Articles | Volume 20, issue 14
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-8989-2020
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-8989-2020
Research article
 | 
29 Jul 2020
Research article |  | 29 Jul 2020

Differences in tropical high clouds among reanalyses: origins and radiative impacts

Jonathon S. Wright, Xiaoyi Sun, Paul Konopka, Kirstin Krüger, Bernard Legras, Andrea M. Molod, Susann Tegtmeier, Guang J. Zhang, and Xi Zhao

Data sets

ERA-Interim Public Archive ECMWF https://apps.ecmwf.int/datasets/data/interim-full-daily

ERA-Interim Archive Catalogue ECMWF https://apps.ecmwf.int/archive-catalogue/?class=ei

ECMWF Web API ECMWF https://confluence.ecmwf.int/display/WEBAPI/

ERA5 hourly data on single levels from 1979 to present ECMWF https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.adbb2d47

ERA5 hourly data on pressure levels from 1979 to present ECMWF https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.bd0915c6

ERA5 Catalogue ECMWF https://apps.ecmwf.int/data-catalogues/era5

ECMWF Web API ECMWF https://confluence.ecmwf.int/display/WEBAPI/

NCEP Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) 6-hourly Products, January 1979 to December 2010 S. Saha, S. Moorthi, H. Pan, X. Wu, J. Wang, S. Nadiga, P. Tripp, R. Kistler, J. Woollen, D. Behringer, H. Liu, D. Stokes, R. Grumbine, G. Gayno, J. Wang, Y. Hou, H. Chuang, H. H. Juang, J. Sela, M. Iredell, R. Treadon, D. Kleist, P. Van Delst, D. Keyser, J. Derber, M. Ek, J. Meng, H. Wei, R. Yang, S. Lord, H. van den Dool, A. Kumar, W. Wang, C. Long, M. Chelliah, Y. Xue, B. Huang, J. Schemm, W. Ebisuzaki, R. Lin, P. Xie, M. Chen, S. Zhou, W. Higgins, C. Zou, Q. Liu, Y. Chen, Y. Han, L. Cucurull, R. W. Reynolds, G. Rutledge, and M. Goldberg https://doi.org/10.5065/D69K487J

NCEP Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) Monthly Products, January 1979 to December 2010 S. Saha, S. Moorthi, H. Pan, X. Wu, J. Wang, S. Nadiga, P. Tripp, R. Kistler, J. Woollen, D. Behringer, H. Liu, D. Stokes, R. Grumbine, G. Gayno, J. Wang, Y. Hou, H. Chuang, H. H. Juang, J. Sela, M. Iredell, R. Treadon, D. Kleist, P. V. Delst, D. Keyser, J. Derber, M. Ek, J. Meng, H. Wei, R. Yang, S. Lord, H. van den Dool, A. Kumar, W. Wang, C. Long, M. Chelliah, Y. Xue, B. Huang, J. Schemm, W. Ebisuzaki, R. Lin, P. Xie, M. Chen, S. Zhou, W. Higgins, C. Zou, Q. Liu, Y. Chen, Y. Han, L. Cucurull, R. W. Reynolds, G. Rutledge, and M. Goldberg https://doi.org/10.5065/D6DN438J

The NCEP Climate Forecast System Reanalysis S. Saha, S. Moorthi, H.-L. Pan, X. Wu, J. Wang, S. Nadiga, P. Tripp, R. Kistler, J. Woollen, D. Behringer, H. Liu, D. Stokes, R. Grumbine, G. Gayno, J. Wang, Y.-T. Hou, H.-Y. Chuang, H.-M. H. Juang, J. Sela, M. Iredell, R. Treadon, D. Kleist, P. Van Delst, D. Keyser, J. Derber, M. Ek, J. Meng, H. Wei, R. Yang, S. Lord, H.Van Den Dool, A. Kumar, W. Wang, C. Long, M. Chelliah, Y. Xue, B. Huang, J.-K. Schemm, W. Ebisuzaki, R. Lin, P. Xie, M. Chen, S. Zhou, W. Higgins, C.-Z. Zou, Q. Liu, Y. Chen, Y. Han, L. Cucurull, R. W. Reynolds, G. Rutledge, and M. Goldberg https://doi.org/10.1175/2010BAMS3001.1

NCEP Climate Forecast System Version 2 (CFSv2) Monthly Products S. Saha, S. Moorthi, X. Wu, J. Wang, S. Nadiga, P. Tripp, D. Behringer, Y. Hou, H. Chuang, M. Iredell, M. Ek, J. Meng, R. Yang, M. P. Mendez, H. van den Dool, Q. Zhang, W. Wang, M. Chen, and E. Becker https://doi.org/10.5065/D69021ZF

instM_3d_asm_Cp: MERRA 3D IAU State, Meteorology Monthly Mean V5.2.0 GMAO https://doi.org/10.5067/YX0AVASQRTNW

tavgM_3d_rad_Cp: MERRA 3D IAU Diagnostic, Radiation, Monthly Mean V5.2.0 GMAO https://doi.org/10.5067/7SCF81BU67P5

MERRA-2 inst3_3d_asm_Np: 3d,3-Hourly, Instantaneous,Pressure-Level, Assimilation, Assimilated Meteorological Fields V5.12.4 GMAO https://doi.org/10.5067/QBZ6MG944HW0

MERRA-2 tavg1_2d_rad_Nx: 2d,1-Hourly,Time-Averaged,Single-Level, Assimilation, Radiation Diagnostics V5.12.4 GMAO https://doi.org/10.5067/Q9QMY5PBNV1T

MERRA-2 tavg3_3d_rad_Np: 3d,3-Hourly,Time-Averaged,Pressure-Level, Assimilation, Radiation Diagnostics V5.12.4 GMAO https://doi.org/10.5067/3UGE8WQXZAOK

MERRA-2 inst6_3d_ana_Np: 3d,6-Hourly,Instantaneous,Pressure-Level, Analysis, Analyzed Meteorological Fields V5.12.4 GMAO https://doi.org/10.5067/A7S6XP56VZWS

MERRA-2 instM_3d_asm_Np: 3d,Monthly mean,Instantaneous,Pressure-Level, Assimilation, Assimilated Meteorological Fields V5.12.4 GMAO https://doi.org/10.5067/2E096JV59PK7

MERRA-2 tavgM_2d_rad_Nx: 2d,Monthly mean,Time-Averaged,Single-Level, Assimilation, Radiation Diagnostics V5.12.4 GMAO https://doi.org/10.5067/OU3HJDS973O0

MERRA-2 tavgM_3d_rad_Np: 3d, Monthly mean,Time-Averaged,Pressure-Level, Assimilation, Radiation Diagnostics V5.12.4 GMAO https://doi.org/10.5067/H3YGROBVBGFJ

CERES Energy Balanced and Filled~(EBAF) TOA and Surface Monthly means data in netCDF Edition 4.1 D. R. Doelling https://doi.org/10.5067/TERRA-AQUA/CERES/EBAF_L3B.004.1

CERES SYN1DEG-DAYTerra+Aqua - Edition 4A, NASA Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) D. R. Doelling https://doi.org/10.5067/terra+aqua/ceres/syn1degday_l3.004a

AIRS/Aqua L3 Daily Standard Physical Retrieval (AIRS+AMSU) 1 degree x 1 degree V006 AIRS Science Team and J. Teixeira https://doi.org/10.5067/Aqua/AIRS/DATA301

GCM-Oriented CALIPSO Cloud Product: 3D Cloud Fraction, version 3.1.2 CFMIP https://climserv.ipsl.polytechnique.fr/cfmip-obs/

Cloudsat and CALIPSO Ice Cloud Property Product (2C-ICE), P1_R05 CloudSat Data Processing Center http://www.cloudsat.cira.colostate.edu/data-products/level-2c/2c-ice

SRB REL3.1 LW MONTHLY Data SRB Science Team https://doi.org/10.5067/SRB/REL3.1_LW_MONTHLY_NC_L2

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Short summary
High clouds are influential in tropical climate. Although reanalysis cloud fields are essentially model products, they are indirectly constrained by observations and offer global coverage with direct links to advanced water and energy cycle metrics, giving them many useful applications. We describe how high cloud fields are generated in reanalyses, assess their realism and reliability in the tropics, and evaluate how differences in these fields affect other aspects of the reanalysis state.
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