Extended Abstract (316K)JP2.12
Antarctic Net Precipitation Estimate from NCEP-DOE Reanalysis-2
Chuanyu Xu, U.S. National Ice Center, Washington, DC and QSS Group, Inc., Lanham, MD; and C. Z. Zou and M. L. Van Woert
The Antarctic atmospheric moisture transport and its convergence are investigated for the period 1979-2003 using data from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction-Department of Energy (NCEP-DOE) Reanalysis-2 (R-2). Although R-2 has fixed many of the problems found in the earlier NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis, the dry-air mass is not conserved in R-2 after post-processing the variables onto pressure surface. This dry-air mass imbalance is especially larger in Antarctica because of the complex topography there. To keep atmospheric mass conservation and then get accurate net precipitation estimation, this study solves the residual equations for the mass balance to compute the wind correction term. After adding the wind correction to the R-2 wind profiles, the resulting estimates of net precipitation (moisture convergence) for 1988 over the Antarctic continent (148 mm) generally agree with glaciological observations and other estimates with analyses data. Based on this result, a multiyear temporal variability and trends in the net precipitation are further analyzed for the R-2 datasets. The relationship between the ENSO and West Antarctic precipitation is then discussed and compared to the previous studies with other analysis datasets.
Joint Poster Session 2, Formal Poster Viewing - High Latitude Climate Variability and Change (Joint with the Eight Conference on Polar Meteorology and the 16th symposium on Global Change & Climate Variations)
Thursday, 13 January 2005, 9:45 AM-11:00 AM
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