Abstract
Using the daily and monthly data of surface air pressure, meridional wind, radiation and water vapor from NCEP/NCAR reanalysis for the period of 1979–2006, we have examined the seasonal variations of the interhemispheric oscillations (IHO) in mass field of the global atmosphere. Our results have demonstrated that IHO as observed in surface air pressure field shows the distinct seasonal cycle. This seasonal cycle has an interhemispheric seesaw structure with comparable annual ranges of surface air pressure in the Southern and Northern Hemispheres. Mass of water vapor changes out-of-phase between the Southern and Northern Hemispheres, showing clearly a seasonal cycle with its annual range almost equivalent to annual range of the IHO seasonal cycle. Amazingly, the cross-equatorial flow is found to be induced by annual changes in water vapor mass as a response of the atmosphere to seasonal cycle of forcing from hemispheric net surface short-and long-wave radiations. The IHO seasonality exhibits its larger variations in magnitude in mid-latitudes other than in other regions of the globe. Additionally, our results also show that the global air mass is redistributed seasonally not only between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres but also between land and sea. This land-sea air mass redistribution induces a zonal pattern of surface air pressure in the Northern Hemisphere but the meridional pattern in the Southern Hemisphere.
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Surpported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 40675025), the Project of National Key Basic Research Development (Grant No. 2004CB418302) and the Key Lab of Meteorological Disasters (KLME) of Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (NUIST) (Grant No. KLME060101)
The authors would like to thank the Center of Atmospheric Data Service, NUIST under the Geoscience Department of National Natural Science Foundation of China and NOAA-CIRES Climate Diagnostics Center at http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/cdc/reanalysis/reanalysis.shtml for providing data.
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Lu, C., Guan, Z., Mei, S. et al. The seasonal cycle of interhemispheric oscillations in mass field of the global atmosphere. Chin. Sci. Bull. 53, 3226–3234 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-008-0316-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-008-0316-3