Why did the Perlan Team choose New Zealand and Sweden to attempt to soar into the Stratosphere?
Strong stratospheric mountain waves have been identified in data from Sweden and the south island of New Zealand. In Sweden the northern mountains easily perturbed the low low level flow over the mountains generating tropospheric waves with the smaller northern hemisphere Polar Vortex residing over this region a high altitudes. New Zealand is favorable, even though it is located at lower latitudes because of the great size of the southern hemisphere Polar Vortex which can extend into the lower latitudes. It has been determined that the first attempts to reach 100,000 feet in a sailplane will take place in New Zealand. Based on current aircraft limitations phase one is limited to 62,000 feet. An important key to understanding these waves is the Polar Vortex. It is known that these waves propagate into the middle and upper stratosphere when the outer region of the Polar Vortex lies above a strong tropospheric wind band, above mountainous terrain.
