Intercomparison of the seasonal cycle in 200 hPa kinetic energy in AMIP GCM simulations

Technical Report · Tue Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1996

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/472891· OSTI ID:472891

Boyle, J S

The 200 hPa kinetic energy is represented by means of the spherical harmonic components for the Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project (AMIP) simulations, the National Center for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) reanalysis and the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast Reanalysis (ERA). The data used are the monthly mean wind fields from 1979 to 1988. The kinetic energy is decomposed into the divergent (DKE) and rotational (RKE) components and emphasis is placed on examining the former. The two reanalysis data sets show reasonable agreement that is best for the rotational kinetic energy. The largest difference in the divergent kinetic energy occurs during the northern summer. As might be expected, the two analyses are closet in regions where there are sufficient observations such that the effect of the model used in the assimilation cycle are minimized. The observed RKE show only a slight seasonal cycle with a maximum occuring during the northern winter. The DKE, on the other hand, has a very pronounced seasonal cycle with maxima at the solsticial seasons and minima during the equinoctial seasons. The model results show a very large spread in the magnitudes of the RKE and DKE although the models all evince a seasonal variation in phase with that observed. The median values of the seasonal cycle of RKE and DKE for the models are usually superior to those of any individual model. Results are also presented for simulation following the AMIP protocol but using updated versions of the original AMIP entries. In most cases these new integrations show better agreement with the observations.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 472891
• Report Number(s): UCRL-ID--125556; ON: DE97051546
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION
CLIMATE MODELS
KINETIC ENERGY
SEASONAL VARIATIONS
SPHERICAL HARMONICS
WEATHER
WIND