In response to your peers, review their recommendations and help them improve their flight paths by giving them at least one reason why their recommendations will or will not work.
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If we try to muscle our way through this experiment, taking a straight shot to our southern destination as if we were a line of longitude we would run into a whole mess of problems. Additionally, if we were to make our journey in the troposphere, we would constantly have to combat hydrostatic equilibrium processes. The atmospheric pressure in this region is constantly in flux due to topography and solar insolation. At this altitude our trajectory would cause is to travels through many isobars. These horizontal distributions of air pressure are constantly in motion and will affect our flight. Passing through an isobar, which indicates a change of 4 millibars in atmospheric pressure, is no call for alarm. However when we pass through many isobars over a relatively short distance we will encounter strong winds causing potentially extreme turbulence. Considering the need to prepare for deflection from the Coriolis Force, friction, latitudinal pressure gradient changes, directional changes in wind flow between the Polar, Ferrel, and Hadley cells, as well as temperature variations; we will taking a different route which will better suit our needs.
In order to take advantage of the west to east direction of air flow as well as maximizing the daylight, we will take off in the early morning, as soon as there is enough solar insolation to fuel the craft. Like many commercial flights, we will be cruising at an altitude of ~ 1.5 km, which is above the planetary boundary layer. This region is known as the Free Atmosphere and the airflow is friction free. The free atmosphere is formed as the pressure gradients interact with the Coriolis force. The interaction between these two forces negates any N-S movement and creates the global, west to east direction of air flow in the free atmosphere. While near the poles we will attempt to travel the greatest N-S distances because less lateral miles will be traveled based on the shape and rotation. Additionally, incoming solar decreases as we approach the poles therefor we should make the trip quick. For this flight to be possible, we will need to be able to fly fast enough to arrive at our destination before we lose our window of daylight.
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As a science advisor planning the flight path for a new experimental solar plane, of the various cities chosen going south, flying at a constant speed and going straight, a flight path I would recomend would be: since solar power is being used I would recomend the flight to be done during the summer as sunlight us more abundent. To check the weather conditions as to storm fronts that may be heading that way days ahead and choose a time when things look clear. To be accurate about wind speeds and conditions as to help maintain your constant speed and to stay or to keep in control. Try to choose a time when cloud cover isnt bad and the skys are ckear and sunny