ADVANCES IN POLAR SCIENCE ›› 2015, Vol. 27 ›› Issue (1): 56-64.DOI: 10.13679/j.jdyj.2015.1.056

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EVALUATION OF FOUR REANALYSIS RADIATION DATASETS FROM THE EAST ANTARCTIC PLATEAU

Fu Liang1, Bian Linggen1, Xiao Cunde1,2, Ding Minghu1   

  1.  
    1Chineseacademy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
    2State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
  • Received:2014-01-14 Revised:2014-02-19 Online:2015-03-30 Published:2015-03-30
  • Contact: LinGen BIAN

Abstract: We assessed the correspondence of reanalysis radiation from NCEP-1, NCEP-2, ERA interim, and JCDAS with observational data from the Panda-1 station on the east Antarctic plateau for February 2011 to January 2012. Results indicate that the applicability of ERA interim radiation data at Panda-1 was significantly better than for the other three datasets. This could be attributed mainly to the application of a four-dimensional variational data assimilation system: a new cloud prediction equation, an improved Parameterization scheme, and greater assimilation of satellite and radar data. For downward shortwave radiation, the maximum bias (18.7 W·m-2) was found between NCEP-1 and the observations. One possible cause could be model overestimation of atmospheric transparency and underestimation of cloud coverage. Net shortwave radiation bias is caused mainly by the bias of albedo. NCEP-1 and JCDAS underestimated the surface albedo in the Panda-1 area, which meant greater ground absorption of downward shortwave radiation and overestimation of net shortwave radiation. All reanalysis datasets overestimated downward longwave radiation to some degree and the bias in winter was larger than in summer; the largest bias was found in NCEP-1 and NCEP-2 (−62.6 W·m-2 and -37.3 W·m-2, respectively). None of the reanalysis datasets could reflect the annual variation of net radiation, i.e., smaller bias in summer, larger bias in winter. Even though the reanalysis datasets have obvious shortcomings, the lack of observation stations on the Antarctica plateau means that observational data cannot satisfy research requirements and thus, reanalysis datasets remain effective tools in Antarctic climate research.

Key words: East Antarctic, radiation, reanalysis, applicability