Characteristics of Target Areas Selected by the Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter for Medium-Range Forecasts of High-Impact Winter Weather

2010 ◽  
Vol 138 (7) ◽  
pp. 2803-2824 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharanya J. Majumdar ◽  
Kathryn J. Sellwood ◽  
Daniel Hodyss ◽  
Zoltan Toth ◽  
Yucheng Song
Keyword(s):  
Kalman Filter ◽  
Storm Track ◽  
High Impact ◽  
Lead Times ◽  
Forecast Errors ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Multiple Targets ◽  
Medium Range ◽  
Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter ◽  
Ensemble Transform

Abstract The characteristics of “target” locations of tropospheric wind and temperature identified by a modified version of the ensemble transform Kalman filter (ETKF), in order to reduce 0–7-day forecast errors over North America, are explored from the perspective of a field program planner. Twenty cases of potential high-impact weather over the continent were investigated, using a 145-member ensemble comprising perturbations from NCEP, ECMWF, and the Canadian Meteorological Centre (CMC). Multiple targets were found to exist in the midlatitude storm track. In half of the cases, distinctive targets could be traced upstream near Japan at lead times of 4–7 days. In these cases, the flow was predominantly zonal and a coherent Rossby wave packet was present over the northern Pacific Ocean. The targets at the longest lead times were often located within propagating areas of baroclinic energy conversion far upstream. As the lead time was reduced, these targets were found to diminish in importance, with downstream targets corresponding to a separate synoptic system gaining in prominence. This shift in optimal targets is sometimes consistent with the radiation of ageostrophic geopotential fluxes and transfer of eddy kinetic energy downstream, associated with downstream baroclinic development. Concurrently, multiple targets arise due to spurious long-distance correlations in the ETKF. The targets were least coherent in blocked flows, in which the ETKF is known to be least reliable. The effectiveness of targeting in the medium range requires evaluation, using data such as those collected during the winter phase of The Observing System Research and Predictability Experiment (THORPEX) Pacific Asian Regional Field Campaign (T-PARC) in 2009.

scholarly journals Comparison between Local Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter and PSAS in the NASA finite volume GCM – perfect model experiments

2008 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 645-659 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Liu ◽  
E. J. Fertig ◽  
H. Li ◽  
E. Kalnay ◽  
B. R. Hunt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Kalman Filter ◽  
Finite Volume ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Forecast Errors ◽  
Global Circulation Model ◽  
Perfect Model ◽  
Grid Points ◽  
Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter ◽  
Ensemble Transform ◽  
Assimilation System

Abstract. This paper compares the performance of the Local Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter (LETKF) with the Physical-Space Statistical Analysis System (PSAS) under a perfect model scenario. PSAS is a 3D-Var assimilation system used operationally in the Goddard Earth Observing System Data Assimilation System (GEOS-4 DAS). The comparison is carried out using simulated winds and geopotential height observations and the finite volume Global Circulation Model with 72 grid points zonally, 46 grid points meridionally and 55 vertical levels. With forty ensemble members, the LETKF obtains analyses and forecasts with significantly lower RMS errors than those from PSAS, especially over the Southern Hemisphere and oceans. This observed advantage of the LETKF over PSAS is due to the ability of the 40-member ensemble LETKF to capture flow-dependent errors and thus create a good estimate of the evolving background uncertainty. An initial decrease of the forecast errors in the Northern Hemisphere observed in the PSAS but not in the LETKF suggests that the LETKF analysis is more balanced.

scholarly journals Gain Form of the Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter and Its Relevance to Satellite Data Assimilation with Model Space Ensemble Covariance Localization

2017 ◽  
Vol 145 (11) ◽  
pp. 4575-4592 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig H. Bishop ◽  
Jeffrey S. Whitaker ◽  
Lili Lei
Keyword(s):  
Kalman Filter ◽  
Data Assimilation ◽  
Satellite Data ◽  
Localization Length ◽  
Model Space ◽  
Ensemble Size ◽  
Length Scales ◽  
Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter ◽  
Ensemble Transform ◽  
Expanded Ensemble

To ameliorate suboptimality in ensemble data assimilation, methods have been introduced that involve expanding the ensemble size. Such expansions can incorporate model space covariance localization and/or estimates of climatological or model error covariances. Model space covariance localization in the vertical overcomes problematic aspects of ensemble-based satellite data assimilation. In the case of the ensemble transform Kalman filter (ETKF), the expanded ensemble size associated with vertical covariance localization would also enable the simultaneous update of entire vertical columns of model variables from hyperspectral and multispectral satellite sounders. However, if the original formulation of the ETKF were applied to an expanded ensemble, it would produce an analysis ensemble that was the same size as the expanded forecast ensemble. This article describes a variation on the ETKF called the gain ETKF (GETKF) that takes advantage of covariances from the expanded ensemble, while producing an analysis ensemble that has the required size of the unexpanded forecast ensemble. The approach also yields an inflation factor that depends on the localization length scale that causes the GETKF to perform differently to an ensemble square root filter (EnSRF) using the same expanded ensemble. Experimentation described herein shows that the GETKF outperforms a range of alternative ETKF-based solutions to the aforementioned problems. In cycling data assimilation experiments with a newly developed storm-track version of the Lorenz-96 model, the GETKF analysis root-mean-square error (RMSE) matches the EnSRF RMSE at shorter than optimal localization length scales but is superior in that it yields smaller RMSEs for longer localization length scales.

scholarly journals Estimating surface carbon fluxes based on a local ensemble transform Kalman filter with a short assimilation window and a long observation window: an observing system simulation experiment test in GEOS-Chem 10.1

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 2899-2914
Author(s):  
Yun Liu ◽  
Eugenia Kalnay ◽  
Ning Zeng ◽  
Ghassem Asrar ◽  
Zhaohui Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Kalman Filter ◽  
Simulation Experiment ◽  
System Simulation ◽  
Carbon Fluxes ◽  
Observation Window ◽  
Surface Carbon ◽  
Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter ◽  
Observing System Simulation Experiment ◽  
Ensemble Transform ◽  
Assimilation System

Abstract. We developed a carbon data assimilation system to estimate surface carbon fluxes using the local ensemble transform Kalman filter (LETKF) and atmospheric transport model GEOS-Chem driven by the MERRA-1 reanalysis of the meteorological field based on the Goddard Earth Observing System model, version 5 (GEOS-5). This assimilation system is inspired by the method of Kang et al. (2011, 2012), who estimated the surface carbon fluxes in an observing system simulation experiment (OSSE) as evolving parameters in the assimilation of the atmospheric CO2, using a short assimilation window of 6 h. They included the assimilation of the standard meteorological variables, so that the ensemble provided a measure of the uncertainty in the CO2 transport. After introducing new techniques such as “variable localization”, and increased observation weights near the surface, they obtained accurate surface carbon fluxes at grid-point resolution. We developed a new version of the local ensemble transform Kalman filter related to the “running-in-place” (RIP) method used to accelerate the spin-up of ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) data assimilation (Kalnay and Yang, 2010; Wang et al., 2013; Yang et al., 2012). Like RIP, the new assimilation system uses the “no cost smoothing” algorithm for the LETKF (Kalnay et al., 2007b), which allows shifting the Kalman filter solution forward or backward within an assimilation window at no cost. In the new scheme a long “observation window” (e.g., 7 d or longer) is used to create a LETKF ensemble at 7 d. Then, the RIP smoother is used to obtain an accurate final analysis at 1 d. This new approach has the advantage of being based on a short assimilation window, which makes it more accurate, and of having been exposed to the future 7 d observations, which improves the analysis and accelerates the spin-up. The assimilation and observation windows are then shifted forward by 1 d, and the process is repeated. This reduces significantly the analysis error, suggesting that the newly developed assimilation method can be used with other Earth system models, especially in order to make greater use of observations in conjunction with models.

scholarly journals Estimating Surface Carbon Fluxes Based on a Local Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter with a Short Assimilation Window and a Long Observation Window

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yun Liu ◽  
Eugenia Kalnay ◽  
Ning Zeng ◽  
Ghassem Asrar ◽  
Zhaohui Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Kalman Filter ◽  
Data Assimilation ◽  
Grid Point ◽  
Carbon Fluxes ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Observation Window ◽  
Surface Carbon ◽  
Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter ◽  
Ensemble Transform ◽  
Assimilation System

Abstract. We developed a Carbon data assimilation system to estimate the surface carbon fluxes using the Local Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter and atmospheric transfer model of GEOS-Chem driven by the MERRA-1 reanalysis of the meteorological fields based on the Goddard Earth Observing System Model, Version 5 (GEOS-5). This assimilation system is inspired by the method of Kang et al. [2011, 2012], who estimated the surface carbon fluxes in an Observing System Simulation Experiment (OSSE) mode, as evolving parameters in the assimilation of the atmospheric CO2, using a short assimilation window of 6 hours. They included the assimilation of the standard meteorological variables, so that the ensemble provided a measure of the uncertainty in the CO2 transport. After introducing new techniques such as variable localization, and increased observation weights near the surface, they obtained accurate carbon fluxes at grid point resolution. We developed a new version of the LETKF related to the Running-in-Place (RIP) method used to accelerate the spin-up of EnKF data assimilation [Kalnay and Yang, 2010; Wang et al., 2013, Yang et al., 2014]. Like RIP, the new assimilation system uses the no-cost smoothing algorithm for the LETKF [Kalnay et al., 2007b], which allows shifting at no cost the Kalman Filter solution forward or backward within an assimilation window. In the new scheme a long observation window (e.g., 7-days or longer) is used to create an LETKF ensemble at 7-days. Then, the RIP smoother is used to obtain an accurate final analysis at 1-day. This analysis has the advantage of being based on a short assimilation window, which makes it more accurate, and of having been exposed to the future 7-days observations, which accelerates the spin up. The assimilation and observation windows are then shifted forward by one day, and the process is repeated. This reduces significantly the analysis error, suggesting that this method could be used in other data assimilation problems.

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