Impact of Rossby waves on ozone distribution and dynamics of the stratosphere and troposphere

• Main Author: Nikulin, Grigory
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Rymdvetenskap 2005
• Subjects: Meteorology; ozone; wave activity; trends; Brewer-Dobson circulation; Rossby waves; Arctic Oscillation; low ozone events; Meteorologi; Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences; Meteorologi och atmosfärforskning; Arctic; Midwinter; polar night
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-596

Several physical mechanisms concerning the impact of Rossby waves on ozone distribution and circulation in the stratosphere and troposphere are studied in the thesis. Summertime total ozone variability over Middle Asia and Northern Scandinavia shows similar wave-like behaviour with typical periods of 10-20 days and amplitudes of 20-50 Dobson units. These variations are caused by eastward travelling Rossby waves in the lower stratosphere. The same mechanism plays the primary role in the formation of an intense low ozone episode over Scandinavia in August 2003. A strong anticyclone was formed in the troposphere over Europe as a part of a Rossby wave train. The anticyclone coincides with a displaced Artic pool of low-ozone air in the stratosphere aloft of the anticyclone. A combination of the two above-mentioned processes results in the total ozone minimum over Northern Europe for summer 2003. Interannual variability of the atmospheric circulation and total ozone during winter is strongly controlled by the diabatic (Brewer-Dobson) circulation which is driven by upward propagating waves from the troposphere. In the Northern Hemisphere midlatitudes, wintertime total ozone shows antiphase behaviour with the Arctic Oscillation (AO) index on interannual and decadal time-scales. Weaker (stronger) wave activity leads to less (more) northward ozone transport and to a stronger (weaker) AO. Rossby wave activity occurs as episodic wave events and this wave forcing is not uniform during winter. The November-December stratospheric eddy heat flux is strongly anticorrelated with the January-February eddy heat flux in the midlatitude stratosphere and troposphere. Weaker upward wave fluxes in early winter lead to stronger upward wave fluxes from the troposphere as well as to a stronger polar night jet during midwinter and vice versa. Hence upward wave activity fluxes in early winter define, to a considerable extent, the subsequent evolution of the midwinter circulation in the stratosphere and troposphere.