GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

Detailed explanation-1: -As the jet stream meanders north and south while encircling the earth with its west-to-east flow, its temperature changes in response to the regions it flows over (Fig. 11.54). For example, ridges in the planetary wave are where the jet stream is closest to the poles.

Detailed explanation-2: -Jet streams are relatively narrow bands of strong wind in the upper levels of the atmosphere. The winds blow from west to east in jet streams but the flow often shifts to the north and south. Jet streams follow the boundaries between hot and cold air.

Detailed explanation-3: -The jet stream flows high overhead and causes changes in the wind and pressure at that level. This affects things nearer the surface, such as areas of high and low pressure, and therefore helps shape the weather we see.

Detailed explanation-4: -But who first discovered these narrow ribbons of fast-moving winds high up in our atmosphere? A Japanese meteorologist called Wasaburo Ooishi is often credited with the first discovery back in the 1920s when he used weather balloons to track upper level winds near Mount Fuji.