Atmospheric general circulation statistics from ERA-40 data

Principal Investigator

Dr Leopold Haimberger
Institut für Meteorologie und Geophysik
Universität Wien
Althanstraße 14
A-1090 Wien, Austria

Project description

The special project spatlh00 has been proposed in 2000 mainly in order to have access to ERA-40 data. These data are needed for writing the chapter "The Atmospheric General Circulation" in the upcoming volume Climatology of the Springer Series "Landolt Börnstein" that should appear in 2003.

The ERA-40 data are not only used but also quality checked with respect to the following properties:

1. Fulfilment of the radiative-convective equilibrium on the global scale . Quantification of spinup effects in the provided surface energy fluxes and radiative fluxes.
2. Comparison of 40-year trends near the Alpine region from ERA-40 data with 40-year trends from homogenized radiosonde and surface data available for this region. Preliminary results of this comparison have been presented at the workshop on reanalyses at ECMWF in November 2001.
3. Analyse differences between diabatic quantities as estimated indirectly from 6-hourly sampled data and those parameterized by the assimilating model. There are some hints that 6-hourly sampling may lead to biases in indirect estimates of diabatic quantities.

For more details, please also refer to the latest progress report.

Additional information

Project period 2001 - 2003.