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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. || ", "release_date": "2014-05-20T00:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2025-03-18T10:13:29.312901-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 455208, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a004100/a004171/jetstream_uk.0030.jpg", "filename": "jetstream_uk.0030.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Jet stream over Europe", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } }, { "id": 4148, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4148/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "The Polar Jet Stream Over Asia, 2010", "description": "Meandering 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. || ", "release_date": "2014-02-25T00:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:51:09.235226-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 483195, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a004100/a004148/test.0900.jpg", "filename": "test.0900.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Jet stream over Asia, 2010", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } }, { "id": 3864, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3864/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "The Polar Jet Stream", "description": "Meandering 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. || ", "release_date": "2011-10-03T00:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2025-03-17T00:01:14.231989-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 483187, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003800/a003864/jetstream.00600.jpg", "filename": "jetstream.00600.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Polar JetThis video is also available on our YouTube channel.", "width": 1280, "height": 720, "pixels": 921600 } }, { "id": 3843, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/3843/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "The Polar Jet Stream: Duplicate See #3864", "description": "Meandering 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. || ", "release_date": "2011-06-29T12:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2015-12-02T17:13:30.432761-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 435422, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003800/a003843/jet_stream.1300.jpg", "filename": "jet_stream.1300.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Looking down at the polar jet stream at the North Pole.", "width": 1368, "height": 768, "pixels": 1050624 } } ], "sources": [], "products": [], "newer_versions": [], "older_versions": [], "alternate_versions": [] }