Planetary Waves

Abstract

The mean temperature field at various pressure levels for January and July for both hemispheres are given. In summer (July in the Northern Hemisphere, January in the Southern Hemisphere) the fields are nearly zonally symmetric, but in winter large longitudinal variations are evident. These are mainly of low wave number, i.e., they may be represented by Fourier analysis around the globe using just a few (one or two) waves. This is the basis for representing the climatology of longitudinal variation in terms of wave components, since the fields may be defined with fewer values than by using a grid in longitude that has a sufficiently small interval to adequately represent the smooth variations. The amplitude and phase of temperature and geopotential height for wave numbers one and two, with In(pressure) as the vertical coordinate are given. The fields were calculated and plotted at pressure intervals of 0.2 in In(pressure) and at latitude intervals of 4 deg, but were interpolated to intervals of 0.5 in In(pressure) (approximately 3.5 km) and 10 deg latitude for tabulation. Tables and figures give wave coefficients for the monthly mean temperature fields. Thus they represent the quasi-statinary planetary waves.