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Originally Posted by andyc
careful about putting global warming in quotes when you're chatting to a climate scientist  (sadly it's real, it's due to us and very troublingly bad news). On topic  astro seeing (so far as I understand it) is driven quite substantially by currents near the surface and by jetstream variations. Surface currents and thermals would be quite a lot affected by concrete/urbanisation in your immediate area, jetstream changes can have a climate component to them but probably not enough to be concerned about, year to year weather and seasonality are more important (eg winter jetstream often over us both). In the Northern Hemisphere change may be an issue, with a more variable jetstream configuration partly attributed to loss of Arctic ice, but it's less of an issue here in the south because the Antarctic continent & sea ice have more stable albedo variations through the year. To be honest, of all the climate impacts that keep me awake at night, seeing changes aren't one of them 
Best way to get improved seeing? Move away from jetstreams to the tropics like Chris Go's or Damien Peach's favourite observing sites! |
Very much so Andy, I seen Melbourne having next to Zilch jet a many a time, days in a row aswell, a few weeks back !
Looks like the Sthn half of Aus will cont having some jet for a while yet, ,
Temperatures through the atmosphere layers will hinder seeing quality aswell, if temp reduce evenly with altitude, then not so bad, but throw in a warm layer or two, mmm !
And wind speed, but more-so, directions at different altitudes, hence, instability. Then there is moisture/vapour content !
It's like needing the right conditions for storms to develop, not just a trough, but also many other influences all working together, just right, for a good storm session
and they are apparently yielding more ferocity these days !
All in all, a rather 'unsettling' topic, huh