This was an interesting post.  That said, I had a couple of questions about it:

* What, exactly, is atmospheric thickness?  It looks like an important concept when it comes to forecasting the effects of an SSW, but I'm not sure what it is.

2. Given how high up the stratospheric polar vortex is, how do you measure its strength and determine whether there has been an SSW?  Weather balloons?  Something else? 

Thank you for reading this, and I look forward to hearing from you.