The impact of SST resolution change in the ERA-Interim reanalysis on wintertime Gulf Stream frontal air-sea interaction
File(s)Parfitt_et_al_2017_GRL_248604.pdf (15.59 MB)
Published version
Author(s)
Parfitt, R
Czaja, A
Kwon, Y-O
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
This paper examines the sensitivity to a change in sea surface temperature (SST) resolution of the interaction between atmospheric and oceanic fronts in the Gulf Stream region in the ERA-Interim reanalysis data set. Two periods are considered, January 1979 to December 2001 (SST resolution 1° × 1°) and December 2010 to February 2016 (SST resolution 0.05° × 0.05°). The winter season from the latter 6 years of high-resolution SST is compared against six random periods of six wintertime seasons from the low-resolution SST period, to assess the robustness of the result against natural climate variability. In all comparisons, a significant change in frontal air-sea sensible heat flux exchange is found that is highly correlated to the change in mean SST gradient. This leads to both increases and decreases in occurrence of atmospheric fronts and mean precipitation of up to 30%. These results reemphasize the importance of high SST resolution in resolving the influence of oceanic fronts on weather and climate.
Date Issued
2017-04-01
Date Acceptance
2017-03-22
Citation
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, 2017, 44 (7), pp.3246-3254
ISSN
0094-8276
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
Start Page
3246
End Page
3254
Journal / Book Title
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
Volume
44
Issue
7
Copyright Statement
© 2017 American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. Parfitt, R., A. Czaja, and Y.-O. Kwon (2017), The impact of SST resolution change in the ERA-Interim reanalysis on wintertime Gulf Stream frontal air-sea interaction, Geophys. Res. Lett., 44, 3246–3254, doi:10.1002/2017GL073028. To view the published open abstract, go to https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2017GL073028
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000400186500032&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Subjects
Science & Technology
Physical Sciences
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Geology
frontal air-sea interaction
oceanic fronts
atmospheric fronts
ERA-Interim
midlatitude climate variability
ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY-LAYER
KUROSHIO EXTENSION
SURFACE TEMPERATURE
PERTURBATIONS
SENSITIVITY
IMPRINTS
SYSTEM
WINDS
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
MD Multidisciplinary
Publication Status
Published