Accounting for the Error due to Unresolved Scales in Ensemble Data Assimilation: A Comparison of Different Approaches

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Insufficient model resolution is one source of model error in numerical weather predictions. Methods for parameterizing this error in ensemble data assimilations are explored here. Experiments were conducted with a two-layer primitive equation model, where the assumed true state was a T127 forecast simulation. Ensemble data assimilations were performed with the same model at T31 resolution, assimilating imperfect observations drawn from the T127 forecast. By design, the magnitude of errors due to model truncation was much larger than the error growth due to initial condition uncertainty, making this a stringent test of the ability of an ensemble-based data assimilation to deal with model error. Two general methods, “covariance inflation” and “additive error,” were considered for parameterizing the model error at the resolved scales (T31 and larger) due to interaction with the unresolved scales (T32 to T127). Covariance inflation expanded the background forecast members’ deviations about the ensem... Abstract Insufficient model resolution is one source of model error in numerical weather predictions. Methods for parameterizing this error in ensemble data assimilations are explored here. Experiments were conducted with a two-layer primitive equation model, where the assumed true state was a T127 forecast simulation. Ensemble data assimilations were performed with the same model at T31 resolution, assimilating imperfect observations drawn from the T127 forecast. By design, the magnitude of errors due to model truncation was much larger than the error growth due to initial condition uncertainty, making this a stringent test of the ability of an ensemble-based data assimilation to deal with model error. Two general methods, “covariance inflation” and “additive error,” were considered for parameterizing the model error at the resolved scales (T31 and larger) due to interaction with the unresolved scales (T32 to T127). Covariance inflation expanded the background forecast members’ deviations about the ensem...