scholarly journals A study on WRF radar data assimilation for hydrological rainfall prediction

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (8) ◽  
pp. 3095-3110 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Liu ◽  
M. Bray ◽  
D. Han
Keyword(s):  
Data Assimilation ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Meteorological Data ◽  
Weather Radar ◽  
Radar Data ◽  
Rain Gauge ◽  
Radar Reflectivity ◽  
Storm Event ◽  
Hydrological Applications ◽  
Radar Data Assimilation

Abstract. Mesoscale numerical weather prediction (NWP) models are gaining more attention in providing high-resolution rainfall forecasts at the catchment scale for real-time flood forecasting. The model accuracy is however negatively affected by the "spin-up" effect and errors in the initial and lateral boundary conditions. Synoptic studies in the meteorological area have shown that the assimilation of operational observations, especially the weather radar data, can improve the reliability of the rainfall forecasts from the NWP models. This study aims at investigating the potential of radar data assimilation in improving the NWP rainfall forecasts that have direct benefits for hydrological applications. The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model is adopted to generate 10 km rainfall forecasts for a 24 h storm event in the Brue catchment (135.2 km2) located in southwest England. Radar reflectivity from the lowest scan elevation of a C-band weather radar is assimilated by using the three-dimensional variational (3D-Var) data-assimilation technique. Considering the unsatisfactory quality of radar data compared to the rain gauge observations, the radar data are assimilated in both the original form and an improved form based on a real-time correction ratio developed according to the rain gauge observations. Traditional meteorological observations including the surface and upper-air measurements of pressure, temperature, humidity and wind speed are also assimilated as a bench mark to better evaluate and test the potential of radar data assimilation. Four modes of data assimilation are thus carried out on different types/combinations of observations: (1) traditional meteorological data; (2) radar reflectivity; (3) corrected radar reflectivity; (4) a combination of the original reflectivity and meteorological data; and (5) a combination of the corrected reflectivity and meteorological data. The WRF rainfall forecasts before and after different modes of data assimilation are evaluated by examining the rainfall temporal variations and total amounts which have direct impacts on rainfall–runoff transformation in hydrological applications. It is found that by solely assimilating radar data, the improvement of rainfall forecasts are not as obvious as assimilating meteorological data; whereas the positive effect of radar data can be seen when combined with the traditional meteorological data, which leads to the best rainfall forecasts among the five modes. To further improve the effect of radar data assimilation, limitations of the radar correction ratio developed in this study are discussed and suggestions are made on more efficient utilisation of radar data in NWP data assimilation.

scholarly journals A study on weather radar data assimilation for numerical rainfall prediction

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 10323-10364
Author(s):  
J. Liu ◽  
M. Bray ◽  
D. Han
Keyword(s):  
Data Assimilation ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Meteorological Data ◽  
Weather Radar ◽  
Radar Data ◽  
Radar Reflectivity ◽  
Bench Mark ◽  
Storm Event ◽  
Hydrological Applications ◽  
Radar Data Assimilation

Abstract. Mesoscale NWP model is gaining more attention in providing high-resolution rainfall forecasts at the catchment scale for real-time flood forecasting. The model accuracy is however negatively affected by the "spin-up" effect and errors in the initial and lateral boundary conditions. Synoptic studies in the meteorological area have shown that the assimilation of operational observations especially the weather radar data can improve the reliability of the rainfall forecasts from the NWP models. This study aims at investigating the potential of radar data assimilation in improving the NWP rainfall forecasts that have direct benefits for hydrological applications. The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model is adopted to generate 10 km rainfall forecasts for a 24 h storm event in the Brue catchment (135.2 km2) located in Southwest England. Radar reflectivity from the lowest scan elevation of a C-band weather radar is assimilated by using the three dimensional variational (3D-Var) data assimilation technique. Considering the unsatisfactory quality of radar data compared to the rain gauges, the radar data is assimilated in both the original form and an improved form based on a real-time correction ratio developed according to the rain gauge observations. Traditional meteorological observations including the surface and upper-air measurements of pressure, temperature, humidity and wind speed are also assimilated as a bench mark to better evaluate and test the potential of radar data assimilation. Four modes of data assimilation are thus carried out on different types or combinations of observations: (1) traditional meteorological data; (2) radar reflectivity; (3) corrected radar reflectivity; (4) a combination of the original reflectivity and meteorological data; and (5) a combination of the corrected reflectivity and meteorological data. The WRF rainfall forecasts before and after different modes of data assimilation is evaluated by examining the rainfall cumulative curves and the rainfall totals which have direct impact on rainfall-runoff transformation in hydrological applications. It is found that by solely assimilating radar data, the improvement of rainfall forecasts are not as obvious as assimilating meteorological data; whereas the positive effect of radar data can be seen when combined with the traditional meteorological data, which leads to the best rainfall forecasts among the five modes. To further improve the effect of radar data assimilation, limitations of the radar correction ratio developed in this study is discussed and suggestions are made on more efficient utilisation of radar data in NWP assimilation.

Impact of Doppler radar reflectivity and velocity data assimilation on the quality of precipitation forecasting in Belarus in different seasons

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Palina Zaiko ◽  
Siarhei Barodka ◽  
Aliaksandr Krasouski
Keyword(s):  
Data Assimilation ◽  
Weather Radar ◽  
Radar Data ◽  
Radar Reflectivity ◽  
Precipitation Forecast ◽  
Doppler Weather Radar ◽  
Velocity Data ◽  
Numerical Weather ◽  
Convective Processes ◽  
Different Seasons

<p>Heavy precipitation forecast remains one of the biggest problems in numerical weather prediction. Modern remote sensing systems allow tracking of rapidly developing convective processes and provide additional data for numerical weather models practically in real time. Assimilation of Doppler weather radar data also allows to specify the position and intensity of convective processes in atmospheric numerical models.</p><p>The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of Doppler  radar reflectivity and velocity assimilation in the WRF-ARW mesoscale model for the territory of Belarus in different seasons of the year. Specifically, we focus on the short-range numerical forecasting of mesoscale convective systems passage over the territory of Belarus in 2017-2019 with assimilated radar data.</p><p>Proceeding with weather radar observations available for our cases, we first perform the necessary processing of the raw radar data to eliminate noise, reflections and other kinds of clutter. For identification of non-meteorological noise fuzzy echo classification was used. Then we use the WRF-DA (3D-Var) system to assimilate the processed radar observations from 3 Belarusian Doppler weather radar in the WRF model. Assimilating both radar reflectivity and radial velocity data in the model we aim to better represent not only the distribution of clouds and their moisture content, but also the detailed dynamical aspects of convective circulation. Finally, we analyze WRF modelling output obtained with assimilated radar data and compare it with available meteorological observations and with other model runs (including control runs with no data assimilation or with assimilation of conventional weather stations data only), paying special attention to the accuracy of precipitation forecast 12 hours in advance.</p>

scholarly journals Real-Time Detection and Filtering of Chaff Clutter from Single-Polarization Doppler Radar Data

2013 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 873-895 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yong Hyun Kim ◽  
Sungshin Kim ◽  
Hye-Young Han ◽  
Bok-Haeng Heo ◽  
Cheol-Hwan You
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Doppler Radar ◽  
Meteorological Data ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Weather Radar ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Radar Data ◽  
Control Procedure ◽  
South Korean ◽  
Single Polarization

Abstract In countries with frequent aerial military exercises, chaff particles that are routinely spread by military aircraft represent significant noise sources for ground-based weather radar observation. In this study, a cost-effective procedure is proposed for identifying and removing chaff echoes from single-polarization Doppler radar readings in order to enhance the reliability of observed meteorological data. The proposed quality control procedure is based on three steps: 1) spatial and temporal clustering of decomposed radar image elements, 2) extraction of the clusters’ static and time-evolution characteristics, and 3) real-time identification and removal (or censoring) of target echoes from radar data. Simulation experiments based on this procedure were conducted on site-specific ground-echo-removed weather radar data provided by the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), from which three-dimensional (3D) reflectivity echoes covering hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of South Korean territory within an altitude range of 0.25–10 km were retrieved. The algorithm identified and removed chaff clutter from the South Korean data with a novel decision support system at an 81% accuracy level under typical cases in which chaff and weather clusters were isolated from one another with no overlapping areas.

scholarly journals Processing of 3D Weather Radar Data with Application for Assimilation in the NWP Model

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 31-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Ośródka ◽  
Jan Szturc ◽  
Bogumił Jakubiak ◽  
Anna Jurczyk
Keyword(s):  
Quality Control ◽  
Data Assimilation ◽  
Prediction Models ◽  
Initial Conditions ◽  
Weather Prediction ◽  
Weather Radar ◽  
Radar Data ◽  
Field Pattern ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Radar Data Assimilation

Abstract The paper is focused on the processing of 3D weather radar data to minimize the impact of a number of errors from different sources, both meteorological and non-meteorological. The data is also quantitatively characterized in terms of its quality. A set of dedicated algorithms based on analysis of the reflectivity field pattern is described. All the developed algorithms were tested on data from the Polish radar network POLRAD. Quality control plays a key role in avoiding the introduction of incorrect information into applications using radar data. One of the quality control methods is radar data assimilation in numerical weather prediction models to estimate initial conditions of the atmosphere. The study shows an experiment with quality controlled radar data assimilation in the COAMPS model using the ensemble Kalman filter technique. The analysis proved the potential of radar data for such applications; however, further investigations will be indispensable.

scholarly journals Typhoon rainstorm simulation with radar data assimilation in southeast coast of China

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiyang Tian ◽  
Ronghua Liu ◽  
Liuqian Ding ◽  
Liang Guo ◽  
Bingyu Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Data Assimilation ◽  
Radial Velocity ◽  
Doppler Radar ◽  
Radar Data ◽  
Radar Reflectivity ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Storm Events ◽  
Southeast Coast ◽  
Assimilation Time ◽  
Radar Data Assimilation

Abstract. As an effective technique to improve the rainfall forecast, data assimilation plays an important role in meteorology and hydrology. The aim of this study is to explore the reasonable use of Doppler radar data assimilation to correct the initial and lateral boundary conditions of the Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) systems. The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model is applied to simulate three typhoon storm events in southeast coast of China. Radar data from Changle Doppler radar station are assimilated with three-dimensional variational data assimilation (3-DVar) model. Nine assimilation modes are designed by three kinds of radar data (radar reflectivity, radial velocity, radar reflectivity and radial velocity) and three assimilation time intervals (1 h, 3 h and 6 h). The rainfall simulations in a medium-scale catchment, Meixi, are evaluated by three indices including relative error (RE), critical success index (CSI) and root mean square error (RMSE). Assimilating radial velocity with time interval of 1 h can significantly improve the rainfall simulations and outperforms the other modes for all the three storm events. Shortening the assimilation time interval can improve the rainfall simulations in most cases, while assimilating radar reflectivity always leads to worse simulation as the time interval shortens. The rainfall simulation can be improved by data assimilation as a whole, especially for the heavy rainfall with strong convection. The findings provide references for improving the typhoon rainfall forecasts in catchment scale and have great significance on typhoon rainstorm warning.

scholarly journals Improving Numerical Weather Prediction of Rainfall Events Using Radar Data Assimilation

2019 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miranti Indri Hastuti ◽  
Jaka Anugrah Ivanda Paski ◽  
Fatkhuroyan Fatkhuroyan
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Model ◽  
Data Assimilation ◽  
Numerical Weather Prediction ◽  
Weather Prediction ◽  
Weather Radar ◽  
Radar Data ◽  
Observation Data ◽  
Numerical Weather ◽  
Rain Events ◽  
Radar Data Assimilation

Data assimilation is one of method to improve initial atmospheric conditions data in numerical weather prediction. The assimilation of weather radar data that has quite extensive and tight data is considered to be able to improve the quality of weather prediction and analysis. This study aims to investigate the effect of assimilation of Doppler weather radar data in Weather Research Forecasting (WRF) numerical model for the prediction of heavy rain events in the Jabodetabek area with dates representing four seasons respectively on 20 February 2017, 3 April 2017, 13 June 2017, and 9 November 2017. For this purpose, the reflectivity (Z) and radial velocity (V) data from Plan Position Indicator (PPI) product and reflectivity (Z) data from Constant Altitude PPI (CAPPI) product were assimilated using WRFDA (WRF Data Assimilation) numerical model with 3DVar (The Three Dimensional Variational) system. The output of radar data assimilation and without assimilation of the numerical model of WRF is verified by spatial with GSMaP data and by point with precipitation observation data. In general, WRF radar assimilation provides a better simulation of spatial and point rain events compared to the WRF model without assimilation which is improvements of rain prediction from WRF radar data assimilation would be more visible in areas close to radar sources and not echo-blocked from fixed objects, and more visible during the rainy season

scholarly journals A Radar Radial Velocity Dealiasing Algorithm for Radar Data Assimilation and its Evaluation with Observations from Multiple Radar Networks

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (20) ◽  
pp. 2457
Author(s):  
Guangxin He ◽  
Juanzhen Sun ◽  
Zhuming Ying ◽  
Lejian Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Data Assimilation ◽  
Radial Velocity ◽  
Weather Forecasting ◽  
Weather Radar ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Radar Data ◽  
Next Generation ◽  
Radar Network ◽  
Numerical Weather Forecasting ◽  
Radar Data Assimilation

Automated and accurate radar dealiasing algorithms are very important for their assimilation into operational numerical weather forecasting models. A radar radial velocity dealiasing algorithm aimed at radar data assimilation is introduced and assessed using from several S-band and C-band radar observations under the severe weather conditions of hurricanes, typhoons, and deep continental convection in this paper. This dealiasing algorithm, named automated dealiasing for data assimilation (ADDA), is a further development of the dealiasing algorithm named the China radar network (CINRAD) improved dealiasing algorithm (CIDA), originally developed for China’s CINRAD (China Next Generation Weather Radar) radar network. The improved scheme contains five modules employed to remove noisy data, select the suitable first radial, preserve the convective regions, execute multipass dealiasing in both azimuthal and radial directions and conduct the final local dealiasing with an error check. This new dealiasing algorithm was applied to two hurricane cases, two typhoon cases, and three intense-convection cases that were observed from the CINRAD of China, Taiwan‘s radar network, and NEXRAD (Next Generation Weather Radar) of the U.S. with a continuous period of more than 12 h for each case. The dealiasing results demonstrated that ADDA performed better than CIDA for all selected cases. This algorithm not only produced a high success rate for the S-band radar, but also a reasonable performance for the C-band radar.

Impact of Airborne Doppler Radar Data Assimilation on the Numerical Simulation of Intensity Changes of Hurricane Dennis near a Landfall

2009 ◽  
Vol 66 (11) ◽  
pp. 3351-3365 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhaoxia Pu ◽  
Xuanli Li ◽  
Juanzhen Sun
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Simulation ◽  
Data Assimilation ◽  
Doppler Radar ◽  
Radar Data ◽  
Radar Reflectivity ◽  
Wind Data ◽  
Intensity Changes ◽  
Hurricane Dennis ◽  
Airborne Doppler Radar ◽  
Radar Data Assimilation

Abstract Accurate forecasting of a hurricane’s intensity changes near its landfall is of great importance in making an effective hurricane warning. This study uses airborne Doppler radar data collected during the NASA Tropical Cloud Systems and Processes (TCSP) field experiment in July 2005 to examine the impact of airborne radar observations on the short-range numerical simulation of hurricane track and intensity changes. A series of numerical experiments is conducted for Hurricane Dennis (2005) to study its intensity changes near a landfall. Both radar reflectivity and radial velocity–derived wind fields are assimilated into the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model with its three-dimensional variational data assimilation (3DVAR) system. Numerical results indicate that the radar data assimilation has greatly improved the simulated structure and intensity changes of Hurricane Dennis. Specifically, the assimilation of radar reflectivity data shows a notable influence on the thermal and hydrometeor structures of the initial vortex and the precipitation structure in the subsequent forecasts, although its impact on the intensity and track forecasts is relatively small. In contrast, assimilation of radar wind data results in moderate improvement in the storm-track forecast and significant improvement in the intensity and precipitation forecasts of Hurricane Dennis. The hurricane landfall, intensification, and weakening during the simulation period are well captured by assimilating both radar reflectivity and wind data.

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