Breaking Waves at the Tropopause in the Wintertime Northern Hemisphere: Climatological Analyses of the Orientation and the Theoretical LC1/2 Classification

Abstract

Abstract Breaking waves on the tropopause are viewed as potential vorticity (PV) streamers on middle-world isentropic levels. A Northern Hemisphere winter climatology of the streamers’ spatial distribution and meridional orientation is derived from the 40-yr ECMWF Re-Analysis (ERA-40) dataset, and used to assess the nature and frequency of occurrence of breaking synoptic-scale waves. The streamers are grouped into two classes related to the so-called cyclonic (LC2) and anticyclonic (LC1) patterns, and the ambient wind strength and wind shear is also noted. It is shown that the occurrence of cyclonic and anticyclonic PV streamers exhibits a distinct spatial variability in the horizontal and the vertical. The majority of cyclonic PV streamers are found on lower isentropic levels that intersect the tropopause at more poleward latitudes, whereas anticyclonic streamers predominate at higher elevations in the subtropics. An analysis of the streamer patterns for the two phases of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) reveals significant differences in the location and frequency of both cyclonic and anticyclonic streamers in the Euro–Atlantic region on the 310-K isentropic level. Likewise, for the two phases of the ENSO and the Pacific–North American (PNA) pattern, there are marked differences in the frequency pattern of cyclonic streamers. An examination of the tropopause-level hemispheric flow pattern at the time of and prior to a streamer’s formation indicates a linkage to the presence or absence of double jet structures.