Tropical convective centers can generate the propagation of planetary Rossby wave trains into the extratropics. We investigate the hypothesis that changes in tropical convection due to El Nino / Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and seasonal changes in the wind structure in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) modulate the propagation of planetary wave trains, thereby influencing the distribution of circulation anomalies from the surface of Antarctica into the polar stratosphere. We analyze long term global data sets to explore the influence of ENSO on the seasonal distribution of geopotential height, wind, temperature, and ozone in the extratropical Southern Hemisphere.

This work is supported by National Science Foundation grant AGS-1256215.

Link to the University of Wisconsin-Madison / Space Science and Engineering Center
Antarctic Meteorological Research Center / Automatic Weather Stations Project: AMRC website