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At least 397 records · Page 22

Improving the Representation of Land Surface Processes Using the Data Assimilation Research Testbed (DART)

The land surface is a critical part of the earth system as processes related to water, carbon, energy and nitrogen cycling have important implications for climate forcing, air quality, water availability and seasonal atmospheric forecasting. Despite advances in land surface modeling, land surface model performance is often limited because of errors related to initial and boundary conditions, model structure, and parameters. Data assimilation (DA) techniques combined with an expanding network of earth system observations present an opportunity to reduce these errors and improve simulations. Here, we emphasize the implementation of tools and approaches to overcome challenges related to land DA to constrain carbon and water cycling. In particular, we discuss the implementation of adaptive inflation to modify ensemble spread in response to time-varying networks of gridded observations. We also discuss methods to generate ensemble spread through boundary condition (meteorology) forcing that can be applied to site-level applications. Next, we describe the application of vertical localization upon surface soil moisture observations, and forward operators specifically designed for the assimilation of snow and solar-induced fluorescence observations. Finally, we discuss the potential benefit of a quantile conserving filter used to update bounded quantities (state or parameter values).

Brett Raczka↗

Tropospheric Ozone Retrieval By A Combination of TROPOMI/S5P Measurements With BASCOE Assimilated Data

We present a new tropospheric ozone dataset based on TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI)/Sentinel-5 Precursor (S5P) total ozone measurements combined with stratospheric ozone data from the Belgian Assimilation System for Chemical ObsErvations (BASCOE) constrained by assimilating ozone observations from the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS). The BASCOE stratospheric data are interpolated to the S5P observations and subtracted from the TROPOMI total ozone data. The difference is equal to the tropospheric ozone residual column from the surface up to the tropopause. The tropospheric ozone columns are retrieved at the full spatial resolution of the TROPOMI sensor (5.5×3.5 km 2 ) with daily global coverage. Compared to the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications 2 (OMPS-MERRA-2) data, a global mean positive bias of 3.3 DU is found for the analysed period April 2018 to June 2020. A small negative bias of about −0.91 DU is observed in the tropics relative to the operational TROPOMI tropical tropospheric data based on the convective cloud differential (CCD) algorithm throughout the same period. The new tropospheric ozone data (S5P-BASCOE) are compared to a set of globally distributed ozonesonde data integrated up to the tropopause level. We found 2254 comparisons with cloud-free TROPOMI observations within 25 km of the stations. In the global mean, S5P-BASCOE deviates by 2.6 DU from the integrated ozonesondes. Depending on the latitude the S5P-BASCOE deviate from the sondes and between −4.8 and 7.9 DU, indicating a good agreement. However, some exceptional larger positive deviations up to 12 DU are found, especially in the northern polar regions (north of 70∘). The monthly mean tropospheric column and time series for selected areas showed the expected spatial and temporal pattern, such as the wave one structure in the tropics or the seasonal cycle, including a summer maximum, in the mid-latitudes.

Satellite Retrieval↗

Inference of neutrino flavor evolution through data assimilation and neural differential equations

The evolution of neutrino flavor in dense environments such as core-collapse supernovae and binary compact object mergers constitutes an important and unsolved problem. Its solution has potential implications for the dynamics and heavy-element nucleosynthesis in these environments. In this paper, we build upon recent work to explore inference-based techniques for the estimation of model parameters and neutrino flavor evolution histories. Here, we combine data assimilation, ordinary differential equation solvers, and neural networks to craft an inference approach tailored for nonlinear dynamical systems. Using this architecture, and a simple two-neutrino-beam, two-flavor model, we compare the performances of nine different optimization algorithms and expand upon previous assessments of the efficacy of inference for tackling problems in flavor evolution. We find that employing this new architecture, together with evolutionary optimization algorithms, accurately captures flavor histories in the small-scale model and allows us to quickly explore both model parameters and initial flavor content. In future work we plan to extend these inference techniques to large numbers of neutrinos.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Integrated hydrogeophysical modelling and data assimilation for geoelectrical leak detection

Time-lapse electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) measurements provide indirect observations of hydrological processes in the Earth's shallow subsurface at high spatial and temporal resolution. ERT has been used in the past decades to detect leaks and monitor the evolution of associated contaminant plumes. Specifically, inverted resistivity images allow visualization of the dynamic changes in the structure of the plume. However, existing methods do not allow the direct estimation of leak parameters (e.g. leak rate, location, etc.) and their uncertainties. We propose an ensemble-based data assimilation framework that evaluates proposed hydrological models against observed time-lapse ERT measurements without directly inverting for the resistivities. Each proposed hydrological model is run through the parallel coupled hydro-geophysical simulation code PFLOTRAN-E4D to obtain simulated ERT measurements. The ensemble of model proposals is then updated using an iterative ensemble smoother. In this paper, we demonstrate the proposed framework on synthetic and field ERT data from controlled tracer injection experiments. Our results show that the approach allows joint identification of contaminant source location, initial release time, and solute loading from the cross-borehole time-lapse ERT data, alongside with an assessment of uncertainties in these estimates. We demonstrate a reduction in site-wide uncertainty by comparing the prior and posterior plume mass discharges at a selected image plane. This framework is particularly attractive to sites that have previously undergone extensive geological investigation (e.g., nuclear sites). It is well suited to complement ERT imaging and we discuss practical issues in its application to field problems.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Data Assimilation of AIRS Water Vapor Profiles: Impact on Precipitation Forecasts for Atmospheric River Cases Affecting the Western of the United States

Atmospheric rivers are transient, narrow regions in the atmosphere responsible for the transport of large amounts of water vapor. These phenomena can have a large impact on precipitation. In particular, they can be responsible for intense rain events on the western coast of North America during the winter season. This paper focuses on attempts to improve forecasts of heavy precipitation events in the Western US due to atmospheric rivers. Profiles of water vapor derived from from Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) observations are combined with GFS forecasts by a three-dimensional variational data assimilation in the Gridpoint Statistical Interpolation (GSI). Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) forecasts initialized from the combined field are compared to forecasts initialized from the GFS forecast only for 3 test cases in the winter of 2011. Results will be presented showing the impact of the AIRS profile data on water vapor and temperature fields, and on the resultant precipitation forecasts.

Blankenship, Clay↗

Data Assimilation Enhancements to Air Force Weather’s Land Information System

The United States Air Force (USAF) has a proud and storied tradition of enabling significant advancements in the area of characterizing and modeling land state information. 557th Weather Wing (557 WW; DoD’s Executive Agent for Land Information) provides routine geospatial intelligence information to warfighters, planners, and decision makers at all echelons and services of the U.S. military, government and intelligence community. 557 WW and its predecessors have been home to the DoD’s only operational regional and global land data analysis systems since January 1958. As a trusted partner since 2005, Air Force Weather (AFW) has relied on the Hydrological Sciences Laboratory at NASA/GSFC to lead the interagency scientific collaboration known as the Land Information System (LIS). LIS is an advanced software framework for high performance land surface modeling and data assimilation of geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) information.

Wegiel, Jerry↗

Boundary Layer Data Assimilation and Interaction with Parameterizations in the NASA GEOS Model

The NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office develops the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS), which assimilates a wide range of observations to support medium range and seasonal forecasts and production of reanalyses like MERRA-2. In this talk we report on recent efforts to assimilate boundary layer (PBL) height observations derived from radiosondes, GNSS radio occultation, space-based lidar (CALIPSO, CATS, IceSat-2) and ground-based lidar (MPLNET). A novel component of this project includes examining the influence of model parameterizations on PBL profile estimates. We will discuss physics-based parameterizations of the PBL and how they may benefit or distort representation of PBL profiles in data assimilation. In particular, we consider the tendency of PBL parameterizations to compensate for analysis updates of state variables, effectively reducing the information retained from observations. We will present efforts to reduce this compensation in GEOS by using the PBL height analysis to adjust length scales used in the model PBL parameterizations.

Nathan Arnold↗

Boundary Layer Data Assimilation and Interaction with Parameterizations in the NASA GEOS Model

The NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office develops the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS), which assimilates a wide range of observations to support medium range and seasonal forecasts and production of reanalyses like MERRA-2. In this talk we report on recent efforts to assimilate boundary layer (PBL) height observations derived from radiosondes, GNSS radio occultation, space-based lidar (CALIPSO, CATS, IceSat-2) and ground-based lidar (MPLNET). A novel component of this project includes examining the influence of model parameterizations on PBL profile estimates. We will discuss physics-based parameterizations of the PBL and how they may benefit or distort representation of PBL profiles in data assimilation. In particular, we consider the tendency of PBL parameterizations to compensate for analysis updates of state variables, effectively reducing the information retained from observations. We will present efforts to reduce this compensation in GEOS by using the PBL height analysis to adjust length scales used in the model PBL parameterizations.

Nathan P. Arnold↗

The SMAP Level-4 ECO Project: Improving Terrestrial Flux Estimates Through Coupled Hydrology-Vegetation Data Assimilation

Simulations of hydrologic and vegetation states as well as water, energy and carbon fluxes from the land surface to the atmosphere are crucial for a wide range of applications, including agricultural advisories, forecasts of (short-term) atmospheric behavior and seasonal weather predictions including forecasts of extreme events, such as heatwaves or droughts. The NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission Level-4 Eco-Hydrology (L4-ECO) project aims to improve modeled estimates of the terrestrial water, energy and carbon fluxes and states by developing a fully-coupled hydrology-vegetation data assimilation system. This system is developed around the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) Catchment-CN land surface model, which combines land hydrology and energy balance components of the GEOS Catchment model with dynamic vegetation components of the Community Land Model version 4. Catchment-CN fully couples the terrestrial water, energy and carbon cycles, allowing feedbacks from the land hydrology to the biosphere and vice versa.Here, we implement a calibration of the Catchment-CN vegetation parameterization against observations of the fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (FPAR) from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) to improve the model's standalone skill. Later, the DA algorithm used to produce the SMAP L4 soil moisture product will be adapted to Catchment-CN to assimilate SMAP brightness temperatures and inform the model's land hydrology component. Finally, the DA system will be further extended to assimilate MODIS FPAR observations in order to constrain the model's dynamic vegetation component.In this presentation, we demonstrate that the Catchment-CN parameter calibration leads to more realistic vegetation simulations and reduces the root mean squared error between modeled and observed vegetation states across the model's various plant functional types. We also show that the assimilation of SMAP observations is able to improve the average correlation, bias and unbiased RMSE between the modeled surface and root zone soil moisture estimates, and ground observations from the SMAP core validation sites.

Kolassa, Jana↗

PYOED: AN ETENSIBLE SUITE FOR DATA ASSIMILATION AND MODEL-CONSTRAINED OPTIMAL DESIGN OF EXPERIMENTS

SF-23-005 PyOED is a highly extensible scientific package that enables developing and testing model-constrained optimal experimental design (OED) for inverse problems. Specifically, PyOED aims to be a comprehensive Python toolkit for model-constrained OED. The package targets scientists and researchers interested in understanding the details of OED formulations and approaches. It is also meant to enable researchers to experiment with standard and innovative OED technologies with a wide range of test problems (e.g., simulation models). OED, inverse problems (e.g., Bayesian inversion), and data assimilation (DA) are closely related research fields, and their formulations overlap significantly. Thus, PyOED is continuously being expanded with a plethora of Bayesian inversion, DA, and OED methods as well as new scientific simulation models, observation error models, and observation operators. These pieces are added such that they can be permuted to enable testing OED methods in various settings of varying complexities. The PyOED core is completely written in Python and utilizes the inherent object-oriented capabilities; however, PyOED is meant to be extensible rather than scalable. Specifically, PyOED is developed to ``enable rapid development and benchmarking of OED methods with minimal coding effort and to maximize code reutilization.'' PyOED will be continuously expanded with a plethora of Bayesian inversion, DA, and OED methods as well as new scientific simulation models, observation error models, and observation operators.

ATTIA, AHMEDMOHAMED↗

The Use of Spire Radio Occultation Measurements in the GEOS Atmospheric Data Assimilation System

As part of the pilot segment of the NASA Commercial SmallSat Data Acquisition (CSDA) Program, the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) evaluated products acquired from Spire Global, Inc. in the context of the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) Atmospheric Data Assimilation System (ADAS). Specifically, the GMAO assimilated the bending angle profiles derived by Spire from Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation (RO) measurements of the atmosphere made by their Stratos instruments onboard their constellation of Lemur small satellites. The bending angle observations were used to further constrain the thermodynamic fields in the context of the global observing system typically assimilated within GEOS.

Will Mccarty↗

Technical report series on global modeling and data assimilation. Volume 5: Documentation of the AIRES/GEOS dynamical core, version 2

A detailed description of the numerical formulation of Version 2 of the ARIES/GEOS 'dynamical core' is presented. This code is a nearly 'plug-compatible' dynamics for use in atmospheric general circulation models (GCMs). It is a finite difference model on a staggered latitude-longitude C-grid. It uses second-order differences for all terms except the advection of vorticity by the rotation part of the flow, which is done at fourth-order accuracy. This dynamical core is currently being used in the climate (ARIES) and data assimilation (GEOS) GCMs at Goddard.

Suarez, Max J.↗

The Role of Data Assimilation in the Study of Regional and Global Variability of the Hydrological Cycle

In the coming years, researchers will have at their disposal a host of new observations from advanced space-based sensors (e.g. the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, EOS Terra and PM missions) providing, among other things, a more complete and accurate description of various components of the Earth's hydrological cycle. Also, increasingly more sophisticated and comprehensive geophysical models will provide researchers better tools for simulating the hydrological cycle, and for carrying out mechanistic studies of the role of moist processes in the climate system. In addition, new data sets generated with global four-dimensional data assimilation (4DDA) systems will provide comprehensive and complete information on both the state and forcing of the climate system. Ideally, the 4DDA systems optimally incorporate all relevant information from the observations together with a first guess from a state-of-the-art geophysical model to produce a "best" estimate of the climate state. Furthermore, to the extent that the assimilating models are realistic and are constrained by the observations, they should provide reliable estimates of the associated physical processes or climate forcing fields. While operational weather centers now have a considerable history of providing reliable estimates of the basic atmospheric state variables, the associated processes or diagnostic fields (which are less well constrained by the observations and sensitive to errors in the model's physical parameterizations) are still considered experimental and of uncertain quality. In this study we will examine the current generation of reanalysis products to assess the capabilities of 4DDA systems to represent components of the hydrological cycle. The focus is on the role of the model in providing consistent estimates of moist processes. We will also assess whether current observations provide sufficient constraints on these model- generated fields.

Schubert, Siegfried↗

Analysis of Multiple Precipitation Products and Preliminary Assessment of Their Impact on Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) Land Surface States

Land surface models (LSMs) are computer programs, similar to weather and climate prediction models, which simulate the stocks and fluxes of water (including soil moisture, snow, evaporation, and runoff) and energy (including the temperature of and sensible heat released from the soil) after they arrive on the land surface as precipitation and sunlight. It is not currently possible to measure all of the variables of interest everywhere on Earth with sufficient accuracy and space-time resolution. Hence LSMs have been developed to integrate the available observations with our understanding of the physical processes involved, using powerful computers, in order to map these stocks and fluxes as they change in time. The maps are used to improve weather forecasts, support water resources and agricultural applications, and study the Earth's water cycle and climate variability. NASA's Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) project facilitates testing of several different LSMs with a variety of input datasets (e.g., precipitation, plant type). Precipitation is arguably the most important input to LSMs. Many precipitation datasets have been produced using satellite and rain gauge observations and weather forecast models. In this study, seven different global precipitation datasets were evaluated over the United States, where dense rain gauge networks contribute to reliable precipitation maps. We then used the seven datasets as inputs to GLDAS simulations, so that we could diagnose their impacts on output stocks and fluxes of water. In terms of totals, the Climate Prediction Center (CPC) Merged Analysis of Precipitation (CMAP) had the closest agreement with the US rain gauge dataset for all seasons except winter. The CMAP precipitation was also the most closely correlated in time with the rain gauge data during spring, fall, and winter, while the satellitebased estimates performed best in summer. The GLDAS simulations revealed that modeled soil moisture is highly sensitive to precipitation, with differences in spring and summer as large as 45% depending on the choice of precipitation input.

Gottschalck, Jon↗

Link Between Arctic Tropospheric BrO Explosion Observed from Space and Sea-Salt Aerosols from Blowing Snow Investigated Using Ozone Monitoring Instrument BrO Data and GEOS-5 Data Assimilation System

Bromine radicals (Br + BrO) are important atmospheric species owing to their ability to catalytically destroy ozone as well as their potential impacts on the oxidative pathways of many trace gases, including dimethylsulfide and mercury. Using space-based observations of BrO, recent studies have reported rapid enhancements of tropospheric BrO over large areas (so called "BrO explosions") connected to near-surface ozone depletion occurring in polar spring. However, the source(s) of reactive bromine and mechanism(s) that initiate these BrO explosions are uncertain. In this study, we investigate the relationships between Arctic BrO explosions and two of the proposed sources of reactive bromine: sea-salt aerosol (SSA) generated from blowing snow and first-year (seasonal) sea ice. We use tropospheric column BrO derived from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) in conjunction with the Goddard Earth Observing System Version 5 (GEOS-5) data assimilation system provided by National Aeronautics and Space Administration Global Modeling and Assimilation Office. Case studies demonstrate a strong association between the temporal and spatial extent of OMI-observed BrO explosions and the GEOS-5 simulated blowing snow-generated SSA during Arctic spring. Furthermore, the frequency of BrO explosion events observed over the 11-year record of OMI exhibits significant correlation with a time series of the simulated SSA emission flux in the Arctic and little to no correlation with a time series of satellite-based first-year sea ice area. Therefore, we conclude that SSA generated by blowing snow is an important factor in the formation of the BrO explosion observed from space during Arctic spring.

blowing snow↗

Global Soil Water Estimates as Landslide Predictor: The Effectiveness of SMOS, SMAP, and GRACE Observations, Land Surface Simulations, and Data Assimilation

This global feasibility study assesses the potential of coarse-scale, gridded soil water estimates for the probabilistic modeling of hydrologically-triggered landslides, using Soil Moisture Ocean Salinity (SMOS), Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) and Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) remote sensing data, Catchment Land Surface Model (CLSM) simulations and six data products based on the assimilation of SMOS, SMAP, and/or GRACE observations into CLSM. SMOS or SMAP observations (~40-km resolution) are only available for less than 20% of the globally reported landslide events, because they are intermittent and uncertain in regions with complex terrain. GRACE terrestrial water storage estimates include 75% of the reported landslides but have coarse spatial and temporal resolutions (monthly, ~300-km). CLSM soil water simulations have the added advantage of complete spatial and temporal coverage, and are found to be able to distinguish between “stable slope” (no landslide) conditions and landslide-inducing conditions in a probabilistic way. Assimilating SMOS and/or GRACE data increases the landslide probability estimates based on soil water percentiles for the reported landslides, relative to model-only estimates at 36-km resolution for the period 2011-2016, unless the CLSM model-only soil water content is already high (≥ 50th percentile). The SMAP Level 4 data assimilation product (at 9-km resolution, period 2015-2019) more generally updates the soil water conditions towards higher landslide probabilities for the reported landslides, but is similar to model-only estimates for the majority of landslides where SMAP data cannot easily be converted to soil moisture owing to complex terrain.

Anne Felsberg↗

An Operational Product for Peatland Applications: The Version 7 of the SMAP Level-4 Soil Moisture Data Assimilation Product

The NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission Level-4 Soil Moisture (L4_SM) product provides global, 9-km resolution, 3-hourly surface (0-5 cm) and root-zone (0-100 cm) soil moisture estimates from April 2015 to present with a mean latency of 2.5 days from the time of observation. The L4_SM estimates are derived from the assimilation of SMAP L-band (1.4 GHz) brightness temperature (Tb) observations into the NASA Catchment Land Surface Model (CLSM). The recently released Version 7 of the L4_SM product comprises a key advancement that is of interest for peatland applications. CLSM now includes the recently developed PEATCLSM hydrology module for peatlands and uses an updated global peatland distribution. In this presentation, we first give an overview of the operational product for the peatland community. We further show how the incorporation of PEATCLSM considerably improves the dynamics of water table depth, surface soil moisture and evapotranspiration in L4_SM Version 7 over Version 6 when evaluated against in situ measurements in peatlands. These improvements are also manifested in smaller Tb observation-minus-forecast residuals. Eventually, we provide three research examples in which the data assimilation product is used to gain insights into: peatland hydrological processes, the peat moisture dependency of the carbon cycle, and wildfire occurrence in peatlands.

Michel Bechtold↗

Experimenting with the GMAO 4D Data Assimilation

The Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) has been working to promote its prototype four-dimensional variational (4DVAR) system to a version that can be exercised at operationally desirable configurations. Beyond a general circulation model (GeM) and an analysis system, traditional 4DV AR requires availability of tangent linear (TL) and adjoint (AD) models of the corresponding GeM. The GMAO prototype 4DVAR uses the finite-volume-based GEOS GeM and the Grid-point Statistical Interpolation (GSI) system for the first two, and TL and AD models derived ITom an early version of the finite-volume hydrodynamics that is scientifically equivalent to the present GEOS nonlinear GeM but computationally rather outdated. Specifically, the TL and AD models hydrodynamics uses a simple (I-dimensional) latitudinal MPI domain decomposition, which has consequent low scalability and prevents the prototype 4DV AR ITom being used in realistic applications. In the near future, GMAO will be upgrading its operational GEOS GCM (and assimilation system) to use a cubed-sphere-based hydrodynamics. This versions of the dynamics scales to thousands of processes and has led to a decision to re-derive the TL and AD models for this more modern dynamics, thus taking advantage of a two-dimensional MPI decomposition and improved scalability properties. With the aid of the Transformation of Algorithms in FORTRAN (l'AF) automatic adjoint generation tool and some hand-coding, a version of the cubed-sphere-based TL and AD models, with a simplified vertical diffusion scheme, is now available, enabling multiple configurations of standard implementations of 4DV AR in GEOS. Concurrent to this development, collaboration with the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and the Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) has allowed GMAO to implement a hybrid-ensemble capability within the GEOS data assimilation system. Both 3Dand 4D-ensemble capabilities are presently available thus allowing GMAO to now evaluate the performance and benefit of various ensemble and variational assimilation strategies. This presentation will cover the most recent developments taking place at GMAO and show results from various comparisons from traditional techniques to more recent ensemble-based ones.

Todling, R.↗