An Assessment of the NCEP Operational Global Spectral Model Forecasts and Analyses for Antarctica during FROST*

Abstract

Abstract Analyses and medium-range numerical weather forecasts produced by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction are evaluated poleward of 50°S during the July 1994 special observing period of the Antarctic First Regional Observing Study of the Troposphere project. Over the Antarctic plateau, the poor representation of the continent’s terrain creates ambiguity in assessing the quality of surface variables. An examination of the vertical temperature profile, however, finds the near-surface temperature inversion strength to be substantially smaller than the observed climatology at the zero forecast hour. This arises from surface temperatures that are warmer than expected. Significant adjustment occurs in a variety of fields over the first few days of the medium-range forecast, which likely results from the initial hour’s suspect temperature profile. A spatially oscillating series of forecast anomalies in the zonally averaged temperature cross section stretches to middle latitudes by day 3. Near-...