A Closer Look at the Effect of the 11-Year Solar Cycle and the Quasi-biennial Oscillation on Northern Hemisphere 700 mb Height and Extratropical North American Surface Temperature
A recently discovered association between the 11-year solar cycle and the Northern Hemispheric low-frequency atmospheric circulation structure, which is most easily delectable when the two phases of the Quasi-biennial Oscillation (QBO) are considered individually, is described and subjected to global statistical significance tests. Highly significant relationships are found during the January–February period. This is especially true for the west QBO phase, in which the solar flux is positively correlated with 700 mb heights and surface temperatures over central and northern Canada, and negatively correlated with heights in the western Atlantic along 30°N and with temperature in the southern and much of the eastern portions of the United States. The pattern of the flux-height correlation field resembles primarily the Tropical/Northern Hemisphere (TNH) long-wave circulation pattern and secondarily the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) pattern. For east QBO phase years a different structure is found,... Abstract A recently discovered association between the 11-year solar cycle and the Northern Hemispheric low-frequency atmospheric circulation structure, which is most easily delectable when the two phases of the Quasi-biennial Oscillation (QBO) are considered individually, is described and subjected to global statistical significance tests. Highly significant relationships are found during the January–February period. This is especially true for the west QBO phase, in which the solar flux is positively correlated with 700 mb heights and surface temperatures over central and northern Canada, and negatively correlated with heights in the western Atlantic along 30°N and with temperature in the southern and much of the eastern portions of the United States. The pattern of the flux-height correlation field resembles primarily the Tropical/Northern Hemisphere (TNH) long-wave circulation pattern and secondarily the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) pattern. For east QBO phase years a different structure is found,...