The global ocean water cycle in atmospheric reanalysis, satellite, and ocean salinity

Yu, Lisan; Jin, Xiangze; Josey, Simon A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1683-8831; Lee, Tony; Kumar, Arun; Wen, Caihong; Xue, Yan. 2017 The global ocean water cycle in atmospheric reanalysis, satellite, and ocean salinity. Journal of Climate, 30 (10). 3829-3852. 10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0479.1

Before downloading, please read NORA policies.

Preview

Text © Copyright 2017 American Meteorological Society (AMS). Permission to use figures, tables, and brief excerpts from this work in scientific and educational works is hereby granted provided that the source is acknowledged. Any use of material in this work that is determined to be “fair use” under Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act September 2010 Page 2 or that satisfies the conditions specified in Section 108 of the U.S. Copyright Act (17 USC §108, as revised by P.L. 94-553) does not require the AMS’s permission. Republication, systematic reproduction, posting in electronic form, such as on a web site or in a searchable database, or other uses of this material, except as exempted by the above statement, requires written permission or a license from the AMS. Additional details are provided in the AMS Copyright Policy, available on the AMS Web site located at (http://www.ametsoc.org/) or from the AMS at 617-227-2425 or copyrights@ametsoc.org. JCLI-D-16-0479.1.pdf - Published Version Download (3MB) | Preview

Text jcli-d-16-0479%2E1.pdf - Accepted Version Restricted to NORA staff only Download (5MB)

Abstract/Summary

This study provides an assessment of the uncertainty in ocean-surface (OS) freshwater budgets and variability using evaporation (E) and precipitation (P) from 10 atmospheric reanalyses, 2 combined satellite-based E-P products, and 2 observation-based salinity products. Three issues are examined: the uncertainty level in the OS freshwater budget in atmospheric reanalyses, the uncertainty structure and association with the global ocean wet/dry zones, and the potential of salinity in ascribing the uncertainty in E-P. The products agree on the global mean pattern but differ considerably in magnitude. The OS freshwater budgets are 129±10 (8%) cm yr-1 for E, 118±11 (9%) cm yr-1 for P, and 11±4 (36%) cm yr-1 for E-P, where the mean and error represent the ensemble mean and one standard deviation of the ensemble spread. The E-P uncertainty exceeds the uncertainty in E and P by a factor of four or more. The large uncertainty is attributed to P in the tropical wet zone. Most reanalyses tend to produce a wider tropical rain band when compared to satellite products, with the exception of two recent reanalyses that implement an observation-based correction for the model-generated P over land. The disparity in the width and the extent of seasonal migrations of the tropical wet zone causes large spread in P, implying that the tropical moist physics and the realism of tropical rainfall remain a key challenge. Satellite salinity appears feasible to evaluate the fidelity of E-P variability in three tropical areas, where the uncertainty diagnosis has a global indication.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0479.1
ISSN:	0894-8755
Date made live:	15 Feb 2017 14:22 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/516231

Actions (login required)

View Item

Document Downloads

More statistics for this item...