Abstract: It is proposed that the vorticity equation is integrated with respect to pressure downward from the upper boundary of atmosphere (p=0 mb) for calculating the vertical motions in the stratospherc.The result shows that this method is much more reliable than integrating upward from the ground for the calculation of vertical motions in the stratosphere.Having reliable vertical motion,the mean non-adiabatic heating in the stratosphere may be calculated from the first law of thermodynamics (with ∂/∂t=0).The data are from the monthly mean pressure and temperature maps for the stratosphere of the northern hemisphere.It is found that for the mid-levels of the stratosphere,the distributions of heat sources and sinks are of large-scale nature as the pressure field for these levels.The ultra-long waves(with wave number of one or two) are Ear more predominant than the waves of other scales.The geographic distributions of heating and cooling in relation to the pressure systems are also discussed.