On the cause of the annual cycle in tropical lower-stratospheric temperatures

• Published in: Journal of the atmospheric sciences 1994-01, Vol.51 (2), p.169-174
• Main Authors: Yulaeva, Elena, Holton, James R., Wallace, John M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; External geophysics; General properties of the high atmosphere; Meteorology; Meteorology And Climatology; Physics of the high neutral atmosphere; Temperature; Tropical environments
• ISSN: 0022-4928; 1520-0469
• DOI: 10.1175/1520-0469(1994)051<0169:otcota>2.0.co;2

An analysis of monthly mean, zonally averaged temperatures from the lower-stratospheric channel of the microwave sounding unit (MSU-4) shows that on the month-to-month time scale, there is nearly complete compensation between temperature changes in the tropics and in the extratropics. For the annual cycle the MSU-4 data show a similar compensation between temperatures in the tropics and those in high latitudes, with only a small residual variation in the global mean. The tropics are coldest in January and warmest in July, compensating for the warmer wintertime temperatues in the Northern Hemisphere compared to those in the Southern Hemisphere. These out-of phase temperature variations betwen the tropics and extratropics are interpreted as the signature of an annual cycle in the strength of the wave-driven, Lagrangian mean meridional circulation, which warms the high-latitude winter hemisphere and cools the tropics. The observed phase of the annual cycle in tropical lower-stratospheric temperatures is thus determined by the stronger orographic and thermal forcing of the wintertime planetary waves in the Northern Hemisphere, which drives a stronger Lagrangian mean meridional circulation. In the absence of fluctuations in the global mean diabatic heating, the compensation would be complete and the globally averaged temperature would be constant. The small annual cycle in the globally averaged temperature in the MSU-4 data is nearly in phase with the annual cycle in the tropics and is consistent with the annual cycle in diabatic heating by ozone.