Flying to the west!

Hi dear friends!

Greetings again from Buenos Aires. Yesterday I left the old continent and flew for 13 hours from Barcelona to the capital of Argentina. I had a lot of time to think and in fact, I wrote yesterday's publication from the air. While flying, I also got the idea of ​​the subject that I bring here today.

From the first time I traveled back and forth Spain-Cuba, I noticed that there was an hour difference between the duration of the outbound flight and the duration of the return flight. While to go from Madrid to Havana the flight takes 10 hours, the Havana-Madrid return lasts approximately 9 hours.

Surely you have heard about this topic more than once

Do you know what this phenomenon is due to?

A very common response would be: this is because when we fly from east to west we move in the opposite direction to the direction of the earth rotating movement.
At first it would seem that this answer makes sense ... but in that case it would be very easy to travel. We just have to find a way to stay suspended in the air, in a balloon, helicopter or whatever it looks like and wait for the earth to do its rotating work, bringing to our feet the destination we want to visit. In any case it will always take less than 24 hours (time it takes the earth to rotate 360 ​​degrees on its axis).

On the other hand, if we read and investigate a little more, we find that at the limits between the troposphere and the stratosphere there are wind currents, which could certainly be the cause of this difference.

As Alfonso de Bertolano, pilot of Air Europa, explained to the Spanish newspaper:

The Jet Stream is produced in the area that separates the troposphere (the layer of the atmosphere that is in contact with the Earth's surface) from the stratosphere, always in an easterly direction, reaching speeds above 300 kilometers per hour, which is why almost always the flights in the west direction are going to be longer

Where the jet streams come from?

They are the result of the combination of the planet rotation on its axis and the global warming due to solar radiation. The velocity of these winds depends on the air warming level.

Its principal usefulness:

• meteorologists use the location of these wind currents to predict the weather, example: hurricanes. These currents direct cyclonic systems
• in aeronautics it's very helpful to optimize the flight time of aircraft

Well dear friends, I hope I was clear with my explanations. I tried to simplify information so you can understand quickly and easily.
Next step, I mean next post will be in some way a continuation of this one. I will be presenting other factors that participate in the formation of cyclones.

Thank you very much for all your comments!