Upper-Air observations from the German atlantic expedition (1925-27) and comparison with the twentieth century and ERA-20C reanalyses ...

• Main Authors: Stickler, Alexander, Storz, Samuel, Wartenburger, Richard, Hersbach, Hans, Compo, Gilbert P., Poli, Paul, Dee, Dick, Brönnimann, Stefan
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: ETH Zurich 2015
• Subjects: Twentieth Century Reanalysis; ERA-20C; Upper-Air data; ERA-CLIM; CHUAN; Kite; Pilot balloon; German Atlantic Expedition; Meteor; Atlantic; temperature; pressure; Wind; Circulation; humidity; Tropics; Extratropics; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000107080; http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/107080

Between April 1925 and June 1927, the research vessel Meteor cruised the tropical and southern Atlantic Ocean in the framework of the German Atlantic Expedition. One purpose was to systematically explore the vertical structure of the atmosphere. To this end, the ocean was crossed in 14 profiles across parallels of latitude. 801 pilot balloons and 217 kites were launched. The resulting data have been digitised in the framework of the European project ERA-CLIM. Here, they are compared to the Twentieth Century (20CR) and ERA-20C reanalyses, independent datasets based on the assimilation of synoptic pressure and hurricane pressure records, and marine surface winds for the latter, using monthly sea surface temperature and sea ice as boundary conditions. Both reanalyses display similar patterns of systematic differences relative to the observations for temperature, specific humidity, and wind. Furthermore, 20CR and ERA-20C show generally comparable anomaly correlations for all parameters, with the highest values ... : Meteorologische Zeitschrift, 24 (5) ...