scholarly journals Radar Data Assimilation in the Canadian High-Resolution Ensemble Kalman Filter System: Performance and Verification with Real Summer Cases

2014 ◽  
Vol 142 (6) ◽  
pp. 2118-2138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weiguang Chang ◽  
Kao-Shen Chung ◽  
Luc Fillion ◽  
Seung-Jong Baek
Keyword(s):  
Kalman Filter ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Data Assimilation ◽  
Ensemble Kalman Filter ◽  
Radar Data ◽  
Radial Velocities ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Radar Observations ◽  
Filter Convergence ◽  
Radar Data Assimilation

Abstract An 80-member high-resolution ensemble Kalman filter (HREnKF) is implemented for assimilating radar observations with the Canadian Meteorological Center’s (CMC’s) Global Environmental Multiscale Limited-Area Model (GEM-LAM). This system covers the Montréal, Canada, region and assimilates radar data from the McGill Radar Observatory with 4-km data thinning. The GEM-LAM operates in fully nonhydrostatic mode with 58 hybrid vertical levels and 1-km horizontal grid spacing. As a first step toward full radar data assimilation, only radial velocities are directly assimilated in this study. The HREnKF is applied on three 2011 summer cases having different precipitation structures: squall-line structure, isolated small-scale structures, and widespread stratiform precipitation. The short-term (<2 h) accuracy of the HREnKF analyses and forecasts is examined. In HREnKF, the ensemble spread is sufficient to cover the estimated error from innovations and lead to filter convergence. It results in part from a realistic initiation of HREnKF data assimilation cycle by using a Canadian regional EnKF system (itself coupled to a global EnKF) working at meso- and synoptic scales. The filter convergence is confirmed by the HREnKF background fields gradually approaching to radar observations as the assimilation cycling proceeds. At each analysis step, it is clearly shown that unobserved variables are significantly modified through HREnKF cross correlation of errors from the ensemble. Radar reflectivity observations are used to verify the improvements in analyses and short-term forecasts achievable by assimilating only radial velocities. Further developments of the analysis system are discussed.

A Multicase Comparative Assessment of the Ensemble Kalman Filter for Assimilation of Radar Observations. Part II: Short-Range Ensemble Forecasts

2010 ◽  
Vol 138 (4) ◽  
pp. 1273-1292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Altuğ Aksoy ◽  
David C. Dowell ◽  
Chris Snyder
Keyword(s):  
Kalman Filter ◽  
Data Assimilation ◽  
Ensemble Kalman Filter ◽  
Cloud Model ◽  
Wrf Model ◽  
Radar Data ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Ensemble Forecasts ◽  
Radar Observations

Abstract The quality of convective-scale ensemble forecasts, initialized from analysis ensembles obtained through the assimilation of radar observations using an ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF), is investigated for cases whose behaviors span supercellular, linear, and multicellular organization. This work is the companion to Part I, which focused on the quality of analyses during the 60-min analysis period. Here, the focus is on 30-min ensemble forecasts initialized at the end of that period. As in Part I, the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model is employed as a simplified cloud model at 2-km horizontal grid spacing. Various observation-space and state-space verification metrics, computed both for ensemble means and individual ensemble members, are employed to assess the quality of ensemble forecasts comparatively across cases. While the cases exhibit noticeable differences in predictability, the forecast skill in each case, as measured by various metrics, decays on a time scale of tens of minutes. The ensemble spread also increases rapidly but significant outlier members or clustering among members are not encountered. Forecast quality is seen to be influenced to varying degrees by the respective initial soundings. While radar data assimilation is able to partially mitigate some of the negative effects in some situations, the supercell case, in particular, remains difficult to predict even after 60 min of data assimilation.

scholarly journals Data Assimilation of the High-Resolution Sea Surface Temperature Obtained from the Aqua-Terra Satellites (MODIS-SST) Using an Ensemble Kalman Filter

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 3123-3139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasumasa Miyazawa ◽  
Hiroshi Murakami ◽  
Toru Miyama ◽  
Sergey Varlamov ◽  
Xinyu Guo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Kalman Filter ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Data Assimilation ◽  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Sea Surface Temperature ◽  
Ensemble Kalman Filter ◽  
Sea Surface

Evaluation of Surface Analyses and Forecasts with a Multiscale Ensemble Kalman Filter in Regions of Complex Terrain

2011 ◽  
Vol 139 (6) ◽  
pp. 2008-2024 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian C. Ancell ◽  
Clifford F. Mass ◽  
Gregory J. Hakim
Keyword(s):  
Kalman Filter ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Data Assimilation ◽  
Ensemble Kalman Filter ◽  
Complex Terrain ◽  
Error Variance ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Observation Error ◽  
Grid Spacing ◽  
Background Error

Abstract Previous research suggests that an ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) data assimilation and modeling system can produce accurate atmospheric analyses and forecasts at 30–50-km grid spacing. This study examines the ability of a mesoscale EnKF system using multiscale (36/12 km) Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model simulations to produce high-resolution, accurate, regional surface analyses, and 6-h forecasts. This study takes place over the complex terrain of the Pacific Northwest, where the small-scale features of the near-surface flow field make the region particularly attractive for testing an EnKF and its flow-dependent background error covariances. A variety of EnKF experiments are performed over a 5-week period to test the impact of decreasing the grid spacing from 36 to 12 km and to evaluate new approaches for dealing with representativeness error, lack of surface background variance, and low-level bias. All verification in this study is performed with independent, unassimilated observations. Significant surface analysis and 6-h forecast improvements are found when EnKF grid spacing is reduced from 36 to 12 km. Forecast improvements appear to be a consequence of increased resolution during model integration, whereas analysis improvements also benefit from high-resolution ensemble covariances during data assimilation. On the 12-km domain, additional analysis improvements are found by reducing observation error variance in order to address representativeness error. Removing model surface biases prior to assimilation significantly enhances the analysis. Inflating surface wind and temperature background error variance has large impacts on analyses, but only produces small improvements in analysis RMS errors. Both surface and upper-air 6-h forecasts are nearly unchanged in the 12-km experiments. Last, 12-km WRF EnKF surface analyses and 6-h forecasts are shown to generally outperform those of the Global Forecast System (GFS), North American Model (NAM), and the Rapid Update Cycle (RUC) by about 10%–30%, although these improvements do not extend above the surface. Based on these results, future improvements in multiscale EnKF are suggested.

scholarly journals Verification of 24-h Quantitative Precipitation Forecasts over the Pacific Northwest from a High-Resolution Ensemble Kalman Filter System

2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 1185-1208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phillipa Cookson-Hills ◽  
Daniel J. Kirshbaum ◽  
Madalina Surcel ◽  
Jonathan G. Doyle ◽  
Luc Fillion ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Kalman Filter ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Data Assimilation ◽  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
Ensemble Kalman Filter ◽  
Ensemble Prediction ◽  
Forecast Errors ◽  
Ensemble Prediction System ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Quantitative Precipitation Forecasts

Abstract Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) has recently developed an experimental high-resolution EnKF (HREnKF) regional ensemble prediction system, which it tested over the Pacific Northwest of North America for the first half of February 2011. The HREnKF has 2.5-km horizontal grid spacing and assimilates surface and upper-air observations every hour. To determine the benefits of the HREnKF over less expensive alternatives, its 24-h quantitative precipitation forecasts are compared with those from a lower-resolution (15 km) regional ensemble Kalman filter (REnKF) system and to ensembles directly downscaled from the REnKF using the same grid as the HREnKF but with no additional data assimilation (DS). The forecasts are verified against rain gauge observations and gridded precipitation analyses, the latter of which are characterized by uncertainties of comparable magnitude to the model forecast errors. Nonetheless, both deterministic and probabilistic verification indicates robust improvements in forecast skill owing to the finer grids of the HREnKF and DS. The HREnKF exhibits a further improvement in performance over the DS in the first few forecast hours, suggesting a modest positive impact of data assimilation. However, this improvement is not statistically significant and may be attributable to other factors.

scholarly journals Analysis of a Tornadic Mesoscale Convective Vortex Based on Ensemble Kalman Filter Assimilation of CASA X-Band and WSR-88D Radar Data

2011 ◽  
Vol 139 (11) ◽  
pp. 3446-3468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan Snook ◽  
Ming Xue ◽  
Youngsun Jung
Keyword(s):  
Kalman Filter ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Ensemble Kalman Filter ◽  
Weather Prediction ◽  
Radar Data ◽  
Convective System ◽  
Foundation Engineering ◽  
X Band ◽  
Regional Prediction ◽  
Mesoscale Convective

Abstract One of the goals of the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA) is to improve storm-scale numerical weather prediction (NWP) by collecting data with a dense X-band radar network that provides high-resolution low-level coverage, and by assimilating such data into NWP models. During the first spring storm season after the deployment of four radars in the CASA Integrated Project-1 (IP-1) network in southwest Oklahoma, a tornadic mesoscale convective system (MCS) was captured by CASA and surrounding Weather Surveillance Radars-1988 Doppler (WSR-88Ds) on 8–9 May 2007. The MCS moved across northwest Texas and western and central Oklahoma; two tornadoes rated as category 1 on the enhanced Fujita scale (EF-1) and one tornado of EF-0 intensity were reported during the event, just to the north of the IP-1 network. This was the first tornadic convective system observed by CASA. To quantify the impacts of CASA radar data in storm-scale NWP, a set of data assimilation experiments were performed using the Advanced Regional Prediction System (ARPS) ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) system configured with full model physics and high-resolution terrain. Data from four CASA IP-1 radars and five WSR-88Ds were assimilated in some of the experiments. The ensemble contained 40 members, and radar data were assimilated every 5 min for 1 h. While the assimilation of WSR-88D data alone was able to produce a reasonably accurate analysis of the convective system, assimilating CASA data in addition to WSR-88D data is found to improve the representation of storm-scale circulations, particularly in the lowest few kilometers of the atmosphere, as evidenced by analyses of gust front position and comparison of simulated Vr with observations. Assimilating CASA data decreased RMS innovation of the resulting ensemble mean analyses of Z, particularly in early assimilation cycles, suggesting that the addition of CASA data allowed the EnKF system to more quickly achieve a good result. Use of multiple microphysics schemes in the forecast ensemble was found to alleviate underdispersion by increasing the ensemble spread. This work is the first assimilating real CASA data into an NWP model using EnKF.

scholarly journals The Impacts of Representing the Correlation of Errors in Radar Data Assimilation. Part I: Experiments with Simulated Background and Observation Estimates

2014 ◽  
Vol 142 (11) ◽  
pp. 3998-4016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominik Jacques ◽  
Isztar Zawadzki
Keyword(s):  
Data Assimilation ◽  
Cost Function ◽  
Radar Data ◽  
Spatial Correlations ◽  
Radar Observations ◽  
Lack Of Information ◽  
Data Thinning ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Radar Data Assimilation

Abstract In radar data assimilation, statistically optimal analyses are sought by minimizing a cost function in which the variance and covariance of background and observation errors are correctly represented. Radar observations are particular in that they are often available at spatial resolution comparable to that of background estimates. Because of computational constraints and lack of information, it is impossible to perfectly represent the correlation of errors. In this study, the authors characterize the impact of such misrepresentations in an idealized framework where the spatial correlations of background and observation errors are each described by a homogeneous and isotropic exponential decay. Analyses obtained with perfect representation of correlations are compared to others obtained by neglecting correlations altogether. These two sets of analyses are examined from a theoretical and an experimental perspective. The authors show that if the spatial correlations of background and observation errors are similar, then neglecting the correlation of errors has a small impact on the quality of analyses. They suggest that the sampling noise, related to the precision with which analysis errors may be estimated, could be used as a criterion for determining when the correlations of errors may be omitted. Neglecting correlations altogether also yields better analyses than representing correlations for only one term in the cost function or through the use of data thinning. These results suggest that the computational costs of data assimilation could be reduced by neglecting the correlations of errors in areas where dense radar observations are available.

Review of the Ensemble Kalman Filter for Atmospheric Data Assimilation

2016 ◽  
Vol 144 (12) ◽  
pp. 4489-4532 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. L. Houtekamer ◽  
Fuqing Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Kalman Filter ◽  
Data Assimilation ◽  
Hybrid Systems ◽  
Ensemble Kalman Filter ◽  
Satellite Observations ◽  
General Description ◽  
System Error ◽  
Radar Observations ◽  
Atmospheric Data ◽  
Filter Divergence

Abstract This paper reviews the development of the ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) for atmospheric data assimilation. Particular attention is devoted to recent advances and current challenges. The distinguishing properties of three well-established variations of the EnKF algorithm are first discussed. Given the limited size of the ensemble and the unavoidable existence of errors whose origin is unknown (i.e., system error), various approaches to localizing the impact of observations and to accounting for these errors have been proposed. However, challenges remain; for example, with regard to localization of multiscale phenomena (both in time and space). For the EnKF in general, but higher-resolution applications in particular, it is desirable to use a short assimilation window. This motivates a focus on approaches for maintaining balance during the EnKF update. Also discussed are limited-area EnKF systems, in particular with regard to the assimilation of radar data and applications to tracking severe storms and tropical cyclones. It seems that relatively less attention has been paid to optimizing EnKF assimilation of satellite radiance observations, the growing volume of which has been instrumental in improving global weather predictions. There is also a tendency at various centers to investigate and implement hybrid systems that take advantage of both the ensemble and the variational data assimilation approaches; this poses additional challenges and it is not clear how it will evolve. It is concluded that, despite more than 10 years of operational experience, there are still many unresolved issues that could benefit from further research. Contents Introduction...4490 Popular flavors of the EnKF algorithm...4491 General description...4491 Stochastic and deterministic filters...4492 The stochastic filter...4492 The deterministic filter...4492 Sequential or local filters...4493 Sequential ensemble Kalman filters...4493 The local ensemble transform Kalman filter...4494 Extended state vector...4494 Issues for the development of algorithms...4495 Use of small ensembles...4495 Monte Carlo methods...4495 Validation of reliability...4497 Use of group filters with no inbreeding...4498 Sampling error due to limited ensemble size: The rank problem...4498 Covariance localization...4499 Localization in the sequential filter...4499 Localization in the LETKF...4499 Issues with localization...4500 Summary...4501 Methods to increase ensemble spread...4501 Covariance inflation...4501 Additive inflation...4501 Multiplicative inflation...4502 Relaxation to prior ensemble information...4502 Issues with inflation...4503 Diffusion and truncation...4503 Error in physical parameterizations...4504 Physical tendency perturbations...4504 Multimodel, multiphysics, and multiparameter approaches...4505 Future directions...4505 Realism of error sources...4506 Balance and length of the assimilation window...4506 The need for balancing methods...4506 Time-filtering methods...4506 Toward shorter assimilation windows...4507 Reduction of sources of imbalance...4507 Regional data assimilation...4508 Boundary conditions and consistency across multiple domains...4509 Initialization of the starting ensemble...4510 Preprocessing steps for radar observations...4510 Use of radar observations for convective-scale analyses...4511 Use of radar observations for tropical cyclone analyses...4511 Other issues with respect to LAM data assimilation...4511 The assimilation of satellite observations...4512 Covariance localization...4512 Data density...4513 Bias-correction procedures...4513 Impact of covariance cycling...4514 Assumptions regarding observational error...4514 Recommendations regarding satellite observations...4515 Computational aspects...4515 Parameters with an impact on quality...4515 Overview of current parallel algorithms...4516 Evolution of computer architecture...4516 Practical issues...4517 Approaching the gray zone...4518 Summary...4518 Hybrids with variational and EnKF components...4519 Hybrid background error covariances...4519 E4DVar with the α control variable...4519 Not using linearized models with 4DEnVar...4520 The hybrid gain algorithm...4521 Open issues and recommendations...4521 Summary and discussion...4521 Stochastic or deterministic filters...4522 The nature of system error...4522 Going beyond the synoptic scales...4522 Satellite observations...4523 Hybrid systems...4523 Future of the EnKF...4523 APPENDIX A...4524 Types of Filter Divergence...4524 Classical filter divergence...4524 Catastrophic filter divergence...4524 APPENDIX B...4524 Systems Available for Download...4524 References...4525

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