Inside the Jet Stream Giving Rise to the Jet Stream
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The same thing happens with the atmosphere. As the air that's over the equator starts moving toward one of the poles, its angular momentum, from the Earth's spin, tries to keep its eastward motion constant.
The Earth below the air, however, moves slower and slower as that air travels toward the poles. The result is that the air moves faster and faster in an eastward direction (relative to the Earth's surface below) the farther it moves from the equator.
