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Stratosphere/troposphere joint variability in southern South America as estimated from a principal components analysis

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Abstract

To understand how the tropopause annual evolution relates to the troposphere and lower stratosphere over southern South America, the study analyzes the joint behavior of single and double thermal tropopauses with the 500 and 100 hPa levels in the region. Radiosonde data spanning the period 1973–2014 were used. Geopotential height time series that were filtered known cycles were used as input for an unrotated S-mode principal components analysis. The first three leading modes of variability were analyzed. The first one has a strong semi-annual behavior, linked to wind cycles, with maximum activity in the center of the study region on the lee of the Andes. It appears to be linked to the vertical propagation of planetary and gravity waves. Semi-annual and terannual cycles dominate the second mode, the associated spatial patterns having strong resemblance with the occurrence of cold fronts. The annual time series for the third mode are coupled to a blocking index over the South Atlantic, and the associated spatial structures are also similar to blocking patterns. Results are in good agreement with observations, showing that the use of thermal tropopauses is a valid tool for studying different phenomena taking place in the region.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank to an anonymous reviewer for their helpful comments. This research was funded by Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (ANPCyT) PICT 2007 1888, PICT 2012 2927 and CONICET PIP 2012/4 0075 grants. In loving memory of Susana Bischoff.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Adrián E. Yuchechen & Pablo O. Canziani

  2. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo de las Ingenierías, Facultad Regional Buenos Aires, Universidad Tecnológica Nacional, Mozart 2300, C1407IVT, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Adrián E. Yuchechen & Pablo O. Canziani

  3. Facultad de Ciencias Fisicomatemáticas e Ingeniería, Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Adrián E. Yuchechen

  4. Servicio Meteorológico Nacional, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Susana A. Bischoff

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  1. Adrián E. Yuchechen
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  2. Pablo O. Canziani
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  3. Susana A. Bischoff
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Correspondence to Adrián E. Yuchechen.

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Responsible Editor: L. Gimeno.

S. A. Bischoff: Deceased.

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Yuchechen, A.E., Canziani, P.O. & Bischoff, S.A. Stratosphere/troposphere joint variability in southern South America as estimated from a principal components analysis. Meteorol Atmos Phys 129, 247–271 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-016-0454-0

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