Residual circulations calculated from satellite data: their relations to observed temperature and ozone distributions

Monthly mean residual circulations were calculated from eight years of satellite data. The diabatic circulation is usually found to give a good approximation to the residual circulation, but this is not always the case. Correlations between the vertical component of the residual circulation and temperature and ozone indicate that yearly variations of temperatures in the tropics are under dynamical control while at higher latitudes they are under radiative control, except during stratospheric warmings. Interannual variations in seasonal mean temperatures are shown to be under dynamical control everywhere. Correlations between the interannual variations in the seasonal means of the vertical component of the residual circulation and ozone mixing ratios are consistent with what would be expected from the ozone variations being due to differences in the ozone transport. -from Authors