Normal mode Rossby waves observed in the upper stratosphere. Part I: first symmetric modes of zonal wavenumbers 1 and 2.

Abstract

A global analysis is made of large-scale traveling planetary waves in the upper stratosphere by the use of stratospheric height and thickness data up to the 1 mb level derived from the Stratospheric Sounding Unit (SSU) on TIROS-N and NOAA-A satellites for the period December 1979 through November 1981. The results of space-time power and cross-spectral analyses show the global existence of a westward traveling wave of zonal wavenumber 1 with a p eriod of about 5 days and a westward traveling wave of zonal wavenumber 2 with a period of about 4 days.-from Authors