The structure of the arctic winter stratosphere over a 10‐yr period

• Published in: Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society
• Main Authors: Wilson, Cynthia V., Godson, W. L.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1963
• Subjects: Arctic; Canada; Aleutian Ridge; North Atlantic; Alaska; Siberia
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/qj.49708938003; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fqj.49708938003; https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/qj.49708938003

Abstract A series of 100‐mb temperature maps was drawn up for the winters 1949‐1950 to 1958‐1959 using 10‐day mean data. These maps were used to summarize the large‐scale events of each winter and of the ten winters in general. The results suggest the existence of two major patterns, both highly persistent. (i) An asymmetric pattern with a warm ridge over east Siberia‐Alaska and an elliptical cold‐core vortex over Eurasia. (ii) An eccentric bi‐polar distribution, the trough line extending from central Canada to central Siberia. The Aleutian ridge and Eurasian trough are quasi‐stationary features, common to both regimes, while the Canadian and North Atlantic sectors experience the greatest change from one regime to the other ‐ alternating warm ridge and cold trough. Both the regional climatology of the arctic winter stratosphere and the variations in the sequence of events from year to year for the Arctic as a whole, are described in terms of these two features and two alternating patterns. The striking asymmetry of both patterns in the stable stratosphere appears to require an external forcing agent, and this analysis tends to highlight the role of tropospheric activity.