Comparison between Atmospheric Reanalysis Models ERA5 and ERA-Interim at the North Antarctic Peninsula Region

The availability of accurate meteorological data is important for the modeling of atmospheric flows, enabling the understanding of climate change in a given environment over time. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the quality of the meteorological data of 2 m temperature (T) and mean sea level pressure (MSLP), obtained through the atmospheric reanalysis models ERA5 and ERA-Interim (ERA-i) in the northern region of the Antarctic Peninsula, covering the period from 1979 to 2018. To carry out the statistical process, local observations from nine weather stations installed in the study region were used, with data available from the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research. Statistical analysis evaluated Pearson’s linear correlation coefficient (R), standard deviation (σ), normalized bias, normalized mean absolute error, and normalized root mean square error. Regarding the difference in T¯ between weather stations and reanalysis models, we found a better result for ERA5 (ΔT¯ = −0.34 °C) compared to ERA-i (ΔT¯ = 0.37 °C); however, for the difference in MSLP¯ the ERA-i (ΔMSLP¯ = −0.04 hPa) presented a better response in relation to ERA5 (ΔMSLP¯ = 0.24 hPa). When verifying the local meteorological observations trend, an increase of T in 0.31 °C decade−1 (Esperanza station) and a reduction of MSLP between −0.56 (Bellingshausen station) and −0.80 hPa decade−1 (Jubany station) were recorded.