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Topographically forced planetary wave breaking in the stratosphere
Author(s) -
Li Long,
Nathan Terrence R.,
Wuebbles Donald J.
Publication year - 1995
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 - 10.1029/95gl02942
Subject(s) - stratosphere , extratropical cyclone , tropopause , eddy diffusion , atmospheric sciences , breaking wave , northern hemisphere , climatology , southern hemisphere , geology , middle latitudes , sudden stratospheric warming , polar vortex , wavenumber , wave propagation , physics , meteorology , turbulence , optics , quantum mechanics
The effects of topographically forced planetary wave breaking on eddy transport in the stratosphere are examined for zonal wavenumbers 1 and 2. Zonally averaged basic states representative of Northern Hemisphere (NH) and Southern Hemisphere (SH) winter conditions are used. Waves 1 and 2 each have significant wave breaking effects in the extratropical stratosphere during NH winter, whereas only wave 1 is important during SH winter. During NH winter, eddy mixing is dominated by wave 2 in the lower stratosphere and by wave 1 in the upper stratosphere and at the tropopause at low latitudes. The eddy diffusion effects due to the combined influence of waves 1 and 2 are much stronger in NH winter than in SH winter.