Climatology and energy budget of the northern hemisphere middle stratosphere durind 1972.

Abstract

The 10-2 mb (~30.4 3 km) layer of the atmosphere in winter receives energy from two different sources: mechanical energy is carried up from the troposphere and lower stratosphere while energy is generated in situ by the gradients of radiative heating and cooling. We show here from data for 1972 that the latter primarily governs the energy budget of the middle stratosphere in early winter while the former becomes of comparable size, and often dominates, in the middle and late winter. Radiative energy sources for the summer hemisphere arc very small, as there is considerable compensation between solar heating through ozone absorption and infrared cooling by carbon dioxide and ozone. Standing and travelling waves are quite clear-cut at 5 and 2 mb in winter, as much of the chaos of lower regions is filtered out in the lower stratosphere; the standing waves at 2 mb may reflect surface properties more effectively than flow patterns at lower levels. A westward-travelling wave, with a period of about a month, was evident in early 1972.