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Fuzhong Weng

Abstract

Development of fast and accurate radiative transfer models for clear atmospheric conditions has enabled direct assimilation of clear-sky radiances from satellites in numerical weather prediction models. In this article, fast radiative transfer schemes and their components critical for satellite data assimilation are summarized and discussed for their potential applications in operational global data assimilation systems. The major impediments to the fast radiative transfer schemes are highlighted and a call is made for broader community efforts to develop advanced radiative transfer components that can better handle the scattering from atmospheric constituents (e.g., aerosols, clouds, and precipitation) and surface materials (e.g., snow, sea ice, deserts).

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Arthur Y. Hou
and
Sara Q. Zhang

Abstract

Currently, operational weather forecasting systems use observations to optimize the initial state of a forecast without considering possible model deficiencies. For precipitation assimilation, this could be an issue since precipitation observations, unlike conventional data, do not directly provide information on the atmospheric state but are related to the state variables through parameterized moist physics with simplifying assumptions. Precipitation observation operators are comparatively less accurate than those for conventional data or observables in clear-sky regions, which can limit data usage not because of issues with observations, but with the model. The challenge lies in exploring new ways to make effective use of precipitation data in the presence of model errors.

This study continues the investigation of variational algorithms for precipitation assimilation using column model physics as a weak constraint. The strategy is to develop techniques to make online estimation and correction of model errors to improve the precipitation observation operator during the assimilation cycle. Earlier studies have shown that variational continuous assimilation (VCA) of tropical rainfall using moisture tendency correction can improve Goddard Earth Observing System 3 (GEOS-3) global analyses and forecasts. Here results are presented from a 4-yr GEOS-3 reanalysis assimilating Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI) and Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) tropical rainfall using the VCA scheme. Comparisons with NCEP operational analysis and the 40-yr ECMWF Re-Analysis (ERA-40) show that the GEOS-3 reanalysis is significantly better at replicating the intensity and variability of tropical precipitation systems ranging from a few days to interannual time scales. As a further refinement of rainfall assimilation using the VCA scheme, a variational algorithm for assimilating TMI latent heating retrievals using semiempirical parameters in the model moist physics as control variables is described and initial test results are presented.

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Ronald M. Errico
,
George Ohring
,
Fuzhong Weng
,
Peter Bauer
,
Brad Ferrier
,
Jean-François Mahfouf
, and
Joe Turk

Abstract

To date, the assimilation of satellite measurements in numerical weather prediction (NWP) models has focused on the clear atmosphere. But satellite observations in the visible, infrared, and microwave provide a great deal of information on clouds and precipitation. This special collection describes how to use this information to initialize clouds and precipitation in models. Since clouds and precipitation often occur in sensitive regions for forecast impacts, such improvements are likely necessary for continuing to acquire significant gains in weather forecasting.

This special collection of the Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences is devoted to articles based on papers presented at the International Workshop on Assimilation of Satellite Cloud and Precipitation Observations in Numerical Weather Prediction Models, in Lansdowne, Virginia, in May 2005. This introduction summarizes the findings of the workshop. The special collection includes review articles on satellite observations of clouds and precipitation (Stephens and Kummerow), parameterizations of clouds and precipitation in NWP models (Lopez), radiative transfer in cloudy/precipitating atmospheres (Weng), and assimilation of cloud and precipitation observations (Errico et al.), as well as research papers on these topics.

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Peter M. Norris
and
Arlindo M. da Silva

Abstract

General circulation models are unable to resolve subgrid-scale moisture variability and associated cloudiness and so must parameterize grid-scale cloud properties. This typically involves various empirical assumptions and a failure to capture the full range (synoptic, geographic, diurnal) of the subgrid-scale variability. A variational parameter estimation technique is employed to adjust empirical model cloud parameters in both space and time, in order to better represent assimilated International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) cloud fraction and optical depth and Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) liquid water path. The value of these adjustments is verified by much improved cloud radiative forcing and persistent improvement in cloud fraction forecasts.

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Cloud and Precipitation Parameterizations in Modeling and Variational Data Assimilation: A Review

Philippe Lopez

Abstract

This paper first reviews the current status, issues, and limitations of the parameterizations of atmospheric large-scale and convective moist processes that are used in numerical weather prediction and climate general circulation models. Both large-scale (resolved) and convective (subgrid scale) moist processes are dealt with.

Then, the general question of the inclusion of diabatic processes in variational data assimilation systems is addressed. The focus is put on linearity and resolution issues, the specification of model and observation error statistics, the formulation of the control vector, and the problems specific to the assimilation of observations directly affected by clouds and precipitation.

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Christopher W. O’Dell
,
Peter Bauer
, and
Ralf Bennartz

Abstract

The assimilation of cloud- and rain-affected radiances in numerical weather prediction systems requires fast and accurate radiative transfer models. One of the largest sources of modeling errors originates from the assumptions regarding the vertical and horizontal subgrid-scale variability of model clouds and precipitation. In this work, cloud overlap assumptions are examined in the context of microwave radiative transfer and used to develop an accurate reference model. A fast cloud overlap algorithm is presented that allows for the accurate simulation of microwave radiances with a small number of radiative transfer calculations. In particular, the errors for a typical two-column approach currently used operationally are found to be relatively large for many cases of cloudy fields containing precipitation, even those with an overall cloud fraction of unity; these errors are largely eliminated by using the new approach presented here, at the cost of a slight increase in computation time. Radiative transfer cloud overlap errors are also evident in simulations when compared to actual satellite observations, in that the biases are somewhat reduced when applying a more accurate treatment of cloud overlap.

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Ruiyue Chen
,
Fu-Lung Chang
,
Zhanqing Li
,
Ralph Ferraro
, and
Fuzhong Weng

Abstract

Cloud droplet effective radius (DER) and liquid water path (LWP) are two key parameters for the quantitative assessment of cloud effects on the exchange of energy and water. Chang and Li presented an algorithm using multichannel measurements made at 3.7, 2.1, and 1.6 μm to retrieve a cloud DER vertical profile for improved cloud LWP estimation. This study applies the multichannel algorithm to the NASA Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data on the Aqua satellite, which also carries the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) for measuring cloud LWP and precipitation. By analyzing one day of coincident MODIS and AMSR-E observations over the tropical oceans between 40°S and 40°N for overcast warm clouds (>273 K) having optical depths between 3.6 and 23, the effects of DER vertical variation on the MODIS-derived LWP are reported. It is shown that the LWP tends to be overestimated if the DER increases with height within the cloud and underestimated if the DER decreases with height within the cloud. Despite the uncertainties in both MODIS and AMSR-E retrievals, the result shows that accounting for the DER vertical variation reduces the mean biases and root-mean-square errors between the MODIS- and AMSR-E–derived LWPs. Besides, the manner in which the DER changes with height has the potential for differentiating precipitative and nonprecipitative warm clouds. For precipitating clouds, the DER at the cloud top is substantially smaller than the DER at the cloud base. For nonprecipitating clouds, however, the DER differences between the cloud top and the cloud base are much less.

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Qing Yue
,
K. N. Liou
,
S. C. Ou
,
B. H. Kahn
,
P. Yang
, and
G. G. Mace

Abstract

A thin cirrus cloud thermal infrared radiative transfer model has been developed for application to cloudy satellite data assimilation. This radiation model was constructed by combining the Optical Path Transmittance (OPTRAN) model, developed for the speedy calculation of transmittances in clear atmospheres, and a thin cirrus cloud parameterization using a number of observed ice crystal size and shape distributions. Numerical simulations show that cirrus cloudy radiances in the 800–1130-cm−1 thermal infrared window are sufficiently sensitive to variations in cirrus optical depth and ice crystal size as well as in ice crystal shape if appropriate habit distribution models are selected a priori for analysis. The parameterization model has been applied to the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) on board the Aqua satellite to interpret clear and thin cirrus spectra observed in the thermal infrared window. Five clear and 29 thin cirrus cases at nighttime over and near the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement program (ARM) tropical western Pacific (TWP) Manus Island and Nauru Island sites have been chosen for this study. A χ2 -minimization program was employed to infer the cirrus optical depth and ice crystal size and shape from the observed AIRS spectra. Independent validation shows that the AIRS-inferred cloud parameters are consistent with those determined from collocated ground-based millimeter-wave cloud radar measurements. The coupled thin cirrus radiative transfer parameterization and OPTRAN, if combined with a reliable thin cirrus detection scheme, can be effectively used to enhance the AIRS data volume for data assimilation in numerical weather prediction models.

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Ronald M. Errico
,
Peter Bauer
, and
Jean-François Mahfouf

Abstract

The assimilation of observations indicative of quantitative cloud and precipitation characteristics is desirable for improving weather forecasts. For many fundamental reasons, it is a more difficult problem than the assimilation of conventional or clear-sky satellite radiance data. These reasons include concerns regarding nonlinearity of the required observation operators (forward models), nonnormality and large variances of representativeness, retrieval, or observation–operator errors, validation using new measures, dynamic and thermodynamic balances, and possibly limited predictability. Some operational weather prediction systems already assimilate precipitation observations, but much more research and development remains. The apparently critical, fundamental, and peculiar nature of many issues regarding cloud and precipitation assimilation implies that their more careful examination will be required for accelerating progress.

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Chinnawat Surussavadee
and
David H. Staelin

Abstract

Brightness temperature histograms observed at 50–191 GHz by the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU) on operational NOAA satellites are shown to be consistent with predictions made using a mesoscale NWP model [the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University–National Center for Atmospheric Research Mesoscale Model (MM5)] and a radiative transfer model [TBSCAT/F(λ)] for a global set of 122 storms coincident with the AMSU observations. Observable discrepancies between the observed and modeled histograms occurred when 1) snow and graupel mixing ratios were increased more than 15% and 25%, respectively, or their altitudes increased more than ∼25 mb; 2) the density, F(λ), of equivalent Mie-scattering ice spheres increased more than 0.03 g cm−3; and 3) the two-stream ice scattering increased more than ∼1%. Using the same MM5/TBSCAT/F(λ) model, neural networks were developed to retrieve the following from AMSU and geostationary microwave satellites: hydrometeor water paths, 15-min average surface-precipitation rates, and cell-top altitudes, all with 15-km resolution. Simulated AMSU rms precipitation-rate retrieval accuracies ranged from 0.4 to 21 mm h−1 when grouped by octaves of MM5 precipitation rate between 0.1 and 64 mm h−1, and were ∼3.8 mm h−1 for the octave 4–8 mm h−1. AMSU and geostationary microwave (GEM) precipitation-rate retrieval accuracies for random 50–50 mixtures of profiles simulated with either the baseline or a modified-physics model were largely insensitive to changes in model physics that would be clearly evident in AMSU observations if real. This insensitivity of retrieval accuracies to model assumptions implies that MM5/TBSCAT/F(λ) simulations offer a useful test bed for evaluating alternative millimeter-wave satellite designs and methods for retrieval and assimilation, to the extent that surface effects are limited.

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