Comparison of ECMWF operational surface meteorology and buoy observations in the Ligurian Sea

Abstract Since numerical weather prediction (NWP) models are usually used to force circulation models over the ocean it is important to investigate their skill in reproducing surface meteorological parameters in open sea conditions. Near-surface meteorological data (air temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, wind speed and direction) have been acquired from several sensors installed onboard an offshore large spar buoy in the Ligurian Sea (Northern Mediterranean Sea) from February to December 2000. The observations have been compared with data from the ECMWF analysis in the two grid points closest to the buoy position. For each meteorological parameter an analysis has been performed by evaluating instantaneous synoptic differences, distributions, daily and annual variations and related statistics.