Abstract
High altitude balloon ascents made from Bombay (19N, 73E) and Hyderabad (17.6N, 78.5E) indicate that during the period from September to May through December, in the subtropical atmosphere over India, the stratospheric winds above 22 km are mostly easterlies. These are found to build up in strength with increasing altitude. Also, with the advent of summer the stratospheric easterly stream strengthens at all altitudes whilst the westerlies characteristic of the upper troposphere weaken. Between April 1957 and May 1964, there were two periods, 1959 (March–May) and 1961 (February–April), when at the highest altitudes attained by the balloons, at or above 30 km, stratospheric westerlies were observed; during 1963 (October–December) some flights showed westerlies and others easterlies at these altitudes. These westerlies could be an extension to lower altitudes of the winter westerly regime observed by rocket-sondes in the Northern Hemisphere. The easterly to westerly change-over observed by us at high altitudes is also discussed in terms of the quasi-biennial wind cycle in the tropical stratosphere.
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