The Arctic summer atmosphere: an evaluation of reanalyses using ASCOS data

The Arctic has experienced large climate changes over recent decades, the largest for any region on Earth. To understand the underlying reasons for this climate sensitivity, reanalysis is an invaluable tool. The Arctic System Reanalysis (ASR) is a regional reanalysis, forced by ERA-Interim at the la...

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Published in:Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
Main Authors: Wesslén, C., Tjernström, M., Bromwich, D. H., de Boer, G., Ekman, A. M. L., Bai, L.-S., Wang, S.-H.
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-2605-2014
https://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/14/2605/2014/
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spelling ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:acp20480 2023-05-15T14:34:15+02:00 The Arctic summer atmosphere: an evaluation of reanalyses using ASCOS data Wesslén, C. Tjernström, M. Bromwich, D. H. de Boer, G. Ekman, A. M. L. Bai, L.-S. Wang, S.-H. 2018-01-15 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-2605-2014 https://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/14/2605/2014/ eng eng doi:10.5194/acp-14-2605-2014 https://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/14/2605/2014/ eISSN: 1680-7324 Text 2018 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-2605-2014 2019-12-24T09:54:38Z The Arctic has experienced large climate changes over recent decades, the largest for any region on Earth. To understand the underlying reasons for this climate sensitivity, reanalysis is an invaluable tool. The Arctic System Reanalysis (ASR) is a regional reanalysis, forced by ERA-Interim at the lateral boundaries and incorporating model physics adapted to Arctic conditions, developed to serve as a state-of-the-art, high-resolution synthesis tool for assessing Arctic climate variability and monitoring Arctic climate change. We use data from Arctic Summer Cloud-Ocean Study (ASCOS) to evaluate the performance of ASR and ERA-Interim for the Arctic Ocean. The ASCOS field experiment was deployed on the Swedish icebreaker Oden north of 87° N in the Atlantic sector of the Arctic during August and early September 2008. Data were collected during the transits from and to Longyearbyen and the 3-week ice drift with Oden moored to a drifting multiyear ice floe. These data are independent and detailed enough to evaluate process descriptions. The reanalyses captures basic meteorological variations coupled to the synoptic-scale systems, but have difficulties in estimating clouds and atmospheric moisture. While ERA-Interim has a systematic warm bias in the lowest troposphere, ASR has a cold bias of about the same magnitude on average. The results also indicate that more sophisticated descriptions of cloud microphysics in ASR did not significantly improve the modeling of cloud properties compared to ERA-Interim. This has consequences for the radiation balance, and hence the surface temperature, and illustrate how a modeling problem in one aspect of the atmosphere, here the clouds, feeds back to other parameters, especially near the surface and in the boundary layer. Text Arctic Arctic Ocean Climate change Longyearbyen oden Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Arctic Arctic Ocean Longyearbyen Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 14 5 2605 2624
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collection Copernicus Publications: E-Journals
op_collection_id ftcopernicus
language English
description The Arctic has experienced large climate changes over recent decades, the largest for any region on Earth. To understand the underlying reasons for this climate sensitivity, reanalysis is an invaluable tool. The Arctic System Reanalysis (ASR) is a regional reanalysis, forced by ERA-Interim at the lateral boundaries and incorporating model physics adapted to Arctic conditions, developed to serve as a state-of-the-art, high-resolution synthesis tool for assessing Arctic climate variability and monitoring Arctic climate change. We use data from Arctic Summer Cloud-Ocean Study (ASCOS) to evaluate the performance of ASR and ERA-Interim for the Arctic Ocean. The ASCOS field experiment was deployed on the Swedish icebreaker Oden north of 87° N in the Atlantic sector of the Arctic during August and early September 2008. Data were collected during the transits from and to Longyearbyen and the 3-week ice drift with Oden moored to a drifting multiyear ice floe. These data are independent and detailed enough to evaluate process descriptions. The reanalyses captures basic meteorological variations coupled to the synoptic-scale systems, but have difficulties in estimating clouds and atmospheric moisture. While ERA-Interim has a systematic warm bias in the lowest troposphere, ASR has a cold bias of about the same magnitude on average. The results also indicate that more sophisticated descriptions of cloud microphysics in ASR did not significantly improve the modeling of cloud properties compared to ERA-Interim. This has consequences for the radiation balance, and hence the surface temperature, and illustrate how a modeling problem in one aspect of the atmosphere, here the clouds, feeds back to other parameters, especially near the surface and in the boundary layer.
format Text
author Wesslén, C.
Tjernström, M.
Bromwich, D. H.
de Boer, G.
Ekman, A. M. L.
Bai, L.-S.
Wang, S.-H.
spellingShingle Wesslén, C.
Tjernström, M.
Bromwich, D. H.
de Boer, G.
Ekman, A. M. L.
Bai, L.-S.
Wang, S.-H.
The Arctic summer atmosphere: an evaluation of reanalyses using ASCOS data
author_facet Wesslén, C.
Tjernström, M.
Bromwich, D. H.
de Boer, G.
Ekman, A. M. L.
Bai, L.-S.
Wang, S.-H.
author_sort Wesslén, C.
title The Arctic summer atmosphere: an evaluation of reanalyses using ASCOS data
title_short The Arctic summer atmosphere: an evaluation of reanalyses using ASCOS data
title_full The Arctic summer atmosphere: an evaluation of reanalyses using ASCOS data
title_fullStr The Arctic summer atmosphere: an evaluation of reanalyses using ASCOS data
title_full_unstemmed The Arctic summer atmosphere: an evaluation of reanalyses using ASCOS data
title_sort arctic summer atmosphere: an evaluation of reanalyses using ascos data
publishDate 2018
url https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-2605-2014
https://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/14/2605/2014/
geographic Arctic
Arctic Ocean
Longyearbyen
geographic_facet Arctic
Arctic Ocean
Longyearbyen
genre Arctic
Arctic Ocean
Climate change
Longyearbyen
oden
genre_facet Arctic
Arctic Ocean
Climate change
Longyearbyen
oden
op_source eISSN: 1680-7324
op_relation doi:10.5194/acp-14-2605-2014
https://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/14/2605/2014/
op_doi https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-2605-2014
container_title Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
container_volume 14
container_issue 5
container_start_page 2605
op_container_end_page 2624
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