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| Titel |
Surface Downwelling Longwave Radiation: Evaluating the use of ERA-Interim for Climate Monitoring |
| VerfasserIn |
J. Trentmann, C. Träger-Chatterjee, R. W. Müller |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2009
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 11 (2009) |
| Datensatznummer |
250025307
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| Zusammenfassung |
| The surface radiation budget has been identified by GCOS as an essential climate variable
(ECV). Surface measurements by well-maintained radiation sensors provide the backbone
for climate monitoring of surface quantities. However, surface measurements at
selected sites can only provide a limited view of the Earth climate. For global climate
monitoring larger-scale data sets need to be employed. There are two options to globally
monitor ECVs: satellite observations or reanalysis data. Note that through data
assimilation systems satellite data are also substantially incorporated into reanalysis data
records.
Here, we focus on the evaluation of the applicability of the monthly mean surface
downwelling longwave radiation from the latest reanalysis of the Eurepean Center for
Medium-Range Forecast (ECMWF), ERA-Interim, for climate monitoring. Surface
measurements from the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) are used to evaluate the
performance of the ERA-Interim data with respect to the requirements requested for climate
monitoring. Including 38 surface stations and considering a total of 3585 monthly
mean values, we find a negative bias between the ERA-Interim and the surface
measurements of about -4 W m-2. Less than 15 % of the monthly mean values
exhibit a bias of more than 15 W m-2 as determined by comparison with the BSRN
measurements. Based on this evaluation, the ERA-Interim data set for monthly mean surface
downwelling longwave radiation seems to be a promising candidate for global climate
monitoring. |
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