Assimilation of SMOS L-band Wind Speeds: Impact on Met Office Global NWP and Tropical Cyclone Predictions
A new generation of L-band sensors, such as ESA's Soil Moisture Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission, have the capability to provide information on the ocean-surface wind speed under high wind and rain conditions. In this study we evaluate the use of SMOS wind speeds within Met Office numerical weathe...
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Online Access: | https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00417/52868/53782.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.3237 https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00417/52868/ |
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ftarchimer:oai:archimer.ifremer.fr:52868 2023-05-15T18:18:51+02:00 Assimilation of SMOS L-band Wind Speeds: Impact on Met Office Global NWP and Tropical Cyclone Predictions Cotton, J. Francis, P. Heming, J. Forsythe, M. Reul, Nicolas Donlon, C. 2018-01 application/pdf https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00417/52868/53782.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.3237 https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00417/52868/ eng eng Wiley https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00417/52868/53782.pdf doi:10.1002/qj.3237 https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00417/52868/ 2017 Crown Copyright, Met Office. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society. 2017 Royal Meteorological Society info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess restricted use Quarterly Journal Of The Royal Meteorological Society (0035-9009) (Wiley), 2018-01 , Vol. 144 , N. 711 Part.B , P. 614-629 SMOS L-band wind speed data assimilation tropical cyclones NWP text Publication info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2018 ftarchimer https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.3237 2021-09-23T20:30:16Z A new generation of L-band sensors, such as ESA's Soil Moisture Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission, have the capability to provide information on the ocean-surface wind speed under high wind and rain conditions. In this study we evaluate the use of SMOS wind speeds within Met Office numerical weather prediction (NWP). Observation minus model background (O-B) departure statistics are used to investigate SMOS error characteristics, quality flags, and develop a quality control method. Observation errors and spatial correlation distances are estimated using a statistical method. Observing system experiments are performed to diagnose the impact of SMOS on NWP forecasts and analyses, including tropical cyclone (TC) predictions. The quality of SMOS retrievals appears reduced in the presence of sea ice, strong river plumes, and radio-frequency interference (RFI) contamination. SMOS wind retrievals have reduced sensitivity at low-moderate winds speeds. Above 15 ms-1, SMOS winds tend to be faster than the model and have higher O-B variance compared to scatterometer winds from ASCAT. Above 30 m/s RMS errors from SMOS are smaller than ASCAT. The impact of SMOS on TC predictions is sensitive to the use of the Met Office TC Central Pressure Initialisation Scheme (TCCPIS) which is confirmed to have a large, beneficial impact on intensity predictions. The assimilation of SMOS results in a small increase in TC intensity leading to a reduction in pressure/wind errors in the analysis and short-range forecasts, but cannot replicate the impact from the TCCPIS. The spatial resolution of SMOS is a clear limitation for analysing TC structure. In the case of Hurricane Kilo, the analysed and short-range forecast central pressures are closer to best-track when the storm radius is large and the eye is resolved. The challenge is to extract the useful information on intensity whilst preserving storm structure. Article in Journal/Newspaper Sea ice Archimer (Archive Institutionnelle de l'Ifremer - Institut français de recherche pour l'exploitation de la mer) Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society 144 711 614 629 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Archimer (Archive Institutionnelle de l'Ifremer - Institut français de recherche pour l'exploitation de la mer) |
op_collection_id |
ftarchimer |
language |
English |
topic |
SMOS L-band wind speed data assimilation tropical cyclones NWP |
spellingShingle |
SMOS L-band wind speed data assimilation tropical cyclones NWP Cotton, J. Francis, P. Heming, J. Forsythe, M. Reul, Nicolas Donlon, C. Assimilation of SMOS L-band Wind Speeds: Impact on Met Office Global NWP and Tropical Cyclone Predictions |
topic_facet |
SMOS L-band wind speed data assimilation tropical cyclones NWP |
description |
A new generation of L-band sensors, such as ESA's Soil Moisture Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission, have the capability to provide information on the ocean-surface wind speed under high wind and rain conditions. In this study we evaluate the use of SMOS wind speeds within Met Office numerical weather prediction (NWP). Observation minus model background (O-B) departure statistics are used to investigate SMOS error characteristics, quality flags, and develop a quality control method. Observation errors and spatial correlation distances are estimated using a statistical method. Observing system experiments are performed to diagnose the impact of SMOS on NWP forecasts and analyses, including tropical cyclone (TC) predictions. The quality of SMOS retrievals appears reduced in the presence of sea ice, strong river plumes, and radio-frequency interference (RFI) contamination. SMOS wind retrievals have reduced sensitivity at low-moderate winds speeds. Above 15 ms-1, SMOS winds tend to be faster than the model and have higher O-B variance compared to scatterometer winds from ASCAT. Above 30 m/s RMS errors from SMOS are smaller than ASCAT. The impact of SMOS on TC predictions is sensitive to the use of the Met Office TC Central Pressure Initialisation Scheme (TCCPIS) which is confirmed to have a large, beneficial impact on intensity predictions. The assimilation of SMOS results in a small increase in TC intensity leading to a reduction in pressure/wind errors in the analysis and short-range forecasts, but cannot replicate the impact from the TCCPIS. The spatial resolution of SMOS is a clear limitation for analysing TC structure. In the case of Hurricane Kilo, the analysed and short-range forecast central pressures are closer to best-track when the storm radius is large and the eye is resolved. The challenge is to extract the useful information on intensity whilst preserving storm structure. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Cotton, J. Francis, P. Heming, J. Forsythe, M. Reul, Nicolas Donlon, C. |
author_facet |
Cotton, J. Francis, P. Heming, J. Forsythe, M. Reul, Nicolas Donlon, C. |
author_sort |
Cotton, J. |
title |
Assimilation of SMOS L-band Wind Speeds: Impact on Met Office Global NWP and Tropical Cyclone Predictions |
title_short |
Assimilation of SMOS L-band Wind Speeds: Impact on Met Office Global NWP and Tropical Cyclone Predictions |
title_full |
Assimilation of SMOS L-band Wind Speeds: Impact on Met Office Global NWP and Tropical Cyclone Predictions |
title_fullStr |
Assimilation of SMOS L-band Wind Speeds: Impact on Met Office Global NWP and Tropical Cyclone Predictions |
title_full_unstemmed |
Assimilation of SMOS L-band Wind Speeds: Impact on Met Office Global NWP and Tropical Cyclone Predictions |
title_sort |
assimilation of smos l-band wind speeds: impact on met office global nwp and tropical cyclone predictions |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00417/52868/53782.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.3237 https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00417/52868/ |
genre |
Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Sea ice |
op_source |
Quarterly Journal Of The Royal Meteorological Society (0035-9009) (Wiley), 2018-01 , Vol. 144 , N. 711 Part.B , P. 614-629 |
op_relation |
https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00417/52868/53782.pdf doi:10.1002/qj.3237 https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00417/52868/ |
op_rights |
2017 Crown Copyright, Met Office. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society. 2017 Royal Meteorological Society info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess restricted use |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.3237 |
container_title |
Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society |
container_volume |
144 |
container_issue |
711 |
container_start_page |
614 |
op_container_end_page |
629 |
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1766195591983923200 |