Quality Assessment and Forecast Sensitivity of Global Remote Sensing Observations

The satellite-derived wind from cloud and moisture features of geostationary satellites is an important data source for numerical weather prediction （NWP） models. These datasets and global positioning system radio occultation （GPSRO） satellite radiances are assimilated in the four-dimensional variational atmospheric data assimilation system of the UKMO Unified Model in India. This study focuses on the importance of these data in the NWP system and their impact on short-term 24-h forecasts. The quality of the wind observations is compared to the short-range forecast from the model background. The observation increments （observation minus background） are computed as the satellite-derived wind minus the model forecast with a 6-h lead time. The results show the model background has a large easterly wind component compared to satellite observations. The importance of each observation in the analysis is studied using an adjoint-based forecast sensitivity to observation method. The results show that at least around 50% of all types of satellite observations are beneficial. In terms of individual contribution, METEOSAT-7 shows a higher percentage of impact （nearly 50%）, as compared to GEOS, MTSAT-2 and METEOSAT-10, all of which have a less than 25% impact. In addition, the impact of GPSRO, infrared atmospheric sounding interferometer （IASI） and atmospheric infrared sounder （AIRS） data is calculated. The GPSRO observations have beneficial impacts up to 50 km. Over the Southern Hemisphere, the high spectral radiances from IASI and AIRS show a greater impact than over the Northern Hemisphere. The results in this study can be used for further improvements in the use of new and existing satellite observations.

A Case Study of Mesoscale Convective Band(MCB) Development and Evolution along a Quasi-stationary Front

This paper presents a case study of mesoscale convective band （MCB） development along a quasi-stationary front over the Seout metropolitan area.The MCB,which initiated on 1500 UTC 20 September 2010 and ended on 1400 UTC 21 September 2010,produced a total precipitation amount of 259.5 mm.The MCB development occurred during a period of tropopause folding in the upper level and moisture advection with a low-level jet.The analyses show that the evolution of the MCB can be classified into five periods：（1） the cell-forming period,when convection initiated; （2） the frontogenetic period,when the stationary front formed over the Korean peninsula; （3） the quasi-stationary period,when the convective band remained over Seoul for 3 h; （4） the mature period,when the cloud cover was largest and the precipitation rate was greater than 90 mm h-1; and （5） the dissipating period,when the MCB diminished and disappeared.The synoptic,thermodynamic,and dynamic analyses show that the MCB maintained its longevity by a tilted updraft,which headed towards a positive PV anomaly.Precipitation was concentrated under this area,where a tilted ascending southwesterly converged with a tilted ascending northeasterly,at the axis of cyclonic rotation.The formation of the convective cell was attributed in part by tropopause folding,which enhanced the cyclonic vorticity at the surface,and by the low-level convergence of warm moist air and upperlevel divergence.The southwesterly flow ascended in a region with high moisture content and strong relative vorticity that maintained the development of an MCB along the quasi-stationary front.