Wind kinetic energy climatology and efective resolution for the ERA5 reanalysis

Abstract

ERA5 represents the state of the art for atmospheric reanalyses and is widely used in meteorological and climatological research. In this work, this dataset is evaluated using the wind kinetic energy spectrum. Seasonal climatologies are generated for 30° latitudinal bands in the Northern Hemisphere (periodic domain) and over the North Atlantic area (limited-area domain). The spectra are also assessed to determine the efective resolution of the reanalysis. The results present notable diferences between the latitudinal domains, indicating that ERA5 is properly capturing the synoptic conditions. The seasonal variability is adequate too, being winter the most energetic, and summer the least energetic season.