Modes of temperature and pressure variability in midlatitude troposphere and lower stratosphere in relation to cosmic ray variations

Abstract

The study is based on the analysis of atmospheric and space weather parameters in the midlatitude region (Iberian Peninsula) during, approximately, the epoch of the 24th solar cycle maximum. The principal component analysis was applied to sets of air temperature and geopotential height measurement at different pressure levels from a near‐ground level (930 hPa) to the stratosphere (up to 10 hPa). The analysis of extracted modes shows couplings between atmospheric and medium‐term variations (from weeks to months) of space weather parameters. The first mode of the atmospheric variability is related to the atmospheric dynamic processes that are common for the extratropical Northern Hemisphere. Extracted temperature and pressure variations are located in the upper troposphere‐lower stratosphere region and positively correlate with ozone content variations. Among space weather parameters, this atmospheric mode shows statistically significant negative correlation with the ground‐measured cosmic ray flux measured by the Castilla‐La Mancha neutron monitor (Spain) and weaker or no correlation with geomagnetic parameters.

Temperature and pressure variability in mid-latitude low atmosphere and stratosphere-ionosphere coupling

“…In this paper, we present the continuation of our previous analysis (Morozova et al, 2017) of couplings between the locally measured atmospheric and space weather parameters. In the previous paper we analyzed the first mode of variations of tropospheric and lower stratospheric temperature and pressure fields over a mid-latitudinal region (Iberian Peninsula).…”

“…The stratosphere-ionosphere coupling is usually associated with changes of the phase and amplitude of the atmospheric tides (especially, semidiurnal tides as is shown, e.g., in Pedatella and Forbes, 2010) and also waves with periods of 2-23 days that are strongly amplified in winter atmosphere and during SSW in the vicinity of jet streams, frontal systems and mountain ridges Apostolov, 2001 andBramberger et al, 2017;Fritts and Alexander, 2003;Goncharenko et al, 2013;Huang et al, 2018;Knížová et al, 2015;Pancheva and Mitchell, 2004;Phanikumar et al, 2014). The ionospheric response is more prominent during the strong SSW events (Pancheva and Mukhtarov, 2011).…”

“…The amplitudes and periods of such waves/tides change when they propagate toward the upper and less dense atmosphere and interact with the upper atmospheric tides and acoustic waves (Ern et al, 2016;Fritts and Alexander, 2003;Laštovička, 2006;Snively, 2017). This kind of coupling is seen not only in polar regions but also in the middle and even equatorial latitudes Apostolov, 2001 andErn et al, 2016;Liu et al, 2010;Pancheva and Mitchell, 2004; see also review by Yiğit et al, 2016 and references therein). Since conditions in the winter stratosphere at middle to high latitudes favor the upward propagation of the atmospheric waves (Fritts and Alexander, 2003), the ionospheric response to the stratospheric forcing is more prominent during the cold months.…”

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This study presents the continuation of our previous analysis of variations of atmospheric and space weather parameters above Iberian Peninsula along two years near the 24 th solar cycle maximum. In the previous paper (Morozova et al, 2017) we mainly discussed the first mode of principal component analysis of tropospheric and lower stratospheric temperature and pressure fields, which was shown to be correlated with lower stratospheric ozone and anti-correlated with cosmic ray flux. Now we extend the investigation to the second mode, which suggests a coupling between the stratosphere and the ionosphere.This second mode, located in the low and middle stratosphere (and explaining ~7% of temperature and ~3% of geopotential height variations), showed to be statistically significantly correlated with variations of the middle stratosphere ozone content and anti-correlated with variations of ionospheric total electron content.

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“…This study presents the continuation of our previous analysis of variations of atmospheric and space weather parameters above Iberian Peninsula along two years near the 24 th solar cycle maximum. In the previous paper (Morozova et al, 2017) we mainly discussed the first mode of principal component analysis of tropospheric and lower stratospheric temperature and pressure fields, which was shown to be correlated with lower stratospheric ozone and anti-correlated with cosmic ray flux. Now we extend the investigation to the second mode, which suggests a coupling between the stratosphere and the ionosphere.…”