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A new look for the Southern Hemisphere jet stream

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Abstract

A new jet stream description, defined as the geostrophic streamline of maximum average velocity is proposed. An objective algorithm for detecting and tracking the jet has been developed, tested and applied to the NCEP/NCAR 200-hPa geopotential height in the Southern Hemisphere for the period 1958–2002. The results show the variability of the double character of the Southern Hemisphere jet, with a marked seasonality. During the warm season, a single jet can be found around 40°S, while autumn and winter are characterized by a clear double jet structure, with a strong and dominant subtropical jet located around 30°S and a polar front jet, progressively displaced toward southern latitudes and reaching 60°S by the end of the cold season. In general, a trend toward slower subtropical jets and stronger polar front jets has been detected during the study period. The Southern Annular Mode appears as a main modulator of the latitude and strength of the polar front jet, influencing to a minor extent its subtropical counterpart. The ENSO cycle strongly modifies the latitude and specially the strength of the subtropical jet, affecting its preferred wavenumber as well. Nevertheless, the effect of this oscillation seems fairly restricted in the Pacific, thus limiting the ability of this jet to drive the El Niño teleconnections along the Southern Hemisphere. The consistency of the results, when compared with previous jet climatologies, suggests that the new approach is a reliable jet-tracking method, thus providing a new tool to analyze climatic variability at hemispheric scales.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the two anonymous referees for their useful comments, which have contributed to the improvement of this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Facultad de CC Ambientales, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Carretera de Utrera, Km. 1, 41013, Seville, Spain

    David Gallego & Pedro Ribera

  2. Facultad de CC Fìsicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Avda Complutense s/n, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    Ricardo Garcia-Herrera & Emiliano Hernandez

  3. Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Vigo, Campus As Lagoas s/n, 32004, Orense, Spain

    Luis Gimeno

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  1. David Gallego
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  2. Pedro Ribera
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  3. Ricardo Garcia-Herrera
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  4. Emiliano Hernandez
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  5. Luis Gimeno
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Correspondence to David Gallego.

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Gallego, D., Ribera, P., Garcia-Herrera, R. et al. A new look for the Southern Hemisphere jet stream. Climate Dynamics 24, 607–621 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-005-0006-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-005-0006-7

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