Luckily Captain had always been flying through these currents since he had received his abilities, so to achieve this speed wasn't easy but it wasn't too hard either, but Helen, had no experience of such temperature change nor was she used to such wind speeds and currents, and yet, during the summer the Polar jet stream has a weaker flow....
Helen was known for her ability to be prepared for any kind of situation, especially since her clothing were build to withstand even the atmospheric pressure of re-entry into the planet, without an exterior exoskeleton.
So, Helen's suit proved to work just fine and maintained her body temperature and the oxygen canister kept her well supplied with the much needed oxygen.
As they ascended, further into the tropopause, the Polar Jet Stream swept them away from from their original path, and yet the Captain was calm and silently just gliding...
[Helen]
"Why aren't you doing anything, we're heading in the wrong direction. We're supposed to head up North, not West!"
[Captain Evans]
"You don't know how the wind currents work do you?"
[Helen]
"I'm not a marine or a air force officer, so why would i....?"
[Captain Evans]
"*Sigh.....* Right, well this is a Jet Stream, and it's flowing West to North-East so basically we're getting a piggyback ride on this current, to our desired location..."
[Helen]
"So we're lucky, it's there huh?"
[Captain Evans]
"Yeah basically, and we'll be even more luckier if there is a thunderstorm up here..."
[Helen]
"How is that considered lucky?"
[Captain Evans]
"We will be, if it's not too close...then we will be able to ride its tail winds upwards..."
[Helen]
"So your basically hopping the winds will carry us.... lazy much....?"
[Captain Evans]
"I'm not being lazy, that's how one fly's upwards....Just keep an eye out for one"
Helen didn't really say anything, just glanced at Captain, and he returned the glance with a knowing look on his face... basically saying (yes yes i know...)
Once they neared 15 km above the surface level, the jet stream had to be left behind, this was done by pushing through the current at the speed of 20-45 knots, and entered the lower stratosphere, there was still 35 km's left to climb....
And climbing this by raw strength was near impossible, which is why Captain was looking for a thunderstorm, which also creates thunderstorm updrafts, at the edges of itself, allowing the flyer to climb higher easily because it normally speeds up to 10-15 knots, so climbing with these currents are easy to ride....
[Captain Evans]
"We're about experience some heavy turbulence from here on out"
[Helen]
"Why's that, I don't see any problematic winds up here"
[Captain Evans]
"Well....we're gonna have to change our course a bit, cause i can't honestly climb such heights just with my wing thrust' I'm gonna need help"
[Helen]
"And how do you propose we get that kind of help at this altitude?"
[Captain Evans]
"That's why i asked you to keep an eye out for a thunderstorm"
[Helen]
"Right right..... well lemme check"
Then Helen turned her gaze towards her wrist, and tapped her digital watch.
Once the screen was on Helen grabbed the entire screen with her two fingers, etching them at the very top of the screen and pulled on it lightly, making it fold out, into a larger screen then she gave the extended screens right corner a light nudge to turn it horizontally.
Once the screen was on and completely open, the screen measured up to a total of 3.1" respectively, after the screen illuminated itself it started to display information like weather, wind pressure & speed, height, gravitational center and drop rate.
After glancing at it all, Helen just swiped right and the watch displayed any an all nearby weather phenomenon's.
All this together gave Helen the a more clear vision of what they were about to head into.
[Helen]
"Well, it's not big but there is one thunderstorm but these are the readings"
Then Helen just turned her wrist towards Captains face, and showed him the exact reading:
1. Temperature Surface Temperature: 25°C (77°F)
Temperature at Tropopause: -60°C (-76°F)
Vertical Temperature Profile: Surface to 5 km: Decreasing from 25°C to -20°C5 km to 11 km (Tropopause): Decreasing from -20°C to -60°C
2. Wind Speed and Direction Surface Wind: 15 km/h (9 mph), from the southwest
Wind at Tropopause: 120 km/h (75 mph), from the west (jet stream)
Vertical Wind Profile: Surface to 5 km: Increasing from 15 km/h to 60 km/h5 km to 11 km: Increasing from 60 km/h to 120 km/h
3. Humidity Surface Humidity: 70% relative humidity
Humidity at Tropopause: 10% relative humidity
Vertical Humidity Profile: Surface to 5 km: Decreasing from 70% to 30%5 km to 11 km: Decreasing from 30% to 10%
4. Pressure Surface Pressure: 1013 hPa
Pressure at Tropopause: 250 hPa
Vertical Pressure Profile: Surface to 5 km: Decreasing from 1013 hPa to 500 hPa5 km to 11 km: Decreasing from 500 hPa to 250 hPa
5. Precipitation Rainfall Rate: 25 mm/hour (1 inch/hour)
Radar Reflectivity: 45 dBZ
Hail Size: 10 mm (0.4 inches)
6. Lightning Lightning Strike Rate: 50 strikes per minute
Electric Field Strength: 500 V/m
7. Visibility In Storm Core: 1 km (0.6 miles)
Outside Storm: 10 km (6.2 miles)Instruments and Tools Used for Measurement
Weather Radar: Detected radar reflectivity of 45 dBZ, indicating heavy rainfall and possible hail.
Satellite Imagery: Showed a well-developed thunderstorm with cloud tops reaching the tropopause.
Radiosondes: Provided vertical profiles of temperature, humidity, and pressure.
Doppler Radar: Measured wind speeds within the storm and detected rotation at mid-levels.
Lightning Detection Networks: Recorded the high frequency of lightning strikes.
Infrasound Detectors: Captured the low-frequency sounds of thunder.
Aircraft Observations: Pilots reported significant turbulence and cloud formation near the jet stream level.
Rain Gauges: Measured the high rainfall rate at the surface.
[Captain Evans]
"Well its an average size storm, its perfect to hitch a ride!"
[Helen]
"Great! Then lets go....its just about.....do you want co-ordinates or directions?"
[Captain Evans]
"Right now, directions would be a lot better than co-ordinates since i don't really have the equipment to read them....."
[Helen]
"Alright then, its just about 2 km's from us, in North-East"
[Captain Evans]
"Great! I'll get us there in a jiffy!"
And as said, the captain crossed 2 km's within 3 minutes, cruising at the speed of 40 km/h
Once they got there, the situation got a bit more serious and the Captain said....
[Captain Evans]
"I'm gonna have focus so please limit the chit chat...ok? or it could damage your mouth from the inside"
[Helen]
"Yeah ok....got it!"
After that exchange, Helen braced herself for a rough ride for which she was right, it turned out to be a very stressful flight since even traveling at the meager speed of 40km/h up in the wind drafts can be pretty rough almost as if driving through an mountain terrain at high speeds, which we all know feels exceptionally crappy.
Once they made it to the thunderstorm, getting near it was simple all the Captain had to do was let go of the angular bend of his body which is used to maintain a certain angle in the sky, after which the tail winds of the storm basically carried them Eastward shifting their flight from a direct one to a round about one, the storm carried them approximately 11km's, which was just above the thunderstorm keeping them almost 24km's from the ozone layer.
[Captain Evans]
"Now, this is going to be one hell of a work out for me."
[Helen]
"Yeah well, you're gonna have to pull this off somehow otherwise we'll miss the lead and will have to start from scratch and I'm sure you don't want that do you?"
[Captain Evans]
"Yeah, i mean i can deal with the paperwork about this flight but having to solve this, is not my forte. Alright well i guess i'll start the climb"
And with that Captain Evans started with his efforts to climb up to the ozone, with nothing but wing thrusts...which honestly felt like pulling a oil truck with it's hand breaks on. which would be almost about 18,000 metric tons, now imagine pulling that weight with a 70 kg person strapped to your chest.....let that sink in.......yeah that's what it feels like to fly with just wing thrusts in a place with no wind currents or drafts.
Even with all that Captain sucked it up, and pulled his weight all the way to the ozone....now they were float at a height of about 15km above the ground level, they could barely see the ground or it's silhouette, nothing but clouds and strong visible winds in the sky, with hard sunlight on their skin's and eyes.....
[Helen]
"Alright perfect, now...wait what the hell..."
[Captain Evans]
"What? what happened now?"
[Helen]
"Well, the ozone layer is not supposed to do that now is it?"
What they were witnessing wasn't supposed to be possible according to science, Before their very eyes the ozone layer had turned into a translucent slime, smelting off of itself and drooping downwards as if it was a plastic sheet that had been melted but without the burn marks or the tar.....pure colour, odor, less jelly.
All of this more than just baffling to Helen, but she maintained her composure, and started clicking on her wrist watch, and unfolded it even more to make it into a make-shift camera. For evidence Helen took pictures of it from every angle she could, and sent them back to base, then folded the camera back inn, and pulled lightly on the side of the screen and pulled out a piece of the screen and put in her ear, then extended an antenna from the top right corner....
Senescing a stare her way, Helen turned towards Captain Evans and shrugged saying.....
[Helen]
"What?"
[Captain Evans]
"Nothing, miss fancy tech..."
[Helen]
"Woah, look here buddy it's not my fault you chose the wrong field that doesn't get custom tech, you should've chose better!"
[Captain Evans]
"Alright alright, no need for hostility i get it, now get it over with, i can't keep us up here for much longer!"
[Helen]
"Right right, I'm almost done!"
Saying that Helen turned towards the screen and tapped on the call symbol connecting her to the 'Facility'.