The potential benefits of handling mixture statistics via a bi‐Gaussian EnKF: Tests with all‐sky satellite infrared radiances

Chan, M., Chen, X., Anderson, J. L.. (2023). The potential benefits of handling mixture statistics via a bi‐Gaussian EnKF: Tests with all‐sky satellite infrared radiances. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, doi:10.1029/2022MS003357

Title The potential benefits of handling mixture statistics via a bi‐Gaussian EnKF: Tests with all‐sky satellite infrared radiances
Author(s) Man‐Yau Chan, Xingchao Chen, Jeffrey L. Anderson
Abstract The meteorological characteristics of cloudy atmospheric columns can be very different from their clear counterparts. Thus, when a forecast ensemble is uncertain about the presence/absence of clouds at a specific atmospheric column (i.e., some members are clear while others are cloudy), that column's ensemble statistics will contain a mixture of clear and cloudy statistics. Such mixtures are inconsistent with the ensemble data assimilation algorithms currently used in numerical weather prediction. Hence, ensemble data assimilation algorithms that can handle such mixtures can potentially outperform currently used algorithms. In this study, we demonstrate the potential benefits of addressing such mixtures through a bi-Gaussian extension of the ensemble Kalman filter (BGEnKF). The BGEnKF is compared against the commonly used ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) using perfect model observing system simulated experiments (OSSEs) with a realistic weather model (the Weather Research and Forecast model). Synthetic all-sky infrared radiance observations are assimilated in this study. In these OSSEs, the BGEnKF outperforms the EnKF in terms of the horizontal wind components, temperature, specific humidity, and simulated upper tropospheric water vapor channel infrared brightness temperatures. This study is one of the first to demonstrate the potential of a Gaussian mixture model EnKF with a realistic weather model. Our results thus motivate future research toward improving numerical Earth system predictions though explicitly handling mixture statistics.
Publication Title Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems
Publication Date Feb 1, 2023
Publisher's Version of Record https://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2022MS003357
OpenSky Citable URL https://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7w099vj
OpenSky Listing View on OpenSky
CISL Affiliations TDD, DARES

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