Evaporation–Precipitation Variability over the Mediterranean and the Black Seas from Satellite and Reanalysis Estimates

Abstract Satellite retrievals of surface evaporation and precipitation from the Hamburg Ocean Atmosphere Parameters and Fluxes from Satellite Data (HOAPS-3) dataset are used to document the distribution of evaporation, precipitation, and freshwater flux over the Mediterranean and Black Seas. An analysis is provided of the major scales of temporal and spatial variability of the freshwater budget and the atmospheric processes responsible for the water flux changes. The satellite evaporation fluxes are compared with fields from three different reanalysis datasets [40-yr ECMWF Re-Analysis (ERA-40), ERA-Interim, and NCEP]. The results show a water deficit in the Mediterranean region that averages to about 2.4 mm day−1 but with a significant east–west asymmetry ranging from 3.5 mm day−1 in the eastern part to about 1.1 mm day−1 in the western part of the basin. The zonal asymmetry in the water deficit is driven by evaporation differences that are in turn determined by variability in the air–sea humidity differe...

[1]  Dimitrios Georgopoulos,et al.  Recent Changes in Eastern Mediterranean Deep Waters , 1996, Science.

[2]  A. Sterl,et al.  The ERA‐40 re‐analysis , 2005 .

[3]  R. Reynolds,et al.  The NCEP/NCAR 40-Year Reanalysis Project , 1996, Renewable Energy.

[4]  F. Giorgi,et al.  Variability and trends of sub-continental scale surface climate in the twentieth century. Part II: AOGCM simulations , 2002 .

[5]  Nadia Pinardi,et al.  A model study of air–sea interactions in the Mediterranean Sea , 1998 .

[6]  B. Weare,et al.  Uncertainties in Global Ocean Surface Heat Flux Climatologies Derived from Ship Observations , 1995 .

[7]  F. Giorgi,et al.  Variability and trends of sub-continental scale surface climate in the twentieth century. Part I: observations , 2002 .

[8]  B. Barnier,et al.  Seasonal and inter-annual variations in the surface freshwater flux in the Mediterranean Sea from the ECMWF re-analysis project , 2000 .

[9]  R. Rosen,et al.  Atmospheric moisture transport and the water balance of the Mediterranean Sea , 1982 .

[10]  G. Tselioudis,et al.  GCM intercomparison of global cloud regimes: present-day evaluation and climate change response , 2007 .

[11]  S. Josey.  Changes in the heat and freshwater forcing of the eastern Mediterranean and their influence on deep water formation , 2003 .

[12]  J. Räisänen.  CO2-Induced Changes in Interannual Temperature and Precipitation Variability in 19 CMIP2 Experiments , 2002 .

[13]  Lennart Bengtsson,et al.  Storm Tracks and Climate Change , 2006 .

[14]  Heiko Paeth,et al.  Mediterranean climate variability over the last centuries: a review , 2006 .

[15]  D. Bourras.  Comparison of Five Satellite-Derived Latent Heat Flux Products to Moored Buoy Data , 2006 .

[16]  J. Hurrell.  Decadal Trends in the North Atlantic Oscillation: Regional Temperatures and Precipitation , 1995, Science.

[17]  D. Hainbucher,et al.  A large abrupt change in the abyssal water masses of the eastern Mediterranean , 2007 .

[18]  S. Castellari,et al.  Air-sea fluxes from operational analyses fields: Intercomparison between ECMWF and NCEP analyses over the Mediterranean area , 1998 .

[19]  E. Stanev,et al.  Oceanic response to atmospheric forcing derived from different climatic data sets. Intercomparison study for the Black Sea , 1998 .

[20]  Axel Andersson,et al.  Satellite derived precipitation and freshwater flux variability and its dependence on the North Atlantic Oscillation , 2010 .

[21]  Paul Berrisford,et al.  The ERA-Interim Archive , 2009 .

[22]  Bernard Gentili,et al.  Functioning of the Mediterranean Sea: past and present changes related to freshwater input and climate changes , 1999 .

[23]  P. Schluessel,et al.  The Hamburg Ocean-Atmosphere Parameters and Fluxes from Satellite Data (HOAPS): A climatological atlas of satellite-derived air-sea interaction parameters over the world oceans , 2000 .

[24]  K. Lau,et al.  The Hydrological Cycle in the Mediterranean Region and Implications for the Water Budget of the Mediterranean Sea , 2002 .

[25]  Robert Atlas,et al.  A Comparison of Latent Heat Fluxes over Global Oceans for Four Flux Products , 2004 .

[26]  Elizabeth C. Kent,et al.  The Southampton Oceanography Centre (SOC) Ocean - Atmosphere, Heat, Momentum and Freshwater Flux Atlas , 1998 .

[27]  Chris Garrett,et al.  Heat flux parameterizations for the Mediterranean sea : the role of atmospheric aerosols and constraints from the water budget , 1994 .

[28]  E. F. Bradley,et al.  Bulk parameterization of air‐sea fluxes for Tropical Ocean‐Global Atmosphere Coupled‐Ocean Atmosphere Response Experiment , 1996 .