Physics
Scientific paper
Feb 1984
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1984jats...41..363s&link_type=abstract
Journal of Atmospheric Sciences, vol. 41, Issue 3, pp.363-373
Physics
20
Scientific paper
Using satellite data from the Nimbus 7 LIMS instrument, a previous study by Smith showed that interactions among planetary waves 1, 2 and 3 in the stratosphere were significant during January 1979. That month was characterized by an exceptionally large wave 1 amplitude in the stratosphere. The present study extends the analysis to the period November 1978-March 1979 to determine the conditions under which wave-wave interactions have a significant effect on variations in wave activity and on wave-mean flow interactions. A quantitative measure of how wave-wave interactions affect the wave activity of zonal waves 1 and 2 is obtained from the potential enstrophy budget.The results demonstrate that the relative importance of wave-wave versus wave-mean flow interactions depends on the magnitude of the eddy mean wind and potential vorticity relative to the zonal means. When the zonal mean wind is weak, a relatively small amplitude wave tends to behave nonlinearly, whereas when the mean wind is strong, only large amplitude waves are significantly nonlinear. In the 1978-79 winter, the zonal mean wind was weaker and wave-wave interactions were more important in middle and late winter than during November-December.Further evidence is presented that the vacillation between waves 1 and 2, which has been observed in the winter stratosphere of both hemispheres, is as strongly influenced by wave-wave interactions in the stratosphere as by variations in the forcing from the troposphere.
Gille John C.
Lyjak Lawrence V.
Smith Anne K.
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