A study has been made of the evolution of the zonal-mean zonal wind and temperature in a multiyear integration of the 40-level, 3° × 3.6° resolution “SKYHI” general circulation model (GCM) that has been developed at GFDL. In the tropical upper stratosphere the mean wind variation is dominated by a strong semiannual oscillation (SAO). The peak SAO amplitude in the model is almost 25 m s−1 and occurs near the 1 mb level. The phase of the SAO near the stratopause is such that maximum westerlies occur shortly after the equinoxes. These features are in good agreement with the available observations. In addition the meridional width of the stratopause SAO in the GCM compares well with observations. A diagnostic analysis of the zonal-mean momentum balance near the tropical stratopause was performed using the detailed fields archived during the GCM integration. It appears that the easterly accelerations in the model SAO are provided by a combination of (i) divergence of the meridional component of the El...
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Hamilton et al. (1988) studied this question.