SPARC Reanalysis/Analysis Intercomparison Project (S-RIP): Climatology and Interannual Variability of Dynamical Variables

The Stratospheric Processes and their Role in Climate (SPARC) is evaluating the earlier and more recent reanalyses and analyses with focus upon the stratosphere. The reanalyses evaluated include the NCEP/NCAR(R1), NCEP/DOE(R2), ERA-40, ERA-Interim, JRA-25, MERRA, NCEP-CFSR, and NOAA-CIRES 20th Century Reanalysis and the CPC temperature/height analyses. An in-depth report will evaluate these reanalyses/analyses with chapters devoted to climatology and interannual variability of dynamical and chemical variables, Brewer-Dobson circulation, strat-trop coupling, the UTLS, polar processes, the QBO, upper stratosphere-lower mesosphere, and gravity waves and tides. This presentation will focus upon the similarities and differences of the various reanalyses' climatologies of thermal and dynamic variables (T, u, v, etc) and their long term anomalies and trends. There is an evolution of the quality of data assimilated from 1979 to present and how the reanalyses use these observations. We will discuss how these differences impact the resulting climatologies , anomalies, and trends. We will also evaluate how the reanalyses replicate other long term temperature observations like the MSU channel 4 and offer explanations as to why there may be differences.