Summary
We compare thermal tropopause climatology in Arctic and Antarctic by NCEP–NCAR Reanalysis-1 data over the 1979–2008 period. The role of the troposphere and stratosphere in tropopause anomaly distribution is examined using corresponding temperature and geopotential height field. The tropopause anomalies are in closer relationship with anomalies in troposphere in Arctic and in stratosphere in Antarctic. By the 30-year climatology, the strongest relation troposphere – tropopause is observed over Northern Canada and stratosphere – tropopause influence is most significant over West Antarctic. The comparison result shows that seasonal changes in occurrence of the polar tropopause anomalies contribute to interhemispheric asymmetry in the zonal mean tropopause. It has been demonstrated by the latitudinal course of the equatorial boundary of the polar tropopause height taken at a 10-km level.