Atmospheric Water Balance and Variability in the MERRA-2 Reanalysis

AbstractClosing and balancing Earth’s global water cycle remains a challenge for the climate community. Observations are limited in duration, global coverage, and frequency, and not all water cycle terms are adequately observed. Reanalyses aim to fill the gaps through the assimilation of as many atmospheric water vapor observations as possible. Former generations of reanalyses have demonstrated a number of systematic problems that have limited their use in climate studies, especially regarding low-frequency trends. This study characterizes the NASA Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications version 2 (MERRA-2) water cycle relative to contemporary reanalyses and observations. MERRA-2 includes measures intended to minimize the spurious global variations related to inhomogeneity in the observational record. The global balance and cycling of water from ocean to land is presented, with special attention given to the water vapor analysis increment and the effects of the changing observing s...

[1]  Randal D. Koster,et al.  Assessment of MERRA-2 Land Surface Hydrology Estimates , 2017 .

[2]  Isaac M. Held,et al.  A Comparison of Modeled and Observed Relationships between Interannual Variations of Water Vapor and Temperature , 1996 .

[3]  Alberto M. Mestas-Nuñez,et al.  The Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation and its relation to rainfall and river flows in the continental U.S. , 2001 .

[4]  C. Frantzidis,et al.  Response to Reviewers Reviewer #1 , 2010 .

[5]  S. Xie,et al.  Interdecadal Amplitude Modulation of El Niño–Southern Oscillation and Its Impact on Tropical Pacific Decadal Variability* , 2013 .

[6]  B. Soden,et al.  Robust Responses of the Hydrological Cycle to Global Warming , 2006 .

[7]  R. Koster,et al.  Assessment and Enhancement of MERRA Land Surface Hydrology Estimates , 2011 .

[8]  D. Mocko,et al.  Evaluating Observation Influence on Regional Water Budgets in Reanalyses , 2015 .

[9]  Michael G. Bosilovich,et al.  Global Energy and Water Budgets in MERRA , 2011 .

[10]  J. Lean,et al.  Modeling the Sun’s Magnetic Field and Irradiance since 1713 , 2005 .

[11]  S. Schubert,et al.  MERRA: NASA’s Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications , 2011 .

[12]  S. Seneviratne,et al.  Global intercomparison of 12 land surface heat flux estimates , 2011 .

[13]  S. Xie,et al.  Muted precipitation increase in global warming simulations: A surface evaporation perspective , 2008 .

[14]  Kevin E. Trenberth,et al.  Atmospheric Moisture Transports from Ocean to Land and Global Energy Flows in Reanalyses , 2011 .

[15]  J. Janowiak,et al.  The Version 2 Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) Monthly Precipitation Analysis (1979-Present) , 2003 .

[16]  E. Fetzer,et al.  The Observed State of the Water Cycle in the Early Twenty-First Century , 2015 .

[17]  John M. Forsythe,et al.  The GEWEX Water Vapor Assessment: Results from Intercomparison, Trend, and Homogeneity Analysis of Total Column Water Vapor , 2016 .

[18]  R. Koster,et al.  Land Surface Precipitation in MERRA-2 , 2017 .

[19]  M. Bosilovich,et al.  The Effect of Satellite Observing System Changes on MERRA Water and Energy Fluxes , 2011 .

[20]  C. Kobayashi,et al.  The JRA-55 Reanalysis: General Specifications and Basic Characteristics , 2015 .

[21]  Ricardo Todling,et al.  Maintaining atmospheric mass and water balance in reanalyses , 2016, Quarterly journal of the Royal Meteorological Society. Royal Meteorological Society.

[22]  M. Kanamitsu,et al.  CSE Water and Energy Budgets in the NCEP–DOE Reanalysis II , 2002 .

[23]  D. Dee,et al.  ERA‐20CM: a twentieth‐century atmospheric model ensemble , 2015 .

[24]  Uang,et al.  The NCEP Climate Forecast System Reanalysis , 2010 .

[25]  Michael G. Bosilovich,et al.  Evaluation of Global Precipitation in Reanalyses , 2008 .

[26]  F. Wentz,et al.  Construction of the RSS V3.2 Lower-Tropospheric Temperature Dataset from the MSU and AMSU Microwave Sounders , 2009 .

[27]  J. Thepaut,et al.  The ERA‐Interim reanalysis: configuration and performance of the data assimilation system , 2011 .

[28]  C. Kummerow,et al.  An Assessment of Atmospheric Water Budget Components over Tropical Oceans , 2014 .

[29]  Judith Lean,et al.  Evolution of the Sun's Spectral Irradiance Since the Maunder Minimum , 2000 .

[30]  S. Power,et al.  Inter-decadal modulation of the impact of ENSO on Australia , 1999 .

[31]  P. Jones,et al.  The Twentieth Century Reanalysis Project , 2009 .

[32]  M. Bosilovich,et al.  Consistency of Estimated Global Water Cycle Variations Over the Satellite Era , 2014 .

[33]  T. Delworth,et al.  Impact of Atlantic multidecadal oscillations on India/Sahel rainfall and Atlantic hurricanes , 2006 .

[34]  J. Thepaut,et al.  ERA-20C: An Atmospheric Reanalysis of the Twentieth Century , 2016 .

[35]  Yayoi Harada,et al.  The Japanese 55-year Reanalysis "JRA-55": An Interim Report , 2011 .