Evaluation of Reanalysis Products with in situ GPS Sounding Observations in the Eastern Himalayas

Previous studies have shown that reanalysis products contain large uncertainties in the Tibetan Plateau(TP),and the biases are location dependent.Therefore,these products must be evaluated with in situ observations prior to their applications.In this study,the authors compare the results of several reanalysis projects with independent sounding observations recorded in the Yarlung Tsangpo River valley in the Eastern Himalayas in June 2010.These reanalysis projects include Climate Forecast System Reanalysis(CFSR),Interim European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis(ERA- Interim),Japanese 25-year Reanalysis(JRA-25),Modern Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications(MERRA),National Center for Environmental Prediction and the Department of Energy Reanalysis 2(NCEP-R2),and NCEP Final Analysis(FNL).Statistical quantities such as average,mean bias(MB),root-mean-square difference(RMSD),and correlation coefficient(R) of temperature,specific humidity,u-wind,and v-wind between 100 hPa and 650 hPa were calculated.The authors determined that the performance of each product differed with variables at different levels.The average profiles of the variables were captured by the reanalysis products,with large biases appearing at lower levels.ERA-Interim and NCEP-R2 showed the best and worst performances,respectively,for all variables.This study suggests that users should select appropriate reanalysis products according to their specific purposes for TP research.

The Performance of Downward Shortwave Radiation Products from Satellite and Reanalysis over the Transect of Zhongshan Station to Dome A, East Antarctica

The downward shortwave radiation(DSR) is an important part of the Earth's energy balance, driving Earth's system's energy, water, and carbon cycles. Due to the harsh Antarctic environment, the accuracy of DSR derived from satellite and reanalysis has not been systematically evaluated over the transect of Zhongshan station to Dome A, East Antarctica.Therefore, this study aims to evaluate DSR reanalysis products(ERA5-Land, ERA5, MERRA-2) and satellite products(CERES and ICDR) in this area. The results indicate that DSR exhibits obvious monthly and seasonal variations, with higher values in summer than in winter. The ERA5-Land(ICDR) DSR product demonstrated the highest(lowest) accuracy,as evidenced by a correlation coefficient of 0.988(0.918), a root-mean-square error of 23.919(69.383) W m^(–2), a mean bias of –1.667(–28.223) W m^(–2) and a mean absolute error of 13.37(58.99) W m^(–2). The RMSE values for the ERA5-Land reanalysis product at seven stations, namely Zhongshan, Panda 100, Panda 300, Panda 400, Taishan, Panda 1100, and Kunlun, were 30.938, 29.447, 34.507, 29.110, 20.339, 17.267, and 14.700 W m^(-2), respectively;with corresponding bias values of 9.887, –12.159, –19.181, –15.519, –8.118, 6.297, and 3.482 W m^(–2). Regarding seasonality, ERA5-Land, ERA5,and MERRA-2 reanalysis products demonstrate higher accuracies during spring and summer, while ICDR products are least accurate in autumn. Cloud cover, water vapor, total ozone, and severe weather are the main factors affecting DSR. The error of DSR products is greatest in coastal areas(particularly at the Zhongshan station) and decreases towards the inland areas of Antarctica.

Assessment of intraseasonal variabilities in China Ocean Reanalysis(CORA)

A regional reanalysis product-China Ocean Reanalysis（CORA）-has been developed for the China＇s seas and the adjacent areas. In this study, the intraseasonal variabilities（ISVs） in CORA are assessed by comparing with observations and two other reanalysis products（ECCO2 and SODA）. CORA shows a better performance in capturing the intraseasonal sea surface temperatures（SSTs） and the intraseasonal sea surface heights（SSHs） than ECCO2 and SODA do, probably due to its high resolution, stronger response to the intraseasonal forcing in the atmosphere（especially the Madden-Julian Oscillation）, and more available regional data for assimilation. But at the subsurface, the ISVs in CORA are likely to be weaker than reality, which is probably attributed to rare observational data for assimilation and weak diapycnal eddy diffusivity in the CORA model. According to the comparison results, CORA is a good choice for the study related to variabilities at the surface, but cares have to be taken for the study focusing on the subsurface processes.

Observing the air-sea turbulent heat flux on the trajectory of tropical storm Danas

Tropical cyclones constitute a major risk for coastal communities.To assess their damage potential,accurate predictions of their intensification are needed,which requires a detailed understanding of the evolution of turbulent heat flux(THF).By combining multiple buoy observations along the south north storm track,we investigated the THF anomalies associated with tropical storm Danas(2019)in the East China Sea(ECS)during its complete life cycle from the intensification stage to the mature stage and finally to its dissipation on land.The storm passage is characterized by strong winds of 10-20 m/s and a sea level pressure below 1000 hPa,resulting in a substantial enhancement of THF.Latent heat(LH)fluxes are most strongly affected by wind speed,with a gradually increasing contribution of humidity along the trajectory.The relative contributions of wind speed and temperature anomalies to sensible heat(SH)depend on the stability of the boundary layer.Under stable conditions,SH variations are driven by wind speed,while under near-neutral conditions,SH variations are driven by temperature.A comparison of the observed THF and associated variables with outputs from the ERA 5 and MERRA 2 reanalysis products reveals that the reanalysis products can reproduce the basic evolution and composition of the observed THF.However,under extreme weather conditions,temperature and humidity variations are poorly captured by ERA 5 and MERRA 2,leading to large LH and SH errors.The differences in the observed and reproduced LH and SH during the passage of Danas amount to 26.1 and 6.6 W/m^(2) for ERA 5,respectively,and to 39.4 and 12.5 W/m^(2) for MERRA 2,respectively.These results demonstrate the need to improve the representation of tropical cyclones in reanalysis products to better predict their intensification process and reduce their damage.

Evaluation and intercomparison of multiple satellite-derived and reanalysis downward shortwave radiation products in China

Downward shortwave radiation(DSR)is a critical variable in energy balance driving Earth’s surface processes.Satellite-derived and reanalysis DSR products have been developed and continuously improved during the last decades.However,as those products have different temporal resolutions,their performances in different time scales have not been well-documented,particularly in China.This study intended to evaluate several DSR products across multiple time scales(i.e.instantaneous,1-hourly,daily,and monthly average)and ecosystems in China.Six DSR products,including GLASS,BESS,CLARA-A2,MCD18A1,ERA5 and MERRA-2,were evaluated against ground measurements at Chinese Ecosystem Research Network(CERN)and integrated land-atmosphere interaction observation(TPDC)sites from 2009 to 2012.The instantaneous DSR of MCD18 showed a root mean square error(RMSE)of 146.02 W/m^(2).The hourly RMSE of ERA5(155.52 W/m^(2))was largely smaller than MERRA-2(188.53 W/m^(2)).On the daily and monthly scale,BESS had the most optimized accuracy among the six products(RMSE of 36.82 W/m^(2)).For the satellite-derived DSR products,the monthly accuracy at CERN can meet the threshold accuracy requirement set by World Meteorological Organization(WMO)for Global Numerical Weather Prediction(20 W/m^(2)).

Performances of six reanalysis profile products in the atmospheric correction of passive microwave data for estimating land surface temperature under cloudy-sky conditions

Passive microwave(PMW)observations from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 provide a way to obtain cloudy land surface temperatures(LSTs).However,atmospheric corrections must be performed on cloudy LSTs due to the cloud effect at higher frequencies.In this paper,six reanalyzed profiles,including the fifth-generation European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis(ERA5),Interim Reanalysis(ERA-Interim),Japanese 55-year Reanalysis Data(JRA-55),Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Application V2(MERRA2),National Centers for Environmental Prediction(NCEP)/Final Operational Global Analysis(FNL),and NCEP/Global Forecasting System(GFS),were compared with 2829 radiosonde profiles derived from the University of Wyoming.Then,their performances in correcting the atmospheric effects of LSTs at cloudy skies were investigated.Results showed that the ERA5 had the best accuracy in revealing the actual atmospheric conditions,and the RMSEs of transmittance,downward radiance,and upward radiance were about 0.007,2.01,and 1.89 K,respectively.The RMSEs between the estimated LSTs and referenced LSTs varied from 3.15 K of the ERA5 to 6.12 K of the NCEP/FNL,indicating the ERA5 can be recommended for the atmospheric correction of PMW-based LST retrievals.Additionally,transmittance accuracy plays an essential role in impacting the LST retrievals in any weather.

The Asian Subtropical Westerly Jet Stream in CRA-40, ERA5, and CFSR Reanalysis Data:Comparative Assessment

The Asian subtropical westerly jet(AWJ) exerts crucial influences on Eurasian continent weather and climate. This paper analyzes the advantages and limitations of CRA-40, which is China's first generation 40-yr(1979–2018) global atmosphere and land reanalysis product, in describing the characteristics of AWJ, compared with the ECMWF Reanalysis version 5(ERA5) and NCEP Climate Forecast System Reanalysis(CFSR). The results show a close agreement across the three reanalyses on the whole.(1) In terms of climatology, overall differences of 200-h Pa zonal wind across the three reanalyses are within ± 0.5 m s^(-1)(i.e., ± 2%). Large differences with maxima of ± 2 m s^(-1)(±5%) appear over the Iranian Plateau and south of the Tibetan Plateau in the mid–upper troposphere in winter.(2) For seasonal cycle, the position and intensity of the AWJ centers in the three reanalyses are highly consistent, with correlation coefficient over 0.98. But there are some discrepancies in the zonal shift of the western AWJ center during the transition season.(3) On the interannual timescale, intensity of all AWJ centers varies consistently among the three reanalyses, while larger differences appear in their meridional displacement, especially in the eastern AWJ center.(4)For long-term variations, the three reanalyses all present a significant northward movement of the westerly jet axis in winter, and a southward displacement over central Asia(40°–80°E) and a northward migration over East Asia(80°–110°E) in summer. Thus, this study has provided confidence that CRA-40 has comparable performance with ERA5 and CFSR in depicting the characteristics of AWJ.

Integration, Quality Assurance, and Usage of Global Aircraft Observations in CRA

This paper presents a detailed description of integration, quality assurance procedure, and usage of global aircraft observations for China's first generation global atmospheric reanalysis(CRA) product(1979–2018). An integration method named "classified integration" is developed. Aircraft observations from nine different sources are integrated into the Integrated Global Meteorological Observation Archive from Aircraft(IGMOAA), a new dataset from the National Meteorological Information Center(NMIC) of the China Meteorological Administration(CMA). IGMOAA consists of global aircraft temperature, wind, and humidity data from the surface to 100 h Pa, extending from 1973 to the present. Compared with observations assimilated in the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis(CFSR) of NCEP,the observation number of IGMOAA increased by 12.9% between 2010 and 2014, mainly as a result of adding more Chinese Aircraft Meteorological Data Relay(AMDAR) data. Complex quality control procedures for aircraft observations of NCEP are applied to detect data errors. Observations are compared with ERA-Interim reanalysis from 1979 to 2018 to investigate data quality of different types and aircraft, and subsequently to develop the blacklists for CRA. IGMOAA data have been assimilated in CRA in 2018 and are real-time updated at the CMA Data-as-a-Service(CMADaa S) platform. For CRA, the fits to observations improve over time. From 1994 to 2018, root-meansquare error(RMSE) of observations relative to CRA background decreases from 1.8 to 1.0℃ for temperature above 300 h Pa, and from 4.5 to 3 m s^(-1) for zonal wind. The RMSE for humidity appears to exhibit an apparent seasonal variation with larger errors in summer and smaller ones in winter.

Pre-Processing,Quality Assurance,and Use of Global Atmospheric Motion Vector Observations in CRA

Assimilation of atmospheric motion vectors(AMVs)is important in the initialization of the atmospheric state in numerical weather prediction models,especially over oceans and at high latitudes where conventional data are sparse.This paper presents a detailed description of the pre-processing,quality assurance,and use of global AMVs in China’s first generation of the 40-yr(1979-2018)CRA global atmospheric reanalysis product.A new AMV archive is integrated from near real-time operational Global Telecommunication System data and reprocessed AMV datasets released or produced mainly during 2014-2016 according to a priority principle.To avoid the misuse of data with systematic quality problems,the observations of all 18 types of AMVs from 54 satellites are pre-evaluated over the whole time series.The pre-evaluation system developed by the CRA team is based on the NCEP Gridpoint Statistical Interpolation(GSI)three-dimensional variational assimilation system and the ERA-Interim reanalysis product.The AMVs in the new AMV archive are denser than the AMVs prepared for the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis product,the bias and root-mean-square values are smaller,and the time series are steadier.The new AMV archive is assimilated in the CRA product based on the NCEP GSI assimilation procedure and quality control configuration with reference to the pre-evaluation results.This is the first time that the reprocessed AMVs from Fengyun-2 satellites from June 2005 to July 2017 are assimilated in a reanalysis product.The assimilation features inspire confidence in the accuracy and stability of these data.The mean root-mean-square values of the observation minus analysis infrared,water vapor,and visible AMV were 1.5-3.4,2.7-3.6,and 1.3-2.1 m s-1,respectively.This experience of integrating,pre-evaluating,and assimilating AMV observations is valuable for the next generation of reanalysis products.