Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Wiktionary
n. (context meteorology English) any of the high-speed, high-altitude air currents that circle the Earth in a westerly direction
WordNet
n. a high-speed high-altitude airstream blowing from west to east near the top of the troposphere; has important effects of the formation of weather fronts
Wikipedia
Jet streams are fast flowing, narrow, meandering air currents found in the upper atmosphere or in troposphere of some planets, including Earth. The main jet streams are located near the altitude of the tropopause. The major jet streams on Earth are westerly winds (flowing west to east). Their paths typically have a meandering shape. Jet streams may start, stop, split into two or more parts, combine into one stream, or flow in various directions including opposite to the direction of the remainder of the jet. The strongest jet streams are the polar jets, at above sea level, and the higher altitude and somewhat weaker subtropical jets at . The Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere each have a polar jet and a subtropical jet. The northern hemisphere polar jet flows over the middle to northern latitudes of North America, Europe, and Asia and their intervening oceans, while the southern hemisphere polar jet mostly circles Antarctica all year round.
Jet streams are the product of two factors: the atmospheric heating by solar radiation that produces the large scale Polar, Ferrel, and Hadley circulation cells, and the action of the Coriolis force acting on those moving masses. The Coriolis force is caused by the planet's rotation on its axis. On other planets, internal heat drives their jet streams. The Polar jet stream forms near the interface of the Polar and Ferrel circulation cells; while the subtropical jet forms near the boundary of the Ferrel and Hadley circulation cells.
Other jet streams also exist. During the Northern Hemisphere summer, easterly jets can form in tropical regions, typically where dry air encounters more humid air at high altitudes. Low-level jets also are typical of various regions such as the central United States.
Meteorologists use the location of some of the jet streams as an aid in weather forecasting. The main commercial relevance of the jet streams is in air travel, as flight time can be dramatically affected by either flying with the flow or against. Clear-air turbulence, a potential hazard to aircraft passenger safety, is often found in a jet stream's vicinity, but it does not create a substantial alteration on flight times.
The jet stream is a fast-moving high-altitude wind phenomenon.
A jetstream is a machine that creates a waterstream in a swimming pool, which can be used for exercise, entertainment or massage
Jet stream or Jetstream may refer to:
Jet Steam is a log flume ride that opened in 1972 at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Santa Clarita, California. Jet Stream was made by Arrow Dynamics, the same company that built Log Jammer and Gold Rusher, the park's first coaster, and was built because management thought that another flume ride would attract more visitors. Jet Stream is placed on the backside of the hill that the park is on, opposite of Log Jammer, to ensure that guests could reach a log flume wherever they were to cool down.
Jet Stream was the first Arrow Development flume to use a turntable loading platform. The platform is constantly spinning, with the exception of a circle in the center, where the ride operator station is.
Usage examples of "jet stream".
At times he was miles above the North American continent, suspended over the whirling clouds as they were driven along by the swift river of the jet stream.
The wind was roaring now, as thin as it was, as we actually climbed into the jet stream.
Bettik and I walk slowly north along the narrow ice ridge, clipping on to fixed cables to keep from being blown away by the sub-zero winds that hurtle down from the jet stream now.
The high midcontinental jet stream was more or less behaving itself, doing some mildly odd and tortuous things at the rim of a cold front over Iowa.
The mesosphere's all wrong and the jet stream is hanging north like it was nailed there.
Many years of work lay in smoking shambles, the smoke not fire ash particulates for the most part but merely disturbed fines, old volcanic ash blown up and then torn east on the jet stream.
Global warming and its erratic effects had caused the jet stream to veer unusually southward.
Most of the time the northern hemisphere jet stream would circle up and around its northern end, like Terra's northern jet stream did around the Rockies.
Apparently he had discovered some prevailing patterns in the jet stream, tied to certain anchoring points in the landscape.
At that greater distance the jet stream, emerging from the needle at nearly a thousand miles an hour, had time to spread and slow down.
The explanation given, that a late weather report had indicated a worsening of the jet stream, was not believed by anyone inside Cape Canaveral's perimeter fence.
The Jet Stream stretched straight across the blue sky, a pinkish-white band of cloud from horizon to horizon.
The jet stream over the North Pacific was fully one hundred ninety knots, and they'd have it for several hours.