The Framework for Assimilating All-Sky GPM Microwave Imager Brightness Temperature Data in the NASA GEOS Data Assimilation System
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Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Wei Gu.
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NASA’s Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) has prepared their first production system involving the Joint Effort for Data assimilation Integration (JEDI) framework. In this system the central analysis, that drives the deterministic forecast, will be provided using JEDI. This talk outlines the phased approach to implementing JEDI into production that GMAO has designed, and how this approach will allow for a careful analysis of the system against the existing data assimilation framework (GSI). In the first phase of implementation the existing data assimilation system will perform certain actions that are still under development in JEDI. These include thinning the observations and producing satellite bias correction coefficients. JEDI is hooked up to the existing workflow so a single line switch can activate whether the existing or JEDI-based analysis is cycled. Outside of the monumental effort to construct JEDI that is ongoing at the Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation (JCSDA), GMAO have undertaken two areas of considerable effort. The talk will describe these efforts and highlight the main challenges that have been encountered. The first area of work is to implement the background error model from the existing data assimilation system into JEDI. The second is to validate the observing system in JEDI against the one in GSI, which has involved several new features being added to the observation operators in JEDI. While the longer-term plans involve trying to improve on the GSI in these two areas, GMAO is keen to have JEDI start from a trusted baseline. This is also key to implementing JEDI quickly so other priorities, such as increasing the number of model levels, can be easily worked on in parallel. GMAO is actively working on a framework to shepherd in the next generation coupled data assimilation system and model. As JEDI is implemented for the first time the plan is to ambitiously cycle through implementations, frequently bringing JEDI features to production. Details of these plans will be given in the talk and we will highlight key implementation and product milestones that we hope to achieve, as well as touch on the development environment that we will use to support frequent refreshing of the production system.
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In order to incorporate the Joint Effort for Data assimilation Integration (JEDI) in the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS), which is used for weather, climate, and air quality forecasts and producing reanalysis datasets, it is necessary to validate the observing system in JEDI. NASA’s Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO), with the Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation (JCSDA), is developing the Unified Forward Operator (UFO) and adding all the necessary features to replicate existing capability. Various satellite and conventional observations are assimilated by the Gridpoint Statistical Interpolation (GSI)–based GEOS atmospheric data assimilations system. GMAO has been adding, validating, and updating procedures including the GEOS all-sky microwave radiance assimilation framework to assimilate those observation in UFO. Robust tests are conducted to ensure correct configurations of observational data bias correction (BC), quality control (QC), and observation error in UFO and good agreements between UFO and GSI results. Our work on satellite observations is reported in this presentation.
This work builds on previous research performed by this team to improve the forecast of Tropical Cyclones (TCs) by assimilating AIRS and CrIS radiances into the NASA Global Earth Observing System (GEOS). Past published work demonstrated that the assimilation of radiances with variable density was beneficial to TC forecasting in the GEOS. In the previous setup, a fixed-size moving square named 'TC domain' was activated by the so-called TC-vitals, an international real-time message accessible to all NWP forecasting centers, that documents the existence of a TC, its estimated position, and its size. The information from TC-vitals activated a switch in the GEOS, which allowed to reduce the distance used for thinning AIRS and CrIS data inside a 15 degrees by 15 degrees moving TC domain centered on the storm, so that more data were assimilated in the vicinity of the TC during its lifetime. The methodology produced improved TC analyses and led to better forecasts, particularly related to intensity, without damaging the global forecast skill. In the new version, the adaptive thinning methodology is based on a machine-learning technique. The technique searches for TCs and creates TC masks by using cloud-top temperatures from all geostationary satellites without the need for additional information. It is being trained against the International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS) data base. Once a TC mask is created, a switch identical to the one used in the previous adaptive thinning method is activated, allowing the GEOS to ingest more data in the TC-shaped size-changing domain that follows the storm. As of today, the team has been able to successfully assimilate data inside the ML-detected TC domains. Future work includes an improved capability of reducing false alarm rates (i.e., cloud systems that are erroneously labeled as TCs).
Satellite data have played an important role in improving model forecast skills. This presentation will give a perspective of data usages of vital satellites on global NWP and show some examples of using existing satellite observations in the GEOS data assimilation system at NASA GMAO. The efforts to utilize emerging satellite data and to prepare for the upcoming new instruments NASA supports will be presented as well.
The majority of hyperspectral infrared radiance observations that peak in the lower and mid-troposphere have been excluded from the assimilation in the operational GEOS by the cloud detection scheme. The significance and challenges of assimilating these cloud-affected observations have attracted the attention of the research community, encouraged by the progress in utilizing all-sky microwave radiances affected by clouds and precipitation in many data assimilation systems, including GEOS. While the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) has made significant progress on the assimilation of cloud-cleared infrared radiances, this parallel study marks the first effort to directly assimilate cloud-affected hyperspectral infrared radiances in the GEOS. This initial study is focused on CrIS-FSR wa:wqter-vapor channels. The capability of the GEOS model and CRTM in simulating infrared radiances affected by clouds has been evaluated, and the all-sky brightness temperature Jacobians with respect to temperature, specific humidity, and hydrometeors are examined closely in varying cloud conditions. With hydrometeor control variables in the GEOS, several important aspects of all-sky IR radiance assimilation are investigated. The symmetric cloud effects are assessed for their robustness when used as the cloud proxy in observation error modeling that incorporates the inter-channel correlations with error situation dependency on the amount of cloud. The effective radius, bias correction and quality control processes will also be adapted to accommodate modifications necessary for all-sky infrared assimilation before comprehensive four-dimensional ensemble-variational(4dEnVar) experiments are conducted to assess their impacts on the analysis and forecast performance of GEOS.
The Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) is used by NASA’s Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) to produce weather, climate, and air quality forecasts and reanalysis datasets. In order to incorporate the Joint Effort for Data assimilation Integration (JEDI) system into GEOS it is necessary to provide a validated set of input observations in JEDI. The GMAO, in collaboration with the Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation (JCSDA), is developing the Unified Forward Operator (UFO) in JEDI and adding all the necessary features to replicate the existing capability of the Gridpoint Statistical Interpolation (GSI)–based GEOS atmospheric data assimilations system. GMAO has been adding, validating, and updating procedures to assimilate the vast array of satellite and conventional observations assimilated in GEOS, including the GEOS all-sky microwave radiance assimilation framework to assimilate those observations in the UFO. Robust tests have been conducted to ensure correct configurations of observational data bias correction, quality control, and observation error in UFO and good agreements between UFO and GSI results. Our work on satellite observations will be reported in this presentation.
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Hyperspectral infrared (IR) radiance observations have been one of the major data sources assimilated in the data assimilation system over the last 20 years. However, observations peaking in the lower and mid-troposphere are underutilized in clear-sky radiance data assimilation as the quality control procedure removes a significant portion of cloud-affected observations from the assimilation. To include these cloud-affected observations, one approach is to assimilate them directly under all-sky conditions. The framework for all-sky assimilation of hyperspectral IR radiance observations has been developed in GEOS. The preliminary evaluation of simulated cloud-affected IR observations has been conducted, along with the corresponding sensitivities with respect to all hydrometeors. The symmetric cloud effect has been used as a cloud proxy in the observation error modeling, providing a balanced representation that mitigates the discrepancies between observations and model simulations for IR all-sky assimilation. The observation errors vary for different cloud conditions and have been modeled as cloud amount dependent and inter-channel correlated. Preliminary evaluation of model simulations for IR all-sky assimilation indicates that the simulated brightness temperature tends to have broader structures and lacks small-scale details. Excessive clouds generated by the model are also observed. To address this issue, Hurricane Sally (2020), which formed near the Bahamas, is used as a case study. Several cloud overlap schemes and cloud lookup tables (LUTs), along with other important aspects of all-sky IR radiance assimilation, will be evaluated and tested, aiming to improve the impact on Hurricane Sally's simulation and forecast.
This work is focused on optimizing the assimilation of hyperspectral infrared (IR) radiances from the Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) with the goal of improving the representation of tropical cyclones (TCs) in global analyses and forecasts. Current operational assimilation systems rely on subsampling IR radiances on a regular thinning grid. A new and improved adaptive methodology based on machine learning (ML) recognizes TCs from geostationary satellite imagery and is implemented in the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) model and data assimilation framework. The ML methodology is extensively trained on existing TC data sets and creates for each TC a dynamic mask, based on the evolving shape and life cycle of that specific event. Once a TC mask is created, a switch is then activated in the data assimilation system to alter the thinning, ingesting more CrIS radiances within the moving mask, thus increasing the TC sampling. After the TC dissipates, the assimilation of CrIS radiances reverts to normal data density. Results of TC segmentation provided by a state-of-the-art generative machine learning model known as the Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Model (DDPM) are compared to the previously used U-Net model. The new approach surpasses the performance of the previously developed one. The methodology is applied to both clear-sky and cloud-cleared radiances. Benefits from the latter methodology, particularly in improving the structure of TCs and the intensity forecasts, are presented.
Transitioning the NASA GMAO GEOS data assimilation capabilities to JEDI involves replacing the GEOS Gridpoint Statistical Interpolation (GSI) with a JEDI-based analysis. Performing fair comparisons between the corresponding GEOS-JEDI system and the present GEOS-GSI has involved downgrading the latter's capabilities to compensate for missing capabilities in the former. As the capabilities in JEDI mature and start matching those of GSI’s, experimentation has evolved from simple 3DVAR using only radiosondes, to adding satellite observations without VarBC, to now having GEOS-JEDI use hybrid 4DEnVar and full observing system, VarBC and most of the knobs typically used in the present operational (and experimental) version of GEOS-GSI. This presentation provides a discussion of the process and pathway taken to replace GSI with JEDI in GEOS at GMAO. The presentation also shows latest results of testing in the still relatively simply context of 3D-FGAT, but now having JEDI use the whole of the typical observing system used in GEOS. Results are encouraging but preliminary, with various caveats having been identified during the attempt to cycle JEDI analyses. Solutions to most of the identified problems have been worked out, but a few pending issues are still being worked out.