The Polar Jet Stream

Climate change may strengthen vertical wind shear in jet streams, increasing aircraft turbulence. Jet streams are fast-moving belts of wind that travel around the planet in wavy, meandering paths. In this animation depicting a global view of polar and subtropical jet streams, faster winds are colored red; slower winds are colored blue. Running from June 10 to July 8 of 1988, the visualization below uses weather and climate observations from NASA's Modern Era Retrospective-Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) dataset to model nearly a month of the jet stream's whirling journey over North America. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio