[1] We investigate the link between the cold summer mesopause region and the dynamics in the stratosphere. In particular, we use Odin observations of noctilucent cloud (NLC) properties as a proxy for the state of the summer mesosphere and ECMWF winter stratospheric temperatures as a proxy for the residual circulation in the stratosphere. Large areas of strong anticorrelation between winter stratospheric temperature and summer mesospheric NLC indicate that there is an interhemispheric connection. Timelagged cross correlation shows that the wave activity flux at 100 hPa leads the NLC response by several weeks. The presented findings are consistent with recent model studies where the modulation of the mesospheric gravity wave drag by the stratospheric planetary waves yields an interhemispheric stratosphere-mesosphere coupling.Citation: Karlsson, B., H. Körnich, and J. Gumbel (2007), Evidence for interhemispheric stratosphere-mesosphere coupling derived from noctilucent cloud properties, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L16806,
[1] The seasonally and zonally averaged effects of the anomalously strong Rossby-wave activity in austral winter 2002 are estimated by a sensitivity experiment using an idealized general circulation model. The approach focuses on the modulation of gravity-wave saturation via the altered mean winds in the mesosphere and MLT. In the northern summer MLT the effects consist of increased vertical gradients of the mean zonal wind and temperature, as well as downward shifts of the residual circulation and the gravity wave-induced frictional heating. All these signals agree reasonably with observations obtained during the MaCWAVE/MIDAS program 2002.
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