An evaluation of the performance of the Twentieth Century Reanalysis version 3

The performance of a new historical reanalysis, the NOAA-CIRES-DOE Twentieth Century Reanalysis version 3 (20CRv3), is evaluated via comparisons with other reanalyses and independent observations. This dataset provides global, 3-hourly estimates of the atmosphere from 1806 to 2015 by assimilating only surface pressure observations and prescribing sea surface temperature, sea ice concentration, and radiative forcings. Comparisons with independent observations, other reanalyses, and satellite products suggest that 20CRv3 can reliably produce atmospheric estimates on scales ranging from weather events to long-term climatic trends. Not only does 20CRv3 recreate a "best estimate" of the weather, including extreme events, it also provides an estimate of its confidence through the use of an ensemble. Surface pressure statistics suggest that these confidence estimates are reliable. Comparisons with independent upper-air observations in the Northern Hemisphere demonstrate that 20CRv3 has skill throughout the twentieth century. Upper-air fields from 20CRv3 in the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century correlate well with full-input reanalyses, and the correlation is predicted by the confidence fields from 20CRv3. The skill of analyzed 500-hPa geopotential heights from 20CRv3 for 1979-2015 is comparable to that of modern operational 3-4-day forecasts. Finally, 20CRv3 performs well on climate time scales. Long time series and multidecadal averages of mass, circulation, and precipitation fields agree well with modern reanalyses and station- and satellite-based products. 20CRv3 is also able to capture trends in tropospheric-layer temperatures that correlate well with independent products in the twentieth century, placing recent trends in a longer historical context.

To Access Resource:

Questions? Email Resource Support Contact:

  • opensky@ucar.edu
    UCAR/NCAR - Library

Resource Type publication
Temporal Range Begin N/A
Temporal Range End N/A
Temporal Resolution N/A
Bounding Box North Lat N/A
Bounding Box South Lat N/A
Bounding Box West Long N/A
Bounding Box East Long N/A
Spatial Representation N/A
Spatial Resolution N/A
Related Links

Related Dataset #1 : The International Surface Pressure Databank version 4

Related Dataset #2 : NOAA-CIRES-DOE Twentieth Century Reanalysis Version 3

Related Dataset #3 : CRU TS4.03: Climatic Research Unit (CRU) Time-Series (TS) version 4.03 of high-resolution gridded data of month-by-month variation in climate (Jan. 1901- Dec. 2018)

Related Dataset #4 : NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) of MSU and AMSU-A Mean Layer Temperatures, UAH Version 6.0

Related Other #1 : Polish Polar Research
Additional Information N/A
Resource Format PDF
Standardized Resource Format PDF
Asset Size N/A
Legal Constraints

Copyright author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Access Constraints None
Software Implementation Language N/A

Resource Support Name N/A
Resource Support Email opensky@ucar.edu
Resource Support Organization UCAR/NCAR - Library
Distributor
Metadata Contact Name N/A
Metadata Contact Email opensky@ucar.edu
Metadata Contact Organization UCAR/NCAR - Library

Author Slivinski, L. C.
Compo, G. P.
Sardeshmukh, P. D.
Whitaker, J. S.
McColl, C.
Allan, R. J.
Brohan, P.
Yin, X.
Smith, C. A.
Spencer, L. J.
Vose, R. S.
Rohrer, M.
Conroy, Riley
Schuster, Douglas C. ORCID icon
Kennedy, J. J.
Ashcroft, L.
Brönnimann, S.
Brunet, M.
Camuffo, D.
Cornes, R.
Cram, Thomas A. ORCID icon
Domínguez-Castro, F.
Freeman, J. E.
Gergis, J.
Hawkins, E.
Jones, P. D.
Kubota, H.
Lee, T. C.
Lorrey, A. M.
Luterbacher, J.
Mock, C. J.
Przybylak, R. K.
Pudmenzky, C.
Slonosky, V. C.
Tinz, B.
Trewin, B.
Wang, X. L.
Wilkinson, C.
Wood, K.
Wyszyński, P.
Publisher UCAR/NCAR - Library

Publication Date 2021-02-01T00:00:00
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) Not Assigned
Alternate Identifier N/A
Resource Version N/A
Topic Category geoscientificInformation
Progress N/A
Metadata Date 2025-12-25T06:35:22.162391
Metadata Record Identifier edu.ucar.opensky::articles:24125
Metadata Language eng; USA
Suggested Citation Slivinski, L. C., Compo, G. P., Sardeshmukh, P. D., Whitaker, J. S., McColl, C., Allan, R. J., Brohan, P., Yin, X., Smith, C. A., Spencer, L. J., Vose, R. S., Rohrer, M., Conroy, Riley, Schuster, Douglas C., Kennedy, J. J., Ashcroft, L., Brönnimann, S., Brunet, M., Camuffo, D., Cornes, R., Cram, Thomas A., Domínguez-Castro, F., Freeman, J. E., Gergis, J., Hawkins, E., Jones, P. D., Kubota, H., Lee, T. C., Lorrey, A. M., Luterbacher, J., Mock, C. J., Przybylak, R. K., Pudmenzky, C., Slonosky, V. C., Tinz, B., Trewin, B., Wang, X. L., Wilkinson, C., Wood, K., Wyszyński, P.. (2021). An evaluation of the performance of the Twentieth Century Reanalysis version 3. UCAR/NCAR - Library. https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7q52t02. Accessed 07 March 2026.

Harvest Source