Associations between the 11-year solar cycle, the quasi-biennial oscillation and the atmosphere: a summary of recent work

Abstract

Atmospheric elements at all levels from the surface to the top of the middle atmosphere show a probable association with the 11-year solar cycle that can be observed only if the data are divided according to the phase of the quasi-biennial oscillation. In either phase the range between solar extremes is as large as the interannual variability of the given element; and the correlations are statistically meaningful when tested both by conventional and Monte Carlo techniques. The sign of the correlations changes spatially on the scale of planetary waves or teleconnections. As the correlations tend to be of opposite sign in the two phases of the quasi-biennial oscillation, correlating a full time series of an atmospheric element with the solar cycle nearly always yields negligible correlation coefficients.