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Assimilation of IASI at the Met Office and assessment of its impact through observing system experiments
Author(s) -
Hilton F.,
Atkinson N. C.,
English S. J.,
Eyre J. R.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
quarterly journal of the royal meteorological society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.744
H-Index - 143
eISSN - 1477-870X
pISSN - 0035-9009
DOI - 10.1002/qj.379
Subject(s) - environmental science , atmospheric infrared sounder , meteorology , advanced microwave sounding unit , depth sounding , data assimilation , geopotential height , satellite , visibility , relative humidity , numerical weather prediction , atmospheric sounding , climatology , remote sensing , atmospheric sciences , geography , precipitation , troposphere , cartography , aerospace engineering , geology , engineering
Abstract Observations from the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI), onboard EUMETSAT's MetOp satellite, have been assimilated at the Met Office in global and regional numerical weather‐prediction systems since 27 November 2007. Pre‐operational trials of IASI assimilation in the global model during the summer of 2007 delivered a positive impact on forecasts approximately twice as large as that shown by the Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS) on the EOS‐Aqua satellite. A series of observing system experiments confirmed the relative performance of IASI and AIRS, and showed that impact from IASI is equivalent to a single Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit‐A (AMSU‐A) combined with a single Microwave Humidity Sounder (MHS). The results of an IASI assimilation trial for the winter of 2007 were consistent with those of the summer trial, although the impact was slightly lower overall. The assessment of impact is strongly dependent on the variables and methods chosen for verification: assimilation trials with the regional model showed similar improvements to the large‐scale fields (e.g. mean‐sea‐level pressure and geopotential height) as seen in the global model, but no forecast impact was seen for variables such as visibility and rain‐rate. © Crown Copyright 2009. Reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.