Search Results

You are looking at 1 - 2 of 2 items for :

  • Author or Editor: Neville Smith x
  • Monthly Weather Review x
  • Refine by Access: All Content x
Clear All Modify Search
Guomin Wang
,
Richard Kleeman
,
Neville Smith
, and
Faina Tseitkin

Abstract

An El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) prediction system with a coupled general circulation model and an ocean data assimilation scheme has been developed at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre (BMRC). The coupled model consists of an R21L9 version of the BMRC climate model and a global version of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory modular ocean general circulation model with resolution focused in the tropical region and 25 vertical levels. A univariate statistical interpolation method, with 10-day data ingestion windows, is used to assimilate ocean temperature data and initialize the coupled model. The coupling procedure does not use any flux corrections. Hindcasts have been carried out for the period 1981–95 for each season (60 in all), for up to a lead time of 12 months. This paper will describe these initial experiments and show that the skill of sea surface temperature (SST) hindcasts in the tropical Pacific is comparable to other published coupled models. The skill of the model is strongest in the central Pacific. SST skill tends to be lower during the earlier 1990s than during 1980s in the eastern Pacific but not in the central Pacific. Since the ENSO SST anomaly in the central Pacific is the most important forcing of regional and global climate anomalies, the high SST prediction skill and its insensitivity over the hindcast period in this region in this model give grounds for optimism in the use of coupled general circulation models.

Full access
Richard Kleeman
,
Andrew M. Moore
, and
Neville R. Smith

Abstract

An adjoint variational assimilation technique is used to assimilate observations of both the oceanic state and wind stress data into an intermediate coupled ENSO prediction model. This method of initialization is contrasted with the more usual method, which uses only wind stress data to establish the initial state of the ocean. It is shown that ocean temperature data has a positive impact on the prediction skill in such models. On the basis of hindcasts for the period 1982–91, it is shown that NIN03 SST anomaly correlations greater than 0.7 can be obtained for hindcasts of duration up to 13 months and greater than 0.6 up to 16 months. There are also clear indications of skill at two years.

Full access