Mean zonal wind and temperature structure during the PMP-1 winter periods

Since Autumn of 1978, the National Meteorological Center of the United States National Weather Service has been archiving in a single, unique data set, global, daily synoptic analyses and computer gridded fields of geopotential height and temperature at 18 pressure levels from 1000 to 0.4 mb. The paper discusses the fields, with special emphasis on data and analysis procedures used for the stratospheric fields, along with estimates of uncertainties. Results are presented for the mean zonal wind and temperature patterns for each January of the four PMP-1 winters 1978/79 to 1981/82. The Preparatory MAP (Middle Atmosphere Program) Project for coordinated study of the behavior of the middle atmosphere is called PMP-1.