The QBO effect on the solar signal in the global stratosphere in the winter of the Northern Hemisphere

This paper contains correlations between the NCEP/NCAR global stratospheric data below 10 hPa and the 11-year solar cycle. In the north summer the cor relations between the stratospheric geopotential heights and the 11-year so lar cycle are strong and positive on the Northern Hemisphere and as far sou th as 30 degrees S, whereas they are weak in the north winter all over the globe. If the global stratospheric heights and temperatures in the north wi nter are stratified according to the phase of the QBO in the lower stratosp here, their correlations with the solar cycle are large and positive in the Arctic in the west years of the QBO but insignificantly small over the res t of the earth, as far as the South Pole. In the east years, however, the a rctic correlations with the solar cycle are negative, but to the south they are positive and strong in the tropical and temperate regions of both hemi spheres, similar to the correlations with the full series of stratospheric data in the other seasons. The influence of the solar cycle in the Arctic i s stronger in the latter half of the winter. The global difference, in the northern winter, in the sign and strength of the correlations between the s tratospheric heights and temperatures and the solar cycle in east and west years of the QBO can be ascribed to the fact that the dominant stratospheri c teleconnection and the solar influence work in the same direction in the east years, but oppose each other in the west years. (C) 2000 Elsevier Scie nce Ltd. All rights reserved.