Cloud, Surface Temperature, and Outgoing Longwave Radiation for the Period from 1979 to 1990

Abstract

Abstract Quasi-biennial global, midlatitude, and tropical oscillations were observed using top-of-the-atmosphere outgoing longwave radiation (OLR), surface air temperature (SAT), and cloud amount for the period from 1979 to 1989. The in-phase quasi-biennial variations of OLR and SAT were strongest in the Tropics. Two prominent peaks in these two data fields were observed after the end of the main phases of the 1982–83 and 1986–87 El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events, which were also accompanied by a decrease in the mean tropical cloud cover. The quasi-biennial signal was less noticeable in the midlatitudes during the two ENSO events but was strong during two non-ENSO peaks occurring in 1980–81 and 1989–90. In this study, the authors used two SAT datasets comprised of departures estimated from a specific base period, where the record of these two datasets predates the start of this century. The OLR dataset was obtained by concatenating Nimbus-7 (1979–87) and Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) (1...