Low-Frequency Variability in the Northern Hemisphere Winter: Geographical Distribution, Structure and Time-Scale Dependence

Abstract

Abstract Low-frequency variability in wintertime 500 mb height is examined, with emphasis on its structure, geographical distribution, and frequency dependence. A 39-year record of 500 mb geopotential height fields from the NMC analyses is time filtered to partition the fluctuations into frequency bands corresponding to periods of 10–60 days, 60–180 days and > 180 days. Winter is defined as the six month period November through April. Variance, teleconnectivity, and anisotropy fields, and selected loading vectors derived from orthogonal and oblique rotations of the eigenvectors of the temporal correlation matrix for each band are shown and discussed. The variability in all frequency bands exhibits substantial anistropy, with meridionally elongated features arranged as zonally oriented wave trains prevailing over the continents and zonally elongated features organized in the form of north–south oriented dipole patterns prevailing over the oceanic sectors of the hemisphere. The wave trains are most pronounc...