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Lagged response of tropical tropospheric temperature to solar ultraviolet variations on intraseasonal time scales
Author(s) -
Hood L. L.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2016gl068855
Subject(s) - troposphere , stratosphere , climatology , atmospheric sciences , environmental science , downwelling , forcing (mathematics) , latitude , geology , upwelling , oceanography , geodesy
Correlative and regression analyses of daily ERA‐Interim reanalysis data for three separate solar maximum periods confirm the existence of a temperature response to short‐term (mainly ∼27 day) solar ultraviolet variations at tropical latitudes in both the lower stratosphere and troposphere. The response, which occurs at a phase lag of 6–10 days after the solar forcing peak, consists of a warming in the lower stratosphere, consistent with relative downwelling and a slowing of the mean meridional (Brewer‐Dobson) circulation, and a cooling in the troposphere. The midtropospheric cooling response is most significant in the tropical Pacific, especially under positive El Niño–Southern Oscillation conditions and may be related to a reduction in the number of Madden‐Julian oscillation events that propagate eastward into the central Pacific following peaks in short‐term solar forcing.