A preliminary report of work on aspects of the lower stratosphere

Some examples of recent analyses of Australian high level winds are presented which show the recently discovered Southern Hemisphere sub-tropical zonal wind fluctuation in relation to the well-known tropical oscillation. It is suggested that a difference between Northern and Southern Hemispheres favours a terrestrial cause of the 'quasi-26 month' phenomena. The theory relating a vertical exchange coefficient for momentum to large-scale horizontal eddies and the zonal wind oscillation in the tropics is outlined. Preliminary results suggest very low values for the vertical exchange coefficient immediately above the tropopause, K 3 x 103 cm2 sec-1, but increasing to about at 104 cm2 sec-1 at 25 Km.