Hamilton, K., 1993: A general circulation model simulation of El Niño effects in the extratropical northern hemisphere stratosphere. Geophysical Research Letters, 20(17), 1803-1806.

Abstract: This paper examines the effects of imposed tropical Pacific sea surface temperature perturbations on the December-February mean circulation in the Northern Hemisphere stratosphere as simulated by the GFDL "SKYHI" troposphere-stratosphere-mesosphere GCM. The results are in impressive agreement with observational studies that have shown that, on average, ENSO events are associated with a mixed zonal wave 1 and 2 perturbation to the stratospheric stationary wave field (phased so that the Aleutian High at midstratospheric levels is intensified). This is a useful test of the sensitivity of the model stratospheric climate to changes in tropospheric forcing. These results for the effects of the Pacific SST anomalies are used in a very rough estimate of the impact of year-to-year changes in SST on the interannual variability of the extratropical stratospheric circulation. The results of this calculation suggest that interannual SST variation accounts for only a small fraction of stratospheric variability at high latitudes.