Impact of Infrared, Microwave, and Radio Occultation Satellite Observations on Operational Numerical Weather Prediction
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4164 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW VOLUME 142 Impact of Infrared, Microwave, and Radio Occultation Satellite Observations on Operational Numerical Weather Prediction L. CUCURULL Global Systems Division, NOAA/OAR/Earth System Research Laboratory, and Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, Boulder, Colorado R. A. ANTHES University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado (Manuscript received 1 April 2014, in final form 4 August 2014) ABSTRACT A comparison of the impact of infrared (IR), microwave (MW), and radio occultation (RO) observations on NCEP’s operational global forecast model over the month of March 2013 is presented. Analyses and forecasts with only IR, MW, and RO observations are compared with analyses and forecasts with no satellite data and with each other. Overall, the patterns of the impact of the different satellite systems are similar, with the MW observations producing the largest impact on the analyses and RO producing the smallest. Without RO observations, satellite radiances are over– or under–bias corrected and RO acts as an anchor observation, reducing the forecast biases globally. Positive correlation coefficients of temperature impacts are generally found between the different satellite observation analyses, indicating that the three satellite systems are affecting the global temperatures in a similar way. However, the correlation in the lower troposphere among all three systems is surprisingly small. Correlations for the moisture field tend to be small in the lower tro- posphere between the different satellite analyses. The impact of the satellite observations on the 500-hPa geopotential height forecasts is much different in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. In the Northern Hemisphere, all the satellite observations together make a small positive impact compared to the base (no satellite) forecasts. The IR and MW, but not the RO, make a small positive impact when assimilated alone. The situation is considerably different in the Southern Hemisphere, where all the satellite observations to- gether make a much larger positive impact, and all three observation types (IR, MW, and RO) make similar and significant impacts. 1. Introduction to rise or set relative to Earth. The arrival time of the received radio signal is retarded because of the refractive Radio occultation (RO) observations have recently bending and slowing of the signal as it traverses the at- (since late 2006) been shown to have a positive impact mosphere. By measuring the change in phase measure- on global numerical weather prediction, complementing ments during the occultation event, profiles of bending infrared (IR) and microwave (MW) observations from angle, atmospheric refractivity, pressure, temperature, satellites (Cardinali 2009; Anthes 2011; Bonavita 2014; and water vapor can be retrieved as a function of altitude Healy 2008, 2013; Poli et al. 2009; Cucurull 2010; Radnóti (Hajj et al. 1994, 2002; Rocken et al. 1997; Kursinski et al. et al. 2010; Rennie 2010; Aparicio and Deblonde 2008; 2000; Kuo et al. 2004). GPS operates at very long wave- Bauer et al. 2014). A radio occultation occurs when a lengths compared to other remote sensing instruments, receiver on a low-Earth-orbiting (LEO) satellite tracks and its frequencies are below any absorption lines. In a global positioning system (GPS) satellite that is observed addition, particle scattering is negligible. Thus, the RO technology does not suffer from scattering and absorp- tion effects as other instruments operating at shorter Corresponding author address: Lidia Cucurull, Global Systems Division, Office of the Director, NOAA/Earth System Research wavelengths do (Melbourne et al. 1994). Laboratory (ESRL), 325 Broadway, R/GSD, Boulder, CO 80305. Observations made by radiometry of absorption and E-mail: [email protected] emission spectra from natural sources usually are DOI: 10.1175/MWR-D-14-00101.1 Ó 2014 American Meteorological Society Unauthenticated | Downloaded 09/23/21 07:17 PM UTC NOVEMBER 2014 C U C U R U L L A N D A N T H E S 4165 obtained from amplitude measurements that are more frequently run at the operational numerical weather vulnerable to long-term stability errors in their calibra- prediction centers (e.g., Radnóti et al. 2010; McNally tion systems. As a result, most atmospheric remote et al. 2014). Comparison between OSEs and FSO results sensing instruments require calibration on orbit. In has been investigated by Gelaro and Zhu (2009). Todling contrast, the RO technology uses very precise phase (2013) suggests a new approach to evaluate the impact of measurements of artificial signals. Because the RO current observations in weather forecasting based on the technique is free of instrumental biases, it can serve as ‘‘observation space’’ approach rather than the ‘‘state a calibration system for other instruments. For example, space’’ approach used in the tangent linear methods. Zou et al. (2014) used precise and accurate RO obser- However, detailed studies of the differences in how the vations to calibrate upper temperature channels from three satellite systems (MW, IR, and RO) affect the the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder analyses and subsequent forecasts have not been done. (ATMS) on board the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting The goal of this paper is to investigate the differences Partnership (Suomi-NPP) satellite. and similarities between the impacts on global temper- Nadir-viewing instruments provide information asso- ature and moisture analyses and forecasts associated ciated with a weighted average over atmospheric layers with the separate assimilation of RO, MW, and IR ob- of different thicknesses, which limits the vertical reso- servations in the National Centers for Environmental lution of these observations. Increasing the number of Prediction (NCEP) operational global data assimilation channels improves the vertical resolution, but radiance system. Where these analyses and forecasts differ sig- emitted over a scale height ultimately limits the resolu- nificantly from each other or from the model analysis tion that can be achieved. In contrast, RO provides high- without the satellite observations can indicate possible vertical-resolution profiles. However, the horizontal issues with the satellite systems and/or the model. footprint associated with the nadir geometry is smaller A description of the different experiments is pre- than the one associated with a limb-viewing technology sented in section 2. The methodology used to evaluate (Kursinski et al. 1997), which enables the nadir-viewing the results is presented in section 3. Section 4 analyzes radiance sounders to have higher horizontal resolution the results of the experiments, and the main conclusions than RO. Thus, the two systems are highly comple- are summarized in section 5. mentary [e.g., Collard and Healy (2003) and as sum- marized by WMO (2012)]. 2. Experiments The assimilation of satellite radiances in operational weather forecasting benefits from the assimilation of We conducted six experimental sets of 39 forecasts unbiased observations that reduce the drift of a weather over the period 21 February–31 March 2013. The control model toward its own climatology (Derber and Wu experiment CTL assimilated all the observations used in 1998; Dee 2004, 2005; Dee and Uppala 2008). The role of the operational suite of the NCEP’s global data assimi- RO observations as ‘‘anchor observations’’ in NWP lation system, including RO and satellite radiance ob- models and the resulting improvements in the bias cor- servations. A second experiment, BASE, removed all rection of the satellite radiances has been shown in satellite sounding systems (IR, MW, and RO) while a number of studies (Healy et al. 2005; Healy and Thépaut retaining all other observations. Experiments 3–5 (des- 2006; Healy 2008; Poli et al. 2010; Bauer et al. 2014; ignated IR, MW, and RO) selectively added back to the Cucurull at al. 2014; Bonavita 2014). BASE the IR, MW, and RO observations. A summary Active RO limb soundings and passive MW and IR of the five experiments is provided in Table 1. All the nadir-viewing instrument systems on satellites produce experimental forecasts begin at 0000 UTC and run for information on the three-dimensional temperature and 8 days (192 h) from 21 February to 31 March 2013. The water vapor structure in the atmosphere and are to- first 7 days are used for model spinup, and the compar- gether the most effective space-based observational sys- isons cover the period 28 February–31 March 2013. The tems in reducing forecast errors (Anthes 2011; Cardinali horizontal resolution of the operational NCEP’s global and Prates 2011; Cardinali and Healy 2014). Several data assimilation at the time of this study is T574 studies have shown the contribution of the different (;27 km) with 64 levels in the vertical. The model top is systems to short-range (24 h) forecast accuracy using the located at 0.266 hPa (;60 km). Satellite radiances are Forecast Sensitivity to Observations (FSO) method thinned to 145 km and bias corrected at NCEP using (Baker and Daley 2000; Langland and Baker 2004; Errico a variational bias correction approach in its hybrid three- 2007; Gelaro et al. 2007; WMO 2012). The FSO tech- dimensional variational data assimilation (3DVAR) sys- nique uses the adjoint of a data assimilation system. In tem (Derber and Wu 1998; Dee 2004; Dee and Uppala addition, observing system experiments (OSEs) are 2008). The variational bias correction is active in all the Unauthenticated