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A Comparison Between Station Observations and Reanalysis Data in the Identification of Extreme Temperature Events
Author(s) -
Sheridan Scott C.,
Lee Cameron C.,
Smith Erik T.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2020gl088120
Subject(s) - climatology , environmental science , extreme cold , heat wave , extreme heat , cold wave , middle latitudes , arctic , the arctic , meteorology , climate change , geography , geology , oceanography
While many studies comparing atmospheric reanalysis and surface observations have focused on the similarity of mean fields, trends, or frequencies of extreme events, very few have assessed how similar surface observations and reanalysis data sets are in terms of their specific identification of extreme temperature event days. Here, we assess the similarity between surface observations and three reanalysis products: ERA5, ERA5‐LAND, and NARR, in terms of the days on which they identify extreme heat and cold events for the period 1979–2016 at 230 locations in the United States and Canada. Cold events have a greater match than heat events. ERA5 has the greatest match percentage with station data across the study region. Match percentage is greatest in midlatitude, continental locations, with poorer performance in coastal areas, and the Arctic.