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We examine the relationships between the observed long‐term trends of the zonal wind in the mesopause regions at King Sejong Station (KSS), Antarctica, and wind trends in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) middle atmosphere using the 15‐year data set from KSS meteor radar, Aura MLS and MERRA‐2. During July, significant positive trends of zonal winds appear above z = 90 km and near the stratopause over the KSS, while negative trends exist between the two layers. In the SH winter, the observed mesopause winds correlate positively (negatively) with stratospheric (mesospheric) winds in the polar region, while they exhibit opposite correlations with the low‐latitude winds. The positive mesopause trends of zonal winds near KSS are connected, through the thermal wind relationship, to cooling (warming) trends induced by the upward (downward) trends of residual circulation over the high‐latitude mesosphere and low‐latitude stratosphere (high‐latitude stratosphere), which shows vertical coupling throughout the SH winter middle atmosphere. Plain Language Summary Based on 15‐year (2007–2021) observations of horizontal winds obtained at mesopause altitudes of 80–100 km by a meteor radar at King Sejong Station (KSS; 62.22°S, 58.78°W), Antarctica, we find long‐term trends of eastward winds above 90 km in July. To investigate the relationship between the observed long‐term trends of the mesopause wind over the Southern Hemisphere (SH) polar region and winds in the SH middle atmosphere, we analyze Aura MLS satellite data and MERRA‐2 reanalysis data. In the SH winter, the mesopause zonal winds over polar regions are positively (negatively) correlated with zonal winds in the polar stratosphere (polar mesosphere), while the opposite correlations are found between the polar mesopause and low latitudes. We demonstrate that the trends of temperature induced by adiabatic warming or cooling associated with meridional circulation in the stratosphere and mesosphere are connected to the observed mesopause wind trends in the polar region (KSS), which accounts for the vertical coupling between the mesopause region and stratosphere across the mesosphere. Key Points Trends of zonal winds in the Southern Hemisphere mesopause and stratosphere are investigated using meteor radar and satellite observations Significant correlations are found between the mesopause wind at high latitudes and the winds in the middle atmosphere The observed wind trends in austral winter are coupled vertically between the mesopause region and stratosphere across the mesosphere

We investigate the characteristics of long‐lasting summertime heavy precipitation events (HPEs) over South Korea associated with quasi‐stationary atmospheric rivers (QSARs) based on the 29‐year (1996–2024) daily column water vapor (CWV) from the ERA5 reanalysis data and the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) precipitation data. Through a case study and composite analysis, we found that the QSARs in the Pacific region gradually moved westward toward Korea, resulting in the stagnation of large amounts of CWV and precipitation near Korea. The dynamical mechanisms of the HPEs associated with the QSARs are investigated based on the finite‐amplitude local wave activity (LWA) calculated using the ERA5 reanalysis data. Downstream amplification of the LWA, which is associated with the westward movement of the Pacific QSAR, occurred approximately 1 week before HPEs over South Korea. These results suggest that LWA offers the potential to be used in forecasting long‐duration HPEs in South Korea in summer.

We analyze the response of mean winds and semidiurnal tides (SDTs) in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT; ∼70–110 km altitude) to the May 2024 geomagnetic super storm, based on meteor radar (MR) observations from King Sejong Station (KSS; geographic: 62.22°S, 58.78°W; geomagnetic: 53.27°S, 10.88°E) in the Antarctic Peninsula. During the recovery phase of the storm, we observe significant intensifications in both westward and equatorward winds. The SDT amplitude exhibits a marked reduction immediately following the main phase, falling below the 1st percentile of May‐time values derived from 18 years (2007–2024) of long‐term MR observations at KSS. In addition, an enhancement of short‐period oscillations with 3–8 hr periods is accompanied by the decrease in SDT amplitude. As possible generation mechanisms for these oscillations, we discuss the effect of Joule heating with similar periodicities and nonlinear wave interactions during the storm.

The role of gravity waves (GWs) in a sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) event that occurred in January 2009 (SSW09) is investigated using the MERRA-2 dataset. Nearly 2 weeks prior to the central date (lag = 0), at which the zonal-mean zonal wind at 10 hPa and 60°N first becomes negative, westward GW drag (GWD) is significantly enhanced in the lower mesosphere and stratosphere. At 5 days before lag = 0, planetary waves (PWs) of zonal wavenumber 2 (ZWN-2) in the stratosphere are enhanced, while PWs of ZWN-1 are weakened, which are evident from the amplitudes of the PWs and their Eliassen–Palm flux divergence (EPD). To examine the relationship between PWs and GWs, a nonconservative GWD (NCGWD) source term of the linearized quasigeostrophic potential vorticity equation is considered. A ZWN-2 pattern of the NCGWD forcing is developed around z = 55–60 km with a secondary peak around z = 40 km just before the PWs of ZWN-2 in the stratosphere began to enhance. A significant positive correlation between the NCGWD forcing in the upper stratosphere and lower mesosphere (USLM; 0.3–0.1 hPa in the present data) and the PWs of ZWN-2 in the stratosphere (5–1 hPa) exists. This result demonstrates that the amplification of the PWs of ZWN-2 in the stratosphere before the onset of SSW09 is likely related to the generation of PWs by GWD in the USLM, which is revealed by the enhanced downward-propagating PWs of ZWN-2 into the stratosphere from above.

Effects of realistic propagation of gravity waves (GWs) on distribution of GW pseudomomentum fluxes are explored using a global ray-tracing model for the 2009 sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) event. Four-dimensional (4D; x–z and t) and two-dimensional (2D; z and t) results are compared for various parameterized pseudomomentum fluxes. In ray-tracing equations, refraction due to horizontal wind shear and curvature effects are found important and comparable to one another in magnitude. In the 4D, westward pseudomomentum fluxes are enhanced in the upper troposphere and northern stratosphere due to refraction and curvature effects around fluctuating jet flows. In the northern polar upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere, eastward pseudomomentum fluxes are increased in the 4D. GWs are found to propagate more to the upper atmosphere in the 4D, since horizontal propagation and change in wave numbers due to refraction and curvature effects can make it more possible that GWs elude critical level filtering and saturation in the lower atmosphere. GW focusing effects occur around jet cores, and ray-tube effects appear where the polar stratospheric jets vary substantially in space and time. Enhancement of the structure of zonal wave number 2 in pseudomomentum fluxes in the middle stratosphere begins from the early stage of the SSW evolution. An increase in pseudomomentum fluxes in the upper atmosphere is present even after the onset in the 4D. Significantly enhanced pseudomomentum fluxes, when the polar vortex is disturbed, are related to GWs with small intrinsic group velocity (wave capture), and they would change nonlocally nearby large-scale vortex structures without substantially changing local mean flows.

Contributions of convective gravity waves (CGWs) and orographic gravity waves (OGWs) to the Brewer–Dobson circulation (BDC) are examined and compared to those from resolved waves. OGW drag (OGWD) is provided by NCEP Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR), while CGW drag (CGWD) is obtained from an offline calculation of a physically based CGW parameterization with convective heating and background data provided by CFSR. CGWD contributes to the shallow branch of the BDC regardless of the season, while OGWD contributes to both the shallow and deep branches except for the summertime, when OGWs hardly propagate into the stratosphere. At 70 hPa, the annual-mean tropical upward mass fluxes from Eliassen–Palm flux divergence (EPD), OGWD, and CGWD are 68%, 7%, and 4% of the total mass flux, respectively. The tropical upward mass flux at 70 hPa shows an increasing trend during the time period from 1979 to 1998, with 28%, 18%, and 6% of the trend driven by EPD, OGWD, and CGWD, respectively. The width of the turnaround latitudes tends to narrow for the streamfunctions induced by OGWD and CGWD but tends to widen for that induced by EPD. The contributions of GWD from MERRA (MERRA-2) to the climatology and long-term trend of the BDC are 7% (7%) and 13% (4%), respectively, somewhat smaller than the contributions of CGWD plus OGWD, which are estimated from CFSR to be 12% and 20%, respectively.

Seasonal variation in westward-propagating quasi-10 d waves (Q10DWs) in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere of the Southern Hemisphere (SH) high-latitude regions is investigated using meteor radar (MR) observations for the period of 2012–2016 and using the Specified Dynamics (SD) version of the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM). The phase difference in meridional winds measured by two MRs located in Antarctica gives observational estimates of the amplitude and phase of the Q10DW with zonal wavenumber 1 (W1). The amplitude of the observed Q10DW-W1 is large around equinoxes. In order to elucidate the variations in the observed Q10DW-W1 and its possible amplification mechanism, we carry out two SD-WACCM experiments nudged towards the MERRA-2 reanalysis from the surface up to ∼ 60 km (EXP60) and ∼ 75 km (EXP75). Results of the EXP75 indicate that the observed Q10DW-W1 can be amplified around regions of barotropic and/or baroclinic instability in the middle mesosphere around 60–70° S. In the EXP60 experiment, it was also found that the Q10DW-W1 is amplified around the regions of instability, but the amplitude is too large compared to MR observations. The large-scale instability in the EXP60 in the SH summer mesosphere is stronger than that in the EXP75 and Microwave Limb Sounder observations. The larger instability in the EXP60 is related to the large meridional and vertical variations in polar mesospheric zonal winds in association with gravity wave parameterization (GWP). Given uncertainties inherent in GWP, these results can suggest that it is possible for models to spuriously generate traveling planetary waves such as the Q10DW, especially in summer, due to excessively strong large-scale instability in the SH high-latitude mesosphere.