If you are using
Navigator 4.x
or
Internet Explorer 4.x
or
Omni Web 4.x
, this site will not render
correctly!
gfdl's home page > gfdl on-line bibliography > 1978: Monthly Weather Review, 106(2), 174-195
Adequacy of the rawinsonde network for global circulation studies tested through numerical model output
| Oort, A. H., 1978: Adequacy of the rawinsonde network for global circulation studies tested through numerical model output. Monthly Weather Review, 106(2), 174-195. |
| Abstract: Numerical output
from a GFDL global climate model was used to determine
whether the present distribution of rawinsonde stations is adequate to deduce
the atmospheric structure and its variability in space and time over the
globe. Spatial data gaps were found to cause typical rms wind errors averaged
over a hemisphere of 2 to 3 m s-1, increasing for the zonal wind component to 5 or 6 m s-1 at jet stream levels. In temperature the spatial data gaps led to rms errors
on the order of 0.5 to 1 degree C in the free atmosphere, in geopotential
height between 20 and 30 gpm in the upper troposphere, and in specidic humidity
between 1 and 2 g kg-1 near the surface and about 0.3 g kg-1 at 500 mb. Errors due to instrumental deficiencies, unrepresentativeness of the local soundings, deficiencies in the analysis technique and gaps in the time series were found to be less important than those due to the spatial gaps, even in the Northern Hemipshere. |
| In the Northerm Hemisphere, the rawinsonde network was found to be generally adequate to measure large-scale circulation statistics. However, in the Southern Hemisphere the incorporation of additional data sources (rawinsonde, satellite or otherwise) is necessary, especially for defining the fluxes by the mean meridional and stationary eddy circulations. |