ENSO Hindcast Experiments Using a Coupled GCM

A group of seasonal hindcast experiments are conducted using a coupled model known as the Flexible Global Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System Modelgamil1.11 (FGOALS-g1.11) developed at the State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics (LASG).Two steps are included in our ElNi o-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) hindcast experiments.The first step is to integrate the coupled GCM with the Sea Surface Temperature (SST) strongly nudged towards the observation from 1971 to 2006.The second step is to remove the SST nudging term.The authors carried out a one-year hindcast by adopting the initial values from SST nudging experiments from the first step on January 1st,April 1st,July 1st,and October 1st from 1982 to 2005.In the SST nudging experiment,the model can reproduce the observed equatorial thermocline anomalies and zonal wind stress anomalies in the Pacific,which demonstrates that the SST nudging approach can provide realistic atmospheric and oceanic initial conditions for seasonal prediction experiments.The model also demonstrates a high Anomaly Correlation Coefficient (ACC) score for SST in most of the tropical Pacific,Atlantic Ocean,and some Indian Ocean regions with a 3-month lead.Compared with the persistence ACC score,this model shows much higher ACC scores for the Ni o-3.4 index for a 9-month lead.

Ensemble Hindcasts of ENSO Events over the Past 120 Years Using a Large Number of Ensembles

Based on an intermediate coupled model （ICM）, a probabilistic ensemble prediction system （EPS） has been developed. The ensemble Kalman filter （EnKF） data assimilation approach is used for generating the initial ensemble conditions, and a linear, first-order Markov-Chain SST anomaly error model is embedded into the EPS to provide model-error perturbations. In this study, we perform ENSO retrospective forecasts over the 120 year period 1886-2005 using the EPS with 100 ensemble members and with initial conditions obtained by only assimilating historic SST anomaly observations. By examining the retrospective ensemble forecasts and available observations, the verification results show that the skill of the ensemble mean of the EPS is greater than that of a single deterministic forecast using the same ICM, with a distinct improvement of both the correlation and root mean square （RMS） error between the ensemble-mean hindcast and the deterministic scheme over the 12-month prediction period. The RMS error of the ensemble mean is almost 0.2℃ smaller than that of the deterministic forecast at a lead time of 12 months. The probabilistic skill of the EPS is also high with the predicted ensemble following the SST observations well, and the areas under the relative operating characteristic （ROC） curves for three different ENSO states （warm events, cold events, and neutral events） are all above 0.55 out to 12 months lead time. However, both deterministic and probabilistic prediction skills of the EPS show an interdecadal variation. For the deterministic skill, there is high skill in the late 19th century and in the middle-late 20th century （which includes some artificial skill due to the model training period）, and low skill during the period from 1906 to 1961. For probabilistic skill, for the three different ENSO states, there is still a similar interdecadal variation of ENSO probabilistic predictability during the period 1886~2005. There is high skill in the late 19th century from 1886 to 1905, and a decline to a minimum of skill around 1910-50s, beyond which skill rebounds and increases with time until the 2000s.

基于CESM气候模式的ENSO后报试验

基于美国国家大气研究中心(NCAR)开发的通用地球系统模式(CESM),本文设计了nudging次表层海温的同化方案,进行了后报实验。对1982-2011年后报结果的分析表明,通过nudging同化,模式对ENSO现象有一定的模拟和预报能力,对赤道太平洋SST、纬向风、降水等海洋、大气要素等的后报结果与GODAS和NCEP再分析资料较接近,可以较好地重现历次厄尔尼诺和拉尼娜事件中异常东传的过程,超前1、3、6个月时,模式预报的Nio3指数与CPC指数的相关性分别达到0.88、0.81、0.70。但模式同时也表现出一定的春季预报障碍,秋季起报的后报效果最好,春季最差。对1982/1983和1997/1999两个厄尔尼诺事件的分析表明,模式后报的纬向风、热通量、风应力等大气变量的响应较实际滞后,而海洋的变化与实际情况相似,这与我们的同化方案设置有关,即模式只同化了次表层海温,进而强迫大气的响应,从而导致大气的变化较滞后。

Improved ENSO Forecasts by Assimilating Sea Surface Temperature Observations into an Intermediate Coupled Model

A simple method for initializing intermediate coupled models （ICMs） using only sea surface temperature （SST） anomaly data is comprehensively tested in two sets of hindcasts with a new ICM. In the initialization scheme, both the magnitude of the nudging parameter and the duration of the assimilation are considered, and initial conditions for both atmosphere and ocean are generated by running the coupled model with SST anomalies nudged to the observations. A comparison with the observations indicates that the scheme can generate realistic thermal fields and surface dynamic fields in the equatorial Pacific through hindcast experiments. An ideal experiment is performed to get the optimal nudging parameters which include the nudging intensity and nudging time length. Twelve-month-long hindcast experiments are performed with the model over the period 1984-2003 and the period 1997-2003. Compared with the original prediction results, the model prediction skills are significantly improved by the nudging method especially beyond a 6-month lead time during the two different periods. Potential problems and further improvements are discussed regarding the new coupled assimilation system.

一个ENSO集合数值预测系统的历史后报试验

对一个热带太平洋海气耦合ENSO集合数值预测系统进行历史后报检验。该系统模式为一个中等复杂程度的耦合模式,其中大气部分为统计模式,海洋部分为动力模式。扰动初始场通过集合卡尔曼滤波同化获得,并引入了模式误差,由一阶马尔科夫随机微分方程生成。集合预报样本数为100个。系统从1993—2011年共19 a的每个月都开始起报,每个预报样本都分别向后预报12个月。给出了El Nino指数时间序列预报结果检验、个例预报检验,以及El Nino指数和热带太平洋SSTA的相关系数和均方根误差检验,计算了模式的平均系统误差,并分析了其不同季节的预报性能。结果表明,系统具有较强的ENSO预测能力,能够提前6~12个月给出有参考价值的预报。

DEMETER耦合气候模式对西北太平洋纬向风垂直切变的预测能力研究

文章评估耦合气候模式预测台风季节(6～10月)西北太平洋纬向风垂直切变幅度(MWS)的年际变化能力,分析显示欧洲多模式集合气候预测系统计划(DEMETER)中耦合模式数据基本具有回报MWS基本空间分布特征的能力,而回报MWS空间能力的不足区域与模式回报MWS与西北太平洋年台风数(WNPTF)的虚假显著相关区域相一致。过程中还显示西北太平洋低纬海区MWS与WNPTF正(负)相关,而强El Ni o年时该海区MWS对应正(负)异常,强La Ni a年时则相反;这意味着在台风季节,强El Ni o年的WNPTF容易比强La Ni a年的WNPTF偏多。在考察MWS的时间变异特征时,将MWS区域平均时间序列(MWS_T)和MWS的EOF第一特征向量对应的时间系数(MWS_PC1)定义为纬向风垂直切变指数,讨论指数与WNPTF、强ENSO间的关系。分析显示,MWS_T(MWS_PC1)分别与Ni o3.4指数、WNPTF显著相关,模式集合较好地再现了这种特征;但对强ENSO信号的响应,两个指数在ERA-40数据中是相反的,而在模式集合中却是一致的。