Identification

Title

Tropical cyclone characteristics in the MERRA‐2 reanalysis and AMIP simulations

Abstract

This study evaluates the tropical cyclone (TC) activity in two high-resolution data sets-MERRA-2 Reanalysis (Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2) and MERRA-2 AMIP (Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project). These data sets use the same atmospheric model, the Goddard Earth Observing System Model, Version 5 (GEOS-5) during the same period. However, while MERRA-2 AMIP is a free-running atmospheric simulation forced only with sea surface temperature (SST), MERRA-2 Reanalysis uses an advanced data assimilation system to include a large variety of data sets. Thus, we analyze (1) the sensitivity of TC activity to the model forcing, (2) how well the TCs in both data sets replicate observed TC characteristics, (3) the sensitivity of these results to tracking schemes and thresholds. Standard diagnostics such as the number of tropical cyclones and their intensity distribution are very similar in the AMIP model and the reanalysis. TCs in both data sets are weaker than observed, as is typical for the spatial resolution of these global models. Overall, the use of data assimilation in the MERRA-2 Reanalysis does not lead to a significantly better TC climatology than in AMIP. Furthermore, comparison of the MERRA-2 Reanalysis to two other reanalysis data sets shows that MERRA-2 generates fewer, but more intense TCs, than those reanalysis products.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d70r9ssz

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2021-03-01T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact