A11R-05
Intercomparison of Reanalyses Temperatures in the Stratosphere with Non-Assimilated Rocketsonde, Lidar and Satellite Observations
Monday, 14 December 2015: 09:00
3012 (Moscone West)
Craig S Long, NOAA Center for Weather and Climate Prediction, Climate Prediction Center, college park, MD, United States, Masatomo Fujiwara, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan and Dann Mitchell, University of Oxford, Physics, Oxford, United Kingdom
Abstract:
The Stratospheric-tropospheric Processes and their Role in Climate (SPARC)-Reanalysis Intercomparison Project (S-RIP) is in the process of generating a multi-chapter report describing the thermal, dynamic, and chemical characteristics of the recent and past reanalyses. This presentation will focus on the temperatures in the stratosphere: how well the various reanalyses intercompare with each other and how well they compare with non-assimilated temperature observations from rocketsonde, lidar, and satellite (SABER and Aura MLS). Temperatures from the most recent reanalyses (ERA-Interim, MERRA, JRA55, and CFSR) agree well seasonally and latitudinally below 10 hPa during both the TOVS (1979-1998) and ATOVS (1998-present) periods. Above 10 hPa differences exist for various reasons and are different for the TOVS and ATOVS periods. For validation we will use different non-assimilated observations available during the time span of most reanalyses. Rocketsondes were more numerous during the TOVS period. Lidar observations became more common in the mid 1990’s which spans both TOVS and ATOVS. SABER (2002-present) and Aura MLS (2004-present) observations are available for the ATOVS period.
