Time-meanglobalgeneralcirculationdataareemployedtoanalyzethetemporalandspatialvariationsofthemeridionalgradientofzonalmeanpotentialvorticity,thecriticalwavenumbern_sforhorizontalwave-propagation,andthecriticalwavenumberK_cforverticalwave-propagation.Therebythekinematiccharac-teristicsinthepropagationofatmosphericstationarywavesandtheirannualvariationsarestudied.Resultsshowthatinthetropospheren_sandK_cusuallydecreasewiththeincreaseofeitherlatitudeoraltitude.Synopticandnear-resonantRossbywavescouldbetrappedduringtheirupwardandmeridionalpropagations.Thesecharacteristicspossessprominentannualvariations,especiallyintheNorthernHemisphere.Itisfoundthatthespatialandtemporalvariationsofthesekinematiccharacteristicsareingoodagreementwiththoseoftheatmosphericwavepatterns.
