A composite state method for ensemble data assimilation with multiple limited-area models Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • 2015 M. Kretschmer et al. Limited-area models (LAMs) allow high-resolution forecasts to be made for geographic regions of interest when resources are limited. Typically, boundary conditions for these models are provided through one-way boundary coupling from a coarser resolution global model. Here, data assimilation is considered in a situation in which a global model supplies boundary conditions to multiple LAMs. The data assimilation method presented combines information from all of the models to construct a single 'composite state', on which data assimilation is subsequently performed. The analysis composite state is then used to form the initial conditions of the global model and all of the LAMs for the next forecast cycle. The method is tested by using numerical experiments with simple, chaotic models. The results of the experiments show that there is a clear forecast benefit to allowing LAM states to influence one another during the analysis. In addition, adding LAM information at analysis time has a strong positive impact on global model forecast performance, even at points not covered by the LAMs.

published proceedings

  • TELLUS SERIES A-DYNAMIC METEOROLOGY AND OCEANOGRAPHY

altmetric score

  • 0.5

author list (cited authors)

  • Kretschmer, M., Hunt, B. R., Ott, E., Bishop, C. H., Rainwater, S., & Szunyogh, I.

citation count

  • 5

complete list of authors

  • Kretschmer, Matthew||Hunt, Brian R||Ott, Edward||Bishop, Craig H||Rainwater, Sabrina||Szunyogh, Istvan

publication date

  • January 2015