Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions
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2007
10.5194/acpd-7-3423-2007
http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/7/3423/2007/
http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/7/3423/2007/acpd-7-3423-2007.html
http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/7/3423/2007/acpd-7-3423-2007.pdf
3423
3450
2007-03-05
Evaluation of ECMWF ERA-40 temperature and wind in the lower tropical stratosphere since 1988 from past long-duration balloon measurements
T. Christensen
tic@dmi.dk
B. M. Knudsen
J.-P. Pommereau
G. Letrenne
A. Hertzog
F. Vial
J. Ovarlez
M. Piot
Danish Meteorological Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark
Service d'Aéronomie, IPSL/CNRS, Verrières-Le-Buisson, France
Centre National d'\'Etudes Spatiales, Toulouse, France
Laboratoire de M{é}t{é}orologie Dynamique, IPSL/CNRS, Palaiseau, France
Institut für Umweltphysik, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
The temperature and wind of the ECMWF ERA-40 reanalysis in the tropical
lower stratosphere during the period 1988–2001 has been evaluated by
comparison with independent in situ measurements of 21 IR Montgolfier
and superpressure long-duration balloon flights performed by CNES from
Pretoria (26° S) in South Africa in 1988–1989, Latacunga (1° S)
in Ecuador in 1991–1998 and Bauru (22° S) in Brazil in 2000–2001.
The ERA-40 temperature displays a bias varying progressively from +1.16 K
in 1988–1989, to +0.26 K in 1994–1996 and −0.46 K after 1998,
the latter being fully consistent with recent evaluations of ECMWF
operational analysis from radio occultation and in situ long-duration
balloon observations. The amplitude of the bias and its evolution are
very similar to the results of a previous evaluation from radiosondes
in 1991–2003, suggesting that the origin of the drift of ERA-40 might be
mainly due to errors in the series of satellite measurements of MSU,
replaced by AMSU in 1998, assimilated in the model.
<br></br>
The ERA-40 zonal wind speed in the lower stratosphere appears slightly
overestimated by 0.7–1.0 m/s on average in both the tropics and
equatorial region, that is by 5–10% compared to the average 10–20 m/s
wind speed. This bias, fully consistent with a recent evaluation of
ECMWF operational analysis in 2004, is found constant during the whole
1988–2001 period, suggesting that the difference in that case might
originate in the model. Finally calculated trajectories
using ERA-40, frequently used for analysing field observations, are found
in error compared to that of the balloons by ±500 km after 5 days
and ±1000 km after 10 days.
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