Carnegie Institution
Public release date: 16-Apr-2008
Contact: Cristina Archer
lozej@stanford.edu
650-462-1047 x232
Changing jet streams may alter paths of storms and hurricanes
Stanford, CA-The Earth’s jet streams, the
high-altitude bands of fast winds that strongly
influence the paths of storms and other weather
systems, are shifting-possibly in response to
global warming. Scientists at the Carnegie
Institution determined that over a 23-year span
from 1979 to 2001 the jet streams in both
hemispheres have risen in altitude and shifted
toward the poles. The jet stream in the northern
hemisphere has also weakened. These changes fit
the predictions of global warming models and have
implications for the frequency and intensity of
future storms, including hurricanes.
Cristina Archer and Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie
Institution’s Department of Global Ecology
tracked changes in the average position and
strength of jet streams using records compiled by
the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather
Forecasts, the National Centers for Environmental
Protection, and the National Center for
Atmospheric Research. The data included outputs
from weather prediction models, conventional
observations from weather balloons and surface
instruments, and remote observations from
satellites. The results are published in the
April 18 Geophysical Research Letters.