Tropospheric Temperature and Humidity Biases in CMIP6 Models Based on AIRS Data

Abstract:

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS)/Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit A (AMSU-A) on the NASA Aqua satellite is one of several current advanced atmospheric temperature and humidity sounding systems in space. The AIRS Observations for Model Intercomparison Projects (Obs4MIPs) data were designed for climate model evaluation in the context of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) and include the monthly mean tropospheric air temperature (ta), specific humidity (hus) and relative humidity (hur). In this study, we evaluate the tropospheric air temperature, specific humidity and relative humidity simulations in the latest state-of-the-art climate model models participating for the CMIP Phase 6 (CMIP6) based on the AIRS Obs4MIPs data. Possible improvements of the tropospheric temperature and humidity simulations from CMIP3 and CMIP5 to CMIP6 will be discussed.