scholarly journals Climate Signals in the Black Sea From a Multidecadal Eddy-Resolving Reanalysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonardo Lima ◽  
Stefania Angela Ciliberti ◽  
Ali Aydoğdu ◽  
Simona Masina ◽  
Romain Escudier ◽  
...  

Ocean reanalyses are becoming increasingly important to reconstruct and provide an overview of the ocean state from the past to the present-day. In this article, we present a Black Sea reanalysis covering the whole satellite altimetry era. In the scope of the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service, the Black Sea reanalysis system is produced using an advanced variational data assimilation method to combine the best available observations with a state-of-the-art ocean general circulation model. The hydrodynamical model is based on Nucleus for European Modeling of the Ocean, implemented for the Black Sea domain with a horizontal resolution of 1/27°× 1/36°, and 31 unevenly distributed vertical levels. The model is forced by the ECMWF ERA5 atmospheric reanalysis and climatological precipitation, whereas the sea surface temperature is relaxed to daily objective analysis fields. The model is online coupled to OceanVar, a 3D-Var ocean data assimilation scheme, to assimilate sea level anomaly along-track observations and in situ vertical profiles of temperature and salinity. Temperature fields present a continuous warming in the layer between 25 and 150 m, where the Black Sea Cold Intermediate Layer resides. This is an important signal of the Black Sea response to climate change. Sea surface temperature shows a basin-wide positive bias and the root mean square difference can reach 0.75°C along the Turkish coast in summer. The overall surface dynamic topography is well reproduced as well as the reanalysis can represent the main Black Sea circulation such as the Rim Current and the quasi-permanent anticyclonic Sevastopol and Batumi eddies. The system produces very accurate estimates of temperature, salinity and sea level which makes it suitable for understanding the Black Sea physical state in the last decades. Nevertheless, in order to improve the quality of the Black Sea reanalysis, new developments in ocean modeling and data assimilation are still important, and sustaining the Black Sea ocean observing system is crucial.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonardo Lima ◽  
Stefania Angela Ciliberti ◽  
Ali Aydogdu ◽  
Romain Escudier ◽  
Simona Masina ◽  
...  

<p>Ocean reanalyses are becoming increasingly important to reconstruct and provide an overview of the ocean state from the past to the present-day. These products require advanced scientific methods and techniques to produce a more accurate ocean representation. In the scope of the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS), a new Black Sea (BS) reanalysis, BS-REA (BSE3R1 system), has been produced by using an advanced variational data assimilation method to combine the best available observations with a state-of-the-art ocean general circulation model. The hydrodynamical model is based on Nucleus for European Modeling of the Ocean (NEMO, v3.6), implemented for the BS domain with horizontal resolution of 1/27° x 1/36°, and 31 unevenly distributed vertical levels. NEMO is forced by atmospheric surface fluxes computed via bulk formulation and forced by ECMWF ERA5 atmospheric reanalysis product. At the surface, the model temperature is relaxed to daily objective analysis fields of sea surface temperature from CMEMS SST TAC. The exchange with Mediterranean Sea is simulated through relaxation of the temperature and salinity near Bosporus toward a monthly climatology computed from a high-resolution multi-year simulation, and the barotropic Bosporus Strait transport is corrected to balance the variations of the freshwater flux and the sea surface height measured by multi-satellite altimetry observations. A 3D-Var ocean data assimilation scheme (OceanVar) is used to assimilate sea level anomaly along-track observations from CMEMS SL TAC and available in situ vertical profiles of temperature and salinity from both SeaDataNet and CMEMS INS TAC products. Comparisons against the previous Black Sea reanalysis (BSE2R2 system) show important improvements for temperature and salinity, such that errors have significantly decreased (about 50%). Temperature fields present a continuous warming in the layer between 25-150 m, within which there is the presence of the Black Sea Cold Intermediate Layer (CIL). SST exhibits a positive bias and relatively higher root mean square error (RMSE) values are present in the summer season. Spatial maps of sea level anomaly reveal the largest RMSE close to the shelf areas, which are related to the mesoscale activity along the Rim current. The BS-REA catalogue includes daily and monthly means for 3D temperature, salinity, and currents and 2D sea surface height, bottom temperature, mixed layer fields, from Jan 1993 to Dec 2019.  The BSE3R1 system has produced very accurate estimates which makes it very suitable for assessing more realistic climate trends and indicators for important ocean properties.</p>


Ocean Science ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 491-501 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. I. Shapiro ◽  
D. L. Aleynik ◽  
L. D. Mee

Abstract. There is growing understanding that recent deterioration of the Black Sea ecosystem was partly due to changes in the marine physical environment. This study uses high resolution 0.25° climatology to analyze sea surface temperature variability over the 20th century in two contrasting regions of the sea. Results show that the deep Black Sea was cooling during the first three quarters of the century and was warming in the last 15–20 years; on aggregate there was a statistically significant cooling trend. The SST variability over the Western shelf was more volatile and it does not show statistically significant trends. The cooling of the deep Black Sea is at variance with the general trend in the North Atlantic and may be related to the decrease of westerly winds over the Black Sea, and a greater influence of the Siberian anticyclone. The timing of the changeover from cooling to warming coincides with the regime shift in the Black Sea ecosystem.


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 269-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfonso Senatore ◽  
Luca Furnari ◽  
Giuseppe Mendicino

Abstract. Operational meteo-hydrological forecasting chains are affected by many sources of uncertainty. In coastal areas characterized by complex topography, with several medium-to-small size catchments, quantitative precipitation forecast becomes even more challenging due to the interaction of intense air–sea exchanges with coastal orography. For such areas, which are quite common in the Mediterranean Basin, improved representation of sea surface temperature (SST) space–time patterns can be particularly important. The paper focuses on the relative impact of different resolutions of SST representation on regional operational forecasting chains (up to river discharge estimates) over coastal Mediterranean catchments, with respect to two other fundamental options while setting up the system, i.e. the choice of the forcing general circulation model (GCM) and the possible use of a three-dimensional variational assimilation (3D-Var) scheme. Two different kinds of severe hydro-meteorological events that affected the Calabria region (southern Italy) in 2015 are analysed using the WRF-Hydro atmosphere–hydrology modelling system in its uncoupled version. Both of the events are modelled using the 0.25∘ resolution global forecasting system (GFS) and the 16 km resolution integrated forecasting system (IFS) initial and lateral atmospheric boundary conditions, which are from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), applying the WRF mesoscale model for the dynamical downscaling. For the IFS-driven forecasts, the effects of the 3D-Var scheme are also analysed. Finally, native initial and lower boundary SST data are replaced with data from the Medspiration project by Institut Français de Recherche pour L'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)/Centre European Remote Sensing d'Archivage et de Traitement (CERSAT), which have a 24 h time resolution and a 2.2 km spatial resolution. Precipitation estimates are compared with both ground-based and radar data, as well as discharge estimates with stream gauging stations' data. Overall, the experiments highlight that the added value of high-resolution SST representation can be hidden by other more relevant sources of uncertainty, especially the choice of the general circulation model providing the boundary conditions. Nevertheless, in most cases, high-resolution SST fields show a non-negligible impact on the simulation of the atmospheric boundary layer processes, modifying flow dynamics and/or the amount of precipitated water; thus, this emphasizes the fact that uncertainty in SST representation should be duly taken into account in operational forecasting in coastal areas.


2008 ◽  
Vol 363 (1498) ◽  
pp. 1761-1766 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Good ◽  
Jason A Lowe ◽  
Mat Collins ◽  
Wilfran Moufouma-Okia

Future changes in meridional sea surface temperature (SST) gradients in the tropical Atlantic could influence Amazon dry-season precipitation by shifting the patterns of moisture convergence and vertical motion. Unlike for the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, there are no standard indices for quantifying this gradient. Here we describe a method for identifying the SST gradient that is most closely associated with June–August precipitation over the south Amazon. We use an ensemble of atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) integrations forced by observed SST from 1949 to 2005. A large number of tropical Atlantic SST gradient indices are generated randomly and temporal correlations are examined between these indices and June–August precipitation averaged over the Amazon Basin south of the equator. The indices correlating most strongly with June–August southern Amazon precipitation form a cluster of near-meridional orientation centred near the equator. The location of the southern component of the gradient is particularly well defined in a region off the Brazilian tropical coast, consistent with known physical mechanisms. The chosen index appears to capture much of the Atlantic SST influence on simulated southern Amazon dry-season precipitation, and is significantly correlated with observed southern Amazon precipitation. We examine the index in 36 different coupled atmosphere–ocean model projections of climate change under a simple compound 1% increase in CO 2 . Within the large spread of responses, we find a relationship between the projected trend in the index and the Amazon dry-season precipitation trends. Furthermore, the magnitude of the trend relationship is consistent with the inter-annual variability relationship found in the AGCM simulations. This suggests that the index would be of use in quantifying uncertainties in climate change in the region.


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