Earth ID: 4148

The Polar Jet Stream Over Asia, 2010

Visualizations by Trent L. Schindler Released on February 25, 2014

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.

Visualization Credits

Trent L. Schindler (USRA): Lead Animator
Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC): Animator
Horace Mitchell (NASA/GSFC): Animator

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

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https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4148

Mission:
Terra

Data Used:

Terra and Aqua/MODIS/Blue Marble Land Cover

Credit:
The Blue Marble data is courtesy of Reto Stockli (NASA/GSFC).

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MERRA

Analysis

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Keywords:
DLESE >> Atmospheric science
SVS >> HDTV
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Atmosphere >> Atmospheric Winds >> Upper Level Winds
SVS >> MERRA
NASA Science >> Earth
SVS >> Jet Stream

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0