A 2-dimensional reanalysis system of near-surface variables such as precipitation, temperature and humidity was developed in EURO4M. This MESCAN system is downscaling the background or analyses from the 3-dimensional HARMONIE reanalysis system to a 5 km resolution. This is in order to resolve orography and land features better than the 11 km or coarser reanalyses. Moreover and in particular, it uses direct observations that were not used in the 3-dimensional system.For the same 5-year period run by SMHI, Météo-France has established a small ensemble reanalysis system from the two physics runs by SMHI. 6 members are created by also doing a dynamical downscaling (running a high 5 km resolution NWP forecast) and also by using one or the other of the surface parameterisation schemes. The figure above shows the setup of the system.
It is possible to get some information about uncertainty by examining the variations and spread in the 6 different reanalyses (see the Figure below). The areas of high precipitation over the Alps and ohter mountainous regions also have large ensemble spread.
