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JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 108, NO. D7, 4223, doi:10.1029/2002JD002773, 2003

Downward migration of extratropical zonal wind anomalies

R. Alan Plumb

Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA


Kirill Semeniuk

Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA


Abstract

We show (in confirmation of previous work) using one- and three-dimensional models that extratropical zonal wind anomalies, produced by fluctuating Rossby wave forcing in the troposphere, appear first in the stratosphere, and migrate downward into the troposphere. By systematically eliminating wave reflection and “downward control” through an induced meridional circulation, it is shown that the downward migration is dependent on neither process. Rather, the mechanism appears to rely on local wave, mean-flow interaction just as in the similar downward migration evident in the tropical quasi-biennial oscillation. In particular, these results imply that the similar downward migration observed in the Arctic Oscillation should not be taken to indicate any controlling influence of the stratosphere on the troposphere.

Published 15 April 2003.

Index Terms: 3319 Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: General circulation; 3334 Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: Middle atmosphere dynamics (0341, 0342); 3362 Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: Stratosphere/troposphere interactions.

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Citation: Plumb, R. A., and K. Semeniuk (2003), Downward migration of extratropical zonal wind anomalies, J. Geophys. Res., 108(D7), 4223, doi:10.1029/2002JD002773.