Spatial-temporal variation characteristics of global evaporation revealed by eight reanalyses

Abstract

On the basis of eight atmospheric reanalyses, we analyzed the spatial-temporal characteristics of global evaporation and also briefly evaluated the eight reanalyses. The results indicate that the long-term mean annual evaporation obtained from different reanalyses are consistent over most regions, with significant maritime-continental contrasts, as well as differences in meridional directions, and the land evaporation generally decreases with the increase of altitude. In addition, the temporal evolution of global evaporation varies significantly among the datasets, MERRA, ERA-Interim, NCEP-NCRA, and NCEP-DOE are very similar, whereas CFSR agrees best with ERA-40. Comparison of the inter-annual to inter-decadal variability of land evaporation reveals large differences among the reanalyses, whereas MERRA, CFSR, and NCEP-DOE are exactly similar. The temporal variation of evaporation over the oceans showed a relatively high consistency, which indicates that the quality of the reconstructed evaporation values over the oceans is higher, and even greater uncertainties lie in the estimates of evaporation over the land. In general, MERRA and NCEP-DOE may appropriately reflect the spatial-temporal characteristics of global evaporation, showing strong representativeness. The CFSR and ERA-40 are capable of revealing the characteristics of land evaporation, whereas ERA-Interim, NCEP-NCAR, OAFlux, and HOAPS are relatively applicable for research focused on the evaporation over the oceans. According to ERA-40, NCEP-NCAR, and OAFlux, global evaporation significantly decreased for the period of 1958-1978. In contrast, most of the eight reanalyses show a significant linear increase for the period of 1979-2011, and evaporation over the oceans was even more pronounced. Furthermore, the results are presented for the mean annual cycle of global evaporation, the changes at the low latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere are most distinct, and the monthly variation amplitude of the land evaporation was higher than that of the evaporation over the oceans.