A recent publication on different Arctic cloud climatologies intercomparison shows a wide spread among observations and reanalyses. Reanalyses generally are not in a close agreement with satellite and surface observations of cloudiness in the Arctic. Several reanalyses show the highest values of total cloud fraction over the central part of the Arctic Ocean but not over the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea as observations do. The maximum and minimum of total cloud fraction in the annual cycle are shifted by 1-2 months compared to observations.
Normalized pattern statistics showing differences among different observational and reanalyses TCF spatial distribution (Taylor diagrams).
Alexander Chernokulsky and Igor I. Mokhov, “Climatology of Total Cloudiness in the Arctic: An Intercomparison of Observations and Reanalyses,” Advances in Meteorology, vol. 2012, Article ID 542093, 15 pages, 2012. doi:10.1155/2012/542093