Abstract
ERA5 is the latest fifth-generation reanalysis global atmosphere dataset from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, replacing ERA-Interim as the next generation of representative satellite-observational data on the global scale. ERA5 data have been evaluated and applied in different regions, but the performances are inconsistent. Meanwhile, there are few precise evaluations of ERA5 precipitation data over long time series have been performed in Chinese mainland. This study evaluates the temporal-spatial performance of ERA5 precipitation data from 1979 to 2018 based on gridded-ground meteorological station observational data across China. The results showed that ERA5 data could capture the annual and seasonal patterns of observed precipitation in China well, with correlation coefficient values ranging from 0.796 to 0.945, but ERA5 slightly overestimated precipitation in the summer. Nonetheless, the results also showed that the accuracy of the precipitation products was strongly correlated with topographic distribution and climatic divisions. The performance of ERA5 shows spatial inherently across China that the highest correlation coefficient values locate in eastern, Northwestern and North China and the lowest biases locate in Southeast China. This study provides a reliable data assessment of the ERA5 data and precipitation trend analyses in China. The results provide accuracy references for the further use of precipitation satellite data for hydrological calculations and climate numerical simulations.
Highlights
ERA5 is the latest fifth-generation reanalysis global atmosphere dataset from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, replacing ERA-Interim as the generation of representative satellite-observational data on the global scale
This is mainly due to Chinese mainland is located in the typical Asian monsoon region where the monsoonal circulation significantly affects the spatial distribution of precipitation
ERA5 overestimates the annual precipitation in the southeastern part of the Tibetan Plateau (Tibet) Plateau compared to the observation
Summary
ERA5 is the latest fifth-generation reanalysis global atmosphere dataset from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, replacing ERA-Interim as the generation of representative satellite-observational data on the global scale. This study evaluates the temporal-spatial performance of ERA5 precipitation data from 1979 to 2018 based on gridded-ground meteorological station observational data across China. Climate reanalysis data have been widely used in many fields, such as precipitation forecasting[6], temperature prediction[7], soil moisture monitoring[8], ocean m onitoring[9], and environmental protection[10], all of which use the laws of physics to combine model data with observations from around the world into a complete global dataset These data with high spatial-temporal resolution can effectively compensate for the lack of direct ground-based precipitation observations.
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