A study of the interannual variability of ECMWF surface re-analysis meteorological fields over the Mediterranean Basin for the period 1979-1993

The analysis of the ECMWF re-analysis surface meteorological fields (wind velocity, air temperature, relative humidity and cloud cover) is conducted on the Mediterranean basin and in its four small areas, mainly focusing on the interannual fluctuations of these data. This analysis (times series of surface integrals and EOF) shows an outstanding interannual signal in all data. In general, sporadic anomalous events in wind speed can occur during the winter months, while those in air temperature can occur during the summer months. Then, by comparing to GOADS, a general underestimation of the wind speed and a good agreement in the air temperature are found.