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Impact of ATOVS Radiance on the Analysis and Forecasts of a Mesoscale Model over the Indian Region During the 2008 Summer Monsoon

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Abstract

Assimilation experiments are performed with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) models’ three-dimensional variational data assimilation (3D-Var) scheme to evaluate the impact of directly assimilating the Advanced Television and Infrared Observation Satellite Operational Vertical Sounder (ATOVS) radiance, including AMSU-A, AMSU-B and HIRS, on the analysis and forecasts of a mesoscale model over the Indian region. The present study is, to our knowledge, the first where the impact of ATOVS radiance has been evaluated on the analysis and forecasts of a mesoscale model over the Indian region. The control (without ATOVS radiance) as well as experimental (which assimilated ATOVS radiance) run were made for 48 h starting at 0000 UTC during the entire July 2008. The impacts of assimilating the radiances from different instruments (e.g., AMSU-A, AMSU-B and HIRS) were measured in comparison to the control run. The assimilation experiments for July 2008 (30 cases) demonstrated a positive impact of the assimilated ATOVS radiance on both the analysis state as well as subsequent short-range forecasts. Relative to the control run, the moisture analysis was improved with the assimilation of AMSU-B and HIRS radiance, while AMSU-A was mainly responsible for improved temperature analysis. The comparison of the model-predicted temperature, moisture and wind with NCEP analysis indicated that a positive forecast impact is achieved from each of the three instruments. HIRS and AMSU-A radiance yielded only a slight positive forecast impact, while AMSU-B radiance had the largest positive forecast impact for moisture, temperature and wind. The comparison of model-predicted rainfall with observed rainfall indicates that ATOVS radiance, particularly AMSU-B and HIRS, impacted the rainfall positively. This study clearly shows that the improved analysis of mid-tropospheric moisture, due to the assimilation of AMSU-B radiances, is a key factor to improve the short-term forecast skill of a mesoscale model.

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Acknowledgments

WRF is made publicly available and supported by the Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology Division at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The authors gratefully acknowledge useful discussions regarding the radiance assimilation in WRF model with Dr. Zhiquan Liu and Dr. S Rizvi, NCAR, USA. The authors would like to acknowledge the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) for making analysis data available at their site. The radiances and conventional data were obtained from Data Support Section of the Computational and Information Systems Laboratory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, CO (http://dss.ucar.edu/datasets). The authors are thankful to the National Climate Centre, India Meteorological Department, Pune, for providing the daily gridded rainfall data. We express our sincere thanks to anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions for improving the quality of the article.

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  1. Atmospheric Sciences Division, Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Group, Space Applications Centre (ISRO), Ahmedabad, 380015, India

    Randhir Singh, C. M. Kishtawal & P. K. Pal

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  1. Randhir Singh
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  2. C. M. Kishtawal
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Correspondence to Randhir Singh.

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Singh, R., Kishtawal, C.M. & Pal, P.K. Impact of ATOVS Radiance on the Analysis and Forecasts of a Mesoscale Model over the Indian Region During the 2008 Summer Monsoon. Pure Appl. Geophys. 169, 425–445 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-011-0379-y

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