Combining satellite observations and reanalysis energy transports to estimate global net surface energy fluxes 1985-2012

Liu, C., Allan, R. P. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0264-9447, Berrisford, P., Mayer, M., Hyder, P., Loeb, N., Smith, D., Vidale, P.-L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1800-8460 and Edwards, J. M. (2015) Combining satellite observations and reanalysis energy transports to estimate global net surface energy fluxes 1985-2012. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 120 (18). pp. 9374-9389. ISSN 2169-8996 doi: 10.1002/2015JD023264

Abstract/Summary

Two methods are developed to estimate net surface energy fluxes based upon satellite-based reconstructions of radiative fluxes at the top of atmosphere and the atmospheric energy tendencies and transports from the ERA-Interim reanalysis. Method 1 applies the mass adjusted energy divergence from ERA-Interim while method 2 estimates energy divergence based upon the net energy difference at the top of atmosphere and the surface from ERA-Interim. To optimise the surface flux and its variability over ocean, the divergences over land are constrained to match the monthly area mean surface net energy flux variability derived from a simple relationship between the surface net energy flux and the surface temperature change. The energy divergences over the oceans are then adjusted to remove an unphysical residual global mean atmospheric energy divergence. The estimated net surface energy fluxes are compared with other data sets from reanalysis and atmospheric model simulations. The spatial correlation coefficients of multi-annual means between the estimations made here and other data sets are all around 0.9. There are good agreements in area mean anomaly variability over the global ocean, but discrepancies in the trend over the eastern Pacific are apparent.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/41687
Item Type	Article
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences > Department of Meteorology
Publisher	American Geophysical Union
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