Comparative Evaluation of CRA Reanalysis by Using the Intensive Radiosonde Observations over the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau in Summer 

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  • 1. National Meteorological Information CenterChina Meteorological AdministrationBeijing 100081China
    2. Chinese Academy of Meteorological SciencesChina Meteorological AdministrationBeijing 100081China

Online published: 2025-09-28

Abstract

The weather and climate of the Qinghai-Xizang PlateauQXPnot only exert profound influences on Asian regional climate but also regulate broader Northern Hemisphere climate patterns. Various global atmospheric reanalysis datasets developed abroad have been extensively utilized to characterize the QXP's climate features. In 2020the China Meteorological Administration released its first-generation global atmospheric reanalysis productCRA),which demonstrated superior performance in regions with dense conventional observationsyet its skill over the QXP remains unclear. In this studywe performed an independent evaluation of CRA's upper-air temperaturewind fieldsand relative humidity using 686 high-qualitynon-assimilated radiosonde profiles from five stations collected during June-August 2014 in the 3rd Qinghai-Xizang Plateau Atmospheric Scientific Experiment. A non-independent assessment was also performed using routine observations from 21 sounding stations across the QXP and adjacent areas. Results were compared with those from ERA-InterimERA5and JRA- 55 reanalysis datasets. Non-independent validation results demonstrate that in the troposphere and lower stratospherecorrelation coefficients of temperature and wind speed between CRA and operational radiosonde observations exceed 0. 9. Relative to operational radiosondesCRA temperature bias of 400 hPa and 500 hPa approaching 0 ℃. The near-surface zonal wind RMSE of CRA is about 2. 5 m·s-1decreasing gradually with altitude to 1. 5 m·s-1 at 100 hPa. Relative humidity RMSE remains below 20% across all altitude layers. Independent validation results indicate that errors in air temperature and wind speed over the eastern Qinghai-Xizang Plateau are generally smaller than those over the western plateauwhereas relative humidity errors are larger in the east. From 600 hPa to 30 hPathe mean root-mean-square errorsRMSEof CRA relative to radiosonde for temperaturezonal windand meridional wind are 1. 38 ℃3. 19 m·s-1and 3. 22 m·s-1 in the western Qinghai-Xizang Plateaurespectivelyand 1. 16 ℃2. 65 m·s-1and 2. 90 m·s-1 in the eastern Qinghai-Xizang Plateaurespectively. Errors in the western QXP were slightly larger than in the east and exhibited pronounced diurnal variability. Maximum temperature and relative humidity errors below 600 hPa occur in the afternoon. At 500 hPapeak relative humidity errors appear in the evening. CRA objectively reproduces the QXP’s vertical structures of temperaturewind speedand relative humidity. Compared to other reanalysis productsCRA’s relative humidity estimates were closest to radiosonde observationsand wind field errors were slightly higher than those of other datasets but did not exceed 0. 4 m·s-1 on average.

Cite this article

LIAO Jie, YUAN Fang, ZHAO Ping, HAN Yizhe . Comparative Evaluation of CRA Reanalysis by Using the Intensive Radiosonde Observations over the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau in Summer [J]. Plateau Meteorology, 0 : 1 . DOI: 10.7522/j.issn.1000-0534.2025.00087

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