Issues in the assimilation of the sources of a trace gas by inverse modelling

Bannister, R. N. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6846-8297 (2011) Issues in the assimilation of the sources of a trace gas by inverse modelling. Computers & Fluids, 46 (1). pp. 106-112. ISSN 0045-7930 doi: 10.1016/j.compfluid.2010.11.017

Abstract/Summary

The problem of reconstructing the (otherwise unknown) source and sink field of a tracer in a fluid is studied by developing and testing a simple tracer transport model of a single-level global atmosphere and a dynamic data assimilation system. The source/sink field (taken to be constant over a 10-day assimilation window) and initial tracer field are analysed together by assimilating imperfect tracer observations over the window. Experiments show that useful information about the source/sink field may be determined from relatively few observations when the initial tracer field is known very accurately a-priori, even when a-priori source/sink information is biased (the source/sink a-priori is set to zero). In this case each observation provides information about the source/sink field at positions upstream and the assimilation of many observations together can reasonably determine the location and strength of a test source.