Associations between the 11-year solar cycle,the QBO and the atmosphere. Part I: the troposphere and stratosphere in the northern hemisphere in winter

Linear correlations between the three solar cycles in the period 1956–1987 and high-latitude stratospheric temperatures and geopotential heights show no associations. However, when the data are stratified according to the east or west phase of the quasi-biennial-oscillation (QBO) in the equatorial stratosphere significant correlations result: when the QBO was in its west phase the polar data were positively correlated with the solar cycle while those in middle and low latitudes were negatively correlated. The converse holds for the east phase of the QBO. Marked relationships existed throughout the troposphere too.No major mid-winter warming occurred in the west phase of the QBO during a minimum in the three solar cycles. In the east phase major warmings tended to take place in the minima of the cycle. Thus the signal of the quasi-biennial-oscillation in the extratropical stratosphere tends to be strengthened in solar minima, and weakened in solar maxima.