Publication Abstracts

Perlwitz and Harnik 2004

Perlwitz, J., and N. Harnik, 2004: Downward coupling between the stratosphere and troposphere: The relative roles of wave and zonal mean processes. J. Climate, 17, 4902-4909, doi:10.1175/JCLI-3247.1.

Wave and zonal mean features of the downward dynamic coupling between the stratosphere and troposphere are compared by applying a time-lagged singular value decomposition analysis to Northern Hemisphere height fields decomposed into zonal mean and its deviations. It is found that both zonal and wave components contribute to the downward interaction, with zonal wave 1 (due to reflection) dominating on the short time scale (up to 12 days) and the zonal mean (due to wave-mean flow interaction) dominating on the longer time scale. It is further shown that the two processes dominate during different years, depending on the state of the stratosphere. Winters characterized by a basic state that is reflective for wave 1 show a strong relationship between stratospheric and tropospheric wave 1 fields when the stratosphere is leading and no significant correlations in the zonal mean fields. On the other hand, winters characterized by a stratospheric state that does not reflect waves show a strong relationship only between stratospheric and tropospheric zonal mean fields. This study suggests that there are two types of stratospheric winter states, characterized by different downward dynamic interaction. In one state, most of the wave activity gets deposited in the stratosphere, resulting in strong wave-mean flow interaction, while in the other state, wave activity is reflected back down to the troposphere primarily affecting the structure of tropospheric planetary waves.

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BibTeX Citation

@article{pe04200b,
  author={Perlwitz, J. and Harnik, N.},
  title={Downward coupling between the stratosphere and troposphere: The relative roles of wave and zonal mean processes},
  year={2004},
  journal={Journal of Climate},
  volume={17},
  pages={4902--4909},
  doi={10.1175/JCLI-3247.1},
}

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RIS Citation

TY  - JOUR
ID  - pe04200b
AU  - Perlwitz, J.
AU  - Harnik, N.
PY  - 2004
TI  - Downward coupling between the stratosphere and troposphere: The relative roles of wave and zonal mean processes
JA  - J. Climate
JO  - Journal of Climate
VL  - 17
SP  - 4902
EP  - 4909
DO  - 10.1175/JCLI-3247.1
ER  -

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