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A mechanism for sun‐climate connection
Author(s) -
Hameed Sultan,
Lee Jae N.
Publication year - 2005
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 - 10.1029/2005gl024393
Subject(s) - stratosphere , atmospheric sciences , environmental science , solar maximum , climatology , arctic oscillation , atmospheric circulation , solar minimum , solar cycle , solar wind , geology , physics , northern hemisphere , plasma , quantum mechanics
Mechanisms by which small changes in the sun's energy output during the solar cycle can cause changes in weather and climate have been a puzzle and the subject of intense research in recent decades. Here we report that differences in surface circulation conditions during solar maximum and minimum periods are caused by differences in the frequencies with which circulation perturbations in the stratosphere reach the surface. A much greater fraction of stratospheric perturbations penetrate to the surface during solar maximum conditions than during minimum conditions. This difference is more striking when the zonal wind direction in the tropics is from the west: no stratospheric signals reach the surface when equatorial 50 hPa winds are from the west under solar minimum conditions, and over 50 percent reach the surface under solar maximum conditions. It has been previously shown that stratospheric circulation perturbations reaching the surface change weather patterns by imposing atmospheric pressure anomalies characteristic of the Arctic oscillation.