Space–Time Spectral Analysis of the Southern Hemisphere Daily 500-hPa Geopotential Height

Abstract

Abstract In this paper the authors use the NCEP–Department of Energy (DOE) Reanalysis 2 (NCEP2) data from 1979 to 2004 to expand the daily 500-hPa geopotential height in the Southern Hemisphere (SH, 90°–20°S) into a double Fourier series, and analyze the temporal frequency characteristics of the expansion coefficients over various spatial scales. For the daily series over the whole year, the coefficient series of the extratropical-mean height is characterized by a significant low-frequency (10–30 day) variation. For zonal waves with (k, l) = (1–5, 1), where k and l are the zonal and meridional wavenumbers, respectively, the low-frequency variability is most pronounced for zonal wavenumbers 3 and 4; while the short wave with zonal wavenumber 5 has significant high-frequency (4–8 day) variability. For meridional waves with (k, l) = (0, 2–6), the meridional dipole (l = 2) makes a major contribution to the low-frequency variability, consistent with the intraseasonal space–time features of the southern annular mode (SAM). The meridional tripole (l = 3) also exhibits low-frequency variability. For two-dimensional waves (k, l) = (1–5, 2–6), the dipole is a preferred meridional structure for intraseasonal modes with large zonal scales, indicating an out-of-phase relationship between low-frequency planetary-scale waves at mid- and high latitudes. The diagnostic results outlined above can be explained, to a certain extent, by the dispersion relation for Rossby waves. Theoretical analysis indicates that zonal wavenumber 3, zonally symmetric flow such as SAM, and planetary-scale waves with meridional dipole structures may be interpreted as low-frequency eigenmodes of the atmosphere.