Author
Xiaolan L. Wang
Other affiliations: Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, Meteorological Service of Canada
Bio: Xiaolan L. Wang is an academic researcher from Environment Canada. The author has contributed to research in topics: Climate change & Climate model. The author has an hindex of 37, co-authored 74 publications receiving 8746 citations. Previous affiliations of Xiaolan L. Wang include Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute & Meteorological Service of Canada.
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
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University of Colorado Boulder1, Earth System Research Laboratory2, Met Office3, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration4, University of Bern5, ETH Zurich6, University of East Anglia7, Rovira i Virgili University8, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research9, South African Weather Service10, British Antarctic Survey11, University of Milan12, Norwegian Meteorological Institute13, University of Lisbon14, Environment Canada15, National Center for Atmospheric Research16
TL;DR: The Twentieth Century Reanalysis (20CR) dataset as discussed by the authors provides the first estimates of global tropospheric variability, and of the dataset's time-varying quality, from 1871 to the present at 6-hourly temporal and 2° spatial resolutions.
Abstract: The Twentieth Century Reanalysis (20CR) project is an international effort to produce a comprehensive global atmospheric circulation dataset spanning the twentieth century, assimilating only surface pressure reports and using observed monthly sea-surface temperature and sea-ice distributions as boundary conditions. It is chiefly motivated by a need to provide an observational dataset with quantified uncertainties for validations of climate model simulations of the twentieth century on all time-scales, with emphasis on the statistics of daily weather. It uses an Ensemble Kalman Filter data assimilation method with background ‘first guess’ fields supplied by an ensemble of forecasts from a global numerical weather prediction model. This directly yields a global analysis every 6 hours as the most likely state of the atmosphere, and also an uncertainty estimate of that analysis.
The 20CR dataset provides the first estimates of global tropospheric variability, and of the dataset's time-varying quality, from 1871 to the present at 6-hourly temporal and 2° spatial resolutions. Intercomparisons with independent radiosonde data indicate that the reanalyses are generally of high quality. The quality in the extratropical Northern Hemisphere throughout the century is similar to that of current three-day operational NWP forecasts. Intercomparisons over the second half-century of these surface-based reanalyses with other reanalyses that also make use of upper-air and satellite data are equally encouraging.
It is anticipated that the 20CR dataset will be a valuable resource to the climate research community for both model validations and diagnostic studies. Some surprising results are already evident. For instance, the long-term trends of indices representing the North Atlantic Oscillation, the tropical Pacific Walker Circulation, and the Pacific–North American pattern are weak or non-existent over the full period of record. The long-term trends of zonally averaged precipitation minus evaporation also differ in character from those in climate model simulations of the twentieth century. Copyright © 2011 Royal Meteorological Society and Crown Copyright.
3,043 citations
TL;DR: EC-Earth, a new Earth system model based on the operational seasonal forecast system of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), is presented in this paper.
Abstract: EC-Earth, a new Earth system model based on the operational seasonal forecast system of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), is presented. The performance of version 2.2 (V2.2) of the model is compared to observations, reanalysis data and other coupled atmosphere–ocean-sea ice models. The large-scale physical characteristics of the atmosphere, ocean and sea ice are well simulated. When compared to other coupled models with similar complexity, the model performs well in simulating tropospheric fields and dynamic variables, and performs less in simulating surface temperature and fluxes. The surface temperatures are too cold, with the exception of the Southern Ocean region and parts of the Northern Hemisphere extratropics. The main patterns of interannual climate variability are well represented. Experiments with enhanced CO2 concentrations show well-known responses of Arctic amplification, land-sea contrasts, tropospheric warming and stratospheric cooling. The global climate sensitivity of the current version of EC-Earth is slightly less than 1 K/(W m−2). An intensification of the hydrological cycle is found and strong regional changes in precipitation, affecting monsoon characteristics. The results show that a coupled model based on an operational seasonal prediction system can be used for climate studies, supporting emerging seamless prediction strategies.
586 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors assessed trends in seasonal extremes (90- and 99-percentiles) of significant wave height (SWH) in the North Atlantic and the North Pacific, as simulated in a 40-yr global wave hindcast using the National Centers for Environmental Prediction-National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis wind fields.
Abstract: This study assesses trends in seasonal extremes (90- and 99-percentiles) of Significant Wave Height (SWH) in the North Atlantic and the North Pacific, as simulated in a 40-yr global wave hindcast using the National Centers for Environmental Prediction‐National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis wind fields. For the last four decades, statistically significant changes in the seasonal extremes of SWH in the North Atlantic (NA) are detected only for the winter (January‐March) season. These changes are found to be intimately connected with the North Atlantic oscillation (NAO). To be specific, significant increases of SWH in the northeast NA, matched by significant decreases in the subtropical NA, are found to be associated with an intensified Azores high and a deepened Icelandic low. This is consistent with the findings of previous studies based on different datasets. Changes in seasonal extremes of SWH in the North Pacific (NP) are found to be statistically significant for the winter and spring (April‐June) seasons. Significant increases in the extremes of SWH in the central NP are found to be connected with a deeper and eastward extended Aleutian low. For both oceans, no significant trends of SWH are detected for the last century, though significant changes are found in the last four decades. However, multidecadal fluctuations are very noticeable, especially in the North Pacific.
526 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the first community-derived multi-model ensemble of wind-wave climate projections show agreement over extended regions of the global ocean and large uncertainty in available wave-climate projections is found to be due to downscaling methods.
Abstract: Changing wind-wave climate has the potential to exacerbate, or negate, the impacts of sea-level rise in coastal zones. Results from the first community-derived multi-model ensemble of wind-wave climate projections show agreement over extended regions of the global ocean. Large uncertainty in available wave-climate projections is found to be due to downscaling methods.
462 citations
Russian Academy of Sciences1, University of Cologne2, Norwegian Meteorological Institute3, Stockholm University4, University of Salento5, University of Reading6, Environment Canada7, University of Hamburg8, Free University of Berlin9, Shirshov Institute of Oceanology10, European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts11, Hokkaido University12, University of Melbourne13, Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute14, Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research15, University of Birmingham16, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro17, University of Bern18, Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University19, ETH Zurich20, University of Lisbon21
TL;DR: In this article, the variability of results from different automated methods of detection and tracking of extratropical cyclones is assessed in order to identify uncertainties related to the choice of method.
Abstract: The variability of results from different automated methods of detection and tracking of extratropical cyclones is assessed in order to identify uncertainties related to the choice of method. Fifteen international teams applied their own algorithms to the same dataset—the period 1989–2009 of interim European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Re-Analysis (ERAInterim) data. This experiment is part of the community project Intercomparison of Mid Latitude Storm Diagnostics (IMILAST; see www.proclim.ch/imilast/index.html). The spread of results for cyclone frequency, intensity, life cycle, and track location is presented to illustrate the impact of using different methods. Globally, methods agree well for geographical distribution in large oceanic regions, interannual variability of cyclone numbers, geographical patterns of strong trends, and distribution shape for many life cycle characteristics. In contrast, the largest disparities exist for the total numbers of cyclones, the detection of wea...
431 citations
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TL;DR: ERA-Interim as discussed by the authors is the latest global atmospheric reanalysis produced by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), which will extend back to the early part of the twentieth century.
Abstract: ERA-Interim is the latest global atmospheric reanalysis produced by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). The ERA-Interim project was conducted in part to prepare for a new atmospheric reanalysis to replace ERA-40, which will extend back to the early part of the twentieth century. This article describes the forecast model, data assimilation method, and input datasets used to produce ERA-Interim, and discusses the performance of the system. Special emphasis is placed on various difficulties encountered in the production of ERA-40, including the representation of the hydrological cycle, the quality of the stratospheric circulation, and the consistency in time of the reanalysed fields. We provide evidence for substantial improvements in each of these aspects. We also identify areas where further work is needed and describe opportunities and objectives for future reanalysis projects at ECMWF. Copyright © 2011 Royal Meteorological Society
22,055 citations
8,699 citations
TL;DR: The Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) was undertaken by NASA's Global Modeling and Assimilation Office with two primary objectives: to place observations from NASA's Earth Observing System satellites into a climate context and to improve upon the hydrologic cycle represented in earlier generations of reanalyses as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) was undertaken by NASA’s Global Modeling and Assimilation Office with two primary objectives: to place observations from NASA’s Earth Observing System satellites into a climate context and to improve upon the hydrologic cycle represented in earlier generations of reanalyses. Focusing on the satellite era, from 1979 to the present, MERRA has achieved its goals with significant improvements in precipitation and water vapor climatology. Here, a brief overview of the system and some aspects of its performance, including quality assessment diagnostics from innovation and residual statistics, is given.By comparing MERRA with other updated reanalyses [the interim version of the next ECMWF Re-Analysis (ERA-Interim) and the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR)], advances made in this new generation of reanalyses, as well as remaining deficiencies, are identified. Although there is little difference between the new reanalyses i...
4,572 citations
TL;DR: An overview of the MERRA-2 system and various performance metrics is provided, including the assimilation of aerosol observations, several improvements to the representation of the stratosphere including ozone, and improved representations of cryospheric processes.
Abstract: The Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, version 2 (MERRA-2), is the latest atmospheric reanalysis of the modern satellite era produced by NASA’s Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO). MERRA-2 assimilates observation types not available to its predecessor, MERRA, and includes updates to the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) model and analysis scheme so as to provide a viable ongoing climate analysis beyond MERRA’s terminus. While addressing known limitations of MERRA, MERRA-2 is also intended to be a development milestone for a future integrated Earth system analysis (IESA) currently under development at GMAO. This paper provides an overview of the MERRA-2 system and various performance metrics. Among the advances in MERRA-2 relevant to IESA are the assimilation of aerosol observations, several improvements to the representation of the stratosphere including ozone, and improved representations of cryospheric processes. Other improvements in the quality of M...
4,524 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a document, redatto, voted and pubblicato by the Ipcc -Comitato intergovernativo sui cambiamenti climatici - illustra la sintesi delle ricerche svolte su questo tema rilevante.
Abstract: Cause, conseguenze e strategie di mitigazione Proponiamo il primo di una serie di articoli in cui affronteremo l’attuale problema dei mutamenti climatici. Presentiamo il documento redatto, votato e pubblicato dall’Ipcc - Comitato intergovernativo sui cambiamenti climatici - che illustra la sintesi delle ricerche svolte su questo tema rilevante.
4,187 citations