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Harry Van Loon
,
Roland A. Madden
, and
Roy L. Jenne

Abstract

Two patterns dominate changes of monthly mean temperature and pressure-height in the stratosphere. In the one, the middle latitudes vary oppositely to low and high latitudes, and in the other the changes at higher latitudes are out of phase with those at lower latitudes.

A shorter trend consisting of opposite changes at middle and high latitudes is superposed on the above variations which a cross-spectrum analysis shows has a preferred time scale of one to three weeks. The contrast between middle and high latitudes thus undergoes a series of corresponding fluctuations and we show that these are associated with amplitude changes in waves 1 and 2 in that the meridional contrast decreases when the amplitude of one or both waves is large, and vice versa.

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Tsing-Chang Chen
,
Ming-Cheng Yen
, and
Harry Van Loon

Abstract

The upper-air wind data generated by the Global Data Assimilation System of the National Meteorological Center for 1986–1992 are used to depict the three-dimensional structure of the semiannual oscillation of tropical stationary eddies in terms of the eddy streamfunction. An eddy streamfunction budget analysis was also performed to disclose the cause of this semiannual oscillation. The major findings are: 1) The tropical stationary eddies exhibit a seesaw semiannual oscillation between the eastern and Western Hemisphere with a phase reversal vertically at 400–500 mb and meridionally at the equator. 2) It is inferred from the streamfunction budget analysis that the semiannual oscillation of the tropical stationary eddies is caused by the semiannual cast-west seesaw of the global divergent circulation between the areas of the Asian-Australian (AA) monsoon (60°E–120°W) and the extra-AA monsoon (120°W–60°E). This mechanism is particularly clear in the Southern Hemisphere Tropics but less well established in the Northern Hemisphere Tropics, which may be attributed to the strong effect of the land-sea contrast on the east-west interseasonal phase change of the stationary eddies in the Northern Hemisphere.

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Gerald A. Meehl
,
Julie M. Arblaster
,
Grant Branstator
, and
Harry van Loon

Abstract

The 11-yr solar cycle [decadal solar oscillation (DSO)] at its peaks strengthens the climatological precipitation maxima in the tropical Pacific during northern winter. Results from two global coupled climate model ensemble simulations of twentieth-century climate that include anthropogenic (greenhouse gases, ozone, and sulfate aerosols, as well as black carbon aerosols in one of the models) and natural (volcano and solar) forcings agree with observations in the Pacific region, though the amplitude of the response in the models is about half the magnitude of the observations. These models have poorly resolved stratospheres and no 11-yr ozone variations, so the mechanism depends almost entirely on the increased solar forcing at peaks in the DSO acting on the ocean surface in clear sky areas of the equatorial and subtropical Pacific. Mainly due to geometrical considerations and cloud feedbacks, this solar forcing can be nearly an order of magnitude greater in those regions than the globally averaged solar forcing. The mechanism involves the increased solar forcing at the surface being manifested by increased latent heat flux and evaporation. The resulting moisture is carried to the convergence zones by the trade winds, thereby strengthening the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) and the South Pacific convergence zone (SPCZ). Once these precipitation regimes begin to intensify, an amplifying set of coupled feedbacks similar to that in cold events (or La Niña events) occurs. There is a strengthening of the trades and greater upwelling of colder water that extends the equatorial cold tongue farther west and reduces precipitation across the equatorial Pacific, while increasing precipitation even more in the ITCZ and SPCZ. Experiments with the atmosphere component from one of the coupled models are performed in which heating anomalies similar to those observed during DSO peaks are specified in the tropical Pacific. The result is an anomalous Rossby wave response in the atmosphere and consequent positive sea level pressure (SLP) anomalies in the North Pacific extending to western North America. These patterns match features that occur during DSO peak years in observations and the coupled models.

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David J. Stephens
,
Michael J. Meuleners
,
Harry van Loon
,
Malcolm H. Lamond
, and
Nicola P. Telcik

Abstract

In this study temporal and spatial aspects of El Niño (warm event) development are explored by comparing composite sequences of sea level pressure (SLP), surface wind, and sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies leading into strong and weak events. El Niño strength is found to be related to the magnitude and spatial extent of large-scale SLP anomalies that move in a low-frequency mode. In association with this, it is also intricately linked to the amplitude and wavelength of the Rossby waves in the southern midlatitudes. The primary signature of the Southern Oscillation is a more pronounced standing wave of pressure anomalies between southeastern Australia and the central South Pacific leading into stronger events. A strong reversal in the strength of the annual cycle between these two regions causes a stronger (weaker) SLP gradient that drives southwesterly (northwesterly) wind stress forcing toward (away from) the western equatorial Pacific in austral winter–spring of year 0 (−1). Thus, pressure variations in the southwest Pacific preconditions the equatorial environment to a particular phase of ENSO and establishes the setting for greater tropical–extratropical interactions to occur in stronger events.

Maximum warming in the Niño-3 region occurs between April and July (0) when a strong South Pacific trough most influences the trade winds at both ends of the Pacific. Cool SST anomalies that form to the east of high pressure anomalies over Indo–Australia assist an eastward propogation of high pressure into the Pacific midlatitudes and the demise of El Niño. Strong events have a more pronounced eastward propogation of SST and SLP anomalies and a much more noticeable enhancement of winter hemisphere Rossby waves from May–July (−1) to November–January (+1). Weak events require an enhanced South Pacific trough to develop but have much less support from the North Pacific. They also appear more variable in their development and more difficult to predict with lead time.

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