TOWARD A CONSISTENT REANALYSIS OF THE CLIMATE SYSTEM

This article reviews past and current reanalysis activities at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and describes plans for developing future reanalyses of the coupled climate system. Global reanalyses of the atmosphere, ocean, land surface, and atmospheric composition have...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 2014-08, Vol.95 (8), p.1235-1248
Main Authors: Dee, D. P., Balmaseda, M., Balsamo, G., Engelen, R., Simmons, A. J., Thépaut, J.-N.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Atmospheric models
Atmospherics
Climate change
Climate models
Climate system
Data assimilation
Datasets
Forecasting models
Global climate models
Meteorology
Methods
Observational research
Oceans
Performance assessment
Weather forecasting
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Summary:This article reviews past and current reanalysis activities at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and describes plans for developing future reanalyses of the coupled climate system. Global reanalyses of the atmosphere, ocean, land surface, and atmospheric composition have played an important role in improving and extending the capabilities of ECMWF's operational forecasting systems. The potential role of reanalysis in support of climate change services in Europe is driving several interesting new developments. These include the production of reanalyses that span a century or more and the implementation of a coupled data assimilation capability suitable for climate reanalysis. Although based largely on ECMWF's achievements, capabilities, and plans, the article serves more generally to provide a review of pertinent issues affecting past and current reanalyses and a discussion of the major challenges in moving to more fully coupled systems.
ISSN:0003-0007
1520-0477
DOI:10.1175/bams-d-13-00043.1