ERA5 Sea Ice and Meteorological Variables for the Sea of Okhotsk, 1978-1979

The Sea of Okhotsk is the focus of this dataset, which evaluates the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis version 5 (ERA5) for sea ice coverage and its impact on surface meteorological variables during 1978 and 1979. It was authored by Yusuke Iwabuchi and published on figshare in March 2026. The data highlights a discontinuity in sea ice extent, showing approximately 1.1 million km² in 1979 compared to an unrealistically low 0.5 million km² before 1978.

Use Cases

• Identify biases in historical sea ice extent based on the documented discontinuity between 1978 and 1979.
• Analyze the impact of sea ice cover on significant wave height, as the description notes overestimations of more than 60% from 1975 to 1978.
• Study correlations between sea ice and surface meteorological variables like sea surface temperature, air temperature, and surface winds.
• Assess data reliability for long-term climate trend analysis in ice-covered areas using ERA5 reanalysis.

Strengths

• Focuses on a specific, documented discontinuity in a widely used reanalysis dataset (ERA5).
• Quantifies sea ice extent with specific figures: approximately 1.1 million km² in 1979 and 0.5 million km² before 1978.
• Evaluates impact on multiple surface variables: significant wave height, sea surface temperature, surface air temperature, and surface winds.

Limitations

• Row count and column-level documentation are absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The dataset is small (2.8 MB), which may limit the scope of analysis.
• Data may reflect temporal bias inherent to the specific discontinuity event studied.

Provenance

Source

European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Reanalysis version 5 (ERA5), analyzed by Yusuke Iwabuchi.

Collection Method

Evaluation of ERA5 reanalysis data, focusing on assimilated sea ice data and derived meteorological variables.

Time Range

1978-1979, with references to data from 1975-1978.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-18 07:38:32; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Sea of Okhotsk, specifically coastal areas of Hokkaido.