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On the accuracy of general circulation statistics calculated from FGGE data—a comparison of results from two sets of analyses
Author(s) -
Lorenc A. C.,
Swinbank R.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
quarterly journal of the royal meteorological society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.744
H-Index - 143
eISSN - 1477-870X
pISSN - 0035-9009
DOI - 10.1002/qj.49711046608
Subject(s) - statistics , divergence (linguistics) , northern hemisphere , climatology , range (aeronautics) , general circulation model , meteorology , mathematics , geography , geology , philosophy , linguistics , materials science , oceanography , climate change , composite material
Abstract By comparing statistics from two independent sets of analyses, and relating the differences seen to known characteristics of the analysis system, an indication is given of the likely accuracy of typical general circulation statistics calculated from FGGE data. The analyses compared are those made by the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts using the main delayed mode observations, and those made in near real time by the Meteorological Office FGGE analysis system. Examples are given of the accuracy of both zonal means and geographical distributions, for basic time mean fields, for derived fields such as divergence, variances and fluxes, and for budget calculations. It was found that qualitative agreement between the two sets of statistics was very good, even in the tropics and southern hemisphere. Quantitative agreement was also in general good; most of the systematic differences could be traced to known characteristics of the analysis systems.