In recent decades, great progress has been made in our understanding of zonal jets across many subjects - atmospheric science, oceanography, planetary science, geophysical fluid dynamics, plasma physics, magnetohydrodynamics, turbulence theory - but communication between researchers from different fields has been weak or non-existent. Even the terminology in different fields may be so disparate that researchers working on similar problems do not understand each other. This comprehensive, multidisciplinary volume will break cross-disciplinary barriers and aid the advancement of the subject. It presents a state-of-the-art summary of all relevant branches of the physics of zonal jets, from the leading experts. The phenomena and concepts are introduced at a level accessible to beginning graduate students and researchers from different fields. The book also includes a very extensive bibliography.

This report presents an analysis of the monthly mean zonal wind and the standard deviation of the zonal wind about the monthly mean. The data are presented in tables and the analyses in time (months)-altitude (30 to 60 kilometers) cross-section as well as profiles for selected levels. The variability of the monthly mean zonal wind, 30 to 60 kilometers, is discussed by individual station. Also, there is a discussion of the altitudinal, latitudinal, monthly, and seasonal variations with a designation of four seasons - winter (dominated by westerlies but with occasional easterlies). November through March; spring transition of westerlies to easterlies, April and May; summer (persistent easterlies), June through August; and fall transition of easterlies to westerlies, September and October.