Do ERA5 and ERA5-land precipitation estimates outperform satellite-based precipitation products? A comprehensive comparison between state-of-the-art model-based and satellite-based precipitation products over mainland China

Xu, Jintao; Ma, Zhanshan; Yan, Songkun; Peng, Jie

doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.127353

Cited by 111 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…The time series of ERA5-Land covers the period 1950 to the present. The ERA5-Land dataset includes hourly and monthly dynamic data representing 50 indicators from 1950 to the present (A. and G.B., 2021;The Alexander and Gregor, 2020;Cao et al, 2020;Jiang et al, 2020;Jiao et al, 2021;Joaquín et al, 2021;Konstantinos et al, 2021;Luis and Johannes, 2020;Pelosi et al, 2020;Wu et al, 2021;Pelosi and Chirico, 2021;Xu et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A First Evaluation of ERA5-Land Reanalysis Temperature Product Over the Chinese Qilian Mountains

Zhao

2022

Front. Earth Sci.

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Reanalysis temperature products are important datasets for temperature estimates over high-elevation areas with few meteorological stations. In this study, surface 2 m air temperature data from 17 meteorological stations from 1979 to 2017 in the Qilian Mountains (QLM) are used for comparison with the newest reanalysis product: ERA5-Land derived from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). In general, the ERA5-Land temperature product can reproduce the observation variation at different time scales very well. A high monthly correlation coefficient that ranges from 0.978 to 0.998 suggests that ERA5-Land reanalysis temperature could capture the observations very well. However, attention should be paid before using ERA5-Land at individual sites because of the average root-mean-square-error (RMSE) of 2.2°C of all stations. The biases between ERA5-Land temperature and observations are mainly caused by the elevation differences between ERA5-Land grid points and meteorological sites. The annual mean temperature shows a significant warming trend (0.488°C/decade) from 1979 to 2017 based on the observations. ERA5-Land reanalysis temperature captures the increasing trend very well (0.379°C/decade). The biggest positive warming trends of observations and ERA5-Land are both found in summer with values of 0.574°C/decade and 0.496°C/decade, respectively. We suggest that ERA5-Land generally reproduces the temperature trend very well for observations and is reliable for scientific research over the QLM.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A First Evaluation of ERA5-Land Reanalysis Temperature Product Over the Chinese Qilian Mountains

Zhao

2022

Front. Earth Sci.

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“…In particular, in [75] it is shown that even if the spatial and temporal patterns of ERA5 are consistent with rain gauges, ERA5 tends to overestimate the light precipitation events and underestimate moderate and heavy precipitation events in China. Similarly, in [76] it is pointed out that in certain seasons the precipitation data provided by ERA5 and ERA5L can be outperformed by satellite data. However, it must be noted that this type of limitations, i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Monitoring the Water Mass Balance Variability of Small Shallow Lakes by an ERA5-Land Reanalysis and Water Level Measurement-Based Model. An Application to the Trasimeno Lake, Italy

et al. 2022

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Climate change has a strong impact on inland water bodies such as lakes. This means that the increase in lake temperature recorded in recent decades-in Europe as well-can change the evaporation regime of the lakes. This, together with the variation of the water cycle, in particular precipitation, implies that the water mass balance of lakes may vary due to climate change. Water mass balance modeling is therefore of paramount importance to monitor lakes in the context of global warming. Although many studies have focused on such a modeling, there is no shared approach that can be used for any lake across the globe, irrespective of the size. This becomes even more problematic for shallow and small lakes, for which few studies exist. For this reason, in this paper the use of reanalysis data, in particular ERA5-Land provided by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), is proposed for the mass balance modeling. In fact, ERA5-Land has a global coverage and it is the only data source comprising a specific model for lakes, the Fresh-water Lake model (FLake). The chosen case study is the Trasimeno lake, a small and shallow lake located in Central Italy. The use of the reanalysis was preceded by data validation by considering both ground-based and satellite observations. The results show that there is a good agreement between the observed monthly variation of the lake level, ΔH, and the corresponding values of the water storage, δ, computed by means of the ERA5-Land data (Pearson coefficient larger than 70%). Discrepancies between observations and the ERA5-Land data happen in periods characterized in Europe by an extreme climate anomaly. This promising result encourages the use of ERA5-Land for other lakes.

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“…Thus, this study systematically and comprehensively investigated the variation trend of the soil moisture across the TP from a four-dimensional perspective (time, longitude, latitude, and depth) on a monthly scale during 1950-2020. The soil moisture and related climate variable information was retrieved from the ERA5-Land products, which have been widely evaluated and applied since inception (Hersbach et al, 2020;Muñoz-Sabater et al, 2021;Wu et al, 2021;Xu et al, 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-depth evolution characteristics of soil moisture over the Tibetan Plateau in the past 70 years using reanalysis products

Liu

Yang

2022

Front. Environ. Sci.

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Soil moisture (SM) is a crucial component of the hydrological cycle. Both the spatial–temporal distribution and the variation characteristics of SM are effective indicators of regional land surface water resource homogeneity and heterogeneity. With consideration of the crucial role of the Tibetan Plateau (TP) in the hydrological process in Asia, this study investigated the fluctuation of multi-depth soil moisture across the TP during 1950–2020 on a monthly scale against the background of global warming by using ERA5 reanalysis datasets. The correlation and potential causality between soil moisture and associated driving factors were explored. Our research revealed that the soil moisture across the TP shows a slight wetting trend at 0–100 cm depth for the past 70 years against the background of climate warming and increasing precipitation. Additionally, the wetting region (variation trend ≥ 0.005 m3/m3 per decade) had sufficient water supplementation from precipitation and a mild soil temperature increase. By comparison, there is a noteworthy warming tendency and falling precipitation in the sparsely distributed drying region (variation trend ≤ −0.005 m3/m3 per decade). In terms of vertical variation features, the temporal dynamic fluctuation of soil moisture and soil temperature evidently decreases as the depth increases, suggesting high sensitivity of the surface layer soil to atmospheric conditions. Precipitation and snowmelt preliminarily proved to be the dominant drivers causing spatial and temporal variations in soil moisture (occupying over 70% of the TP region), and bidirectional causality (ranging between 15.52% and 50.56%) was found between soil moisture and these two parameters. In summary, this study explored the spatial–temporal fluctuation in the evolutionary characteristics of SM, which is expected to advance our understanding of soil moisture dynamics under the conditions of climate change across the TP.

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Do ERA5 and ERA5-land precipitation estimates outperform satellite-based precipitation products? A comprehensive comparison between state-of-the-art model-based and satellite-based precipitation products over mainland China

Cited by 111 publications

References 64 publications

A First Evaluation of ERA5-Land Reanalysis Temperature Product Over the Chinese Qilian Mountains

A First Evaluation of ERA5-Land Reanalysis Temperature Product Over the Chinese Qilian Mountains

Monitoring the Water Mass Balance Variability of Small Shallow Lakes by an ERA5-Land Reanalysis and Water Level Measurement-Based Model. An Application to the Trasimeno Lake, Italy

Multi-depth evolution characteristics of soil moisture over the Tibetan Plateau in the past 70 years using reanalysis products

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