The Structure and Maintenance of Stationary Waves in the Winter Northern Hemisphere

2005 ◽  
Vol 62 (10) ◽  
pp. 3637-3660 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tsing-Chang Chen
Keyword(s):  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
Diabatic Heating ◽  
Velocity Potential ◽  
Stationary Waves ◽  
High Latitudes ◽  
Research Attention ◽  
Budget Analysis ◽  
The Tropics ◽  
Distinct Features ◽  
East West

Abstract Previous studies of extratropical stationary waves in the winter Northern Hemisphere (NH) often focused on effects of orography and land–ocean thermal contrast on the formation, structure, and maintenance of these waves. In contrast, research attention to tropical stationary waves was attracted by the summer monsoon circulations and the ENSO-related climate variability. Consequently, the structure and basic dynamics of tropical stationary waves and the relationship of these waves with those in mid–high latitudes have long been neglected. Thus, the following several distinct features of observed winter NH stationary waves have not been explained: 1) an abrupt change in the longitudinal phase across 30°N; 2) a transition from the vertical phase reversal of tropical stationary waves to the vertically westward tilt of extratropical stationary waves; and 3) a longitudinally quarter-phase relationship between stationary waves and east–west circulations, and a reversal of this relationship across 30°N. It is inferred from a spectral streamfunction budget analysis with the NCEP–NCAR reanalyses that these wave features are caused by the transition of wave dynamics from the Sverdrup regime in the Tropics to the Rossby regime in the mid–high latitudes. Based on the simplified vorticity equations of these two dynamic regimes, analytic solutions obtained with observed velocity potential fields (which were used to portray the global divergent circulation) confirm that the aforementioned distinct features of stationary waves are attributed to the dynamics transition across 30°N. Since east–west circulations are part of the global divergent circulation, it is revealed from a diagnosis of the velocity potential maintenance equation that this circulation component is maintained in the Tropics primarily by diabatic heating and in the mid–high latitudes by both horizontal heat advection and diabatic heating. Evidently, stationary waves are maintained by diabatic heating through the divergent circulation and the dynamics transition of these waves from the Sverdrup regime to the Rossby regime is attributed to strong midlatitude westerlies.

scholarly journals Characteristics of Summer Stationary Waves in the Northern Hemisphere

2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (17) ◽  
pp. 4489-4507 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tsing-Chang Chen
Keyword(s):  
Phase Change ◽  
Transition Zone ◽  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
Relative Vorticity ◽  
Uniform Structure ◽  
Stationary Waves ◽  
High Latitudes ◽  
Maintenance Mechanism ◽  
Summer Climate ◽  
East West

Abstract Summer stationary waves in the Northern Hemisphere are separated by a midlatitude transition zone into the subtropical monsoon regime with a vertical phase reversal and the subarctic regime with a vertically uniform structure. The dynamics and maintenance mechanism of the subtropical stationary waves have been investigated in the context of monsoon circulation. Depicted in terms of streamfunction with 40-yr ECMWF Re-Analysis (ERA-40), the dynamic characteristics of stationary waves in the transition zone and the subarctic region are thus the focus of this study. The dynamics and maintenance mechanism of these waves were explored with the streamfunction budget and the velocity potential maintenance equations. Stationary waves across the transition region consist of anticyclonic shear zones over the North Pacific and North Atlantic and a cyclonic shear zone in east Eurasia. These transition elements are linked to subtropical oceanic anticyclones and continental thermal lows. At high latitudes, a three-wave structure emerges with a weak central Eurasian trough aligned with two deep oceanic troughs. A longitudinal phase change occurs across the transition zone, but the direction of the east–west circulation associated with the transitional anticyclonic (cyclonic) zone is the same as that of the subtropical trough (high). This phase change is caused by the dynamics transition from the Sverdrup regime to the Rossby regime because of the increasing importance of relative vorticity advection. At high latitudes, relative vorticity advection becomes the dominant dynamic process in the upper atmosphere, but is negligible in the lower troposphere. This subarctic dynamic regime results in the vertically uniform structure of stationary waves. These waves are maintained by in situ diabatic heating (cooling) ahead of three subarctic troughs (ridges). Thus, the structure of the east–west circulation of subarctic stationary waves is opposite to that of subtropical stationary waves. These findings not only disclose more detailed structure and dynamics of summer stationary waves, but also provide a more complete basis to validate summer climate simulations and to search for the cause of interannual variation in summer climate.

The Aurora

Polar Record ◽  
1943 ◽  
Vol 4 (25) ◽  
pp. 12-16
Author(s):  
Hugh Carmichael
Keyword(s):  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
High Latitudes ◽  
Aurora Borealis ◽  
Night Sky ◽  
The Tropics

The aurora is a peculiar glow visible in cloud-free night sky. It is most frequently seen in high latitudes, but during very intense displays it may occur even in the tropics. The aurora in the northern hemisphere is called aurora borealis; in the southern aurora australis.

scholarly journals Interannual variability of precipitable water

1996 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 464-467 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. P. Kane
Keyword(s):  
Interannual Variability ◽  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
Precipitable Water ◽  
Radiosonde Data ◽  
High Latitudes ◽  
Zonal Winds ◽  
Low Latitudes ◽  
Linear Trends

Abstract. The 12-month running means of the surface-to-500 mb precipitable water obtained from analysis of radiosonde data at seven selected locations showed three types of variability viz: (1) quasi-biennial oscillations; these were different in nature at different latitudes and also different from the QBO of the stratospheric tropical zonal winds; (2) decadal effects; these were prominent at middle and high latitudes and (3) linear trends; these were prominent at low latitudes, up trends in the Northern Hemisphere and downtrends in the Southern Hemisphere.

scholarly journals Global carbonyl sulfide (OCS) measured by MIPAS/Envisat during 2002–2012

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norbert Glatthor ◽  
Michael Höpfner ◽  
Adrian Leyser ◽  
Gabriele P. Stiller ◽  
Thomas von Clarmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Biomass Burning ◽  
Michelson Interferometer ◽  
Austral Summer ◽  
Emission Spectra ◽  
Set Covering ◽  
Boreal Summer ◽  
Systematic Bias ◽  
High Latitudes ◽  
Data Set ◽  
The Tropics

Abstract. We present a global OCS data set covering the period June 2002 to April 2012, derived from FTIR limb emission spectra measured with the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) on the ENVISAT satellite. The vertical resolution is 4–5 km in the height region 6–15 km and 15 km at 40 km altitude. The total estimated error amounts to 40–50 pptv between 10 and 20 km and to 120 pptv at 40 km altitude. MIPAS OCS data show no systematic bias with respect to balloon observations, with deviations mostly below ±50 pptv. However, they are systematically higher than the OCS volume mixing ratios of the ACE-FTS instrument on SCISAT, with maximum deviations of up to 100 pptv in the altitude region 13–16 km. The data set of MIPAS OCS exhibits only moderate interannual variations and low interhemispheric differences. Average concentrations at 10 km altitude range from 480 pptv at high latitudes to 500–510 pptv in the tropics and at northern mid-latitudes. Seasonal variations at 10 km altitude amount up to 35 pptv in the northern and up to 15 pptv in the southern hemisphere. Northern hemispheric OCS abundances at 10 km altitude peak in June in the tropics and around October at high latitudes, while the respective southern hemispheric maxima were observed in July and in November. Global OCS distributions at 250 hPa (~ 10–11 km) show enhanced values at low latitudes, peaking during boreal summer above the western Pacific and the Indian Ocean, which indicates oceanic release. Further, a region of depleted OCS amounts extending from Brazil to central and southern Africa was detected at this altitude, which is most pronounced in austral summer. This depletion is related to seasonally varying vegetative uptake by the tropical forests. Typical signatures of biomass burning like the southern hemispheric biomass burning plume are not visible in MIPAS data, indicating that this process is only a minor source of tropospheric OCS. At the 150 hPa level (~ 13–14 km) enhanced amounts of OCS were also observed inside the Asian Monsoon Anticyclone, but this enhancement is not especially outstanding as compared to other low latitude regions at the same altitude. At the 80 hPa level (~ 17–18 km) equatorward transport of mid-latitude air masses containing lower OCS amounts around the summertime anticyclones was observed. A significant trend could not be detected in tropospheric MIPAS OCS amounts, which points to globally balanced sources and sinks.

scholarly journals Dynamical Processes Related to the Appearance of Quasi-Stationary Waves on the Subtropical Jet in the Midsummer Northern Hemisphere

2006 ◽  
Vol 19 (8) ◽  
pp. 1531-1544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naoki Sato ◽  
Masaaki Takahashi
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
Wave Train ◽  
Stationary Wave ◽  
Stationary Waves ◽  
Statistical Features ◽  
Basic Field ◽  
Subtropical Jet ◽  
Anomaly Pattern ◽  
Highly Correlated

Abstract Statistical features of quasi-stationary planetary waves were examined on the subtropical jet in the midsummer Northern Hemisphere by using objectively analyzed data and satellite data. As a result, a quasi-stationary wave train that is highly correlated with the midsummer climate over Japan was identified. A clear phase dependency of the appearance of waves was also confirmed. An analysis of temporal evolution and wave activity flux revealed that the eastward propagation of the wave packet starts in the Middle East, passes over East Asia, and reaches North America. The anomaly pattern is strengthened through kinetic energy conversion near the entrance of the Asian jet over the Middle East. The interaction between the anomaly pattern and the basic field contributes to the appearance of the anomalous wavelike pattern. Although the wave train is correlated with the anomaly of convective activity over the western North Pacific and the Indian Ocean, it is implied that internal dynamics are important in determining the statistical features of the appearance of anomalous quasi-stationary waves on the subtropical jet.

scholarly journals Compensation between Resolved Wave Driving and Parameterized Orographic Gravity Wave Driving of the Brewer–Dobson Circulation and Its Response to Climate Change

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (14) ◽  
pp. 5601-5610 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Sigmond ◽  
Theodore G. Shepherd
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Gravity Wave ◽  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
Rossby Wave ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Wave Drag ◽  
High Latitudes ◽  
Remarkable Degree ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Following recent findings, the interaction between resolved (Rossby) wave drag and parameterized orographic gravity wave drag (OGWD) is investigated, in terms of their driving of the Brewer–Dobson circulation (BDC), in a comprehensive climate model. To this end, the parameter that effectively determines the strength of OGWD in present-day and doubled CO2 simulations is varied. The authors focus on the Northern Hemisphere during winter when the largest response of the BDC to climate change is predicted to occur. It is found that increases in OGWD are to a remarkable degree compensated by a reduction in midlatitude resolved wave drag, thereby reducing the impact of changes in OGWD on the BDC. This compensation is also found for the response to climate change: changes in the OGWD contribution to the BDC response to climate change are compensated by opposite changes in the resolved wave drag contribution to the BDC response to climate change, thereby reducing the impact of changes in OGWD on the BDC response to climate change. By contrast, compensation does not occur at northern high latitudes, where resolved wave driving and the associated downwelling increase with increasing OGWD, both for the present-day climate and the response to climate change. These findings raise confidence in the credibility of climate model projections of the strengthened BDC.

Fossil flower of Staphylea L. from the Miocene amber of Mexico: New evidence of the Boreotropical Flora in low-latitude North America

2017 ◽  
Vol 108 (4) ◽  
pp. 471-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana L. Hernández-Damián ◽  
Sergio R. S. Cevallos-Ferriz ◽  
Alma R. Huerta-Vergara
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
First Record ◽  
High Latitudes ◽  
Low Latitude ◽  
Southern Mexico ◽  
Apparent Lack ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Evidence

ABSTRACTA new flower preserved in amber in sediments of Simojovel de Allende, México, is identified as an extinct member of Staphyleaceae, a family of angiosperms consisting of only three genera (Staphylea, Turpinia and Euscaphis), which has a large and abundant fossil record and is today distributed over the Northern Hemisphere. Staphylea ochoterenae sp. nov. is the first record of a flower for this group, which is small, pedicelled, pentamer, bisexual, with sepals and petals with similar size, dorsifixed anthers and superior ovary. Furthermore, the presence of stamens with pubescent filaments allows close comparison with extant flowers of Staphylea bulmada and S. forresti, species currently growing in Asia. However, their different number of style (one vs. three) and the apparent lack of a floral disc distinguish them from S. ochoterenae. The presence of Staphyleaceae in southern Mexico ca. 23 to 15My ago is evidence of the long history of integration of vegetation in low-latitude North America, in which some lineages, such as Staphylea, could move southwards from high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, as part of the Boreotropical Flora. In Mexico it grew in association with tropical elements, as suggested by the fossil record of the area.

scholarly journals Interannual Variability of Stratospheric Final Warming in the Southern Hemisphere and its Tropospheric Origin

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-59
Author(s):  
Soichiro Hirano ◽  
Masashi Kohma ◽  
Kaoru Sato
Keyword(s):  
Interannual Variability ◽  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
Reanalysis Data ◽  
Stationary Waves ◽  
High Latitudes ◽  
Wave Source ◽  
Barotropic Model ◽  
Stratospheric Final Warming ◽  
Zonal Wavenumber ◽  
Favorable Conditions

AbstractThe relation between interannual variability of stratospheric final warming (SFW) and tropospheric circulation in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) is explored using reanalysis data and a linear barotropic model. The analysis is focused on quasi-stationary waves with zonal wavenumber 1 (s = 1 QSWs; s is zonal wavenumber), which are the dominant component of the SH extratropical planetary waves.First, interannual variability of SFW is investigated in terms of amplitudes of stratospheric and tropospheric s = 1 QSWs, and wave transmission properties of the mean flow from the late austral winter to spring. Upward Eliassen–Palm flux due to s = 1 QSWs is larger from the stratosphere down to the middle troposphere in early-SFW years than late-SFW years. More favorable conditions for propagation of s = 1 stationary waves into the stratosphere are identified in early-SFW years. These results indicate that the amplification of tropospheric s = 1 QSWs and the favorable conditions for their propagation into the stratosphere lead to the amplification of stratospheric s = 1 QSWs, and hence earlier SFWs.Next, numerical calculations using a linear barotropic model are performed to explore how tropospheric s = 1 QSWs at high latitudes amplifies in early-SFW years. By using tropical Rossby wave source and horizontal winds in the reanalysis data as a source and background field, respectively, differences in s = 1 steady responses between early- and late-SFWs are examined at high latitudes. It is suggested that the larger amplitudes of tropospheric s = 1 QSWs in early-SFW years are attributed to differences in wave propagation characteristics associated with structure of the midlatitude jets in austral spring.

scholarly journals Emission location dependent ozone depletion potentials for very short-lived halogenated species

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 16277-16305
Author(s):  
I. Pisso ◽  
P. H. Haynes ◽  
K. S. Law
Keyword(s):  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
Ozone Depletion ◽  
Degradation Products ◽  
Stratospheric Ozone ◽  
Surface Emission ◽  
Spatial And Seasonal Variation ◽  
Geographical Regions ◽  
Simplifying Assumptions ◽  
Hemisphere Winter ◽  
The Tropics

Abstract. We present trajectory-based estimates of Ozone Depletion Potentials (ODPs) for very short-lived halogenated source gases as a function of surface emission location. The ODPs are determined by the fraction of source gas and its degradation products which reach the stratosphere, depending primarily on tropospheric transport and chemistry, and the effect of the resulting reactive halogen in the stratosphere, which is determined by stratospheric transport and chemistry, in particular by stratospheric residence time. Reflecting the different timescales and physico-chemical processes in the troposphere and stratosphere, the estimates are based on calculation of separate ensembles of trajectories for the troposphere and stratosphere. A methodology is described by which information from the two ensembles can be combined to give the ODPs. The ODP estimates for a species with a 20 d lifetime, representing a compound like n-propyl bromide, are presented as an example. The estimated ODPs show strong geographical and season variation, particularly within the tropics. The values of the ODPs are sensitive to the inclusion of a convective parametrization in the trajectory calculations, but the relative spatial and seasonal variation is not. The results imply that ODPs are largest for emissions from South and South-East Asia during Northern Hemisphere summer and from the Western Pacific during Northern Hemisphere winter. Large ODPs are also estimated for emissions throughout the tropics with also non-negligible values extending into northern mid-latitudes particularly in the summer. These first estimates, which include some simplifying assumptions, show larger ODP values than previous studies, particularly over Southern Asia, suggesting that emissions of short-lived halogen source gases in certain geographical regions could have a significant impact on stratospheric ozone depletion.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document