This study investigates the sensitivity of the dynamics of the equatorial ocean to the parameterization of vertical mixing and focuses on the circulation in the meridionalvertical plane driven by easterly winds: the Yoshida jet. A new high resolution, numerical model of a zonally independent, equatorial channel helps explore this question and includes three parameterizations, all of which incre...

The high-resolution Doppler imager (HRDI) instrument on board the upper atmosphere research satellite measures global winds in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere on a day-to-day basis. The horizontal coverage of the HRDI data is excellent and provides a unique opportunity to study global-scale dynamic phenomena; however, the local time resolution and coverage are limited because of the natur...

Two ocean general circulation models are used to test the ability of geostrophic velocity measurement systems to observe the meridional overturning circulation (MOC) and meridional heat transport (MHT) in the South Atlantic. Model sampling experiments are conducted at five latitudes (between 158 and 34.58S) spanning the range of extratropical current regimes in the South Atlantic. Two methods o...

The wintertime ozone buildup over the Northern Hemisphere (NH) midlatitudes and its connection with the mean meridional circulation in the stratosphere are examined statistically on a monthly basis from October to March (1980–2002). The ozone buildup begins locally in October with positive total ozone tendencies over the North Pacific, which spread eastward and westward in November and finally ...

A meridional-plane, hemispherical ocean model is developed to study interdecadal variability of the thermohaline circulation (THC). The model differs from previous formulations of zonally averaged ocean models by using a prognostic equation to calculate the meridional velocity. This allows the incorporation of an adjustment timescale comparable to the advective timescale of the meridional overt...

Meridional heat transport (MHT) in the Southern Ocean (SO) and its components are analyzed with two eddy-permitting climate models. The two models present a consistent picture of the MHT response to projected twenty-first-century changes in SO winds. In agreement with a recent analysis based on an ocean data synthesis product, much of the MHT in the SO is found to be due to the time-mean fields...

The dynamics of Lagrangian particles and tracers in the vicinity of a baroclinically unstable zonal jet are investigated in a simple 2-layer model with an initially quiescent lower layer. Presence of a wave induces a particle drift which is dominated by a Stokes drift rather then the mean Eulerian velocity due to the wave. Stable and unstable waves both have zonal Stokes drift with a similar me...

Lagrangian integral scales, diffusivities, dispersion and velocity spectra are calculated using surface drifter trajectories in the central North Pacific. The meridional integral time scale is relatively homogeneous throughout the region; a large increase in the zonal time and length scales south of Hawaii is attributed to meanders in the North Equatorial Current. Except in this current, the in...

In the presence of rotation-induced mixing, element diffusion still occurs in stellar radiative zones, although at a slower rate than in the case of a complete stability of the stellar gas. As a consequence, helium settling leads to vertical μ-gradients which, due to the meridional circulation, turn into horizontal fluctuations. Up to now, the feed-back effect of this process on the rotation-in...