Evaluation of the Total Column Ozone in the Reanalysis Datasets over East Asia

This study assesses the quality of the total column ozone (TCO) data from five reanalysis datasets against nine independent observation in East Asia. The assessed datasets are the ECMWF Interim reanalysis (ERAI), Monitoring Atmosphere Composition and Climate reanalysis (MACC), Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service reanalysis (CAMS), the NASA Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version2 (MERRA2), and NCEP Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR). All datasets reasonably well capture the spatial distribution, annual cycle and interannual variability of TCO in East Asia. In particular, characteristics of TCO according to the latitude difference were similar at all points with a maximum bias of less than about 4%. Among them, CAMS and CFSR show the smallest mean bias and root-mean square error across all nine ground-based observations. This result indicates that while TCO data in modern reanalyses are reasonably good, CAMS and CFSR TCO data are the best for analysing the spatio-temporal variability and change of TCO in East Asia.