Observed Variability in the Large-Scale Static Stability

Abstract

This paper reports on a diagnosis of nine years of temperature data for deducing the spatial and temporal variability in the static stability in four distinct ranges of time scale (seasonal cycle component, interannual component, intraseasonal component, and synoptic component). The climatological mean field varies over a factor of 2 in the extratropics. The subseasonal variability reaches 40% of the corresponding seasonal mean values in the two storm track regions. The 1982/83 winter data are separately analyzed, and systematic differences from the corresponding climatological statistics are found.