The role of the QBO in the inter-hemispheric coupling of summer mesospheric temperatures
Item
Title (Dublin Core)
The role of the QBO in the inter-hemispheric coupling of summer mesospheric temperatures
Description (Dublin Core)
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.
Creator (Dublin Core)
Espy, P. J.
Ochoa Fernández, S.
Forkman, P.
Murtagh, D.
Stegman, J.
Date (Dublin Core)
2018-01-15
Type (Dublin Core)
Text
Format (Dublin Core)
application/pdf
Identifier (Dublin Core)
10.5194/acp-11-495-2011
https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/11/495/2011/
Source (Dublin Core)
eISSN: 1680-7324
Language (Dublin Core)
eng
