Science: Jet Wind

Airline meteorologists in South America were happy last week. They had found what they had been looking for—a "jet stream" of high-velocity wind in the sub-stratospheric sky. Apparently caused by encounters between air masses of different temperatures, it swooshes along at altitudes above present-day airline routes. A similar jet stream has been discovered in North America weaving crazily over the continent at 25,000 ft. and higher and at speeds up to 200 m.p.h. (TIME, May 29). In the coming years of high-altitude jet transport flying, the streams will become increasingly important.

The southern jet stream, according to the Panair do Brasil meteorologists...

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