I gave a short presentation, “An Evaluation of Integrated Cloud Condensate in MÉRA”, about the follow-on research I’ve done on the work I presented at EMS last autumn. My talk looked at how the MÉRA reanalysis dataset needs time to spin-up for the variables: integrated cloud ice and integrated cloud water. The 09-33H forecast is best and recommended for these variables.
I compared the cloud water path (CWP) from MÉRA with satellite data which was taken to represent reality. There’s generally good agreement of CWP between both datasets. However, MÉRA tends to overestimate CWP, especially during cloudy conditions. Preliminary results indicate there may be a trend in the bias in relation to cloud type, but further analysis is needed on this. Future work also includes relating the bias to large scale weather patterns.
Feedback from the audience included a question about the accuracy of the satellite data and whether that had an impact on my results. This would be a good idea for future work. Other feedback for future work included looking to see if a similar bias exists in cloud optics or in global radiation.