Reanalysis representation of low-level winds in the Antarctic near-coastal region
Low-level easterly winds encircling Antarctica help drive coastal currents which modify transport of circumpolar deep water to ice shelves, and the formation and distribution of sea ice. Reanalysis datasets are especially important at high southern latitudes where observations are few. Here, we inve...
Published in: | Weather and Climate Dynamics |
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Language: | English |
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Online Access: | https://hal.science/hal-04248126 https://hal.science/hal-04248126/document https://hal.science/hal-04248126/file/Caton-Harrison_2022.pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-1415-2022 |
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ftinsu:oai:HAL:hal-04248126v1 2023-11-12T04:03:38+01:00 Reanalysis representation of low-level winds in the Antarctic near-coastal region Caton Harrison, Thomas Biri, Stavroula Bracegirdle, Thomas King, John Kent, Elizabeth Vignon, Étienne Turner, John British Antarctic Survey (BAS) Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) National Oceanography Centre Southampton (NOC) University of Southampton Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (UMR 8539) (LMD) Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Département des Géosciences - ENS Paris École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL) Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL) Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL) 2022 https://hal.science/hal-04248126 https://hal.science/hal-04248126/document https://hal.science/hal-04248126/file/Caton-Harrison_2022.pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-1415-2022 en eng HAL CCSD Copernicus info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.5194/wcd-3-1415-2022 hal-04248126 https://hal.science/hal-04248126 https://hal.science/hal-04248126/document https://hal.science/hal-04248126/file/Caton-Harrison_2022.pdf doi:10.5194/wcd-3-1415-2022 info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess ISSN: 2698-4016 Weather and Climate Dynamics https://hal.science/hal-04248126 Weather and Climate Dynamics, 2022, 3 (4), pp.1415-1437. ⟨10.5194/wcd-3-1415-2022⟩ [SDU.STU.ME]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Meteorology [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean Atmosphere info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2022 ftinsu https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-1415-2022 2023-10-25T16:22:55Z Low-level easterly winds encircling Antarctica help drive coastal currents which modify transport of circumpolar deep water to ice shelves, and the formation and distribution of sea ice. Reanalysis datasets are especially important at high southern latitudes where observations are few. Here, we investigate the representation of the mean state and short-term variability of coastal easterlies in three recent reanalyses, ERA5, MERRA-2 and JRA-55. Reanalysed winds are compared with summertime marine near-surface wind observations from the Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) and surface and upper air measurements from coastal stations. Reanalysis coastal easterlies correlate highly with ASCAT (r= 0.91, 0.89 and 0.85 for ERA5, MERRA-2 and JRA-55, respectively) but notable wind speed biases are found close to the coastal margins, especially near complex orography and at high wind speeds. To characterise short-term variability, 12-hourly reanalysis and coastal station winds are composited using self-organising maps (SOMs), which cluster timesteps under similar synoptic and mesoscale influences. Reanalysis performance is sensitive to the flow configuration at stations near steep coastal slopes, where they fail to capture the magnitude of near-surface wind speed variability when synoptic forcing is weak and conditions favour katabatic forcing. ERA5 exhibits the best overall performance, has more realistic orography, and a more realistic jet structure and temperature profile. These results demonstrate the regime behaviour of Antarctica's coastal winds and indicate important features of the coastal winds which are not well characterised by reanalysis datasets. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Shelves Sea ice Institut national des sciences de l'Univers: HAL-INSU Antarctic Merra ENVELOPE(12.615,12.615,65.816,65.816) The Antarctic Weather and Climate Dynamics 3 4 1415 1437 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Institut national des sciences de l'Univers: HAL-INSU |
op_collection_id |
ftinsu |
language |
English |
topic |
[SDU.STU.ME]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Meteorology [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean Atmosphere |
spellingShingle |
[SDU.STU.ME]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Meteorology [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean Atmosphere Caton Harrison, Thomas Biri, Stavroula Bracegirdle, Thomas King, John Kent, Elizabeth Vignon, Étienne Turner, John Reanalysis representation of low-level winds in the Antarctic near-coastal region |
topic_facet |
[SDU.STU.ME]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Meteorology [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean Atmosphere |
description |
Low-level easterly winds encircling Antarctica help drive coastal currents which modify transport of circumpolar deep water to ice shelves, and the formation and distribution of sea ice. Reanalysis datasets are especially important at high southern latitudes where observations are few. Here, we investigate the representation of the mean state and short-term variability of coastal easterlies in three recent reanalyses, ERA5, MERRA-2 and JRA-55. Reanalysed winds are compared with summertime marine near-surface wind observations from the Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) and surface and upper air measurements from coastal stations. Reanalysis coastal easterlies correlate highly with ASCAT (r= 0.91, 0.89 and 0.85 for ERA5, MERRA-2 and JRA-55, respectively) but notable wind speed biases are found close to the coastal margins, especially near complex orography and at high wind speeds. To characterise short-term variability, 12-hourly reanalysis and coastal station winds are composited using self-organising maps (SOMs), which cluster timesteps under similar synoptic and mesoscale influences. Reanalysis performance is sensitive to the flow configuration at stations near steep coastal slopes, where they fail to capture the magnitude of near-surface wind speed variability when synoptic forcing is weak and conditions favour katabatic forcing. ERA5 exhibits the best overall performance, has more realistic orography, and a more realistic jet structure and temperature profile. These results demonstrate the regime behaviour of Antarctica's coastal winds and indicate important features of the coastal winds which are not well characterised by reanalysis datasets. |
author2 |
British Antarctic Survey (BAS) Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) National Oceanography Centre Southampton (NOC) University of Southampton Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (UMR 8539) (LMD) Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Département des Géosciences - ENS Paris École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL) Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL) Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Caton Harrison, Thomas Biri, Stavroula Bracegirdle, Thomas King, John Kent, Elizabeth Vignon, Étienne Turner, John |
author_facet |
Caton Harrison, Thomas Biri, Stavroula Bracegirdle, Thomas King, John Kent, Elizabeth Vignon, Étienne Turner, John |
author_sort |
Caton Harrison, Thomas |
title |
Reanalysis representation of low-level winds in the Antarctic near-coastal region |
title_short |
Reanalysis representation of low-level winds in the Antarctic near-coastal region |
title_full |
Reanalysis representation of low-level winds in the Antarctic near-coastal region |
title_fullStr |
Reanalysis representation of low-level winds in the Antarctic near-coastal region |
title_full_unstemmed |
Reanalysis representation of low-level winds in the Antarctic near-coastal region |
title_sort |
reanalysis representation of low-level winds in the antarctic near-coastal region |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://hal.science/hal-04248126 https://hal.science/hal-04248126/document https://hal.science/hal-04248126/file/Caton-Harrison_2022.pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-1415-2022 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(12.615,12.615,65.816,65.816) |
geographic |
Antarctic Merra The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Merra The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Shelves Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Shelves Sea ice |
op_source |
ISSN: 2698-4016 Weather and Climate Dynamics https://hal.science/hal-04248126 Weather and Climate Dynamics, 2022, 3 (4), pp.1415-1437. ⟨10.5194/wcd-3-1415-2022⟩ |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.5194/wcd-3-1415-2022 hal-04248126 https://hal.science/hal-04248126 https://hal.science/hal-04248126/document https://hal.science/hal-04248126/file/Caton-Harrison_2022.pdf doi:10.5194/wcd-3-1415-2022 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-3-1415-2022 |
container_title |
Weather and Climate Dynamics |
container_volume |
3 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
1415 |
op_container_end_page |
1437 |
_version_ |
1782338290075041792 |