east over the
Gulf of MexicoThe Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
and turns northward pulling up moisture and dumping
rainRain is liquid precipitation, as opposed to non-liquid kinds of precipitation such as snow, hail and sleet. Rain requires the presence of a thick layer of the atmosphere to have temperatures above the melting point of water near and above the Earth's surface...
onto the
Great PlainsThe Great Plains are a broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, which lies west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S...
. During the Dust Bowl, the jet stream weakened and changed course traveling farther south than normal. This starved the Great Plains and other areas of the Midwest of precious rain creating dusty conditions.
Longer-term climatic changes
During 2007, 2008, 2009 the Jet Stream has been at an abnormally low latitude across the UK, lying closer to the
English ChannelThe English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
, around 50°N rather than its more usual north of Scotland latitude of around 60°N. However, between 1979 and 2001, it has been found that the position of the jet stream has been moving northward at a rate of 2.01 kilometres (1.2 mi) per year across the
Northern HemisphereThe Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of its equator—the word hemisphere literally means “half sphere”. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator...
. Across North America, this type of change could lead to drier conditions across the southern tier of the United States and more frequent and more intense
tropical cycloneA tropical cyclone is a storm system characterized by a large low-pressure center and numerous thunderstorms that produce strong winds and heavy rain. Tropical cyclones strengthen when water evaporated from the ocean is released as the saturated air rises, resulting in condensation of water vapor...
s in the tropics. A similar slow poleward drift was found when studying the
Southern HemisphereThe Southern Hemisphere is the part of Earth that lies south of the equator. The word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' or "half sphere"...
jet stream over the same time frame.
Polar night jet
The polar-night jet stream forms only during the winter months, i.e.,
polar nightThe polar night occurs when the night lasts for more than 24 hours. This occurs only inside the polar circles. The opposite phenomenon, the polar day, or midnight sun, occurs when the sun stays above the horizon for more than 24 hours.-Description:...
s, of the year in their respective hemispheres at around 60° latitude, but at a greater height than the polar jet, of about 80000 feet (24,384 m). During these dark months the air high over the poles becomes much colder than the air over the equator. This difference in temperature gives rise to extreme air pressure differences in the stratosphere, which, when combined with the Coriolis effect, create the polar night jets, racing eastward at an altitude of about 30 miles (48.3 km). Inside the polar night jet is the
polar vortexA polar vortex is a persistent, large-scale cyclone located near one or both of a planet's geographical poles. On Earth, the polar vortices are located in the middle and upper troposphere and the stratosphere...
. The warmer air can only move along the edge of the polar vortex, but not enter it. Within the vortex, the cold polar air becomes cooler and cooler with neither warmer air from lower latitudes nor energy from the sun during the
polar nightThe polar night occurs when the night lasts for more than 24 hours. This occurs only inside the polar circles. The opposite phenomenon, the polar day, or midnight sun, occurs when the sun stays above the horizon for more than 24 hours.-Description:...
.
Low level jets
There are wind maxima at lower levels of the atmosphere that are also referred to as jets.
Barrier jet
A barrier jet in the low levels forms just upstream of mountain chains, with the mountains forcing the jet to be oriented parallel to the mountains. The mountain barrier increases the strength of the low level wind by 45 percent. In the North American
Great PlainsThe Great Plains are a broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, which lies west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S...
a southerly low-level jet helps fuel overnight thunderstorm activity during the warm season, normally in the form of
mesoscale convective systemA mesoscale convective system is a complex of thunderstorms that becomes organized on a scale larger than the individual thunderstorms but smaller than extratropical cyclones, and normally persists for several hours or more...
s which form during the overnight hours. A similar phenomenon develops across Australia, which pulls moisture poleward from the
Coral SeaThe Coral Sea is a marginal sea off the northeast coast of Australia. It is bounded in the west by the east coast of Queensland, thereby including the Great Barrier Reef, in the east by Vanuatu and by New Caledonia, and in the north approximately by the southern extremity of the Solomon Islands...
towards cut-off lows which form mainly across southwestern portions of the
continentA continent is one of several very large landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, with seven regions commonly regarded as continents—they are : Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia.Plate tectonics is...
.
Valley exit jet
A
valley exit jetA valley exit jet is a strong, down-valley, elevated air current that emerges above the intersection of the valley and its adjacent plain. These winds frequently reach a maximum of 20m/s at a height of 40-200m above the ground...
is a strong, down-valley, elevated air current that emerges above the intersection of the valley and its adjacent plain. These winds frequently reach a maximum of 20 m/s (45 mph) at a height of 40-200m above the ground. Surface winds below the jet may sway vegetation but are significantly weaker.
They are likely to be found in valley regions that exhibit diurnal mountain wind systems, such as those of the dry mountain ranges of the US. Deep valleys that terminate abruptly at a plain are more impacted by these factors than are those that gradually become shallower as downvalley distance increases.
Africa
The mid-level
African easterly jetThe African easterly jet, is a region of the lower troposphere over West Africa where the seasonal mean wind speed is maximum and easterly. Forming due to the temperature contrast between the Sahara and the Gulf of Guinea, maximum wind speeds are located at a height of to the north of the monsoon...
occurs during the Northern Hemisphere summer between 10°N and 20°N above West Africa, and the nocturnal poleward low-level jet occurs in the Great Plains of east and South Africa. The low-level easterly African jet stream is considered to play a crucial role in the southwest
monsoonMonsoon is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation, but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea...
of Africa, and helps form the
tropical waveTropical waves, easterly waves, or tropical easterly waves, also known as African easterly waves in the Atlantic region, are a type of atmospheric trough, an elongated area of relatively low air pressure, oriented north to south, which move from east to west across the tropics causing areas of...
s which march across the tropical Atlantic and eastern Pacific oceans during the warm season. The formation of the
thermal lowThermal lows, or heat lows, are non-frontal low-pressure areas that occur over the continents in the subtropics such as near the Sonoran Desert, the Mexican plateau, Sahara, South America over northwest Argentina, Australia, the Iberian peninsula, and Tibetan plateau during the warm season as the...
over northern Africa leads to a low-level westerly jet stream from June into October.
See also
- Atmospheric river
An atmospheric river is a narrow corridor or filament of concentrated moisture in the atmosphere. Atmospheric rivers consist of narrow bands of enhanced water vapor transport, typically along the boundaries between large areas of divergent surface air flow, including some frontal zones in...
- Block (meteorology)
Blocks in meteorology are large scale patterns in the atmospheric pressure field that are nearly stationary, effectively "blocking" or redirecting migratory cyclones. They are also known as blocking highs or blocking anticyclones...
- Surface weather analysis
Surface weather analysis is a special type of weather map that provides a view of weather elements over a geographical area at a specified time based on information from ground-based weather stations...
- Tornado
A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider...
- Wind shear
Wind shear, sometimes referred to as windshear or wind gradient, is a difference in wind speed and direction over a relatively short distance in the atmosphere...
- Sting jet
A sting jet is a meteorological phenomenon which is believed to be the cause of the most damaging winds in European windstorms.Following reanalysis of the Great Storm of 1987, led by Professor Keith Browning at the University of Reading, researchers identified a mesoscale flow where the most...
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