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Title: Representation of Extratropical Cyclones, Blocking Anticyclones, and Alpine Circulation Types in Multiple Reanalyses and Model Simulations

Journal Article · · Journal of Climate
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Univ. of Bern (Switzerland)
  2. ETH Zurich (Switzerland)
  3. Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States); National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Boulder, CO (United States). Earth System Research Lab.
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Atmospheric circulation types, blockings, and cyclones are prime features of the extratropical flow and key to understanding the climate system. This study intercompares the representation of these features in 10 reanalyses and in an ensemble of 30 climate model simulations between 1980 and 2005. Both modern, full-input reanalyses and century-long, surface-input reanalyses are examined. Modern full-input reanalyses agree well on key statistics of blockings, cyclones, and circulation types. Yet, the intensity and depth of cyclones vary among them. Reanalyses with higher horizontal resolution show higher cyclone center densities and more intense cyclones. For blockings, no strict relationship is found between frequency or intensity and horizontal resolution. Full-input reanalyses contain more intense blocking, compared to surface-input reanalyses. Circulation-type classifications over central Europe show that both versions of the Twentieth Century Reanalysis dataset contain more easterlies and fewer westerlies than any other reanalysis, owing to their high pressure bias over northeast Europe. The temporal correlation of annual circulation types over central Europe and blocking frequencies over the North Atlantic–European domain between reanalyses is high (around 0.8). The ensemble simulations capture the main characteristics of midlatitudinal atmospheric circulation. Circulation types of westerlies to northerlies over central Europe are overrepresented. There are too few blockings in the higher latitudes and an excess of cyclones in the midlatitudes. Other characteristics, such as blocking amplitude and cyclone intensity, are realistically represented, making the ensemble simulations a rich dataset to assess changes in climate variability.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)
OSTI ID:
1544332
Journal Information:
Journal of Climate, Vol. 31, Issue 8; ISSN 0894-8755
Publisher:
American Meteorological SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 26 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (8)

Changing seasonality of moderate and extreme precipitation events in the Alps journal January 2018
Towards a more reliable historical reanalysis: Improvements for version 3 of the Twentieth Century Reanalysis system
  • Slivinski, Laura C.; Compo, Gilbert P.; Whitaker, Jeffrey S.
  • Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 145, Issue 724 https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.3598
journal August 2019
Impact of global atmospheric reanalyses on statistical precipitation downscaling journal September 2018
The longest homogeneous series of grape harvest dates, Beaune 1354–2018, and its significance for the understanding of past and present climate journal January 2019
Impact of global atmospheric reanalyses on statistical precipitation downscaling text January 2018
The longest homogeneous series of grape harvest dates, Beaune 1354–2018, and its significance for the understanding of past and present climate text January 2019
Changing seasonality of moderate and extreme precipitation events in the Alps text January 2018
Towards a more reliable historical reanalysis: Improvements for version 3 of the Twentieth Century Reanalysis system text January 2019

Figures / Tables (14)

Table 1(p. 3)table Table 1
TABLE 2(p. 5)table TABLE 2
FIG. 1(p. 7)figure FIG. 1
FIG. 2(p. 8)figure FIG. 2
FIG. 3(p. 10)figure FIG. 3
FIG. 4(p. 11)figure FIG. 4
Table 3(p. 12)table Table 3
FIG. 5(p. 13)figure FIG. 5
FIG. 6(p. 14)figure FIG. 6
FIG. 7(p. 15)figure FIG. 7
FIG. 8(p. 16)figure FIG. 8
FIG. 9(p. 17)figure FIG. 9
FIG. 10(p. 18)figure FIG. 10
TABLE 4(p. 19)table TABLE 4

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Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Blocking
Extratropical cyclones
Climate models
Reanalysis data
Interannual variability