Structure function characteristics for 2 metre temperature and relative humidity in different horizontal resolutions

Kai Sattler; Xiang-Yu Huang

doi:10.3402/tellusa.v54i1.12124

Structure function characteristics for 2 metre temperature and relative humidity in different horizontal resolutions

Tellus

Volume 54 (2002): Issue 1

By: Kai Sattler and Xiang-Yu Huang

Open Access

|Jan 2002

Abstract

The isotropic correlations of forecast errors in the HIRLAM system are investigated for different horizontal grid sizes in order to achieve an improved representation of the structure functions for high-resolution surface analysis. The investigation is performed for 2 metre temperature and relative humidity and makes use of operational forecasts from DMI-HIRLAM at the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI), which can support the background for a surface analysis in three different horizontal resolutions. Two different well-known methods for determining isotropic forecast error correlations are applied. The first method compares forecasts to observations (the Observation Method), while the second makes use of two different forecasts validfor the same time (the NMC Method). The latter method is also used to investigate isotropy as well as the influence of land–sea contrast and orography. A comparison of the two mentioned methods reveals a good correspondence between them, and the investigation of monthly changes shows some seasonal tendencies. The isotropy assumption is shown to be acceptable to a first approximation, despite a slight dependency on the predominant flow. The results further suggest a decrease in the background error correlation scales when going to higher horizontal resolutionin the forecast model.

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