Quasi-biennial Oscillation

The longitudinal dependence of interannual variations of tropical stratospheric wind is examined in a detailed general circulation model simulation and in the limited observations available. A version of the SKYHI model is run with an imposed zonally ...

ABSTRACT This study discusses the results of comprehensive time-dependent, three-dimensional numerical modelling of the circulation in the middle atmosphere obtained with the GFDL SKYHI troposphere-stratosphere-mesosphere general circulation model (GCM). The climate in a long control simulation with an intermediate resolution version (3 in horizontal) is briefly reviewed. While many aspects of the simulation are quite realistic, the focus in this study is on remaining first-order problems with the modelled middle atmospheric general circulation, notably the very cold high latitude temperatures in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) winter/spring, and the virtual absence of a quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) in the tropical stratosphere. These problems are shared by other extant GCMs. It was noted that the SH cold pole problem is somewhat ameliorated with increasing horizontal resolution in the model. This suggests that improved resolution increases the vertical momentum fluxes from the explicitly resolved gravity waves in the model, a point confirmed by detailed analysis of the spectrum of vertical eddy momentum flux in the winter SH extratropics. This result inspired a series of experiments with the 3 SKYHI model modified by adding a prescribed zonally-symmetric zonal drag on the SH winter westerlies. The form of the imposed momentum source was based on the simple assumption that the mean flow drag produced by unresolved waves has a spatial distribution similar to that of the Eliassen-Palm flux divergence associated with explicitly resolved gravity waves. It was found that an appropriately-chosen drag confined to the top six model levels (above 0.35 mb) can lead to quite realistic simulations of the SH winter flow (including even the stationary wave fields) through August, but that problems still remain in the late-winter/springtime simulation. While the imposed momentum source was largely confined to the extratropics, it produced considerable improvement in the simulation of the equatorial semiannual oscillation, with both the easterly and westerly phases being somewhat more intense than in the control simulation. A separate experiment was conducted in which the SKYHI model was simplified so that it had no topography and so that the seasonal cycle was frozen in perpetual equinox conditions. These changes result in a model that has much reduced interhemispheric asymmetry. This model spontaneously produces a long period mean flow oscillation of considerable amplitude in the tropical upper stratopause. The implication of this result for the general issue of obtaining a QBO in comprehensive GCMs is discussed.

This paper studies the significance of pyrogenic (e.g., biomass burning) emissions in the production of tropospheric ozone in the tropics associated with the forest and savanna fires in the African, South American, and Indonesian regions. Using aerosol index (AI) and tropospheric column ozone (TCO) time series from 1979 to 2000 derived from the Nimbus-7 and Earth Probe TOMS measurements, our study shows significant differences in the seasonal and spatial characteristics of pyrogenic emissions north and south of the equator in the African region and Brazil in South America. In general, they are not related to the seasonal and spatial characteristics of tropospheric ozone in these regions. In the Indonesian region, the most significant increase in TCO occurred during September and October 1997, following large-scale forest and savanna fires associated with the El Niño-induced dry condition. However, the increase in TCO extended over most of the western Pacific well outside the burning...

Previous studies using Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) measurements have identified several types of tropical waves in the stratosphere. These waves include Kelvin waves, mixed Rossby-gravity waves, equatorial Rossby waves, and global normal modes. All of these detected waves occur when their zonal phase speeds are opposite the zonal winds in the low-mid stratosphere associated with the Quasi-biennial Oscillation (QBO). Peak-to-peak amplitudes in all cases are typically ~5 DU. While total ozone data from TOMS is sensitive in detecting these tropical waves, they provide each day only a single horizontal cross-sectional map. The high spatial and spectral resolution of the Aura Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) provides a unique means to evaluate D structure in these waves including their propagation characteristics. Ozone profiles retrieved from OMI radiances for wavelengths 270-310 nm are utilized to examine the nature of these wave disturbances extending from the lower to up...

The Earth's equatorial stratosphere shows oscillations in which the east–west winds reverse direction and the temperatures change cyclically with a period of about two years 1, 2 . This phenomenon, called the quasi-biennial oscillation, also affects the dynamics of the mid- ...

A nonlinear principal component analysis (NLPCA) is applied to monthly mean zonal wind observations from January 1956 through December 2007 taken at seven pressure levels between 10 and 70 hPa in the stratosphere near the equator to represent the well-known quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) and investigate its variability and structure. The NLPCA is conducted using a simplified two–hidden layer feed-forward neural network that alleviates the problems of nonuniqueness of solutions and data overfitting that plague nonlinear techniques of principal component analysis. The QBO is used as a test bed for the new compact model of NLPCA. The two nonlinear principal components of the dataset of the equatorial stratospheric zonal winds, determined by the compact NLPCA, offer a clear picture of the QBO. In particular, their structure shows that the QBO phase consists of a predominant 28.3-month cycle that is modulated by an 11-yr cycle as well as by longer cycles. The differences in wind variab...

Processes affecting hurricane development over the North Atlantic like the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the stratospheric Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO) and Sea Surface Temperatures (SSTs) are discussed. Global coupled climate model simulations cannot answer directly the question on enhancement of hurricane activities (or its absence) under increased greenhouse gas concentrations because of their too coarse resolution. Therefore large-scale quantities that affect hurricane formation are investigated in a future warmer climate. More frequent or more intense hurricanes are expected from an increase in the local SST, from more latent heat flux from the ocean to the atmosphere, from more westerly winds in the tropical stratosphere that reduces the occurrence of strong easterly phases of the QBO and from a more moist-unstable stratification of the atmosphere. However, a stronger vertical wind shear similar to the difference between El Niño and La Niña events suggests fewer hurr...

The coastal region of the Indian Ocean is more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. In the present paper an attempt has been made to estimate the recent SST ( sea surface temperature ) trends in the coastal zones of the northern Indian Ocean. For this purpose the satellite derived grid point SST data for the period 1985-1998 has been utilized. The SST has shown consistent increasing trends in all the seasons in the coastal belts of Pakistan and the northwestern India upto Bombay (Mumbai). In the coastal regions of the islands the increasing trend is confined to the summer only. During the winter season the SSTs in the island regions have registered decreasing trends. This is indicative of an extension of the continental influence towards the island regions. It has been found that the interannual mode of SST variation dominates the linear SST trends which is characterised by the Quasi Biennial Oscillations (QBO) and the El Nino/ Southern Oscillation (ENSO) scale cycle. QBO ha...

Summary   In this paper the modulation of storm and depression tracks over North Indian Ocean by the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO) of zonal winds in the equatorial stratosphere is discussed for the period 1953–1991. It was observed that during post monsoon season the storms and depressions of Bay of Bengal were mostly confined to south of 17° N and move in west/North-westward direction

Parameterization schemes for the drag due to atmospheric gravity waves are discussed and compared in the context of a simple one-dimensional model of the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO). A number of fundamental issues are examined in detail, with the goal of providing a better understanding of the mechanism by which gravity wave drag can produce an equatorial zonal wind oscillation. The gravity wave–driven QBOs are compared with those obtained from a parameterization of equatorial planetary waves. In all gravity wave cases, it is seen that the inclusion of vertical diffusion is crucial for the descent of the shear zones and the development of the QBO. An important difference between the schemes for the two types of waves is that in the case of equatorial planetary waves, vertical diffusion is needed only at the lowest levels, while for the gravity wave drag schemes it must be included at all levels. The question of whether there is downward propagation of influence in the simulated...

The interannual variability of the stratospheric polar vortex during winter in both hemispheres is observed to correlate strongly with the phase of the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) in tropical stratospheric winds. It follows that the lack of a spontaneously generated QBO in most atmospheric general circulation models (AGCMs) adversely affects the nature of polar variability in such models. This study examines QBO–vortex coupling in an AGCM in which a QBO is spontaneously induced by resolved and parameterized waves. The QBO–vortex coupling in the AGCM compares favorably to that seen in reanalysis data [from the 40-yr ECMWF Re-Analysis (ERA-40)], provided that careful attention is given to the definition of QBO phase. A phase angle representation of the QBO is employed that is based on the two leading empirical orthogonal functions of equatorial zonal wind vertical profiles. This yields a QBO phase that serves as a proxy for the vertical structure of equatorial winds over the whol...