Abstract :
The 4-season (12-month) running means of temperatures at five atmospheric levels
(surface, 850–300 mb, 300–100 mb, 100–50 mb, 100–30 mb) and seven climatic zones (60°N–90°N,
30°N–60°N, 10°N–30°N, 10°N–10°S, 10°S–30°S, 30°S–60°S, 60°S–90°S) showed QBO (Quasi-biennial
Oscillation), QTO (Quasi-triennial Oscillation) and larger periodicities. For stratosphere and tropopause,
the temperature variations near the equator and North Pole somewhat resembled the 50 mb low latitude
zonal winds, mainly due to prominent QBO. For troposphere and surface, the temperature variations,
especially those near the equator, resemble those of eastern equatorial Pacific sea-surface temperatures,
mainly due to prominent QTO. In general, the temperature trends in the last 35 years show stratospheric
cooling and tropospheric warming. But the trends are not monotonic. For example, the surface trends
were downward during 1960–70, upward during 1970–82, downward during 1982–85 and upward
thereafter. Models of green-house warming should take these non-uniformities into account.
