A study of the energetics of an upper stratospheric warming (1969-1970)

During the winter of 1969-1970 when a rather intense stratospheric warming of the type restricted to the upper stratosphere occurred, we were fortunate in having a considerable number of rocketsonde observations throughout the Northern Hemisphere. In addition, the Satellite Infrared Spectrometer (SIRS) on board Nimbus 3 yielded large amounts of radiation temperature data which, when combined with the above, enabled us to construct hemispheric synoptic analyses at the 10-, 5-, and 2-mb levels, for seven days during the warming event. Employing these analyses along with the daily objective analyses from 1,000-30 mb, we computed certain of the major energy transformations for the troposphere and lower and middle stratosphere. It was found that the middle stratospheric warming event was of a direct baroclinic type, forced from below. Also, we noted that if the warming is to propagate into the lower stratosphere, it is necessary to reverse the normal eddy kinetic to eddy potential energy transfer in that region so that it operates in a direct baroclinic sense.

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