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Here's a great 3D representation of wind patterns over the planet. California appears to be in an area that is central to multiple streams that pull air out of California. Logic says that regardless of any echo-chambers, you sir, are correct. :)

In TFA. The highest concentration appears to be just off the SE corner of Hawaii. Right where you-know-what is blowing its top. A quick peek at a wind map shows that surface level winds carry stuff northeast toward the US West coast. And then as altitudes increase, the wind direction switches to Easterly, headed toward Asia. Where the concentrations are lowest.

So, either naturally occurring CFCs. Or Kilauea breached a geothermal well.

I am just wondering where to find those 5%. Any one with a clue?

Just look at the map on page 3 of the report.

How is possible the Amazon rain forest has worst air quality that USA ??
I don't think so.

And you are right

Most rural areas, except where heavy industries reside; northern populations (Lapland, Iceland, parts of Siberia), lots of insular countries, etc.
Numbers add up.

Here's exectly where

The plan as described appears to assume the balloons will stay in nearly same lat and long once launched or at least with in line of sight of PR. To find out of this is true or not for Puerto Rico, have a look at earth.net.org specifically over PR at 70 mbar pressure which corresponds roughly to the proposed height of these balloons. https://earth.nullschool.net/#... In fact the wind speed at that height is about 20 km/hr. So in 24 hours the balloons will travel about 500 km which is beyond line of site from where they were the day before. Also PR is about 50 x 150 km. The only way to impose some choice about where the balloon goes is by changing the amount of gas in the envelope to cause the balloon to rise or fall to altitudes where the wind velocity is different. Using earth.nullschool.net to see the winds velocities over PR for different heights, this approach doesn't look promising.

To state that hurricanes in the Atlantic have nothing to do with the shifting climate cycles of the Pacific and the corresponding unusual and prolonged northern track of the jet stream is just plain wrong. A normal el Nino year would by now see a moderate cooling of the waters of the Atlantic where hurricanes start to form. Instead because the jet stream is staying way to the north cooler air is not making it to the areas of the Atlantic that are carried south and east by the trade winds. If this situation continues to the end of September then the Atlantic could easily spawn serious hurricanes into November instead of just the usual tropical depressions that send fall and winter rains to the east coast of North America..

The position of the PFJ (I assume you are referring the polar front jet, there is more than one ;]) right now is quite consistent with normal weather patterns as it typically remains more zonal and poleward during the summer months. The reason why the PFJ moves poleward during this time of year is because of increased heating at the equator which, simply put, expands the atmosphere and pushes everything North/South, depending on your hemisphere. Its actually dipping fairly far south right now into the US then shooting poleward through the NE into the Atlantic along the Bermuda-Azores high. That high is also the reason Irma is hitting the Caribbean and not NY, although it could still turn north depending on the position of the high as she gets closer. https://earth.nullschool.net/ is a good resource if you want to see for your self.

August and September are historically the peak of TC development as its driven more by the warm waters of the North equatorial current (receiving increased heating from the sun during this time) than the jet so its what is happening right now is not uncommon at all.

As someone who works in the meteorology field I don't disagree that AGW is and will continue to change our weather but it isn't quite so drastic as you make it seem.

I can see the sun right now. So can people in America.

Take a look at the map showing the locations of all the telescopes being used in this experiment. Notice that half of the world is not displayed? That isn't just because some monkey didn't crop the image correctly, it's because only half the world can see the same object at the same time.

For a practical demonstration note that you can see all locations of telescopes at the same time in this projection.

Why limit the solution to 2D maps on paper?
https://earth.nullschool.net/

what's that there on the 2-d screen? why it's a projection of a 3-d image!

Why limit the solution to 2D maps on paper? You can get a much better visualization on a computer, e.g. https://earth.nullschool.net/

Chemical (primarily manufacturing)

https://earth.nullschool.net/#...

Particulate (coal)

https://earth.nullschool.net/#...

Chemical (primarily manufacturing)

https://earth.nullschool.net/#...

Particulate (coal)

https://earth.nullschool.net/#...

Really? Chemical pollutants overlay, positioned so you can see China vs North America:

https://earth.nullschool.net/#...

or how about the whole rest of the world:

https://earth.nullschool.net/#...

Really? Chemical pollutants overlay, positioned so you can see China vs North America:

https://earth.nullschool.net/#...

or how about the whole rest of the world:

https://earth.nullschool.net/#...

To get strong winds, you want the greatest gradient between air temperatures. The best place for that to happen is between the boundary of ocean/sea air and land air. When it is sunny, the land heats up faster than the ocean, so you get a breeze blowing inshore. At night-time, the land cools down faster than the ocean/sea, so that the breeze blows offshore. Because of the smooth surface of water, wind speeds are usually faster offshore than onshore.The following map gives a good idea of how the speeds differ:

http://earth.nullschool.net/#c...

Turns out, high up in the stratosphere the winds are predictable and have just the patterns they need. They did simulations using real-world wind data and found it was quite feasible to navigate balloons effectively to maintain coverage using only prevailing winds.

Since 2012 they've been trialling in New Zealand, Brazil and other places, they've increased balloon flight times from 50 days to over 6 months (despite expert scepticism), and now they're close to ready to roll out a commercial service. Pretty sure they've done their research by now.

I kind of wondered why a Japan to Hawaii leg was chosen, but when you look at the prevailing winds it makes sense. Probably the only route the plane could possibly complete.

Wow, someone just now noticed that animals can easily detect incoming low pressure fronts and hide from the weather.

Humans have many unique abilities too.

We are the only ones with the gift to see in dark grey waves of clouds the furrowed brows of an angry gods, whom we anger further by murmuring profane incantations about dew point and pressure gradients. Only we gaze down from our satellites and perceive that the hurricane is looking back. In the magnificent gyres of natural phenomena we may discern an uncanny alien intelligence. We alone feel that it is scrutinizing us, judging us, finds us wanting. "We are naked in the dark. Sam, and there is no veil between us and the wheel of fire. We begin to see it even with our waking eyes, and all else fades..."

We alone knock on wood to summon for its friendly assistance to combat invisible foes, and yet we are capable of perceiving that even that would never be enough. We are unique in the ability to summon demons from the underworld, the empty reaches of space, even a wry comment overheard on Thanksgiving.

Animals fear the unknown, but we also fear the unknowable, as we seek to discover the limits of what can be known, that we may dwell on the unspeakable horror of the nether region where even the quest for knowledge abandons all hope. We soften up our children with bedtime stories of violence and dreadful danger, neglect and cannibalism, comfortable things with which all animals are familiar, then we go on to describe covalent bonds and antimatter, quantum mechanics and relativistic time dilation, that they become mired in seas of madness, to seek solace in Dragonball Z.

Animals hide under a rock for practical reasons.
I fear the rock itself. There is no place to hide.
Join me, friend, let us dance in hysterical abandon,
and infect the whole Universe with our neurosis.

If you enjoy this, feel free to sample our other fine products.

Except you would never nuke Mexico if you were the US, especially if you were trying to protect the northern Mexican states. Wind patterns would keep a nuclear blast MOSTLY centralized, but there is still enough northbound wind to irradiate those states, and also very likely large portions of Texas, NM, and probably Mississippi. Check the wind patterns yourself here.

Why would fallout from nuclear explosion in Mexico be a problem?
Would it be somehow worse than the fallout from the numerous nuclear weapons that the USA tested in the western states?
Admittedly, that of the about a thousand nukes set off, the vast majority were underground.

Except you would never nuke Mexico if you were the US, especially if you were trying to protect the northern Mexican states. Wind patterns would keep a nuclear blast MOSTLY centralized, but there is still enough northbound wind to irradiate those states, and also very likely large portions of Texas, NM, and probably Mississippi. Check the wind patterns yourself here.

Here's a must see link for us weather nerds...

http://earth.nullschool.net/

make sure to tune into the 10 hPa setting and watch the polar vortex do its thing.

Thank you supercomputer...