Observations of a Reversal in Long-Term Average Vertical Velocities near the Jet Stream Wind Maximum

Abstract

Analysis of vertical velocity measurements made for four days each month over the period from 1986 to 1988 by the MU radar in Japan shows a reversal in direction near the peak in the zonal wind profile during the winter months. More specifically, the reversal is noted during periods when the peak horizontal wind speeds 60 m s⁻¹. The vertical velocities associated with the circulation have magnitudes of 10-20 cm s⁻¹, and the depth of the circulation is of the order of several kilometers. In 6 out of 14 cases when the feature was observed, the direction of the vertical circulation, although not the magnitude, could be explained by adiabatic ascent or subsidence along the average potential temperature surface slopes for the observation intervals. The direction of the circulation was such that it would tend to produce cooling and heating for the ascent and subsidence, respectively, that would tend to strengthen or at least maintain the jet. In the remaining eight cases, the direction of the vertical circulation could not be explained by the slope of the time-averaged potential temperature surfaces alone since the combination of the horizontal winds and the slopes of the isentropic surfaces would have led to a prediction of a circulation directly opposed to that observed. Thus, either the local tendency in the time-averaged potential temperature must have been significant, structure with scales smaller than the rawinsonde station separation must have been present, or diabatic effects may have played a role in the dynamics of the vertical velocity feature.