Roles of Low- and High-Frequency Eddies in the Transitional Process of the Southern Hemisphere Annular Mode

Abstract

Abstract The effects of low- and high-frequency eddies (time scales longer and shorter than 10 days, respectively) on the transitional processes of the Southern Hemisphere “Annular Mode” are investigated, based on NCEP–NCAR daily reanalysis data for the period 1979–2001. Special attention is focused on the zonal symmetry/asymmetry and the temporal evolution of the eddy forcing. For the poleward transitional process, the effects of low-frequency eddies precede those of high-frequency eddies in driving the jet transition. Quasi-stationary Rossby waves propagating along the polar jet with wavelengths of 7000 km play an important role. The waves, originally come from the Indian Ocean through the waveguide associated with the polar jet, dissipate equatorward over the eastern Pacific Ocean. This anomalous equatorward dissipation of wave activity induces an anomalous poleward momentum flux, which is responsible for changes in the polar jet over the Pacific Ocean during the beginning stage. Following the low-frequency eddy forcing, momentum forcing anomalies due to the high-frequency eddies rapidly appear. This forcing continues to drive the polar jet poleward over the whole of longitude, while the low-frequency eddies have completed their role of inducing the anomalous poleward momentum flux during the earlier stage. For the equatorward transitional events, the roles of the low-frequency eddy forcing differ from that in the poleward ones. Anomalous equatorward momentum fluxes due to low-frequency eddies appear simultaneously with that due to high-frequency eddies. Quasi-stationary Rossby waves with wavelengths of 7000 km propagate southeastward through the waveguide over the Pacific Ocean. The convergence of their wave activity results in the deceleration of the westerlies over the higher latitudes of the Pacific Ocean. On the other hand, the high-frequency eddy forcing contributes to the equatorward jet drift longitudinally over the whole of the hemisphere.