Document Type

Article

Publication Date

September 2005

Publication Title

Geophysical Research Letters

Volume

32

Issue Number

18

DOI

10.1029/2005GL023696

Disciplines

Atmospheric Sciences | Climate | Meteorology

Abstract

[1] The response of the equatorial quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) to zonal-mean ozone perturbations consistent with the 11-year solar cycle is examined using a 2 1/2 dimensional model of the tropical stratosphere. Unique to this model are wave-ozone feedbacks, which provide a new, nonlinear pathway for communicating solar variability effects to the QBO. Model simulations show that for zonal-mean ozone perturbations representative of solar maximum (minimum), the diabatic heating due to the wave-ozone feedbacks is primarily responsible for driving a slightly stronger (weaker) QBO circulation and producing a slightly shorter (longer) QBO period. These results, which are explained via an analytical analysis of the divergence of Eliassen-palm flux, are in general agreement with observations of quasi-decadal variability of the QBO.

Comments

This article originally appeared in Geophysical Research Letters in Volume 32, Issue 18 and can be found online at this link

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