Evidence for the Five-Day Wave in the Upper Stratosphere

Abstract

A westward propagating temperature wave of wavenumber 1 observed in the Nimbus 5 Selective Chopper Radiometer measurements has been tentatively identified as the 5-day global Rossby mode discussed by Grisler and Dickinson (1976). Its amplitude is typically 0.5 K, and its period varies within the range 4.5 to 6.2 days.