Toward a Consistent Reanalysis of the Climate System

Abstract

cle reviews past and current reanalysis activities at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and describes plans for developing future reanalyses of the coupled climate system. Global reanalyses of the atmosphere, ocean, land surface, and atmospheric composition have played an important role in improving and extending the capabilities of ECMWF's operational forecasting systems. The potential role of reanalysis in support of climate change services in Europe is driving several interesting new developments. These include the production of reanalyses that span a century or more and the implementation of a coupled data assimilation capability suitable for climate reanalysis. Although based largely on ECMWF's achievements, capabilities, and plans, the article serves more generally to provide a review of pertinent issues affecting past and current reanalyses and a discussion of the major challenges in moving to more fully coupled systems.