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NASA NTRS2020

Implementation of Multidomain Unified Forward Operators (UFO) Within the Joint Effort for Data Assimilation Integration (JEDI): Ocean Applications

The Joint Effort for Data assimilation Integration (JEDI) is a collaborative development led by the Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation (JCSDA) in conjunction with NASA, NOAA and the Department of Defense (NAVY and Air Force). The (Sea-Ice Ocean and Coupled Assimilation) SOCA as one of the JCSDA projects, focuses on the application of JEDI to marine data assimilation. One of the goals of SOCA is to make use of surface-sensitive radiances to constrain sea-ice and upper ocean fields (e.g., salinity, temperature, sea-ice fraction, sea-ice temperature, etc.). The first elements toward an ocean/atmosphere coupled data assimilation capability within JEDI, with a focus on supporting and developing the assimilation of radiance observations sensitive to the ocean and atmosphere has been implemented. The direct radiance assimilation of surface sensitive microwave radiances focusing on Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Imager (GMI) for the SST Constraint and Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) for the Sea Surface Salinity (SSS) has been the main focus. Also, in UFO the capability to calculate the cool skin layer depth and skin temperature has been implemented similar to the GEOS-5. It has been tested with GMI sea surface temperature retrievals. This is important because Satellite and in-situ observations of the Sea-Surface Temperature (SST) show high variability, including a diurnal cycle and very thin, cool skin layer in contact with the atmosphere, and Incorporating a realistic skin SST is essential for atmosphere-ocean coupled data assimilation.

Unified Forward Operators (UFO)↗

NASA NTRS2020

Toward Coupled Data Assimilation in NASA’s GEOS: Developments in the Ocean Context

The Global Modeling & Assimilation Office (GMAO) at NASA GSFC produces analyses and predictions of the Earth system using various configurations of the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) model and assimilation system. The current sub-seasonal-to-seasonal prediction system (GEOS-S2S) is based on a coupled atmosphere-ocean-land-ice configuration of GEOS which includes the Modular Ocean Model version 5 (MOM5) run at approximately 50-km resolution and a de-coupled OI-based ocean analysis that uses an initialization of MOM5 forced by the MERRA-2 reanalysis. GMAO will soon implement an updated GEOS-S2S system that will run at 25-km resolution and adopt aspects of the hybrid four-dimensional ensemble-variational (H4DEnVar) system already running in the production-version atmospheric analysis system, including a Local Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter (LETKF) to provide initial conditions for the oceanic state. This presentation will focus on developments to sustain the GMAO's systems on longer time horizons, where more radical transformations will be required to adapt to advanced computing environments, higher resolution and more diverse model components, and new observations for the Earth system. Results will describe progress toward a version of the GEOS coupled system that will be based around the Joint Effort for Data assimilation Integration (JEDI) framework being developed within Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation (JCSDA) and include an updated ocean model, MOM6. Discussion will focus specifically on the use of a Unified Forward Operator (UFO) for simulating observations and the Object Oriented Prediction System (OOPS) for providing the state estimate. These features are being developed as a multi-agency effort under the auspices of the JCSDA and are being adopted in the GMAO for all its applications of coupled data assimilation including S2S, numerical weather prediction, and reanalysis.

Mahajan, Rahul↗