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J. F. Le Marshall

Abstract

Fields of temperature, thickness and precipitable water, derived from common sets of Tiros Operational Vertical Sounder (TOVS) radiance data have been intercompared. These fields were produced by a variety of institutions using different retrieval techniques. The fields have been derived over three regions; the Alpine Experiment (ALPEX) in 1982, the Tasman Sea, and the United States. Basic statistics have been produced by comparing these derived fields to analyses produced by the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), and with collocated radiosonde (RAOB) data.

In most cases it appeared, for both physical and statistical retrieval techniques, that in the midtroposphere (700 to 400 mb) the satellite temperature soundings exhibited rms temperature differences of near 2 K when compared to ECMWF analysis or collocated radiosonde data. These figures include significant contributions due to radiosonde error, collocation differences, analysis error and other factors. Diferent vertical resolutions among the compared fields contributed to the larger differences which were evident near the tropopause and the surface. Near the surface the differences appeared to be more a function of the use of ancillary data or constraints, rather than the retrieval scheme. Basic statistics for thickness and moisture fields have also been presented in this study.

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W. Bourke
,
K. Puri
,
R. Seaman
,
B. McAvaney
, and
J. Le Marshall

Abstract

A data assimilation scheme for the Southern Hemisphere has been incorporated into the ANMRC hemi-insertion frequency of six hours and has been performed with the FGGE data base for the period 17–26 and the model has been designed to accept data at any or all time steps. After each analysis a nonlinear normal mode initialization is performed. The initial evaluation of the analysis scheme has used a data insertion frequency of six hours and has been performed with the FGGE data base for the period 17–26 May 1979. Comparison with Australian Bureau of Meteorology operational analyses is presented, together with diagnostic evaluation of detailed aspects of the assimilation scheme.

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AIRS

Improving Weather Forecasting and Providing New Data on Greenhouse Gases

MOUSTAFA T. CHAHINE
,
THOMAS S. PAGANO
,
HARTMUT H. AUMANN
,
ROBERT ATLAS
,
CHRISTOPHER BARNET
,
JOHN BLAISDELL
,
LUKE CHEN
,
MURTY DIVAKARLA
,
ERIC J. FETZER
,
MITCH GOLDBERG
,
CATHERINE GAUTIER
,
STEPHANIE GRANGER
,
SCOTT HANNON
,
FREDRICK W. IRION
,
RAMESH KAKAR
,
EUGENIA KALNAY
,
BJORN H. LAMBRIGTSEN
,
SUNG-YUNG LEE
,
JOHN Le MARSHALL
,
W. WALLACE MCMILLAN
,
LARRY MCMILLIN
,
EDWARD T. OLSEN
,
HENRY REVERCOMB
,
PHILIP ROSENKRANZ
,
WILLIAM L. SMITH
,
DAVID STAELIN
,
L. LARRABEE STROW
,
JOEL SUSSKIND
,
DAVID TOBIN
,
WALTER WOLF
, and
LIHANG ZHOU

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) and its two companion microwave sounders, AMSU and HSB were launched into polar orbit onboard the NASA Aqua Satellite in May 2002. NASA required the sounding system to provide high-quality research data for climate studies and to meet NOAA's requirements for improving operational weather forecasting. The NOAA requirement translated into global retrieval of temperature and humidity profiles with accuracies approaching those of radiosondes. AIRS also provides new measurements of several greenhouse gases, such as CO2, CO, CH4, O3, SO2, and aerosols.

The assimilation of AIRS data into operational weather forecasting has already demonstrated significant improvements in global forecast skill. At NOAA/NCEP, the improvement in the forecast skill achieved at 6 days is equivalent to gaining an extension of forecast capability of six hours. This improvement is quite significant when compared to other forecast improvements over the last decade. In addition to NCEP, ECMWF and the Met Office have also reported positive forecast impacts due AIRS.

AIRS is a hyperspectral sounder with 2,378 infrared channels between 3.7 and 15.4 μm. NOAA/NESDIS routinely distributes AIRS data within 3 hours to NWP centers around the world. The AIRS design represents a breakthrough in infrared space instrumentation with measurement stability and accuracies far surpassing any current research or operational sounder..The results we describe in this paper are “work in progress,” and although significant accomplishments have already been made much more work remains in order to realize the full potential of this suite of instruments.

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