Validation of the experimental hindcasts produced by the GloSea4 seasonal prediction system

Abstract

Using 14 year (1996-2009) ensemble hindcast runs produced with the Global Seasonal Forecasting System version 4 (GloSea4), this study evaluates the spatial and temporal structure of the hindcast climatology and the prediction skill of major climate variability. A special focus is on the fidelity of the system to reproduce and to forecast phenomena that are closely related to the East Asian climate. Overall the GloSea4 system exhibits realistic representations of the basic climate even though a few model deficiencies are identified in the sea surface temperature and precipitation. In particular, the capability of GloSea4 to capture the seasonal migration of rain belt associated with Changma implies a good potential for the Asian summer monsoon prediction. It is found that GloSea4 is as skillful as other state-of-the-art seasonal prediction systems in forecasting climate variability including the El-Nino/southern oscillation (ENSO), the East Asian summer monsoon, the Arctic Oscillation (AO), and the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO). The results presented in this study will provide benchmark evaluation for next seasonal prediction systems to be developed at the Korea Meteorological Administration.