Estimation of the Added Value of the Absolute Calibration of GPS Radio Occultation Data for Numerical Weather Prediction

An analysis of the impact of GPS radio occultation observations on Environment Canada’s global deterministic weather prediction system is presented. Radio occultation data, as any other source of weather observations, have a direct impact on the analyses. Since they are assimilated assuming that they are well calibrated, they also impact the bias correction scheme employed for other data, such as satellite radiances. The authors estimate the relative impact of occultation data obtained from, first, their assimilation as atmospheric measurements and, second, their influence on the bias correction for radiance data. This assessment is performed using several implementations of the thermodynamic relationships involved, and also allowing or blocking this influence to the radiance bias correction scheme. The current implementation of occultation operators at Environment Canada is presented, collecting upgrades that have been detailed elsewhere, such as the equation of state of air and the expression of refractivity. The performance of the system with and without assimilation of occultations is reviewed under conditions representative of current operations. Several denial runs are prepared, withdrawing only the occultation data from the assimilation, but keeping their influence on the radiance bias correction, or assimilating occultations but denying their impact on the bias correction procedure, and a complete denial. It is shown that the impact of occultations on the analysis is significant through both paths—assimilation and radiance bias correction—albeit the first is larger. The authors conclude that the traceability link of the ensemble of occultations has an added value, beyond the value of each datum as an atmospheric measurement.