Abstract
We have analyzed data from the Limb Infrared Monitor of the Stratosphere (LIMS) instrument on board the Nimbus 7 to investigate equatorial Kelvin waves and dynamically wave-induced variations in the tracer fields such as ozone and water vapor in the lower stratosphere. Temperature anomalies of zonal wavenumber one, progressing eastward and having a period of 12-15 days, are clearly observed below 7hPa for April and May 1979. Vertical phase structure with a wavelength of about 15km progresses downward in the zonal flow being about- 16ms-1 averaged from 50 to 10hPa. At the same time, disturbances in the ozone field due to the Kelvin waves are observed: the amplitude is maximum at 30hPa where vertical gradient of zonal mean ozone is largest and the longitudinal structure is in-phase with that of temperature. These features are in good agreement with linear Kelvin wave theory. In the water vapor field, at 50hPa, we have also detected wavenumber one eastward progressing waves being in-phase with temperature though the spatial structure is not as clear as in the ozone field.
