%0 Journal Article
%T An Observing System Simulation Experiment for the Impact of MTG Candidate Infrared Sounding Mission on Regional Forecasts: System Development and Preliminary Results
%A Hongli Wang
%A Xiang-Yu Huang
%A Yongsheng Chen
%J ISRN Meteorology
%D 2013
%R 10.1155/2013/971501
%X An Observing System Simulation Experiment (OSSE) was designed and developed to assess the potential benefit of the Infrared Sounding on the Meteosat Third Generation (MTG-IRS) geostationary meteorological satellite system to regional forecasts. In the proposed OSSE framework, two different models, namely, the MM5 and WRF models, were used in a nature run and data assimilation experiments, respectively, to reduce the identical twin problem. The 5-day nature run, which included three convective storms that occurred during the period from 11 to 16 June 2002 over US Great Plains, was generated using MM5 with a 4£¿km. The simulated ¡°conventional¡± observations and MTG-IRS retrieved temperature and humidity profiles, produced from the nature run, were then assimilated into the WRF model. Calibration experiments showed that assimilating real or simulated ¡°conventional¡± observations yielded similar error statistics in analyses and forecasts, indicating that the developed OSSE system worked well. On average, the MTG-IRS retrieved profiles had positive impact on the analyses and forecasts. The analyses reduced the errors not only in the temperature and the humidity fields but in the horizontal wind fields as well. The forecast skills of these variables were improved up to 12£¿hours. The 18£¿h precipitation forecast accuracy was also increased. 1. Introduction Remotely sensed satellite observations play an important role in modern data assimilation and forecast systems [1, 2]. Satellite observations in the visible, infrared, and microwave spectrum provide a wealth of information on the atmosphere states. The variational data assimilation technique has been pursued in research communities and operational centres, with the main focus on large scale and mesoscale forecast, to assimilate clear sky and cloudy radiance. For example, at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), an all-sky approach [3] has been developed to assimilate Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) and Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for the Earth Observing system (AMSR-E) data. At National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Weng et al. [4] developed a hybrid variational scheme to use observations from the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU) instruments. Until recently, more attention has been directed towards cloud-resolving scale data assimilation. Cloudy infrared radiance assimilation at convection-resolving scale using a 4-dimensional variational data assimilation system was studied by Vukicevic et al. [5, 6]. Overall their results indicate that the
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