Validation and correction of regionalised ERA-40 wind fields over the Baltic Sea using the Rossby Centre Atmosphere model RCA3.0

Typ: Rapport
Serie: Oceanografi 97
Författare: Anders Höglund, H.E. Markus Meier, Barry Broman, Ekaterini Kriez
Publicerad:

Sammanfattning

Surface wind fields from ERA-40 regionalised with the Rossby Centre Atmosphere model RCA3.0 are underestimated. In this report a method for correcting the wind fields is evaluated. The method is based on the empirical linear relationship between gusty winds and mean wind. For the validation observations from 26 automatic stations along the Swedish coasts have been used. We found that the validation of wind over the open sea is difficult due to the impact of land that cannot be resolved properly by the atmospheric model as the horizontal grid resolution amounts to about 25 km. In addition, long homogeneous wind data sets are not available due to a switch from manual to automatic readings during the 1990s. The results show that the correction method improves the frequency distribution of simulated wind speed at most stations. Thus the corrected wind fields may be used to force Baltic Sea models during 1961-2004. However, the suggested correction method should be regarded only as a temporary solution while waiting for improved boundary layer