A new version of regional ocean reanalysis for coastal waters of China and adjacent seas

A new regional ocean reanalysis over multiple decades (1958－2008) for the coastal waters of China and adjacent seas has been completed by the National Marine Data and Information Service (NMDIS) under the CORA (China Ocean ReAnalysis) project. Evaluations were performed on three aspects: (1) the improvement of general reanalysis quality; (2) eddy structures; and (3) decadal variability of sea surface height anomalies (SSHAs). Results showed that the quality of the new reanalysis has been enhanced beyond: 40% (39% for temperature, 44% for salinity) in terms of the reduction of root mean squared errors (RMSEs) for which the reanalysis values were compared to observed values in the observational space. Compared to the trial version released to public in 2009, the new reanalysis is able to reproduce more detailed eddy structures as seen in satellite and in situ observations. EOF analysis of the reanalysis SSHAs showed that the new reanalysis reconstructs the leading modes of SSHAs much better than the old version. These evaluations suggest that the new CORA regional reanalysis represents a much more useful dataset for the community of the coastal waters of China and adjacent seas.