An Analysis of the Nonstationarity in the Bias of Sea Surface Temperature Forecasts for the NCEP Climate Forecast System (CFS) Version 2

For long-range predictions (e.g., seasonal), it is a common practice for retrospective forecasts (also referred to as the hindcasts) to accompany real-time predictions. The necessity for the hindcasts stems from the fact that real-time predictions need to be calibrated in an attempt to remove the influence of model biases on the predicted anomalies. A fundamental assumption behind forecast calibration is the long-term stationarity of forecast bias that is derived based on hindcasts. Hindcasts require specification of initial conditions for various components of the prediction system (e.g., ocean, atmosphere) that are generally taken from a long reanalysis. Trends and discontinuities in the reanalysis that are either real or spurious can arise due to several reasons, for example, the changing observing system. If changes in initial conditions were to persist during the forecast, there is a potential for forecast bias to depend over the period it is computed, making calibration even more of a challenging task. In this study such a case is discussed for the recently implemented seasonal prediction system at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), the Climate Forecast System version 2 (CFS.v2). Based on the analysis of the CFS.v2 for 1981-2009, it is demonstrated that the characteristics of the forecast bias for sea surface temperature (SST) in the equatorial Pacific had a dramatic change around 1999. Furthermore, change in the SST forecast bias, and its relationship to changes in the ocean reanalysis from which the ocean initial conditions for hindcasts are taken is described. Implications for seasonal and other long-range predictions are discussed.