An assessment of the surface climate in the NCEP climate forecast system reanalysis   总被引：3，自引：1，他引：2  

Wanqiu Wang  Pingping Xie  Soo-Hyun Yoo  Yan Xue  Arun Kumar  Xingren Wu 《Climate Dynamics》2011,37(7-8):1601-1620

This paper analyzes surface climate variability in the climate forecast system reanalysis (CFSR) recently completed at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP). The CFSR represents a new generation of reanalysis effort with first guess from a coupled atmosphere?Cocean?Csea ice?Cland forecast system. This study focuses on the analysis of climate variability for a set of surface variables including precipitation, surface air 2-m temperature (T2m), and surface heat fluxes. None of these quantities are assimilated directly and thus an assessment of their variability provides an independent measure of the accuracy. The CFSR is compared with observational estimates and three previous reanalyses (the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis or R1, the NCEP/DOE reanalysis or R2, and the ERA40 produced by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts). The CFSR has improved time-mean precipitation distribution over various regions compared to the three previous reanalyses, leading to a better representation of freshwater flux (evaporation minus precipitation). For interannual variability, the CFSR shows improved precipitation correlation with observations over the Indian Ocean, Maritime Continent, and western Pacific. The T2m of the CFSR is superior to R1 and R2 with more realistic interannual variability and long-term trend. On the other hand, the CFSR overestimates downward solar radiation flux over the tropical Western Hemisphere warm pool, consistent with a negative cloudiness bias and a positive sea surface temperature bias. Meanwhile, the evaporative latent heat flux in CFSR appears to be larger than other observational estimates over most of the globe. A few deficiencies in the long-term variations are identified in the CFSR. Firstly, dramatic changes are found around 1998?C2001 in the global average of a number of variables, possibly related to the changes in the assimilated satellite observations. Secondly, the use of multiple streams for the CFSR induces spurious jumps in soil moisture between adjacent streams. Thirdly, there is an inconsistency in long-term sea ice extent variations over the Arctic regions between the CFSR and other observations with the CFSR showing smaller sea ice extent before 1997 and larger extent starting in 1997. These deficiencies may have impacts on the application of the CFSR for climate diagnoses and predictions. Relationships between surface heat fluxes and SST tendency and between SST and precipitation are analyzed and compared with observational estimates and other reanalyses. Global mean fields of surface heat and water fluxes together with radiation fluxes at the top of the atmosphere are documented and presented over the entire globe, and for the ocean and land separately.  相似文献   

Diagnostic metrics for evaluation of annual and diurnal cycles   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Bin Wang  Hyung-Jin Kim  Kazuyoshi Kikuchi  Akio Kitoh 《Climate Dynamics》2011,37(5-6):941-955

Two sets of diagnostic metrics are proposed for evaluation of global models?? simulation of annual and diurnal cycles of precipitation. The metrics for the annual variation include the annual mean, the solstice and equinoctial asymmetric modes of the annual cycle (AC), and the global monsoon precipitation domain and intensity. The metrics for the diurnal variation include the diurnal range, the land?Csea contrast and transition modes of the diurnal cycle (DC), and the diurnal peak propagation in coastal regions. The proposed modes for the AC and DC represent faithfully the first two leading empirical orthogonal functions and explain, respectively, 82% of the total annual variance and 87% of the total diurnal variance over the globe between 45°S and 45°N. The simulated AC and DC by the 20-km-mesh MRI/JMA atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) are in a wide-ranging agreement with observations; the model considerably outperforms any individual AMIP II GCMs and has comparable performance to 12-AMIP II model ensemble simulation measured by Pearson??s pattern correlation coefficient. Comparison of four versions of the MRI/JMA AGCM with increasing resolution (180, 120, 60, and 20?km) reveals that the 20-km version reproduces the most realistic annual and diurnal cycles. However, the improved performance is not a linear function of the resolution. Marked improvement of the simulated DC (AC) occurs at the resolution of 60?km (20?km). The results suggest that better represented parameterizations that are adequately tuned to increased resolutions may improve models?? simulation on the forced responses. The common deficiency in representing the monsoon domains suggests the models having difficulty in replicating annual march of the Subtropical Highs that is largely driven by prominent east-west land?Cocean thermal contrast. Note that the 20-km model reproduces realistic diurnal cycle, but fails to capture realistic Madden-Julian Oscillation.  相似文献   

An analysis of prediction skill of monthly mean climate variability     

Arun Kumar  Mingyue Chen  Wanqiu Wang 《Climate Dynamics》2011,37(5-6):1119-1131

In this paper, lead-time and spatial dependence in skill for prediction of monthly mean climate variability is analyzed. The analysis is based on a set of extensive hindcasts from the Climate Forecast System at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction. The skill characteristics of initialized predictions is also compared with the AMIP simulations forced with the observed sea surface temperature (SST) to quantify the role of initial versus boundary conditions in the prediction of monthly means. The analysis is for prediction of monthly mean SST, precipitation, and 200-hPa height. The results show a rapid decay in skill with lead time for the atmospheric variables in the extratropical latitudes. Further, after a lead-time of approximately 30?C40?days, the skill of monthly mean prediction is essentially a boundary forced problem, with SST anomalies in the tropical central/eastern Pacific playing a dominant role. Because of the larger contribution from the atmospheric internal variability to monthly time-averages (compared to seasonal averages), skill for monthly mean prediction associated with boundary forcing is also lower. The analysis indicates that the prospects of skillful prediction of monthly means may remain a challenging problem, and may be limited by inherent limits in predictability.  相似文献   

Relationship Between the Western Pacific Subtropical High and the Subtropical East Asian Diabatic Heating During South China Heavy Rains in June 2005          下载免费PDF全文

WANG Lijuan  GAO Hui  GUAN Zhaoyong  HE Jinhai 《Acta Meteorologica Sinica》2011,25(2):203-210

Based on the daily NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data, the position variation of the western Pacific subtropical high (WPSH) in June 2005 and its relation to the diabatic heating in the subtropical East Asia are analyzed using the complete vertical vorticity equation. The results show that the position variation of the WPSH is indeed associated with the diabatic heating in the subtropical East Asian areas. In comparison with June climatology, stronger heating on the north side of the WPSH and relatively weak ITCZ (intertropical convergence zone) convection on the south side of the WPSH occurred in June 2005. Along with the northward movement of the WPSH, the convective latent heating extended northward from the south side of the WPSH. The heating to the west of the WPSH was generally greater than that inside the WPSH, and each significant enhancement of the heating field corresponded to a subsequent westward extension of the WPSH. In the mid troposphere, the vertical variation of heating on the north of the WPSH was greater than the climatology, which is unfavorable for the northward movement of the WPSH. On the other hand, the vertical variation of heating south of the WPSH was largely smaller than the climatology, which is favorable for the anomalous increase of anticyclonic vorticity, leading to the southward retreat of the WPSH. Before the westward extension of the WPSH in late June 2005, the vertical variation of heating rates to (in) the west (east) of the WPSH was largely higher (lower) than the climatology, which is in favor of the increase of anticyclonic (cyclonic) vorticity to (in) the west (east) of the WPSH, inducing the subsequent westward extension of the WPSH. Similar features appeared in the lower troposphere. In a word, the heating on the north-south, east-west of the WPSH worked together, resulting in the WPSH extending more southward and westward in June 2005, which is favorable to the maintenance of the rainbelt in South China.  相似文献   

The GRAPES Variational Bias Correction Scheme and Associated Preliminary Experiments          下载免费PDF全文

WANG Xiang  LI Gang  ZHANG Hu  WANG Hui  GUO Rui 《Acta Meteorologica Sinica》2011,25(1):51-62

The variational assimilation theory is generally based on unbiased observations. In practice, however, almost all observations suffer from biases arising from observational instruments, radiative transfer operator, precondition of data, and so on. Therefore, a bias correction scheme is indispensable. The current scheme for radiance bias correction in the GRAPES 3DVar system is an offline scheme. It is actually a static correction for the radiance bias before the process of cost function minimization. In consideration of its effects on forecast results, this kind of scheme has some shortcomings. Thus, this study provides a variational bias correction (VarBC) scheme for the GRAPES 3DVar system following Dee’s idea. In the VarBC scheme, the observation operator is modified and a new control variable is defined by taking the predictor coefficients as the control parameters. According to the feature of the GRAPES-3DVAR, an incremental formulation is applied and the original bias correction scheme is maintained in the actual process of observations. The VarBC is designed to co-exist with the original scheme, because it is a dynamic revision to the observational operator on the basis of the old method, i.e., it adjusts the model state vector along with the control parameters to an unbiased state in the process of minimization and the assimilation system remains consistent with available information automatically. Preliminary experimental results show that the mean departures of background-minus-observation and analysis-minus-observation are reduced as expected. In a case study of the heavy rainfall that happened in South China on 11–13 June 2008, the 500-hPa geopotential height is better simulated using the analyzed field from the VarBC as the initial condition.  相似文献   

A Study of Shallow Cumulus Cloud Droplet Dispersion by Large Eddy Simulations          下载免费PDF全文

WANG Xiaofeng  XUE Huiwen  FANG Wen  ZHENG Guoguang 《Acta Meteorologica Sinica》2011,25(2):166-175

Cloud droplet dispersion is an important parameter in estimating aerosol indirect effect on climate in general circulation models (GCMs). This study investigates droplet dispersion in shallow cumulus clouds under different aerosol conditions using three-dimensional large eddy simulations (LES). It is found that cloud droplet mean radius, standard deviation, and relative dispersion generally decrease as aerosol mixing ratio increases from 25 mg⁻¹ (clean case) to 100 mg⁻¹ (moderate case), and to 2000 mg⁻¹ (polluted case). Under all the three simulated aerosol conditions, cloud droplet mean radius and standard deviation increase with height. However, droplet relative dispersion increases with height only in the polluted case, and does not vary with height in the clean and moderate cases.  相似文献   

Spatial Distribution and Temporal Variation of the Winter Wheat Late Frost Disaster in Henan, China   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1       下载免费PDF全文

ZHANG Xuefen  ZHENG Youfei  WANG Chunyi  CHEN Huailiang  REN Zhenhe  ZOU Chunhui 《Acta Meteorologica Sinica》2011,25(2):249-259

The winter wheat late frost disaster(WFD) occurs mainly in the Yellow and Huaihe River area,of which Henan Province covers the most part.Henan is the major area of wheat production in China,but it is severely hit by the WFD.In this study,we construct a WFD index based on the minimum temperature and the winter wheat development period(WDP).The WFD degrees and days at 30 agrometeorological stations in Henan Province during the period of 1981-2004 are calculated.For the large-scale temporal variation analysis of WFD,the 24-yr WDP observation series is relatively short,so it is expanded by using the relation between the turning green date of winter wheat and the 5-day running mean temperature and that between the stem elongation phase and the effective cumulative temperature above a critical value of 2.5 ℃.The WFD data are also expanded for the last 50 years and are analyzed by using the empirical orthogonal function(EOF) and the Morlet wavelet methods.Characteristics in the spatial distribution and temporal variation of WFD are revealed.The results show that the frequency of WFD is generally high,exceeding 40% in parts of Henan,and exhibits a rising trend in the period of 1970-1990.The variation trend of WFD degrees is similar to that of WFD days,and the areas with higher WFD degrees coincide the areas with more WFD days.Moreover,the WFD degree has a greater impact on the winter wheat yield than the WFD days.The areas with high WFD degrees lie in the southeast and southwest of Henan,and the areas with low WFD degrees lie in the south of the Huaihe River and parts of western Henan.Temporal variations of the first and second EOF modes of the WFD degree display 16-and quasi-22-yr periodicities,respectively.The areas of high(low) WFD frequency are distributed in the northern Henan and the southwest border of Henan(the northeast Henan and the middle part of southwest Henan).The temporal variation of the first(second) EOF mode of WFD days exhibits a periodicity(periodicities) of quasi-4 yr(quasi-3 and quasi-6-7 yr).  相似文献   

Impacts of Cumulus Convective Parameterization Schemes on Summer Monsoon Precipitation Simulation over China   总被引：3，自引：0，他引：3       下载免费PDF全文

YU Entao  WANG Huijun  GAO Yongqi  SUN Jianqi 《Acta Meteorologica Sinica》2011,25(5):581-592

By using the Betts-Miller-Janjic, Grell-Devenyi, and Kain-Fritsch cumulus convective parameterization schemes in theWeather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, long time simulations from 2000 to 2009 are conducted to investigate the impacts of different cumulus convective parameterization schemes on summer monsoon precipitation simulation over China. The results show that all the schemes have the capability to reasonably reproduce the spatial and temporal distributions of summer monsoon precipitation and the corresponding background circulation. The observed north-south shift of monsoon rain belt is also well simulated by the three schemes. Detailed comparison indicates that the Grell-Devenyi scheme gives a better performance than the others. Deficiency in simulated water vapor transport is one possible reason for the precipitation simulation bias.  相似文献   

Forced response of the East Asian summer rainfall over the past millennium: results from a coupled model simulation   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Jian Liu  Bin Wang  Hongli Wang  Xueyuan Kuang  Ruyuan Ti 《Climate Dynamics》2011,36(1-2):323-336

The centennial?Cmillennial variation of the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) precipitation over the past 1000?years was investigated through the analysis of a millennium simulation of the coupled ECHO-G model. The model results indicate that the centennial?Cmillennial variation of the EASM is essentially a forced response to the external radiative forcing (insolation, volcanic aerosol, and green house gases). The strength of the response depends on latitude; and the spatial structure of the centennial?Cmillennial variation differs from the interannual variability that arises primarily from the internal feedback processes within the climate system. On millennial time scale, the extratropical and subtropical precipitation was generally strong during Medieval Warm Period (MWP) and weak during Little Ice Age (LIA). The tropical rainfall is insensitive to the effective solar radiation forcing (insolation plus radiative effect of volcanic aerosols) but significantly responds to the modern anthropogenic radiative forcing. On centennial time scale, the variation of the extratropical and subtropical rainfall also tends to follow the effective solar radiation forcing closely. The forced response features in-phase rainfall variability between the extratropics and subtropics, which is in contrast to the anti-correlation on the interannual time scale. Further, the behavior of the interannual?Cdecadal variation in the extratropics is effectively modulated by change of the mean states on the millennial time scale, suggesting that the structure of the internal mode may vary with significant changes in the external forcing. These findings imply that on the millennial time scale, (a) the proxy data in the extratropical EA may more sensitively reflect the EASM rainfall variations, and (b) the Meiyu and the northern China rainfall provide a consistent measure for the EASM strength.  相似文献   

An analysis of seasonal predictability in coupled model forecasts   总被引：1，自引：1，他引：0  

P. Peng  A. Kumar  W. Wang 《Climate Dynamics》2011,36(3-4):637-648

In the recent decade, operational seasonal prediction systems based on initialized coupled models have been developed. An analysis of how the predictability of seasonal means in the initialized coupled predictions evolves with lead-time is presented. Because of the short lead-time, such an analysis for the temporal behavior of seasonal predictability involves a mix of both the predictability of the first and the second kind. The analysis focuses on the lead-time dependence of ensemble mean variance, and the forecast spread. Further, the analysis is for a fixed target season of December?CJanuary?CFebruary, and is for sea surface temperature, rainfall, and 200-mb height. The analysis is based on a large set of hindcasts from an initialized coupled seasonal prediction system. Various aspects of predictability of the first and the second kind are highlighted for variables with long (for example, SST), and fast (for example, atmospheric) adjustment time scale. An additional focus of the analysis is how the predictability in the initialized coupled seasonal predictions compares with estimates based on the AMIP simulations. The results indicate that differences in the set up of AMIP simulations and coupled predictions, for example, representation of air?Csea interactions, and evolution of forecast spread from initial conditions do not change fundamental conclusion about the seasonal predictability. A discussion of the analysis presented herein, and its implications for the use of AMIP simulations for climate attribution, and for time-slice experiments to provide regional information, is also included.  相似文献