Measuring theoretical and actual observation influence in the Met Office UKV: application to Doppler radial winds

Fowler, A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3650-3948, Simonin, D. and Waller, J. (2020) Measuring theoretical and actual observation influence in the Met Office UKV: application to Doppler radial winds. Geophysical Research Letters, 47 (24). ISSN 0094-8276 doi: 10.1029/2020GL091110

Abstract/Summary

In numerical weather prediction it is important to objectively measure the value of the observations assimilated. However, methods such as the forecast sensitivity to observation impact and observing system experiments are dfficult to apply to convective scale data assimilation (DA) systems such as the Met Office's UKV. We develop a new method to estimate the influence of the observations on the analysis, acknowledging that the influence depends not only on the uncertainty in the observations and prior, but how well these are prescribed in the assimilation. Monitoring both the actual and theoretical observation influence can ag observations that are being assimilated incorrectly and quantify the harm caused to the analysis. By applying these new estimates of the observation influence to the assimilation of Doppler Radial Winds in the UKV system, we demonstrate their ability, along with expert knowledge, to inform the optimisation of both the observation network and DA system.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/93963
Item Type	Article
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences > National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO) Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences > Department of Meteorology
Publisher	American Geophysical Union
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