EXPLORING THE JET STREAM
WORK SHEET
Introduction
In this activity you will interact with numerical model output from the
North American Mesoscale
(NAM) model to explore
the components of the polar jet stream.
Objectives
By the end of this module you should be able to:
• Explain the structure of a jet stream
• Explain and identify the role of the polar jet stream
in weather forecasting
• Analyze and identify the structure and the role of
the polar jet stream in weather forecasting in a real data environment
Background
A jet stream is an intense narrow current of wind that is located in
the upper atmosphere at altitudes of 10 to 15 km above sea level. It
is typically thousands of kilometers long, hundreds of kilometers wide and
a few kilometers thick. Winds inside a jet stream can reach maximum
speeds of up to 400km/hr (about 250 mph). This module will study jet
streams (with an emphasis on the polar jet stream) looking at the following
subjects:
Loading the IDV Bundle
Click on the link to the bundle jetstream.jnlp. Two main windows should
appear; the Display Window and the Data Selector Window. Various Parameter
Windows will also appear. Once the bundle is loaded, proceed to the next
section.
References