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Recent evidence from both observations and model simulations suggests that an Arctic sea ice reduction tends to cause a negative Arctic Oscillation (AO) phase with severe winter weather in the Northern Hemisphere, which is often preceded by weakening of the stratospheric polar vortex. Although this evidence hints at a stratospheric involvement in the Arctic-midlatitude climate linkage, the exact role of the stratosphere remains elusive. Here we show that tropospheric AO response to the Arctic sea ice reduction largely disappears when suppressing the stratospheric wave mean flow interactions in numerical experiments. The results confirm a crucial role of the stratosphere in the sea ice impacts on the midlatitudes by coupling between the stratospheric polar vortex and planetary-scale waves. Those results and consistency with observation-based evidence suggest that a recent Arctic sea ice loss is linked to midlatitudes extreme weather events associated with the negative AO phase.

By analyzing data from satellite measurements, a reanalysis, and a chemistry-climate model, we found clear zonally uniform tidal signals in the tropical stratosphere, particularly during the Northern Hemisphere summer. Antisymmetric components with respect to the equator are dominant and are characterized by a vertical wavelength of ~15 km and a diurnal frequency. The temperature and vertical wind diurnal amplitudes in the stratosphere are 0.2–1 K and 1–7 mm s–1, respectively. The latter is generally larger than the climatological ascent motion in the stratosphere. The observed latitudinal and vertical structures can be explained by the second, propagating, antisymmetric Hough mode. These tidal oscillations should be carefully considered in analyses of zonal mean fields at a particular universal time.

We report height and time variations in polar mesosphere winter echoes (PMWE) based on the Program of the Antarctic Syowa mesosphere-stratosphere-troposphere/incoherent scatter (PANSY) radar observations. PMWE were identified for 110 days from March to September 2013. PMWE occurrence frequency increased abruptly in May when two solar proton events occurred. PMWE were also observed even during periods without any solar proton events, suggesting that a possible cause of the PMWE is ionization by energetic electron precipitations. The monthly mean PMWE characteristics showed that occurrence of PMWE were mainly restricted to sunlit time. This fact indicates that electrons detached from negatively charged particles play an important role. While PMWE below 72 km in altitude completely disappeared before sunset, it was detected above that altitude for a few hours even after sunset. This height dependence in the altitude range of 60–80 km can be explained qualitatively by empirical effective recombination rates.

Accepted: 2016-11-10, 資料番号: SA1160279000

[1] We analyzed neutral winds, ambipolar diffusion coefficients, and neutral temperatures observed by the Nippon/Norway Tromso Meteor Radar (NTMR) and ion temperatures observed by the European Incoherent Scatter (EISCAT) UHF radar at Tromso (69.6°N, 19.2°E), during a major stratospheric sudden warming (SSW) that occurred in January 2009. The zonal winds at 80–100 km height reversed approximately 10 days earlier than the zonal wind reversal in the stratosphere and the neutral temperature at 90 km decreased simultaneously with the zonal wind reversal at the same altitude. We found different variations between geomagnetically quiet nighttime ion temperatures at 101–110 km and 120–142 km for about 10 days around the SSW. Our results from the ground-based observations agree well with the satellite observations shown in an accompanying paper. Thus, this study indicates that a SSW is strongly linked to thermal structure and dynamics in the high-latitude mesosphere, lower thermosphere, and ionosphere.

[1] Using hourly data from a three-year simulation based on a gravity-wave resolving general circulation model, we have first inferred a global view of gravity wave sources and propagation affecting significantly the momentum balance in the mesosphere. The meridional cross section of momentum fluxes suggests that there are a few dominant propagation paths originating from the subtropics in summer and the middle to high latitudes in winter. These gravity waves are focused into the mesospheric jets in their respective seasons, acting effectively to decelerate the jets. The difference in the source latitudes likely contributes to the hemispheric asymmetries of the jets. The horizontal distribution of the momentum fluxes indicates that the dominant sources are steep mountains and tropospheric westerly jets in winter and vigorous monsoon convection in summer. The monsoon regions are the most important window to the middle atmosphere in summer because of the easterlies associated with the monsoon circulation.

[1] Turbulent diffusivity and turbulent ozone fluxes in the tropo-stratosphere are studied employing simultaneous observations with the Middle and Upper (MU) Atmosphere radar and ozonesondes in Shigaraki, Japan during April 16–24, 1998. A broad region around the tropopause was dynamically active. Maxima of turbulent diffusivity were observed at 8–14 km altitude. Such maxima may produce vertical turbulent ozone fluxes across the tropopause with magnitudes comparable to those required for the global ozone budget. Meso-meteorological ozone intrusions may enhance the fluxes.