Antarctic Mesoscale Pressure Forecasts for Cyclone Tracking

45km resolution mean sea level pressure forecasts processed into a continuous 3-hourly time series for tracking Antarctic polar lows. The dataset contains forecasts from the Polar WRF model run every 12 hours, processed by the Australian Antarctic Data Centre. Data covers the period from October 28, 2008, to December 31, 2012.

Use Cases

• Track polar low cyclone centers using the 3-hourly MSLP field on a 0.5-degree lat-lon grid.
• Validate and calibrate the Polar WRF model's pressure forecasts against other reanalysis products for the Antarctic domain.
• Analyze the frequency and intensity of pressure systems using the continuous 3-hourly temporal resolution from 2008 to 2012.
• Study spatial patterns of mean sea level pressure over the specified Antarctic domain (d001) for mesoscale weather research.

Strengths

• Continuous 3-hourly temporal resolution over more than 4 years (2008-2012).
• Data is specifically processed for compatibility with a recognized cyclone tracking scheme (Murray and Simmonds, 1991).
• Spatial coverage is defined for a specific Antarctic domain (d001) with coordinates provided.

Limitations

• Data is a forecast product, not observations, introducing model bias and uncertainty.
• Temporal coverage ended in 2012, making the data stale for contemporary climate studies.
• The processing method fills missing forecasts with previous ones, which may smooth or artifactually persist features.

Provenance

Source

Antarctic Mesoscale Prediction System (AMPS) using the Polar Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model.

Collection Method

3-hourly forecasts (t=0 to t=120) made every 12 hours, converted from GRIB to netCDF, regridded to 0.5-degree lat-lon, and concatenated into a continuous series.

Time Range

2008-10-28 to 2012-12-31

Freshness

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Geography

Antarctic domain d001 (lower left: -24.72209 N, 38.30463 E; upper right: -21.82868 N, -144.07805 E).