Premium
Some notes on the stratospheric winds at Canton Island and Christmas Island
Author(s) -
Ebdon R. A.
Publication year - 1961
Publication title -
quarterly journal of the royal meteorological society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.744
H-Index - 143
eISSN - 1477-870X
pISSN - 0035-9009
DOI - 10.1002/qj.49708737305
Subject(s) - stratosphere , troposphere , trade wind , climatology , atmospheric sciences , environmental science , amplitude , meteorology , geology , geography , physics , quantum mechanics
Stratospheric wind data for Canton and Christmas Islands show a fluctuation with a period of about 24 to 28 months in the zonal component. Christmas Island data also show that the fluctuation exists from below 60 mb to 10 mb (the highest level for which data are available) and that the amplitude of the fluctuation increases with height. The change in wind direction from W to E, or vice versa, is evident first at the higher levels and appears to work gradually downwards; at 60 mb the reversal of wind direction is evident about six months after that at 25 mb, and about twelve months after that at 10 mb. Attempts to connect events in the equatorial stratosphere with events in the equatorial troposphere were not successful.