Instability of the three-dimensional distorted stratospheric polar vortex at the onset of the sudden warming ( Northern Hemisphere).

J. S. Frederiksen

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Abstract

The instability characteristics of three-dimensional flows typical of the Northern Hemisphere winter stratosphere and mesosphere are examined in a multi-level spherical quasi- geostrophic model. The basic-state distorted polar night jets are obtained from a numerical simulation of the sudden warming in a nonlinear spectral model. The results indicate that wave instability may be an important contributing factor in the sudden warming, which complements Matsuno's mechanism involving vertical wave propagation and wave-zonal flow interaction. -from Author

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2313-2329
Number of pages17
JournalJournal of the Atmospheric Sciences
Volume39
Issue number10
Publication statusPublished - 1982
Externally publishedYes

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