Characteristics of Wave Packets in the Upper Troposphere. Part II: Seasonal and Hemispheric Variations

Abstract

Abstract Gridded 300-hPa meridional wind data produced by the ECMWF reanalysis project were analyzed to document the seasonal and hemispheric variations in the properties of upper-tropospheric wave packets. The properties of the wave packets are mainly illustrated using time-lagged one-point correlation maps performed on υ′. Based on indices that show the coherence of wave propagation, as well as examination of correlation maps, schematic waveguides were constructed for the summer and winter seasons of both hemispheres along which waves preferentially propagate with greatest coherence. In the summers, the waveguides basically follow the position of the midlatitude jets. In the Northern Hemisphere winter, the primary waveguide follows the subtropical jet over southern Asia into the Pacific, but there is a secondary branch running across Russia, joining the primary waveguide near the entrance to the Pacific storm track. Over the Atlantic, the waveguide passes east-southeastward toward North Africa, then bac...