Observations for Reanalyses

Global dynamical reanalyses of the atmosphere and ocean fundamentally rely on observations, not just for the assimilation (i.e. for the definition of the state of the Earth-system components), but also in many other steps along the production chain. Observations are used to constrain the model bound...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
Main Authors: Brönnimann, Stefan, Allan, Rob, Atkinson, Christopher, Buizza, Roberto, Bulygina, Olga, Dahlgren, Per, Dee, Dick, Dunn, Robert, Gomes, Pedro, John, Viju O., Jourdain, Sylvie, Haimberger, Leopold, Hersbach, Hans, Kennedy, John, Poli, Paul, Pulliainen, Jouni, Rayner, Nick, Saunders, Roger, Schulz, Jörg, Sterin, Alexander, Stickler, Alexander Nicolas, Titchner, Holly, Valente, Maria Antonia, Ventura, Clara, Wilkinson, Clive
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: American Meteorological Society 2018
Subjects:
Southern Ocean
Online Access:https://boris.unibe.ch/112709/7/bams-d-17-0229.1.pdf
https://boris.unibe.ch/112709/
Description
Summary:Global dynamical reanalyses of the atmosphere and ocean fundamentally rely on observations, not just for the assimilation (i.e. for the definition of the state of the Earth-system components), but also in many other steps along the production chain. Observations are used to constrain the model boundary conditions, for the calibration or uncertainty determination of other observations, and for the evaluation of data products. This requires major efforts, including data rescue (for historical observations), data management (including metadatabases), compilation and quality control, and error estimation. The work on observations ideally occurs one cycle ahead of the generation cycle of reanalyses, allowing them to make full use of it. In this paper we describe the activities within ERA-CLIM2, which range from surface, upper-air and Southern Ocean data rescue to satellite data recalibration and from the generation of snow cover products to the development of a global station data metadatabase. The project has not produced new data collections. Rather, the data generated has fed into global repositories and will serve future reanalysis projects. The continuation of this effort is first contingent upon the organization of data rescue, but also upon a series of targeted research activities to address newly-identified in-situ and satellite records.

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