HR: 08:45h
AN: GC41B-04    [Abstracts]
TI: On the Connection between Solar Spectral Irradiance and Planetary Wave Drag
AU: * Nathan, T R
EM: trnathan@ucdavis.edu
AF: Atmospheric Science Program University of California, Davis, One Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616, United States
AU: Albers, J
EM: albersjohn@hotmail.com
AF: Atmospheric Science Program University of California, Davis, One Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616, United States
AU: Cordero, E
EM: cordero@met.sjsu.edu
AF: Department of Meteorology San Jose State University, One Washington Square, San Jose, CA 95192-0104, United States
AB: An ever-increasing body of evidence shows that changes in solar spectral irradiance (SSI) over the 11-year solar cycle (SC) can produce changes in stratospheric ozone. Changes in stratospheric ozone can in turn produce changes in planetary wave drag (PWD) via wave-induced ozone heating, which was recently expounded upon in a paper by Nathan and Cordero (2007, JGR-Atmospheres). Because SSI-induced changes in PWD may have potentially far-reaching consequences for the global circulation, ranging from changes in the zonal-mean flow to changes in the Brewer-Dobson circulation, it is important to understand the connection between SSI and PWD. In this study we employ a mechanistic model that couples radiation, ozone and dynamics to derive an analytical expression that shows the explicit connection between SSI and PWD. The sensitivity of the stratospheric circulation, particularly stratospheric sudden warmings, to changes in SSI associated with the SC is explored.
DE: 0300 ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE
DE: 0340 Middle atmosphere: composition and chemistry
DE: 1616 Climate variability (1635, 3305, 3309, 4215, 4513)
DE: 1650 Solar variability (7537)
SC: Global Environmental Change [GC]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting