BBC The Jet Stream and Us 2008 DVBC XviD MP3 avi

"Our national obsession with the weather should really be an obsession with the jet stream." So argues this brilliantly informative documentary as it explains the workings of the high-altitude ribbon of air that blows around the northern hemisphere at hurricane speeds. First observed by US bomber pilots in the Second World War, "the jet" is the engine of the atmosphere: it makes flights from America to Europe quicker (if pilots latch onto it, they can get a 200mph tailwind), but it also cranks up our weather events - last year's floods were partly caused by "an extremely sluggish jet". Now meteorologists believe it's shifting in ways that could have a dramatic impact on the UK; exactly how, no-one's quite sure (they need bigger computers), but it'll probably mean more floods.


Thanks to Adam Cook - MGV