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The climatology of the lower stratosphere during the IGY and its implications for the regime of circulation

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Summary

Three-monthly mean statistics, show that throughout the year in the layer between about 200 and 30 mb large-scale eddies transport both heat and momentum against the north-south gradient of, respectively, the temperature and the angular rotation. Furthermore, it is found that in this layer, warm air masses tend to sink and cold air masses tend to rise, thereby converting kinetic into potential energy. The eddy circulations have, therefore, no source of energyin situ and must be forced by the circulation systems in the adjacent layers, probably in the troposphere. A comparison is drawn between the transport of angular momentum and heat by transient eddies in the lower troposphere, the upper troposphere and the lower stratosphere. Finally, the necessary sloping of the trajectories of the forced air parcels is discussed.

Zusammenfassung

Dreimonatige Durchschnitts-Statistiken zeigen, daß während des Jahres großräumige Wirbel in den Schichten zwischen ungefähr 200 und 30 mb Wärme und Bewegungsgröße gegen den Gradienten der Temperatur beziehungsweise der Winkelrotation transportieren. Ferner, wurde festgestellt, daß in diesen Schichten warme Luftmassen die Neigung haben abzusinken und kalte Luftmassen aufzusteigen und daß auf diese Art kinetische Energie in potentielle Energie umgewandelt wird. Die Wirbel-Zirkulation hat daher in sich keine Energiequelle und muß durch die Zirkulationssysteme in den anliegenden Schichten, vermutlich in der Troposphäre, angetrieben werden. Es wird ein Vergleich zwischen dem Transport von Drehimpuls und Wärme von wandernden Wirbeln in der unteren Troposphäre, der oberen Troposphäre und der unteren Stratosphäre angestellt. Schließlich wird die für das Zustandekommen der erzwungenen Bewegungen erforderliche Neigung der Trajektorien diskutiert.

Résumé

En se basant sur des statistiques tri-mensuelles on montre que tout au long de l'année, dans la couche entre 200 et 30 mb environ, les perturbations à grande échelle transportent à la fois chaleur et quantité de mouvement contre le gradient de la température et de la rotation angulaire. En outre, on a trouvé que dans cette couche les masses d'air chaud ont la tendance à descendre et les masses d'air froid ont la tendance à monter, en transformant de cette manière l'énergie cinétique en énergie potentielle. Par conséquent, les circulations perturbées n'ont pas disponible de source d'énergie et doivent être, forcées par des systèmes de circulation dans des couches adjacentes, probablement dans la troposphère. On compare le transport du moment cinétique et de la chaleur par des perturbations transitoires dans la basse troposphère, la haute troposphère et la basse stratosphère. Einfin on discute la pente des trajectoires des parcelles d'air forcées.

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Author notes

  1. Abraham H. Oort

    Present address: Koninklijk Nederlands Meteorologisch Instituut, De Bilt, The Netherlands

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  1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass., USA

    Abraham H. Oort

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With 8 Figures

The research reported in this paper was sponsored principally by the Atomic Energy Commission under Contract No. AT(30-1)2241; before March 1962, the research was supported jointly by the Atomic Energy Commission and the U.S. Air Force under Contracts No. AT(30-1)2241 and AF 19(604)-5223.

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Oort, A.H. The climatology of the lower stratosphere during the IGY and its implications for the regime of circulation. Arch. Met. Geoph. Biokl. A. 14, 243–278 (1965). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02247563

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