Interhemispheric Coupling in AIM/CIPS in Dec 2013/Jan 2014: A Connection to Cold Air Outbreaks?

Laura Angelina Holt1, Cora E Randall2,3, V Lynn Harvey4, Jeff France2, Joshua Pettit3,4, Jerry D Lumpe5, James M Russell III6 and Scott Martin Bailey7, (1)NorthWest Research Associates, Boulder, United States, (2)Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, Boulder, CO, United States, (3)University of Colorado, Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, Boulder, CO, United States, (4)Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, Boulder, United States, (5)Computational Physics, Inc., Boulder, CO, United States, (6)Hampton University, Department of Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Hampton, VA, United States, (7)VA Tech, Bradley Department of Electrical Engineering, Blacksburg, VA, United States
Abstract:
We use data from the Cloud Imaging and Particle Size (CIPS) instrument on the Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) satellite to investigate teleconnections between polar mesospheric clouds (PMCs) in the Southern Hemisphere summer mesosphere in December 2013 and January 2014 and the Northern Hemisphere (NH) stratosphere and troposphere. Our results show that PMC frequency highly correlates with planetary wave activity in the NH stratosphere as well as surface temperatures in central and eastern states in the US. This is significant because the US experienced two cold air outbreaks during the past winter and the observed correlation suggests that PMC teleconnections may even extend to the surface of the opposite hemisphere.
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