Reanalysis Tropopause Data Repository
Introduction
This data repository provides access to tropopause parameters estimated from meteorological reanalyses. The tropopause data sets provided on this web site have been created using meteorological reanalyses distributed by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), and the National Centers for Atmospheric Prediction (NCEP).
Currently, the repository covers the following data sets:
- ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis (full resolution) for the years 2000 to 2023
- ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis (low resolution) for the years 1979 to 2023
- ECMWF ERA-Interim reanalysis for the years 1979 to 2019
- NASA MERRA-2 reanalysis for the years 1980 to 2023
- NCEP-NCAR Reanalysis 1 for the years 1948 to 2023
- NCEP-DOE Reanalysis 2 for the years 1979 to 2023
The data are provided in form of daily netCDF files on a regular longitude-latitude grid and temporal sampling matching the native resolution of the corresponding reanalysis data sets. For ERA5 we provide a low-resolution version which has been downsampled to 1° x 1° horizontal resolution and 6-hourly synoptic time steps.
The tropopause data files include geopotential height, pressure, temperature, water vapor, and ozone volume mixing ratio for the first and second thermal lapse rate tropopause (WMO definition), the cold point (local temperature minimum), and the dynamical tropopause (380 K potential temperature in the tropics and 3.5 potential vorticity units in the extratropics).
Two versions of the tropopause data sets are provided. Version 1 refers to the original data described by Hoffmann and Spang (2022). Version 2 applies the same algorithms for tropopause detection but includes surface pressure and height as well as ozone concentrations at the tropopause for further analysis.
Browse images
The browse images provided on this web site show time series of the various tropopause data sets. Use the navigation bars to select the tropopause definition and the parameter to be displayed. Click on an image to see the full size version.
Data access
The data sets and browse images provided on this web site are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. You are free to share the material in any medium or format and adapt it for any purpose, even commercially. You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits. The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms. The data are distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but without any warranty. Please follow the link to see the terms and conditions of the license:
References
Citations, if the data are used in publications:
Hoffmann, L. and Spang, R.: An assessment of tropopause characteristics of the ERA5 and ERA-Interim meteorological reanalyses, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 4019-4046, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4019-2022, 2022.
Zou, L., Hoffmann, L., Müller, R., and Spang, R., Variability and trends of the tropical tropopause derived from a 1980–2021 multi-reanalysis assessment, Front. Earth Sci, 11:1177502, https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2023.1177502, 2023.
This data repository can be cited as:
Hoffmann, L. and R. Spang, Reanalysis Tropopause Data Repository, https://doi.org/10.26165/JUELICH-DATA/UBNGI2, Jülich DATA, V1, 2021.
Acknowledgement
This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG; grant no. HO5102/1-1).
Contact
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions regarding the use of the data set:
Dr. Lars Hoffmann
Forschungszentrum Jülich
Jülich Supercomputing Centre
52425 Jülich
Germany
e-mail: l.hoffmann@fz-juelich.de
