Insights into the Microwave Instruments Onboard the Fengyun 3D Satellite:Data Quality and Assimilation in the Met Office NWP System

This paper evaluates the microwave instruments onboard the latest Chinese polar-orbiting satellite, Fengyun 3D (FY- 3D). Comparing three months of observations from the Microwave Temperature Sounder 2 (MWTS-2), the Microwave Humidity Sounder 2 (MWHS-2), and the Microwave Radiation Imager (MWRI) to Met Office short-range forecasts, we characterize the instrumental biases, show how those biases have changed with respect to their predecessors onboard FY- 3C, and how they compare to the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) onboard NOAA-20 and the Global Precipitation Measurement Microwave Imager (GMI). The MWTS-2 global bias is much reduced with respect to its predecessor and compares well to ATMS at equivalent channel frequencies, differing only by 0.36 ± 0.28 K (1σ) on average. A suboptimal averaging of raw digital counts is found to cause an increase in striping noise and an ascending- descending bias. MWHS-2 benefits from a new calibration method improving the 183-GHz humidity channels with respect to its predecessor and biases for these channels are within ± 1.9 K to ATMS. MWRI presents the largest improvements, with reduced global bias and standard deviation with respect to FY-3C;although, spurious, seemingly transient, brightness temperatures have been detected in the observations at 36.5 GHz (vertical polarization). The strong solar-dependent bias that affects the instrument on FY-3C has been reduced to less than 0.2 K on average for FY-3D MWRI. Experiments where radiances from these instruments were assimilated on top of a full global system demonstrated a neutral to positive impact on the forecasts, as well as on the fit to the background of independent instruments.

Assessment and Assimilation of FY-3 Humidity Sounders and Imager in the UK Met Office Global Model

China＇s FengYnn 3 （FY-3） polar orbiting satellites axe set to become an important sonrce of observational data for nu- merical weather prediction （NWP）, atmospheric reanalyses, and climate monitoring studies over the next two decades. As part of the Climate Science for Service Partnership China （CSSP China） prograln, FY-3B Microwave Humidity Sounder 1 （MWHS-1） and FY-3C MWHS-2 observations have been thoroughly assessed and prepared for operational assimilation. This represents the first time observations from China＇s polar orbiting satellites have been used in the UK＇s global NWP model. Since 2016, continuous data quality monitoring has shown occasional bias changes found to be correlated to changes in the energy supply scheme regulating the platform heating system and other transient anomalies. Nonetheless, MWHS-1 and MWHS-2 significantly contribute to the 24-h forecast error reduction by 0.3% and 0.6%, respectively, and the combination of both instruments is shown to improve the fit to the model background of independent sounders by up to 1%. The observations from the Microwave Radiation Imager （MWRI） also are a potentially significant source of benefits for NWP models, but a solar-dependent bias observed in the instrument half-orbits has prevented their assimilation. This paper presents the bases of a correction scheme developed at the Met Office for the purpose of a future assimilation of MWRI data.

All-sky Data Assimilation of MWTS-2 and MWHS-2 in the Met Office Global NWP System.

Microwave radiances from passive polar-orbiting radiometers have been,until recently,assimilated in the Met Office global numerical weather prediction system after the scenes significantly affected by atmospheric scattering are discarded.Recent system upgrades have seen the introduction of a scattering-permitting observation operator and the development of a variable observation error using both liquid and ice water paths as proxies of scattering-induced bias.Applied to the Fengyun 3 Microwave Temperature Sounder 2(MWTS-2)and the Microwave Humidity Sounder 2(MWHS-2),this methodology increases the data usage by up to 8%at 183 GHz.It also allows for the investigation into the assimilation of MWHS-2118 GHz channels,sensitive to temperature and lower tropospheric humidity,but whose large sensitivity to ice cloud have prevented their use thus far.While the impact on the forecast is mostly neutral with small but significant short-range improvements,0.3%in terms of root mean square error,for southern winds and low-level temperature,balanced by 0.2%degradations of short-range northern and tropical low-level temperature,benefits are observed in the background fit of independent instruments used in the system.The lower tropospheric temperature sounding Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer(IASI)channels see a reduction of the standard deviation in the background departure of up to 1.2%.The Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit A(AMSU-A)stratospheric sounding channels improve by up to 0.5%and the Microwave Humidity Sounder(MHS)humidity sounding channels improve by up to 0.4%.