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Arctic and Antarctic four-month oscillations detected from Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A measurements

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2012

Z. Qin ,
X. Zou  and
F. Weng
Z. Qin*
Affiliation:
Center of Data Assimilation for Research and Application, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing 210044, China
X. Zou
Affiliation:
Center of Data Assimilation for Research and Application, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing 210044, China Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Florida State University, FL 32306, USA
F. Weng
Affiliation:
National Environmental Satellite, Data & Information Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Camp Springs, MD 20746, USA
*
wqin@fsu.edu
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Abstract

Satellite microwave measurements can penetrate through clouds and therefore provide unique information of surface and near-surface temperatures and surface emissivity. In this study, the brightness temperatures from NOAA-15 Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A (AMSU-A) are used to analyse the surface temperature variation in the Arctic and Antarctic regions during the past 13 years from 1998–2010. The data from four AMSU-A channels sensitive to surface are analysed with wavelet and Fourier spectrum techniques. A very pronounced maximum is noticed in the period range centred around four months. Application of a statistical significance test confirms that it is a dominant mode of variability over polar regions besides the annual and semi-annual oscillations in the data. No evidence of this feature could be found in middle and low latitudes. The four-month oscillation is 90° out of phase at the Arctic and Antarctic, with the Arctic four-month oscillation reaching its maximum in the beginning of March, July and November and the Antarctic four-month oscillation in the middle of April, August and December. The intensity of the four-month oscillation varies interannually. The years with pronounced four-month oscillation were 2002–03, 2005–06 and 2008–09. The strongest year for the Arctic and Antarctic four-month oscillations occurred in 2005–06 and 2008–09, respectively. The sign of four-month oscillation is also found in the surface skin temperatures and two-metre air temperatures from ERA-Interim reanalysis, with strongest signal in 2005–06 when this oscillation is strongest in the data. It is hypothesized that the Arctic and Antarctic four-month oscillations are a combined result of unique features of solar radiative forcing and snow/sea ice formation and metamorphosis.

Keywords

polar regionssatellitesurface temperature
Type
Physical Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 24 , Issue 5 , 13 September 2012 , pp. 507 - 513
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2012

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