EUMETSAT NWP SAF mesoscale wind data assimilation workshop

Satellite observations have been fundamental in improving weather forecast skill over the past two decades on all terms, while few high-quality wind observations were present in the Global Observing System. To depict and initialize the flow on scales smaller than 500 km, wind observations are essential, however, and adding satellite wind observations for predicting dynamical weather has proven to be beneficial. But how are we going to exploit all these wind observations?

The EUMETSAT NWP SAF mesoscale wind data assimilation workshop will address this question and raise expectations for the beneficial use of all these novel wind observing systems. It addresses the spatial scales observed and the errors in satellite winds. For NWP models it provides examples of the spatial scales deterministically modelled, but also the spatial scales which are only realistically modelled and not well initialized. This sets the scene to discuss spatial representation errors, which often dominate wind measurement observation errors, be it from radiosondes, aircraft winds or wind scatterometers. The pros and cons of thinning, superobbing and “supermodding” will be discussed. The workshop also addresses well-known biases of weather models, but which violate the BLUE data assimilation principle: Best Linear Unbiased Estimate. While air-mass dependent bias correction schemes are fundamental to the current beneficial use of satellite observations, they are not in place for satellite winds. A way forward will be suggested and discussed, based on the EUMETSAT NWP SAF data assimilation and bias correction guides.

The exact date will be coordinated with the EUMETSAT Conference organization and be available by the end of April, when further announcements will be made. If you want to be kept up-to-date on this workshop, please register at scat @ knmi.nl .