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The role of the QBO in the inter-hemispheric coupling of summer mesospheric temperatures
- Source :
- Atmospheric Chemistry And Physics, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Vol 11, Iss 2, Pp 495-502 (2011), 23403-23422, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions
- Publication Year :
- 2011
- Publisher :
- Copernicus GmbH, 2011.
-
Abstract
- Inter-hemispheric coupling between the polar summer mesosphere and planetary-wave activity in the extra-tropical winter stratosphere has recently been inferred using Polar Mesospheric Cloud (PMC) properties as a proxy for mesospheric temperature (Karlsson et al., 2007). Here we confirm these results using a ten-year time series of July mesospheric temperatures near 60° N derived from the hydroxyl (OH) nightglow. In addition, we show that the time/lagged correlation between these summer mesospheric temperatures and the ECMWF winter stratospheric temperatures displays a strong Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO). The sign and phase of the correlation is consistent with the QBO modulation of the extra-tropical stratospheric dynamics in the Southern Hemisphere via the Holton-Tan mechanism (Holton and Tan, 1980). This lends strength to the identification of synoptic and planetary waves as the driver of the inter-hemispheric coupling, and results in a strong QBO modulation of the polar summer mesospheric temperatures. © Author(s) 2010. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Details
- ISSN :
- 16807324
- Volume :
- 11
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....8f6bf9c06fc362c88f4ad7f765922474