Periodic variations stratospheric temperature from 20-65 km at 80 deg N to 30 deg S

Abstract

Results for a seasonally varying diurnal tide in temperature at Churchill are presented, and possible significant aliasing of longer period waves by this tide is discussed. A diurnal tide whose amplitude and phase are coherent throughout the year is found to have little effect on periodic amplitudes other than the long-term mean, because most rocketsonde observations are taken near the same local time each day. Errors in periodic components arising from lack of solar radiation corrections are found to be largest for the long-term mean with a small influence noted in the annual wave's amplitude. Spatial variations of the amplitudes and phases of long-period waves are examined through the use of height-latitude sections, 20-65 km, at 80 deg N to 30 deg S. The quasi-biennial oscillation and semiannual waves have tropical maxima of 2 and 3C near 30 and 40 km respectively. The annual wave's maximum is over 22C near 45 km at 70 deg N and the terannual wave's maximum is over 6C near 55 km at 80 deg N. The semiannual wave has to polar maxima: 7C near 75 deg N at 32 km and 3C above 60 km north of 35 deg N