Different data, different general circulations? A comparison of selected fields in NCEP/DOE AMIP-II and ECMWF ERA-40 reanalyses

Abstract

Reanalysis datasets have been very popular for understanding the general circulation as well as verifying general circulation models. The most recent versions of global reanalysis datasets prepared by ECMWF (“ERA-40”) and NCEP (“NDRa2”) are examined in this article. The NDRa2 data are regridded to the resolution (2.5° × 2.5° longitude and latitude) of the ERA-40 public data. Primary variables that both relate to the atmosphere's general circulation and are readily available are compared and contrasted. Significant differences are found in the primary circulation variables and energetics. The zonal mean Hadley cells are stronger in ERA-40, but differences in temperature and moisture make the poleward heat transport by the cells more similar in the two datasets. The subtropical and polar night jet streams are stronger in ERA-40 data as is kinetic energy. The surface energy budgets differ in that ERA-40 data have greater sensible heat flux into the air, while NDRa2 data have greater latent heat flux. The result is NDRa2 has more moisture in the subtropics; ERA-40 data have more moisture in the tropics. Geographically, the two datasets have notable differences in their treatment of the intertropical convergence zone (ICZ). The ICZ over the Atlantic and eastern Pacific is narrower and stronger in ERA-40 data. The ICZ over the western Pacific and Indian oceans is generally stronger in NDRa2 data, one consequence is a stronger tropical easterly jet in NDRa2 data over the Indian Ocean in JJA. Both datasets have a double ICZ in the western half of the Pacific in DJF; in JJA ERA-40 retains that double ICZ but NDRa2 largely does not. Beyond the handling of the ICZ, the datasets differ in tropical zonal mean zonal wind, ERA-40 data in DJF has zonal mean upper troposphere tropical westerlies where NDRa2 data have easterlies; this difference may imply a different amount of interhemispheric communication. The datasets also have strong disagreements in regions of large-scale higher topography.