Reinhold SteinackerICAM-MAP Climatology of Mesoscale Alpine Phenomena University of Vienna Department of Meteorology and Geophysics Reinhold Steinacker, Christoph Lotteraner Department of Meteorology and Geophysics University of Vienna, Austria Motivation VERACLIM Some selected results Conclusion

Reinhold SteinackerICAM-MAP University of Vienna Department of Meteorology and Geophysics Motivation: Much of the conventional climatological work (long term climatographies) so far have been using 1D (time series analysis) and/or large scale/meso alpha scale 3D/4D (space-time analysis; reanalysis) Mesoscale climatographies were mostly restricted to national or regional boundaries Some of intense climate phenomena (extreme events especially over complex terrain) are on meso beta or even meso gamma scale!

Reinhold SteinackerICAM-MAP University of Vienna Department of Meteorology and Geophysics Example: 3 National Weather Services (AT,CH.SI) monthly precipitation CH AT SI

Reinhold SteinackerICAM-MAP University of Vienna Department of Meteorology and Geophysics Example: Berliner Wetterkarte Monthly mean sea level pressure December 2001 Source: Met. Inst. FU Berlin

Reinhold SteinackerICAM-MAP University of Vienna Department of Meteorology and Geophysics Example: ERA40; December 2001 Monthly mean sea level pressure 850 hPa Source: ECMWF;

Reinhold SteinackerICAM-MAP University of Vienna Department of Meteorology and Geophysics VERACLIM A project sponsored by the Austrian Science Foundation to create a mesoscale (meso beta; 20, 10 km horiz. res.) analysis of the Alpine Atmosphere for the last 30 years. Data: GTS-type, 3-hourly Method: Variational (spline), including downscaling and CQC Primary variables: Theta, Theta-E, msl-pressure, sfc-wind Secondary variables: precipitation, snow depth, cloud cover Derived variables: p-tendency, stream-lines, melting level, CCL, (moisture-flux-) divergence,... 1 parameter: 30(yr)*365(d)*8(3-hr)~ fields á 2.400/9600 GP →10**8/10**9 GP

Reinhold SteinackerICAM-MAP University of Vienna Department of Meteorology and Geophysics

Reinhold SteinackerICAM-MAP University of Vienna Department of Meteorology and Geophysics

Reinhold SteinackerICAM-MAP University of Vienna Department of Meteorology and Geophysics

Reinhold SteinackerICAM-MAP University of Vienna Department of Meteorology and Geophysics

Reinhold SteinackerICAM-MAP University of Vienna Department of Meteorology and Geophysics

Reinhold SteinackerICAM-MAP University of Vienna Department of Meteorology and Geophysics

Reinhold SteinackerICAM-MAP University of Vienna Department of Meteorology and Geophysics

Reinhold SteinackerICAM-MAP University of Vienna Department of Meteorology and Geophysics

Reinhold SteinackerICAM-MAP University of Vienna Department of Meteorology and Geophysics

Reinhold SteinackerICAM-MAP University of Vienna Department of Meteorology and Geophysics Conclusion and outlook Until a mesoscale reanalysis system (4D-VAR) becomes available on a scale, resolving the Alpine topography realistically, VERACLIM represents a good basis for establishing high resolution (concerning time and space) fields for climatological work Besides gridded fields also quality controlled data (biases, gross errors) are being determined Evaluation will concentrate upon short duration, mesoscale phenomena around the Alps A „reanalysis“ will be carried out with the new 4D VERA system, which is in the pre-operational phase, including a multivariate approach

Reinhold SteinackerICAM-MAP University of Vienna Department of Meteorology and Geophysics F I F N I T H E E N D N D E