Abstract
The series ofair temperature anomalies inthe free atmosphere from radiosonde and satellite data are compared. Along with the well-known datasets of leading foreign centers, the datasets are considered of monthly temperature anomalies for isobaric surfaces and tropospheric and lower tropospheric layers obtained in the All-Russian Research Institute of Hydrometeoroiogical Information-World Data Center (RIHMI-WDC) from the data of the global network of radiosonde observations. Following numerous literature sources, the study corroborates that it is impossible to detect the so called tropospheric amplification of warming in observational data. The results of the comparison of statistical parameters for different series of air temperature anomalies prove that the RIHMI-WDC dataset is appropriate for solving the problems of climate monitoring on the assessment of air temperature in the free atmosphere. A doubtless advantage of these datasets for the preparation of the data of monitoring and diagnosis of the current climate is that their operational update is possible by processing new monthly portions of radiosonde data for the global network. The other advantage is that they do not depend on the modes of series update in the foreign sources.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
The Roshydromet Assessment Report on Climate Change and Its Consequences in the Russian Federation (Roshydromet, Moscow, 2014) [in Russian].
A. M. Sterin, “Analysis of Linear Trends in Free Atmosphere Temperature Series, 1958-1997,” Meteorol. Gidrol., No. 5 (1999) [Russ. Meteorol. Hydrol., No. 5 (1999)].
J. K. Angell, “Variations and Trends in Tropospheric and Stratospheric Global Temperatures, 1958-87,” J. Climate, 1 (1988).
J. Blunden and D. S. Arndt, “State of the Climate in 2014,” Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc., No. 7, 96 (2015), http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/bams-state-of-the-climate.
J. R. Christy, B. Herman, Sr. R. Peilke, et al., “What Do Observational Datasets Say about Modeled Tropospheric Temperature Trends Since 1979?", Remote Sensing 2, 9 (2010).
J. R. Christy, R. W. Spencer, and W. D. Braswell, “MSU Tropospheric Temperatures: Dataset Construction and Radiosonde Comparisons,” J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol., No. 9, 17 (1999).
I. Durre, R. S. Vose, and D. B. Wuertz, “Overview of Integrated Global Radiosonde Archive,” J. Climate, 19 (2006).
M. Free, D. J. Seidel, J. K. Angell, et al., “Radiosonde Atmospheric Temperature Products for Assessing Climate (RATPAC): A New Data Set of Large-area Anomaly Time Series,” J. Geophys. Res., 110 (2005).
L. Haimberger, “Homogenization of Radiosonde Temperature Time Series Using Innovation Statistics,” J. Climate, 20 (2007).
L. Haimberger, C. Tavolato, and S. Sperka, “Homogenization of the Global Radiosonde Temperature Dataset through Combined Comparison with Reanalysis Background Series and Neighboring Stations,” J. Climate, 25 (2012).
J. W. Hurrel, S. J. Brown, K. E. Trenberth, and J. R. Christy, “Comparison of Tropospheric Temperatures from Radiosondes and Satellites: 1979-1998,” Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc., 81 (2000).
J. W. Hurrel and K. E. Trenberth, “Difficulties in Obtaining Reliable Temperature Trends: Reconciling the Surface and Satellite Microwave Sounding Unit Records,” J. Climate, 11 (1998).
F. C. Lott, P. A. Stott, D. M. Mitchell, et al., “Models versus Radiosondes in the Free Atmosphere: A New Detection and Attribution Analysis of Temperature,” J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 118 (2013).
C. A. Mears and F. J. Wentz, “Construction of the Remote Sensing Systems V3.2 Atmospheric Temperature Records from the MSU and AMSU Microwave Sounders,” J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol., 26 (2009).
C. A. Mears and F. J. Wentz, “Construction of the RSS V3.2 Lower Tropospheric Dataset from the MSU and AMSU Microwave Sounders,” J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol., 26 (2009).
D. M. Mitchell, P. W. Thorne, P. A. Stott, and L. J. Gray, “Revisiting the Controversial Issue of Tropical Tropospheric Temperature Trends,” Geophys. Res. Lett., 40 (2013).
B. D. Santer, T. M. L. Wigley, C. Mears, et al., “Amplification of Surface Temperature Trends and Variability in the Tropical Atmosphere,” Science, 309 (2005).
B. D. Santer, T. M. L. Wigley, A. J. Simmons, et al., “Identification of Anthropogenic Climate Change Using a Second-generation Reanalysis,” J. Geophys. Res., 109 (2004).
D. J. Seidel, J. K. Angell, J. Christy, et al., “Uncertainty in Signals of Large-scale Climate Variations in Radiosonde and Satellite Upper-air Temperature Datasets,” J. Climate, 17 (2004).
D. J. Seidel, N. P. Gillett, J. R. Lanzante, et al., “Stratospheric Temperature Trends: Our Evolving Understanding,” Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews, No. 2 (2011).
P. W. Thorne et al., “Revisiting Radiosonde Upper Air Temperatures from 1958 to 2002,” J. Geophys. Res., 110 (2005).
P. W. Thorne, J. R. Lanzante, T. C. Peterson, et al., “Tropospheric Temperature Trends: History of an Ongoing Controversy,” Wiley Interdisciplinary Rev., No. 2 (2011).
WMO Statement on the Status of the Global Climate in 2014, WMO-No. 1152 (2015), https://www.wmo.int/pa-ges/index_en.html.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Original Russian Text © A.S. Lavrov, A.M. Sterin, 2017, published in Meteorologiya i Gidrologiya, 2017, No. 2, pp. 30–44.
Supplementaty materials are available for this article at DOI:10.3103/S1068373917020030 and are accessible for authorized users.
Electronic supplementary material
About this article
Cite this article
Lavrov, A.S., Sterin, A.M. Comparison of free atmosphere temperature series from radiosonde and satellite data. Russ. Meteorol. Hydrol. 42, 95–104 (2017). https://doi.org/10.3103/S1068373917020030
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3103/S1068373917020030