caa a22 4500 445814098 CHVBK 20180317145220.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170323e20110901xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s10712-011-9114-6 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s10712-011-9114-6 Precipitation Changes in High Southern Latitudes from Global Reanalyses: A Cautionary Tale [Elektronische Daten] [Julien Nicolas, David Bromwich] The temporal consistency of the moisture fields (precipitation, evaporation and total precipitable water) from five global reanalyses is examined over Antarctica and the Southern Ocean during 1989-2009. This concern is important given that (1) global reanalyses are known to be prone to inhomogeneities and artificial trends caused by changes in the observing system, and (2) the period of study has seen a dramatic increase in the volume of satellite observations available for data assimilation. In particular, the study aims to determine whether the recent reanalyses are suitable for investigating changes in Antarctic surface mass balance. The datasets investigated consist of NCEP-2, JRA-25, ERA-Interim, MERRA and CFSR. Strong evidence of spurious changes is found in NCEP-2, JRA-25, MERRA and CFSR, although the magnitude, spatial patterns and timing of these artifacts vary between the reanalyses. MERRA exhibits a jump in Antarctic precipitation-minus-evaporation (P-E) and in Southern Ocean precipitation in the late 1990s. This jump is related to the introduction of sounding radiances from the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU). The impact of AMSU is also discernible, albeit less pronounced, in CFSR data. It is shown that ERA-Interim likely provides the most realistic depiction of the interannual variability and overall change in Antarctic P-E since 1989. We conclude that the presence of spurious changes is not a solved problem in recent global reanalyses. Caution should continue to be exercised when using these datasets for trend analyses in general, particularly in high southern latitudes. Springer Science+Business Media B.V., 2011 Surface mass balance nationallicence Antarctica nationallicence Southern Ocean nationallicence Global reanalyses nationallicence Spurious trends nationallicence Hydrological cycle nationallicence Nicolas Julien Polar Meteorology Group, Byrd Polar Research Center and Atmospheric Sciences Program, Department of Geography, The Ohio State University, 1090 Carmack Rd, 108 Scott Hall, 43210, Columbus, OH, USA aut Bromwich David Polar Meteorology Group, Byrd Polar Research Center and Atmospheric Sciences Program, Department of Geography, The Ohio State University, 1090 Carmack Rd, 108 Scott Hall, 43210, Columbus, OH, USA aut Surveys in Geophysics Springer Netherlands 32/4-5(2011-09-01), 475-494 0169-3298 32:4-5<475 2011 32 10712 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10712-011-9114-6 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10712-011-9114-6 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Nicolas Julien Polar Meteorology Group, Byrd Polar Research Center and Atmospheric Sciences Program, Department of Geography, The Ohio State University, 1090 Carmack Rd, 108 Scott Hall, 43210, Columbus, OH, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Bromwich David Polar Meteorology Group, Byrd Polar Research Center and Atmospheric Sciences Program, Department of Geography, The Ohio State University, 1090 Carmack Rd, 108 Scott Hall, 43210, Columbus, OH, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Surveys in Geophysics Springer Netherlands 32/4-5(2011-09-01), 475-494 0169-3298 32:4-5<475 2011 32 10712 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer