Long‐term variability in the equatorial middle atmosphere zonal wind

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Abstract

The high resolution Doppler imager (HRDI) on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) has provided measurements of the horizontal wind field in the stratosphere, mesosphere, and lower thermosphere since November 1991. This data set, which spans a period of more than 3 years, has facilitated an investigation of the long‐term behavior of the background circulation on a nearly global basis. At middle and high latitudes the zonal circulation is characterized by an annual oscillation. At low latitudes (±30°) the most prominent long‐term variation above the stratopause is the mesosphere semiannual oscillation (MSAO), which maximizes near the equator at an altitude of between 80 and 85 km. Further analysis of the time series reveals an additional strong variation, with an amplitude near 30 ms −1 and a period of about 2 years. This feature shows the same altitude and latitude structure as the MSAO and exhibits a phase relationship with the stratospheric quasi‐biennial oscillation (QBO). Observations from the Christmas Island MF radar (2°N, 130°W) confirm the presence of this mesospheric QBO (MQBO). These observations support recent findings from a modeling study which generates an MQBO via the selective filtering of small‐scale gravity waves by the underlying winds they traverse.

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