Equivalent-Barotropic Definition of Tropospheric Mean Temperature

Abstract

Abstract An equivalent-barotropic (EB) description of the tropospheric temperature field is derived from the geostrophic empirical mode (GEM) in the form of a scalar function Γ(p, ϕ), where p is pressure and ϕ is 300–850-mb thickness. Baroclinic parameter ϕ plays the role of latitude at each longitudinal section. Compared with traditional Eulerian-mean methods, GEM defines a mean field in baroclinic streamfunction space with a time scale much longer than synoptic variability. It prompts an EB concept that is only based on a baroclinic field. Monthly GEM fields are diagnosed from NCEP–NCAR reanalysis data and account for more than 90% of the tropospheric thermal variance. The circumglobal composite of GEM fields exhibits seasonal, zonal, and hemispheric asymmetries, with larger rms errors occurring in winter and in the Northern Hemisphere (NH). Zonally asymmetric features and planetary deviation from EB are seen in the NH winter GEM. Reconstruction of synoptic sections and correlation analysis reveal that the tropospheric temperature field is EB at the leading order and has a 1-day phase lag behind barotropic variations in extratropical regions.