Seasonality of interannual inter-hemispheric oscillations over the past five decades

Abstract

Air mass is inter-hemispherically redistributed, leading to an interesting phenomenon known as the Inter-Hemispheric Oscillation (IHO). In the present article, the seasonality of the interannual IHO has been examined by employing monthly mean reanalyses from NCEP/NCAR, EAR40, and JRA25 for the period of 1958-2006. It is found that the IHO indices as calculated from different reanalyses are generally consistent with each other. A distinct seesaw structure in all four seasons between the northern and southern hemispheres is observed as the IHO signature in both the surface air pressure anomalies (SAPAs) and the leading EOF component of the anomalous zonal mean quantities. When the SAPAs are positive (negative) in the northern hemisphere, they are negative (positive) in the southern hemisphere. Large values of SAPAs are usually observed in mid- and high-latitude areas in all but the solstice seasons. In boreal summer and winter, relatively stronger perturbations of IHO-related SAPA are found in the Asian monsoon region, which shows a large difference from the status in boreal spring and fall. This suggests that seasonal mean monsoon activity is globally linked via air mass redistribution globally on interannual timescales, showing a very interesting linkage between monsoons and the IHO in the global domain. In all seasons, large values of SAPA always exist over the Antarctic and the surrounding regions, implying a close relation with Antarctic oscillations.