HR: 11:50h
AN: A12A-07    [Abstracts]
TI: On recent trends in the stratospheric circulation
AU: * Thompson, D W
EM: davet@atmos.colostate.edu
AF: Dept of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523 United States
AB: The temperature of the stratosphere has decreased substantially over the past few decades. As noted in previous literature, the cooling of the lower stratosphere is driven largely by stratospheric ozone depletion, while the cooling in the upper stratosphere reflects contributions from both ozone depletion and increased greenhouse gases. Increasing water vapor may have also contributed to the global-mean cooling, particularly in the lower stratosphere. Numerous studies have noted that the amplitude of recent stratospheric cooling is not globally uniform, but is largest at polar latitudes during the spring season. However, with the exception of the springtime maxima in polar stratospheric cooling, previous studies have not identified a distinct spatial structure in global stratospheric temperature trends. In this talk, I will document the existence of such a structure and also highlight the striking degree of hemispheric symmetry in the seasonality of recent trends in the polar stratosphere.
DE: 1610 Atmosphere (0315, 0325)
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting