Wild, Wild Winds
-
- Written by:
- Kasha Patel
-
- Scientific consulting by:
- Siegfried D. Schubert
- View full credits
Powerful winds whip around Earth, affecting the planet's weather and climate. Such winds make up the Northern Hemisphere’s polar and subtropical jet stream. Undulating in the sky miles above the surface, these rapidly moving air currents flow eastward like rivers in the atmosphere. The polar jet stream travels in the mid-latitudes while the subtropical jet stream passes near the tropics. Sometimes the jets converge or park above a region. In summer 2010, the polar jet stream shifted north and lingered for more than two months over Eurasia. A stationary high-pressure area developed as a result that disrupted the normal movement of weather systems. This contributed to extreme drought in Russia and devastating floods in Pakistan. Watch the video to see a NASA visualization that shows the motions of winds above Europe and Asia during these events.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio
Satellite image courtesy of NASA Earth Observatory/Robert Simmon
-
Animators
- Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC)
- Horace Mitchell (NASA/GSFC)
- Trent L. Schindler (USRA)
-
Writer
- Kasha Patel (Wyle Information Systems) [Lead]
-
Scientist
- Siegfried D. Schubert (NASA/GSFC) [Lead]
Related Pages
-
-
ID: 4171 Visualization
European Jet Stream
Read moreMeandering around the planet like a rollicking roller coaster in the sky, the Northern Hemisphere's polar jet stream is a fast-moving belt of westerly winds that traverses the lower layers of the atmosphere. The jet is created by the convergence of cold air masses descending from the Arctic and rising warm air from the tropics. Deep troughs and steep ridges emerge as the denser cold air sinks and deflects warm air regions north, giving the jet stream its wavy appearance. This pattern propagates across the mid-latitudes of North America, Europe and Asia, as pockets of cold air sporadically creep down from the Arctic—creating contrasting waves and flows that accelerate eastward due to Earth's rotation. This visualization uses weather and climate observations from NASA's MERRA data model. ||
-
ID: 4148 Visualization
The Polar Jet Stream Over Asia, 2010
Read moreMeandering around the planet like a rollicking roller coaster in the sky, the Northern Hemisphere's polar jet stream is a fast-moving belt of westerly winds that traverses the lower layers of the atmosphere. The jet is created by the convergence of cold air masses descending from the Arctic and rising warm air from the tropics. Deep troughs and steep ridges emerge as the denser cold air sinks and deflects warm air regions north, giving the jet stream its wavy appearance. This pattern propagates across the mid-latitudes of North America, Europe and Asia, as pockets of cold air sporadically creep down from the Arctic—creating contrasting waves and flows that accelerate eastward due to Earth's rotation. This visualization was adapted from The Polar Jet Stream (#3864) by special request, using weather and climate observations from NASA's MERRA data model from 2010 for the period of the floods in Russia and the droughts in Pakistan. ||
-
ID: 3864 Visualization
The Polar Jet Stream
Read moreMeandering around the planet like a rollicking roller coaster in the sky, the Northern Hemisphere's polar jet stream is a fast-moving belt of westerly winds that traverses the lower layers of the atmosphere. The jet is created by the convergence of cold air masses descending from the Arctic and rising warm air from the tropics. Deep troughs and steep ridges emerge as the denser cold air sinks and deflects warm air regions north, giving the jet stream its wavy appearance. This pattern propagates across the mid-latitudes of North America, Europe and Asia, as pockets of cold air sporadically creep down from the Arctic - creating contrasting waves and flows that accelerate eastward due to Earth's rotation. Running from June 10 to July 8 of 1988, the visualization below uses weather and climate observations from NASA's MERRA dataset to model nearly a month of the jet stream's whirling journey over North America. ||
-