ERA5 represents the state of the art for atmospheric reanalyses and is widely used in meteorological and climatological
research. In this work, this dataset is evaluated using the wind kinetic energy spectrum. Seasonal climatologies are generated for 30° latitudinal bands in the Northern Hemisphere (periodic domain) and over the North Atlantic area (limited-area
domain). The spectra are also assessed to determine the efective resolution of the reanalysis. The results present notable
diferences between the latitudinal domains, indicating that ERA5 is properly capturing the synoptic conditions. The seasonal
variability is adequate too, being winter the most energetic, and summer the least energetic season. The limited area domain
results introduce a larger energy density and range. Despite the good results for the synoptic scales, the reanalysis’ spectra
are not able to properly reproduce the dissipation rates at mesoscale. This is a source of uncertainties which needs to be taken
into account when using the dataset. Finally, a cyclone tropical transition is presented as a case study. The spectrum generated
shows a clear diference in energy density at every wavelength, as expected for a highly-energetic status of the atmosphere.
