Publications

Campos, R. and Guedes Soares C. (2016), “Comparison of HIPOCAS and ERA wind and wave reanalysis in the North Atlantic ocean”, Ocean Engineering, Vol. 112, pp. 320-334

Two pairs of comparisons between HIPOCAS and ERA reanalysis are performed in this paper. HIPOCAS is a hindcast developed under a European project and it is the result of the wave model WAM forced by REMO surface winds in the North Atlantic. ERA-40 and ERA-Interim were developed by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, ECMWF, adopting the same wave model WAM, in this case covering the whole globe. As an introduction, the first part shows a comparison of HIPOCAS against ERA-40, which are hindcasts produced almost at the same time with some common features. The second part presents a detailed comparison of HIPOCAS and ERA-Interim, which can be considered an update of ERA-40, followed by a comparison of both data sets against satellite data. Wind speed and significant wave height are the two variables considered in the North Atlantic. In order to compare the described wind and wave data-sets, the common period and area were defined, with latitudes between 20° and 68° North and longitudes between 50° and 0° West, from 1979 till 2001. The differences for the whole data-set and for extreme events (upper percentiles) were calculated. A spatial and time integration were applied to determine where and when the main differences between hindcasts occur. The results show a relative agreement between HIPOCAS and both ERA-40 and ERA-Interim reanalysis for calm weather conditions. There is a great increase of differences under extreme conditions, occurring mainly during the winter at mid high latitudes. ERA-Interim presents the best results against measurements but suggests some underestimation under extreme events at mid-high latitudes. HIPOCAS tends to overestimate the measurements and both ERA reanalyses.

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