Earth ID: 11471

Wild, Wild Winds

Story by Kasha Patel Released on April 3, 2014

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.

The flooding in Pakistan killed nearly 2,000 people. Satellite images show the Indus River one year before (left) and during (right) the event.

Story Credits

Visualizers/Animators:
Trent L. Schindler (USRA)
Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC)
Horace Mitchell (NASA/GSFC)

Lead Scientist:
Siegfried D. Schubert (NASA/GSFC)

Lead Writer:
Kasha Patel (Wyle Information Systems)

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio
Satellite image courtesy of NASA Earth Observatory/Robert Simmon

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11471

Keywords:
SVS >> App
NASA Science >> Earth