Middle atmosphere dynamics

This review attempts to summarize briefly the efforts of scientists in the United States to understand the large‐scale dynamics and climatology of the middle atmosphere, which have appeared in the reviewed literature between January 1979 and September 1982. Some significant contributions have no doubt been overlooked; and for this I must ask the pardon of both the reader and the omitted author. The body of the review is divided into six sections and followed by a final section suggesting a few of the areas where progress may be expected in the future. The six major subject headings are: (1) New phenomena; (2) Large‐scale waves and instabilities; (3) Equatorial wave, mean‐flow interaction–long‐period oscillations; (4) Extratropical wave, mean‐flow interaction–Sudden warmings; (5) Climatology and general circulation of the middle atmosphere; and (6) Transport of trace chemicals. The division into sections is of course rather arbitrary. Some papers fit well in more than one section, and others do not fit neatly into any of the subheadings chosen.