Climate Modeling Best Estimate data set (CMBE): update and future plans
Poster PDF
Authors
Raymond A. McCord — retired
Xiquan Dong — University of Arizona
Patrick Minnis — NASA - Langley Research Center
Mandana Khaiyer — Science Systems and Applications, Inc. (SSAI)
Shaocheng Xie — Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Renata B. McCoy — Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Stephen Klein — Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Giri Prakash — Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Baike Xi — University of Arizona
Description
The Climate Modeling Best Estimate (CMBE) data set was created to serve the needs of climate model developers. The data set is assembled from the highest quality ARM observational and value-added product (VAP) data relevant to climate model evaluation and diagnostics. The temporal resolution is chosen to be comparable with the climate model resolution of one hour. It is a multi-year data set, currently available over the five primary ARM Climate Research Facility sites at the Southern Great Plains (SGP), North Slope of Alaska (NSA), and Tropical Western Pacific (TWP). The CMBE data set consists of hourly averaged cloud fraction (narrow field-of-view and total sky), liquid water path, precipitable water, surface radiation fluxes (cmbe-cldrad) and soundings, surface precipitation, surface turbulent fluxes, surface meteorology fields, top-of-the-atmosphere radiative fluxes, and Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) model analysis data (cmbe-atm). The recent additions include updating the data sets with the most recent available data, adding satellite data from VISST and CERES data sets for the NSA and all three TWP sites. As a new initiative the CMBE will be also published in the Earth System Grid and used for the evaluation of model runs for the CMIP5 intercomparison and the AR5 report. The future plans include developing the CMBE for the ARM Mobile Facilities (AMF). The data availability, product highlights, and future CMBE product plans are presented.
