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    The Course of Synoptic Meteorology

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    Serkan Sancak
    The document discusses jet streams, which are strong winds found 9-16 km above Earth's surface along boundaries between hot and cold air masses. There are two main types: polar front jets near 50-60° latitude and subtropical jets near 30° latitude. Jet streams form meandering bands and influence mid-latitude cyclone development by producing convergence and divergence that lifts warm air and sinks cold air, intensifying surface low pressures.

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    The Course of Synoptic Meteorology

    Uploaded by

    Serkan Sancak
    28 views7 pages
    The document discusses jet streams, which are strong winds found 9-16 km above Earth's surface along boundaries between hot and cold air masses. There are two main types: polar front jets near 50-60° latitude and subtropical jets near 30° latitude. Jet streams form meandering bands and influence mid-latitude cyclone development by producing convergence and divergence that lifts warm air and sinks cold air, intensifying surface low pressures.

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    The document discusses jet streams, which are strong winds found 9-16 km above Earth's surface along boundaries between hot and cold air masses. There are two main types: polar front jets near 50-60° latitude and subtropical jets near 30° latitude. Jet streams form meandering bands and influence mid-latitude cyclone development by producing convergence and divergence that lifts warm air and sinks cold air, intensifying surface low pressures.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    28 views7 pages

    The Course of Synoptic Meteorology

    Uploaded by

    Serkan Sancak
    The document discusses jet streams, which are strong winds found 9-16 km above Earth's surface along boundaries between hot and cold air masses. There are two main types: polar front jets near 50-60° latitude and subtropical jets near 30° latitude. Jet streams form meandering bands and influence mid-latitude cyclone development by producing convergence and divergence that lifts warm air and sinks cold air, intensifying surface low pressures.

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    of 7

    5/9/2017

    The Course of Synoptic Meteorology

    Lecture 8
    AL-MUSTANSIRIYAH UNIVERSITY
    COLLEGE OF SCIENCES
    ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES DEPARTMENT

    Dr. Sama Khalid Mohammed


    SECOND CLASS 1

    1
    5/9/2017

    Wasaburo Oishi, Japanese


    Discoverer of the Jet Stream
    (1920s)

    Jet Stream
    • A jet stream is a narrow band of thousands of kilometers long, and
    hundreds of kilometers wide and more than a kilometer thick, and a
    relatively strong winds which move weather systems around the globe
    • Found 9-16 km above the surface of the Earth, just below the
    tropopause.
    • On upper-tropospheric synoptic charts, jet streams are identified
    where the wind speed equals or exceeds 50 knots (25 m/s).
    • Jet streams follow the boundaries between hot and cold air. Since
    these hot and cold air boundaries are most pronounced in winter, jet
    streams are the strongest for both the northern and southern
    hemisphere winters.

    2
    5/9/2017

    • The earth's rotation divided this circulation into three cells.


    • the regions around 30° N/S and 50°-60° N/S are areas where
    temperature changes are the greatest.
    • As the difference in temperature between the two locations increase,
    the strength of the wind increases. Therefore, the regions around 30°
    N/S and 50°-60° N/S are also regions where the wind, in the upper
    atmosphere, is the strongest.

    • Two main types of jet stream:


     Polar Front Jet (Polar Jet)
    Located in (50°-60° N/S), and situated at about 10 km AGL over the
    polar front
     Subtropical Jet (STJ)
    Located around 30° N/S and situated above the subtropical highs at
    about 13 km AGL, and it is often visible as a plume of moisture
    extending from the tropics to the sub-tropical regions

    3
    5/9/2017

    Jet Stream Waves

    • Often have troughs and ridges


    • generally have a jet maximum (jet streak) in the
    base of the trough, transport heat pole ward
    (cold air south and warm air north).

    • The actual appearance of jet streams result from the complex


    interaction between many variables - such as
     the location of high and low pressure systems,
     warm and cold air,
     and seasonal changes.
    • They meander around the globe, dipping and rising in altitude/latitude,
    splitting at times and forming eddies, and even disappearing
    altogether to appear somewhere else.

    • The jet stream is often indicated by a line on maps. The line generally
    points to the location of the strongest wind. Jet streams are typically
    wider and not as distinct but a region where the wind increase toward
    a core of strongest wind.

    • One way of visualizing this is to consider a river, which is generally


    the strongest in the center with decreasing strength as one approaches
    the river's bank. It can be said that jet streams are "rivers of air".

    4
    5/9/2017

    Formation of Polar Front Jet (Polar Jet)


    • boundary between warm air to the south and cold air to the north
    • location of a large temperature gradient near the surface
    • recall that tropopause height is proportional to the mean tropospheric
    temperature
    • Hence, the large temperature gradient at the surface across the polar
    front creates a large pressure gradient aloft
    • recall that the strength of the geostrophic wind is proportional to the
    magnitude of the pressure gradient force
    • Hence, the large pressure gradient aloft over the polar front generates
    a band of strong winds

    http://apollo.lsc.vsc.edu/classes/met130/notes/chapter10/graphics/57_Polar_Jet_Strea
    m/57.html

    5
    5/9/2017

    Formation of Sub Tropical Jet


    • The STJ results from the air flowing upward and poleward in the
    Hadley cell.
    • As air parcels move to a smaller latitude circle, their velocity must
    increase in order to conserve angular momentum.
    • Note that typical speeds in the STJ are less than calculated using the
    angular momentum equation because large-scale eddies (e.g.,
    cyclones) transport some of the momentum from the Hadley cell to
    the midlatitudes and air parcels are slowed by small scale turbulence.
    • The transfer of zonal kinetic energy by the eddies helps to maintain
    the STJ. The jet is located near the region of maximum transport.

    Jet Streams and Developing Mid-latitude Cyclones

    • Jet streams play an additional part in the formation of surface mid-


    latitude cyclones and anticyclones.
    • When the polar jet stream flows in a wavy west to east pattern, deep
    troughs and ridges exist in the flow aloft.
    • Jet maxima or jet streaks produce regions of strong convergence and
    divergence along the flanks of the jet.

    6
    5/9/2017

    As the polar jet stream and its area of maximum winds (the jet streak, or
    MAX). Swings over a developing mid-latitude cyclone, an area of
    divergence (D) draws warm surface air upward, and an area of
    convergence (C) allows cold air to sink. The jet stream removes air
    above the surface storm, which causes surface pressures to drop and the
    storm to intensify.

    When the surface storm moves northeastward and occludes, it no longer


    has the upper-level support of diverging air, and the surface storm
    gradually dies out.

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