Deman et al. (2026) A four-decade global Lagrangian air-parcel trajectory dataset for atmospheric moisture and heat analysis

Identification

• Journal: Earth system science data
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-07-06
• Authors: Victoria M. H. Deman, Damián Insúa-Costa, Jessica Keune, Akash Koppa, Diego G. Miralles
• DOI: 10.5194/essd-18-4593-2026

Research Groups

• Hydro-Climate Extremes Lab (H-CEL), Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
• European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, Bonn, Germany
• Department of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom

Short Summary

A four-decade global Lagrangian air-parcel trajectory dataset is presented for atmospheric moisture and heat analysis. The dataset spans 1979–2024 and provides a consistent record for studying Lagrangian moisture and heat transport.

Objective

• Investigate the pathways of atmospheric moisture and heat using a global, long-term Lagrangian framework.
• Analyze the source regions of precipitation and sensible heat fluxes at various spatial and temporal scales.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Global, with focus on continental and oceanic regions.
• Temporal Scale: 1979–2024, with hourly ERA5 reanalysis data used for driving the FLEXPART simulations.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: FLEXible PARTicle dispersion model (FLEXPART v11) and Heat And MoiSture Tracking framEwoRk (HAMSTER v2).
• Data sources: ERA5 reanalysis data, with hourly fields extending back to 1940.

Main Results

• A global dataset of atmospheric parcel trajectories is presented, covering the period 1979–2024.
• The dataset includes 20 million air-parcel trajectories together with their (thermo)dynamic properties.
• Global climatologies and event-scale case studies demonstrate the applicability of the dataset for diagnosing moisture and heat source-sink relationships.

Contributions

• This study provides a new global Lagrangian trajectory dataset, complementing existing archives and enabling efficient analysis of atmospheric moisture and heat pathways.
• The dataset's usability is demonstrated by various applications, including global climatologies and event-scale case studies.

Funding

• This research was supported by the European Research Council (ERC) under grant agreement no. 101020937.

Citation

@article{Deman2026fourdecade,
  author = {Deman, Victoria M. H. and Insúa-Costa, Damián and Keune, Jessica and Koppa, Akash and Miralles, Diego G.},
  title = {A four-decade global Lagrangian air-parcel trajectory dataset for atmospheric moisture and heat analysis},
  journal = {Earth system science data},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.5194/essd-18-4593-2026},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-18-4593-2026}
}