EnsoSstLonRmse
Computes the zonal root mean square error (RMSE) of equatorial Pacific (150°E-90°W) sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA; meridional 5°S-5°N average) during boreal winter (December value smoothed with a 5-month triangular-weighted moving average) between model and observations
TropFlux 1979-2018 (main)
20CRv2 1871-2012, ERA-Interim 1979-2018, ERSSTv5 1854-2018, HadISST 1870-2018, NCEP2 1979-2018
Niño3.4, equatorial Pacific
model and observations regridded toward a generic 1°x1° grid (using cdms esmf linear method)
- seasonal cycle removed
- detrending (if applicable)
- smoothed with time running average
- spatial average
- seasonal cycle removed
- detrending (if applicable)
- smoothed with time running average
- regridding (if applicable)
- meridional average
- December Niño3.4 SSTA regressed onto December SSTA along the equator
- RMSE computation
monthly
°C/°C
sea surface temperature (SST)
The first level shows the diagnostic used to compute the metric and highlight the main differences between the model and the reference.
Figure 1: zonal structure of sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA) in the equatorial Pacific (5°S-5°N averaged), showing the zonal location of SSTA associated with ENSO (usually too strong west of the dateline; here too strong in the central Pacific). The black and blue curves show respectively the reference and the model. The metric derived is the zonal RMSE between the model curve and the reference curve.
The second level shows the broader picture to better understand the spatial pattern of ENSO: the map of the anomalies in the equatorial Pacific.
Figure 2: sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA) associated with ENSO in the equatorial Pacific, showing usually the SSTA too far west (here too strong in the central Pacific). The left and right maps show respectively the reference and the model.
The third level is similar to the first, but with La Niña and El Niño composites.
Figure 3: sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA) during La Niña and El Niño in the equatorial Pacific, showing usually the slightly too weak SSTA and reaching too far west (here not negative enough in the western Pacific for La Niña and almost perfect for El Niño). The blue and red curves show respectively La Niña composite and the El Niño composite, dashed and solid lines show respectively the reference and the model.
The fourth level is similar to the second, but with La Niña and El Niño composites.
Figure 4: sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA) during La Niña and El Niño in the equatorial Pacific, showing mainly the SSTA too far west (here SSTA not strong enough in the western Pacific for La Niña and SSTA not spread enough in latitude for El Niño). The left and right maps show respectively the reference and the model. The first and second rows show respectively the La Niña composites and the El Niño composites.