Using the NASA/GEOS reanalysis data for 1980–95, the austral-summer stationary eddies in the tropical–subtropical Southern Hemisphere are examined in two wave regimes: long and short wave (wave 1 and waves 2–6, respectively). The basic structure of the Bolivian high–Nordeste low (BH–NL) system is formed by a short-wave train across South America but modulated by the long-wave regime. The short-wave train exhibits a monsoonlike vertical phase reversal in the midtroposphere and a quarter-wave phase shift relative to the divergent circulation. As inferred from (a) the spatial relationship between the streamfunction and velocity potential and (b) the structure of the divergent circulation, the short-wave train forming the BH–NL system is maintained by South American local heating and remote African heating, while the long-wave regime is maintained by western tropical Pacific heating. The maintenance of the stationary waves in the two wave regimes is further illustrated by a simple diagnostic scheme t... Abstract Using the NASA/GEOS reanalysis data for 1980–95, the austral-summer stationary eddies in the tropical–subtropical Southern Hemisphere are examined in two wave regimes: long and short wave (wave 1 and waves 2–6, respectively). The basic structure of the Bolivian high–Nordeste low (BH–NL) system is formed by a short-wave train across South America but modulated by the long-wave regime. The short-wave train exhibits a monsoonlike vertical phase reversal in the midtroposphere and a quarter-wave phase shift relative to the divergent circulation. As inferred from (a) the spatial relationship between the streamfunction and velocity potential and (b) the structure of the divergent circulation, the short-wave train forming the BH–NL system is maintained by South American local heating and remote African heating, while the long-wave regime is maintained by western tropical Pacific heating. The maintenance of the stationary waves in the two wave regimes is further illustrated by a simple diagnostic scheme t...