Global track dataset of monsoon low pressure systems

This dataset contains the tracks and intensities of low pressure system (LPS) in the global tropics (35ºS-35ºN), as identified in five atmospheric reanalyses (ERA5, ERA-Interim, JRA55, MERRA2, and CFSR) using the algorithm described in the paper titled Assessing historical variability of South Asian monsoon lows and depressions with an optimized tracking algorithm.  Tracking of LPS was performed using an automated Lagrangian pointwise feature tracker, TempestExtremes (Ullrich & Zarzycki, 2017), with criteria chosen to best match a subjectively analyzed LPS dataset while minimizing disagreement  between four atmospheric reanalyses. A full description of the algorithm and dataset is described in the preprint *(https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JD032977)

Files:

Header.txt: contains the names of columns of the LPS dataset files

LPS_Global_ERA5.dat: LPS track file for ERA5, 1979-2019, hourly resolution

LPS_Global_ERA-Interim.dat: LPS track file for ERA-Interim, 1979-2018, six-hourly resolution

LPS_Global_JRA55.dat: LPS track file for JRA55, 1958-2019, six-hourly resolution

LPS_Global_CFSR.dat: LPS track file for CFSR, 1979-2010, six-hourly resolution

LPS_Global_MERRA2.dat: LPS track file for MERRA2, 1980-2019, three-hourly resolution

Extented Data for ERA5:

ERA5 tracks for 1940-2022 are available on https://boos.berkeley.edu in the "Data & Tools" section.

Script:

Run_tempest_lps.sh: TempestExtremes script to track LPS in reanalysis dataset. 

Additionally, four python scripts are available to subset the dataset:

Python_Moist_LPS_heat_low.py: Python script to create two separate files for  moist LPS and heat lows

Python_Low_Depression.py: Python script to create two separate files for monsoon lows and monsoon depressions

Python_Region.py: Python script to create a separate file for a region

Python_Season.py: Python script to create a separate file for a season

Note: The TempestExtremes software can be obtained from GitHub at https://github.com/ClimateGlobalChange/tempestextremes.

For further details, contact S. Vishnu ([e-mail]) or William R Boos  ([e-mail]).