Long-term variations of vortex activity in the atmosphere

Vortex and wave activity in the troposphere is, on the one hand, a main factor of climatic and weather changes and, on the other, a source of disturbances in higher layers of the atmosphere. Sudden stratospheric warmings related with large-scale anomalies in the stratosphere and mesosphere are the examples of such distributions. The circulation anomalies are caused by long planetary waves that propagate from the troposphere to upper atmospheric layers. Atmospheric circulation inhomogeneities may also play a certain role as an intermediate of heliogeophysical influence on weather and climate. Data from the archive NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis show a rapid increase in the vortex activity starting in the 1970s of the 20 century. The greatest changes occur in the Southern Hemisphere on quasi-decade time scales typical for external actions. Intercorrelations between vortex activities in different hemispheres in some regions in certain months are of sufficiently high level indicating either the global external influence or the presence of active interhemispheric interactions. The increase in vortex activity will certainly influence weather conditions in different areas of the Earth, disturbance of upper atmospheric layers, amount of stratospheric warmings, variations in gas and aerosol content of the upper atmosphere, and optical instability of the atmosphere. The forecast of these changes requires further investigations into regularities of the dynamics of vortex activity in the atmosphere.