Observations and Modeling of the Dynamical Response of the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere to a Sudden Stratospheric Warming Event in the Southern Hemisphere During 2010

Details Observations and Modeling of the Dynamical Response of the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere to a Sudden Stratospheric Warming Event in the Southern Hemisphere During 2010 Observations and Modeling of the Dynamical Response of the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere to a Sudden Stratospheric Warming Event in the Southern Hemisphere During 2010

Dec 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufmsa51a1912a&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #SA51A-1912

Physics

[3334] Atmospheric Processes / Middle Atmosphere Dynamics, [3349] Atmospheric Processes / Polar Meteorology, [3389] Atmospheric Processes / Tides And Planetary Waves, [3363] Atmospheric Processes / Stratospheric Dynamics

Scientific paper

A sudden stratospheric warming occurred in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) during July-August 2010. This was a minor warming event as the temperature increase in the Southern Hemisphere polar stratosphere was not accompanied by a wind reversal at 10 hPa. Nonetheless the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) temperature structure was dramatically altered during this event. NCEP Reanalysis is used to chronicle the morphology of the polar vortex in the upper stratosphere leading up to this event. TIMED SABER observations are used to investigate the dynamical response of the MLT region to the 2010 stratospheric warming event in the SH. The results show a highly distorted polar vortex in the upper stratosphere between July 21 and August 14. Thereafter the vortex finally reestablishes itself marking the end of the warming event. SABER observations of the southern polar latitudes during this event show a downward progression of the mesopause accompanied by an increase in the amplitude of the stationary planetary wave (zonal wavenumber 1 component) throughout the MLT region. SABER observations of this event are compared with the predictions of the NCAR Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM) numerical model and show good agreement between the two datasets. The WACCM simulation captured all the salient features of the event, viz. changes in the polar night jet, mesopause height, and the polar vortex shape in the upper stratosphere. Model Eliassen-Palm fluxes diagnose wave-mean flow interactions in the stratosphere that drive the minor warming event. The resulting deceleration to winds in the stratosphere modulates the propagation of gravity waves into the mesosphere, which in turn changes the deposition of momentum as these waves dissipate near the mesopause, and leads to a significant changes in the residual circulation in the MLT region.

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