Equatorial Warming Research Articles

Seasonally stratified correlations of the 200 mb tropical wind field to the Southern Oscillation

AbstractThe response of the 200 mb tropical wind field to the Southern Oscillation and central equatorial Pacific sea surface temperature is examined with correlation and regression analyses on a seasonally stratified basis. Although there are differences in magnitude, all seasons are found to exhibit the following set of responses: during periods of low Southern Oscillation Index and high equatorial sea surface temperature there are easterly anomalies of the equatorial zonal wind and westerly anomalies in the adjacent subtropics. These anomalies are consistent with the circulations in simple models of the Walker circulation in which the longitudinal scale of equatorial heating is increased, resulting in reduced zonal overturning at the equator (weakened Walker circulation) and increased meridional overturning and acceleration of the subtropical westerlies in a region slightly to the west of the anomalous heating centre. The correlation and regression results also show that central Pacific equatorial sea surface temperature is an excellent index of the heating anomalies.Theoretical results have predicted that the importance of remote forcing from the tropics in higher latitudes is dependent upon the strength of the intervening zonal wind field. Season‐to‐season differences are particularly apparent in the northern hemisphere responses of the zonal wind field to the Southern Oscillation: remote responses are relatively strong when the mean zonal winds over the Pacific region and corresponding values of standing wave group velocity are relatively large and vice versa. A similar correspondence is not found south of the equator as the correlation results do not vary as strongly with season. This may be due to greater equatorial trapping of Southern Oscillation anomalies in the same season when subtropical winds are more favourable for meridional coupling.

The Appearance of Sustained Equatorial Surface Westerlies During the 1982 Pacific Warm Event

In June 1982 a band of anomalous southerly surface wind, extending from the equator as far south as the Tasman Sea, formed east of Australia (150 degrees E to 160 degrees E). This flow crossed the equator just before the appearance of sustained westerly winds on the equator somewhat west of the date line. Because these westerly winds induced the initial strong equatorial warming of the ocean east of the date line during the 1982 El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event, the southerly jet appears to be an important atmospheric component leading to the onset of the vigorous phase of this event. Some historical evidence suggests that anomalous southerly winds in the same region occurred prior to the appearance of sustained equatorial westerly winds in the major ENSO events of 1957, 1965, and 1972.

Dynamics of Teleconnections and Walker Circulations Forced by Equatorial Heating

Abstract Using a linearized model with constant mean wind on an equatorial β-plane, two types of atmospheric response to steady tropical forcing are studied by an eigenmode analysis. The first type is the less rotationally trapped “barotropic” motions which show some of the characteristics of the teleconnection patterns observed by Bjerknes (1966) and Horel and Wallace (1981). The second type is the more rotationally trapped, warm-core, deep baroclinic motions which resemble the Walker circulations. The analysis reveals several important inadequacies in previous modeling studies and provides a relatively comprehensive explanation of the dynamics of both types of motions. A vertical normal mode consideration shows that the barotropic-type motions are difficult to excite by internal beating. Surface heating, which has been neglected in many previous numerical modeling studies, is found to be important in directly forcing this type of motion. Furthermore, the possible contribution by large equivalent depth i...

Thermospheric response observed over Fritz Peak, Colorado, during two large geomagnetic storms near Solar Cycle Maximum

Nighttime thermospheric winds and temperatures have been measured over Fritz Peak Observatory, Colorado (39.9°N, 105.5°W), with a high resolution Fabry‐Perot spectrometer. The winds and temperatures are obtained from the Doppler shifts and line profiles of the (O I) 15,867K (630 nm) line emission. Measurements made during two large geomagnetic storm periods near solar cycle maximum reveal a thermospheric response to the heat and momentum sources associated with these storms that is more complex than the ones measured near solar cycle minimum. In the earlier measurements made during solar cycle minimum, the winds to the north of Fritz Peak Observatory had an enhanced equatorward component and the winds to the south were also equatorward, usually with smaller velocities. The winds measured to the east and west of the observatory both had an enhanced westward wind component. For the two large storms near the present solar cycle maximum period converging winds are observed in each of the cardinal directions from Fritz Peak Observatory. These converging winds with speeds of hundreds of meters per second last for several hours. The measured neutral gas temperature in each of the directions also increases several hundred degrees Kelvin. Numerical experiments done with the NCAR thermospheric general circulation model (TGCM) suggest that the winds to the east and north of the station are driven by high‐latitude heating and enhanced westward ion drag associated with magnetospheric convection. The cause of the enhanced poleward and eastward winds measured to the south and west of Fritz Peak Observatory, respectively, is not known. During geomagnetic quiet conditions the circulation is typically from the southwest toward the northeast in the evening hours. We speculate that the enhanced flow to the south and west of Fritz Peak Observatory may be due to either (1) a hemispheric difference in the thermospheric energy input rate, (2) equatorial heating by neutral hydrogen precipitation, or (3) an increased midnight equatorial temperature bulge or some combination of these sources. Since the measurements indicate that the winds in the 630‐nm airglow layer converge from all directions at the observatory, we speculate that Fritz Peak is at the boundary of two circulation patterns during part of the storm.

Photospheric subrotation, differential rotation and zonal wind bands: A reverse pirouette

Recently Mayr et al. (1980) have suggested that the superrotation of planetary atmospheres could, in principle, be understood as a ‘pirouette’. Equatorial heating is pumping atmospheric material toward the poles, and with a concomitant reduction in moment of inertia, the atmosphere has the tendency of spinning up. On the Sun, the core is assumed to be rotating with a period of about 12 days (Dicke, 1976; Knight et al., 1979) while the overlaying ‘mantle’ convection zone has a solid body component of about 27 days. We propose here that this phenomenon could simply be understood as a ‘reverse pirouette’. Our model is similar to the models put forth by Kippenhahn (1963), Weiss (1965), Durney (1968), Busse (1970), Yoshimura (1972), Gilman (1974), and Gierasch (1974). Whereas the models listed provided solutions of valid equations and computer analyses, they lack a simple physical picture to explain the phenomenon. In our case, we have the solar oblateness conventionally providing added heat input at the poles. The result is the large scale transport of material toward the equator giving rise to subrotation. The model thus facilitates an understanding of the formation of a slowly rotating convection zone above the more rapidly rotating core. The latitudinal photospheric differential rotation is interpreted as a ‘second order’ effect associated with horizontal momentum transport. The recent observations of zonal winds drifting equatorward with a 22-year period (Howard and LaBonte, 1980) may be related by this model as a third order effect from a similar periodicity in differential solar heating (pole to equator).

Large-Scale Atmospheric Response to the 1964–65 Pacific Equatorial Warming

Abstract Time series of surface winds and sea surface temperatures at Canton Island, covering the period 1962–67, are interpreted to show that the major changes in the temperature of the large central and eastern equatorial Pacific area are caused by the varying strength of the easterly winds and inherent variation in upwelling. The feedback effects of the ocean temperature variations upon the atmosphere are illustrated by a comparison of the average November 1964 sounding with that of November 1965. In the cold ocean case (1964) the atmosphere has a pronounced stable layer between 900 and 800 mb, preventing convection and rainfall, and in the warm ocean case (1965) the heat supply from the ocean eliminates the atmospheric stability and activates heavy rainfall. The resulting vertical thermal expansion of the tropical troposphere from 1964 to 1965 is demonstrated by 200-mb topographic maps showing the emergence of two new anticyclonic centers symmetrically straddling the equator at the longitude of the ma...