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Connection of stratospheric QBO with global atmospheric general circulation and tropical SST. Part I: methodology and composite life cycle

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Abstract

The stratospheric quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) and its association with the interannual variability in the stratosphere and troposphere, as well as in tropical sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA), are examined in the context of a QBO life cycle. The analysis is based on the ERA40 and NCEP/NCAR reanalyses, radiosonde observations at Singapore, and other observation-based datasets. Both reanalyses reproduce the QBO life cycle and its associated variability in the stratosphere reasonably well, except that some long-term changes are detected only in the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis. In order to separate QBO from variability on other time scales and to eliminate the long-term changes, a scale separation technique [Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD)] is applied to the raw data. The QBO component of zonal wind anomalies at 30 hPa, extracted using the EEMD method, is defined as a QBO index. Using this index, the QBO life cycle composites of stratosphere and troposphere variables, as well as SSTA, are constructed and examined. The composite features in the stratosphere are generally consistent with previous investigations. The correlations between the QBO and tropical Pacific SSTA depend on the phase in a QBO life cycle. On average, cold (warm) SSTA peaks about half a year after the maximum westerlies (easterlies) at 30 hPa. The connection of the QBO with the troposphere seems to be associated with the differences of temperature anomalies between the stratosphere and troposphere. While the anomalies in the stratosphere propagate downward systematically, some anomalies in the troposphere develop and expand vertically. Therefore, it is possible that the temperature difference between the troposphere and stratosphere may alter the atmospheric stability and tropical deep convection, which modulates the Walker circulation and SSTA in the equatorial Pacific Ocean.

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Acknowledgments

Thanks go to James M. Wallace, Shuntai Zhou, Amy Butler, Xiaosong Yang, Cristiana Stan, and Jian Lu for their useful discussion and suggestions. This work was supported by the NOAA CVP Program (NA07OAR4310310) (Hu, Huang), as well as NSF ATM-0830062 (Huang, Kinter), NSF ATM-0830068, NOAA NA09OAR4310058, NASA NNX09AN50G (Hu, Huang, Kinter), NSF ATM-0917743 and AGS-1139479 (Wu).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Earth Sciences, College of Science, George Mason University, 4400 University Drive, Fairfax, VA, 22030, USA

    Bohua Huang & James L. Kinter III

  2. Center for Ocean–Land–Atmosphere Studies, 4041 Powder Mill Road, Suite 302, Calverton, MD, 20705, USA

    Bohua Huang, Zeng-Zhen Hu & James L. Kinter III

  3. Climate Prediction Center (suite 605), NCEP/NWS/NOAA, 5200 Auth Road, Camp Springs, MD, 20746, USA

    Zeng-Zhen Hu & Arun Kumar

  4. Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science, and Center for Ocean–Atmospheric Prediction Studies, Florida State University, 2035 E. Paul Dirac Drive, Tallahassee, FL, 32306, USA

    Zhaohua Wu

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Correspondence to Zeng-Zhen Hu.

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Huang, B., Hu, ZZ., Kinter, J.L. et al. Connection of stratospheric QBO with global atmospheric general circulation and tropical SST. Part I: methodology and composite life cycle. Clim Dyn 38, 1–23 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-011-1250-7

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