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ICDC
CENIntegrated Climate Data Center ICDC

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Ocean Reanalyses Intercomparison Project ORAIP

List of ocean reanalysis products entering the inter-comparison.

Topics

Access

UNRESTRICTED:

RESTRICTED: This link to the data set is only available for a restricted user group.  The data set is only accessible in CEN/MPI net or accessible from external nets with a customer account.  Please contact ICDC if you would like to access this data from outside the network.

  • Data access via file system: /data/icdc/ocean_syntheses/oraip/

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Description

Organized by CLIVAR GSOP and GODAE OceanView, the Ocean Reanalysis Intercomparison project (ORA-IP) was initiated in 2011 to facilitate a first step toward evaluating ocean reanalysis products by estimating the noise from the ensemble spread and to gain insight into ocean variability by considering ensemble means. To this end, the reanalyses producers provided relevant information (gridded fields of basic primary variables) in easy to use formats to enable the intercomparison of available products. The intercomparisons were carried out by several processing centers and the results were presented in 2012 at WHOI and in 2013 at ECMWF. A special issue of Climate Dynamics will by published in 2016 and respective articles are already available online as listed further below in the references. The repository here makes the data used for the inter comparison available to everyone. Although not every variable is available for every reanalysis product most products listed in the Ocean Synthesis/Reanalysis Directory participated and delivered data to the intercomparison.

The following parameters are already available at ICDC's ftp server:

  • AMOC
  • Heat Content
  • Mixed Layer Depth
  • Salinity Content
  • Sea ice
  • Steric Sea Level
  • Heat Fluxes

There are also reanalyses mean (MMM) potential temperature and salinity averaged from 1993-2010 (see FTP download link) and in five vertical layers of 0-100, 100-300, 300-700, 700-1500 and 1500-3000 metres. Geographically temperature and salinity are available in Eurasian and Amerasian basins of the Arctic Ocean, and in the Antarctic region of the Southern Ocean. In the Arctic domains temperature and salinity are ten product means (C-GLORS025v5, ECDA3, GECCO2, GloSea5-GO5, GLORYS2V4, MOVE-G2i, ORAP5, SODA3.3.1, TOPAZ4, UoR025.1) and in the Antarctic region nine product means (C-GLORS025v5, ECDA3, GECCO2, GloSea5-GO5, GLORYS2V4, MOVE-G2i, ORAP5, SODA3.3.1, UoR025.1). Full details of data are described by Uotila et al. (2018) "An assessment of ten ocean reanalyses in the polar region" (see references).

The table at the top shows a list of Ocean Reanalysis products entering the inter-comparison.

Last update of data set at ICDC:

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Parameters

Parameters of the ORA IP data set
NameUnit
AMOC km
heat content C m
mixed layer depth m
salinity content psu m
sea ice (concentration, thickness, velocity and snow)
steric sea level m
heat fluxes W m^-2

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Coverage, spatial and temporal resolution

Period and temporal resolution:

  • 1993-2010
  • monthly data

Coverage and spatial resolution:

  • 1°x1°

Format:

  • NetCDF

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Data quality

Please take a look at the references for information about the data quality.

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Contact

Name: Magdalena Alonso Balmaseda
Institute: ECMWF
Email: magdalena.balmaseda (at) ecmwf.int

Air-Sea Heat Flux and SST:
Name: Maria Valdivieso
Institute: Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, Reading, UK
Email: m.valdiviesodacosta (at) reading.ac.uk

AMOC:
Name: Alicia Karspeck
Institute: Climate and Global Dynamics National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO
Email: aliciak (at) ucar.edu

Heat Content:
Name: Mathew Palmer
Institute: MetOffice
Email: matthew.palmer (at) metoffice.gov.uk

Mixed Layer Depth:
Name: Takahiro Toyoda
Institute: MRI / JMA
Email: ttoyoda (at) mri-jma.go.jp

Salinity:
Name: Li Shi
Institute: bom.gov.au
Email: L.Shi (at) bom.gov.au

Sea Ice:
Name: Matthieu Chevallier
Institute: CNRM/GMGEC/ASTER Météo-France
Email: matthieu.chevallier (at) meteo.fr

Steric Sea Level:
Name: Andrea Storto
Institute: Euro-Mediterranean Centre for Climate Change (CMCC)
Email: andrea.storto (at) cmcc.it

Remon Sadikni
ICDC / CEN / University of Hamburg
E-Mail: remon.sadikni"AT"uni-hamburg.de

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References

Literature:

  • Balmaseda, M. A., F. Hernandez, A. Storto, M. D. Palmer, O. Alves, L. Shi, G. C. Smith, T. Toyoda, M. Valdivieso, B. Barnier, D. Behringer, T. Boyer , Y-S. Chang, G. A. Chepurin, N. Ferry, G. Forget, Y. Fujii, S. Good, S. Guinehut, K. Haines, Y. Ishikawa, S. Keeley, A. Köhl, T. Lee, M. Martin, S. Masina, S. Masuda, B. Meyssignac, K. Mogensen, L. Parent, K. A. Peterson, Y. M. Tang, Y. Yin, G. Vernieres, X. Wang, J. Waters, R. Wedd , O. Wang, Y. Xue, M. Chevallier, J-F. Lemieux, F. Dupont, T. Kuragano, M. Kamachi, T. Awaji, A. Caltabiano, K. Wilmer-Becker, F. Gaillard (2014), The Ocean Reanalyses Intercomparison Project (ORA-IP), J. Operational Oceanogr., *8*, S1, s80–s97, 10.1080/1755876X.2015.1022329.

  • Palmer, M. D., Roberts, C. D., Balmaseda, M., Chang, Y. S., Chepurin, G., Ferry, N., Y. Fujii, S. A. Good, S. Guinehut, K. Haines, F. Hernandez, A. Köhl, T. Lee, M. J. Martin, S. Masina, S. Masuda, K. A. Peterson, A. Storto, T. Toyoda, M. Valdivieso, G. Vernieres, O. Wang, Xue, Y. (2015). Ocean heat content variability and change in an ensemble of ocean reanalyses. Climate Dynamics, doi:10.1007/s00382-015-2801-0

  • Toyoda T., Y. Fujii, T. Kuragano, M. Kamachi, Y. Ishikawa, S. Masuda, K. Sato, T. Awaji, F. Hernandez, N. Ferry, S, Guinehut, M. Martin, K. A. Peterson, S. A. Good, M. Valdivieso, K. Haines, A. Storto, S. Masina, A. Köhl, H. Zuo, M. Balmaseda, Y. Yin, Li Shi, O. Alves, G. Smith, Y.-S. Chang, G. Vernieres, X. Wang, G. Forget, P. Heimbach, O. Wang, I. Fukumori, T. Lee (2015) Intercomparison and validation of the mixed layer depth fields of global ocean syntheses. Climate Dynamics, 22-41.DOI 10.1007/s00382-015-2637-7

  • Toyoda T., Y. Fujii, T. Kuragano, M. Kamachi, Y. Ishikawa, S. Masuda, K. Sato, T. Awaji, F. Hernandez, N. Ferry, S, Guinehut, M. Martin, K. A. Peterson, S. A. Good, M. Valdivieso, K. Haines, A. Storto, S. Masina, A. Köhl, H. Zuo, M. Balmaseda, Y. Yin, Li Shi, O. Alves, G. Smith, Y.-S. Chang, G. Vernieres, X. Wang, G. Forget, P. Heimbach, O. Wang, I. Fukumori, T. Lee (2015) Interannual-decadal variability of wintertime mixed layer depths in the North Pacific detected by an ensemble of ocean syntheses, Climate Dynamics, DOI 10.1007/s00382-015-2762-3

  • L. Shi , O. Alves, R. Wedd, M. A. Balmaseda, Y. Chang, G. Chepurin, N. Ferry, Y. Fujii, F. Gaillard, S. A. Good, S. Guinehut, K. Haines, F. Hernandez, T. Lee, M. Palmer, K.A. Peterson, S. Masuda, A. Storto, T. Toyoda, M. Valdivieso, G. Vernieres, X. Wang, Y. Yin (2015) An assessment of upper ocean salinity content from the Ocean Reanalyses Inter-comparison Project (ORA-IP), Climate Dynamics, 10.1007/s00382-015-2868-7

  • Chevallier M., G. C. Smith, F. Dupont, J.-F. Lemieux, G. Forget, Y. Fujii, F. Hernandez, R. Msadek, K. A. Peterson, A. Storto, T. Toyoda, M. Valdivieso, G. Vernieres, H. Zuo, M. Balmaseda, Y.-S. Chang, N. Ferry, G. Garric, K. Haines, S. Keeley, R. M. Kovach, T. Kuragano, S. Masina, Y. Tang, H. Tsujino, X. Wang (2015), Intercomparison of the Arctic sea ice cover in global ocean–sea ice reanalyses from the ORA-IP project. Climate Dynamics, 10.1007/s00382-016-2985-y

  • Storto, A., S. Masina, M. Balmaseda, S. Guinehut, Y. Xue, T. Szekely, I. Fukumori, G.Forget, Y.-S. Chang, S. A. Good, A. Köhl, G. Vernieres, N. Ferry, K. A. Peterson, D. Behringer, M. Ishii, S. Masuda, Y. Fujii, T. Toyoda, Y. Yin, M. Valdivieso, B. Barnier, T. Boyer, T. Lee, J. Gourrion, O. Wang, P. Heimbach, A. Rosati, R. Kovach, F. Hernandez, M. J. Martin, M. Kamachi, T. Kuragano, K. Mogensen, O. Alves, K. Haines, X. Wang (2015). Steric sea level variability (1993–2010) in an ensemble of ocean reanalyses and objective analyses. Climate Dynamics, 1-21, DOI 10.1007/s00382-015-2554-9

  • Valdivieso M.,K. Haines,M. Balmaseda,Y.-S. Chang,M. Drevillon,N. Ferry,Y. Fujii,A. Köhl,A. Storto,T. Toyoda,X. ang,J. Waters,Y. Xue,Y. Yin,B. Barnier,F. Hernandez,A. Kumar,T. Lee,S. Masina K. Andrew Peterson (2015) An assessment of air-sea heat fluxes from ocean and coupled reanalyses. Climate Dynamics, DOI: 10.1007/s00382-015-2843-3

  • Karspeck A. R., D. Stammer, A. Köhl, G. Danabasoglu, M. Balmaseda, D. M. Smith, Y. Fujii, S. Zhang, B. Giese, H. Tsujino, A. Rosati (2015) Comparison of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation between 1960 and 2007 in six ocean reanalysis products, Climate Dynamics, doi:10.1007/s00382-015-278

  • Uotila, P., Goosse, H., Haines, K. et al. An assessment of ten ocean reanalyses in the polar regions. Clim Dyn 52, 1613–1650 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-018-4242-z.

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Data citation, License, and Acknowledgments

Please see references for citation information

and with the following acknowledgments:

Thanks to ICDC, CEN, University of Hamburg for data support.

License

The data was published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY-4.0).

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