The semi-annual oscillation (SAO) in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS)

Abstract

Both the scientific and operational communities are increasingly interested in subseasonal to seasonal variations of weather and climate. The semi-annual oscillation (SAO) has been studied extensively at the surface as well as in the middle atmosphere (upper stratosphere and the lower mesosphere). However, the SAO in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) has been less discussed. Here we find evident SAO of temperature in the UTLS (250–175 hPa) from the subtropics to middle latitudes (22.5–42.5∘) using high-quality satellite measurements, reanalysis data, and model simulations. We show the mechanism of its formation by an energy budget analysis. The temperature in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) UTLS shows the first peak in February according to the dynamical heating and shows the second peak in July due to the dynamical heating and moist processes. Similar to the NH, the austral winter time maximum temperature in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) is related to dynamical heating and the austral summer time maximum is related to both moisture and dynamical heating in the UTLS. Model simulations indicate that the SAO in the UTLS is partly affected by the existence of an SAO in sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the SH mid-latitudes and weakly affected by the SAO in SSTs in the NH mid-latitudes.