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.