How Weather Works

It's been a while since i wrote a blog post with the same title. But that post was not comprehensive and certainly not exhaustive on the subject. In the public's confusion surrounding this area of knowledge i missed something very important or about half of the picture. Don't know if i could do it right now but i'll try since there is nothing better to cling to when trying to explain things (or build a good conspiracy theory). As in many sciences, during the IT era or 3rd industrial revolution there is much confusion in meteorology as well and the reason could be some at the top of the world are gaining from it. Simply put, there is not enough convergence of interests or focus from the general public to push for the humble truth in this area.

As then, i'll start with a picture - just finished getting accustomed with the new blogger interface so now i could do it but not easier and certainly more complicated than with the old one.

What keeps the planet spinning? The force from the beginning. Quoting from a very popular song though moving out of playlsts at the time of this post. (Got to go in html mode to insert the picture, otherwise it get inserted at the beginning of the post as per (new) blogger interface, see you guys later).

Back in compose mode. Earth. Round, not flat model. It's a sphere but it spins like a whirligig. (The gyroscope effect keeps it on the same 23 degrees angle with the plane of trajectory around Sun).

Obviously, its surface speed is different at equator where it's bigger than at any other latitude including at poles where it's is zero.

Now imagine you're in a plane that flies from equator to pole. After taking off, you will have to navigate in such a way to loose that part (component) of the speed. Your trajectory will be not a straight line but i think part of a parable. The deceleration of that component (parallel with equator) of your speed will not be felt though. From 1000 mph to 0 in 10 hours or so? Nuh - hu. Nothing.

The space travelers where always interested in that speed. For this reason they build their launchers as close to the equator as possible. To freely get that 1000 mph and add it to their launch speed, to escape earth gravity cheaper before maneuvering for reaching final orbit.

Got your head spinning already? No? Than imagine you're one of those guys in the picture on a much smaller Earth or you're a much taller guy, like 10 miles tall and try to walk from equator to pole in about 10 minutes. You'd have to walk at an angle because you'd have to loose (beat) that momentum of the equatorial speed. In mechanics, it's called  the Coriolis effect.

Now imagine you're a wind, like Ann Wilson's' lover in that song and try to blow from equator to north.

Cause this is what happens actually. Air is getting warmed up near equator, looses density, gets lighter and goes up and then in the upper side of the atmosphere, not having where to go it splits north and south as it's being pushed by more air going up that attracts fresh air from north and south on the lower side, like in a vertical convection cell (or two, one one both sides of equator).

But what happens to the equatorial speed component of that wind going north? At higher latitudes it turns into jet streams. Fast flowing high altitude air currents that go from west to east, meandering in the sky. Airline pilots have already learned how to ride those, and save fuel and time, if available in their path.

And that somewhere is right back on top of equator. And when things really heat up, like during summer in northern hemisphere, those cells are being broken and between those two air currents, the jet stream and equatorial flow, you have guessed. A tropical cyclone will take place of the cell. And when that cyclone meets a jet stream meander, it will follow it up north. Back to html.

Back to compose. This image is simplified. To show the cells, they neglected the meandering of the jet streams which are shown as pink straight lines. In reality jet streams are meandering and cells are irregular and sometimes interrupted, this is just to show the general image. I think everybody who read this so far have got it.

 
Tropical storms are formed between jet streams and opposite equatorial flow (i guess i'll call it like  this for now). Equatorial flow is more stable while jet streams are meandering and determine weather swings in temperate regions (warm south of jet stream, cold north and rain right in it when there's enough moisture) and even the path up north of tropical storms. But i think they both contribute to the formation of tropical cyclones since those are always caught in between jet streams and equatorial flow and their direction of rotation is determined by the opposite flow of those two.

In this image that shows jet streams meandering, westward (opposite to jet stream) equatorial flow is not shown.
In the image above it is shown the current (post time) jet stream situation over US. South of the most southern meander there is a cyclone, shown on this map with isobars (lines showing same atmospheric pressure) circling each other. Due to centripetal force, pressure is lowest in the middle of the cyclone.

Not shown, south of that cyclone there is the westward equatorial flow that together with the jet-stream create that cyclone.

Now why is it raining only in areas where there is enough moisture and high speed winds upper in the atmosphere (inside jet streams and cyclones). Simply because of Bernoulli's law, that is where there is high air speed, there is low air pressure and condensation occurs and droplets and then bigger drops form in the atmosphere wherever there's low pressure.

But where is that promised juicy conspiracy theory? Jet streams flow at the point of balance of massive amounts of air being exchanged between equator and tropics, "venting"  the rotation momentum of those masses of air when going north. Their meanders are changing quasi randomly and are highly unstable.

My idea is where there's randomness and balance and instability, there is always the possibility to tip that balance using relatively low amounts of energy and that could be done with devices that have their declared purpose of punctually heating the ionosphere (HAARP) or simply with very tall and mechanically strong antennas that can electrostatically raise or lower the ionosphere. On the surface, winds can be created or reversed with thousands miles long electrostatic fans, similar to those used in some home air purifiers.

About the verses from that song. Yes, energy from Earth's rotation momentum is being lost in friction of air moving due to Coriolis effect (like it's lost in friction created by flow because of tides due to Sun and Moon gravity).

Don't know how much and if it's enough to change temperatures and if it's gonna stop the Earth after a billion years or so but still.