Using OSSEs to Evaluate the Impacts of Geostationary Infrared Sounders

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https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-22-0033.1
 http://hdl.handle.net/11603/26127

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https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6630-2680

Date

2022-08-29

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journal articles
postprints
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Citation of Original Publication

McGrath-Spangler, Erica L., Will McCarty, N. C. Privé, Isaac Moradi, Bryan M. Karpowicz, and Joel McCorkel. "Using OSSEs to Evaluate the Impacts of Geostationary Infrared Sounders", Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology (published online ahead of print 2022), accessed Sep 8, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-22-0033.1

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This work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.
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Abstract

An observing system simulation experiment (OSSE) was performed to assess the impact of assimilating hyperspectral infrared (IR) radiances from geostationary orbit on numerical weather prediction, with a focus on the proposed sounder onboard the Geostationary eXtended Observations (GeoXO) program’s central satellite. Infrared sounders on a geostationary platform would fill several gaps left by IR sounders on polar orbiting satellites, and the increased temporal resolution would allow the observation of weather phenomena evolution. The framework for this OSSE was the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) OSSE system, which includes a full suite of meteorological observations. The experiment additionally assimilated four identical IR sounders from geostationary orbit to create a “ring” of vertical profiling observations. Based on the experimentation, assimilation of the IR sounders provided a beneficial impact on the analyzed mass and wind fields, particularly in the tropics, and produced an error reduction in the initial 24-48 hours of the subsequent forecasts. Specific attention was paid to the impact of the GeoXO Sounder (GXS) over the contiguous United States (CONUS) as this is a region that is well-observed and as such difficult to improve. The forecast sensitivity to observation impact (FSOI) metric, computed across all four synoptic times over the CONUS, reveals that the GXS had the largest impact on the 24-hour forecast error of the assimilated hyperspectral infrared satellite radiances as measured using a moist energy error norm. Based on this analysis, the proposed GXS has the potential to improve numerical weather prediction globally and over the CONUS.