Investigation of links between dynamical scenarios and particularly high impact of Aeolus on numerical weather prediction (NWP) forecasts

Author(s)
Anne Martin, Martin Weissmann, Alexander Cress
Abstract

Global wind profiles from the Aeolus satellite mission provide an important source of wind information for numerical weather prediction (NWP). Data assimilation experiments show large mean changes in the analysis and a significant reduction in forecast errors. At Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD), a 3-month observing system experiment (OSE), from July 2020 to October 2020, was performed to evaluate the impact of the Aeolus horizontal line-of-sight (HLOS) wind observations in the operational data assimilation system of the ICOsahedral Nonhydrostatic (ICON) global model. To better understand the underlying dynamics leading to the overall beneficial impact, specific time periods and regions with a particularly high impact of Aeolus are investigated. In this study, we illustrate three examples of atmospheric phenomena that constitute dynamical scenarios for significant forecast error reduction through the assimilation of Aeolus: The phase shift of large-scale tropical circulation systems, namely the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO) and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and the interaction of tropical cyclones undergoing extratropical transition (ET) with the midlatitude waveguide.

Organisation(s)
Department of Meteorology and Geophysics
External organisation(s)
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Meteorological Service of Germany
Journal
Weather and Climate Dynamics
Volume
4
Pages
249–264
No. of pages
16
ISSN
2698-4008
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-4-249-2023
Publication date
03-2023
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
105206 Meteorology
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Atmospheric Science
Portal url
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/902cb3c0-dc55-4154-b25d-e397d9bad416