Percentile-based Neighborhood Precipitation Verification and Its Application to a Landfalling Tropical Storm Case with Radar Data Assimilation

The traditional threat score based on fixed thresholds for precipitation verification is sensitive to intensity forecast bias. In this study, the neighborhood precipitation threat score is modified by defining the thresholds in terms of the percentiles of overall precipitation instead of fixed threshold values. The impact of intensity forecast bias on the calculated threat score is reduced. The method is tested with the forecasts of a tropical storm that re-intensified after making landfall and caused heavy flooding. The forecasts are produced with and without radar data assimilation. The forecast with assimilation of both radial velocity and reflectivity produce precipitation patterns that better match observations but have large positive intensity bias. When using fixed thresholds, the neighborhood threat scores fail to yield high scores for forecasts that have good pattern match with observations, due to large intensity bias. In contrast, the percentile-based neighborhood method yields the highest score for the forecast with the best pattern match and the smallest position error. The percentile-based method also yields scores that are more consistent with object-based verifications, which are less sensitive to intensity bias, demonstrating the potential value of percentile-based verification.

Assimilation of Doppler Radar Data with an Ensemble 3DEnVar Approach to Improve Convective Forecasting

An ensemble three-dimensional ensemble-variational(3DEnVar)data assimilation(E3DA)system was developed within the Weather Research and Forecasting model’s 3DVar framework to assimilate radar data to improve convective forecasting.In this system,ensemble perturbations are updated by an ensemble of 3DEnVar and the ensemble forecasts are used to generate the flow-dependent background error covariance.The performance of the E3DA system was first evaluated against one experiment without radar DA and one radar DA experiment with 3DVar,using a severe storm case over southeastern China on 5 June 2009.Results indicated that E3DA improved the quantitative forecast skills of reflectivity and precipitation,as well as their spatial distributions in terms of both intensity and coverage over 3DVar.The root-mean-square error of radial velocity from 3DVar was reduced by E3DA,with stronger low-level wind closer to observation.It was also found that E3DA improved the wind,temperature and water vapor mixing ratio,with the lowest errors at the surface and upper levels.3DVar showed moderate improvements in comparison with forecasts without radar DA.A diagnosis of the analysis revealed that E3DA increased vertical velocity,temperature,and humidity corresponding to the added reflectivity,while 3DVar failed to produce these adjustments,because of the lack of reasonable cross-variable correlations.The performance of E3DA was further verified using two convective cases over southern and southeastern China,and the reflectivity forecast skill was also improved over 3DVar.

Comparative Experiments on the Effect of Radar Data Assimilation and Increasing Horizontal Resolution on Short-term Numerical Weather Prediction

To examine the effect of radar data assimilation and increasing horizontal resolution on the short-term numerical weather prediction, comparative numerical experiments are conducted for a Huabei （North China） torrential rainfall event by using the Advanced Regional Prediction System （ARPS） and ARPS Data Anal- ysis System （ADAS）. The experiments use five different horizontal grid spacings, i.e., 18, 15, 9, 6, and 3 km,respectively, under the two different types of analyses： one with radar data, the other without. Results show that, when radar data are not used in the analysis （i.e., only using the conventional observation data）, increasing horizontal resolution can improve the short-term prediction of 6 h with better representation of the frontal structure and higher scores of the rainfall prediction, particularly for heavy rain situations. When radar data are assimilated, it significantly improves the rainfall prediction for the first 6 h, especially the locality and intensity of precipitation. Moreover, using radar data in the analysis is more effective in improving the short-term prediction than increasing horizontal resolution of the model alone, which is demonstrated by the fact that by using radar data in the analysis and a coarser resolution of the 18-km grid spacing, the predicted results are as good as that by using a higher resolution of the 3-km grid spacing without radar data. Further study of the results under the radar data assimilation with grid spacing of 18-3 km reveals that the rainfall prediction is more sensitive to the grid spacing in heavy rain situations （more than 40 mm） than in ordinary rain situations （less than 40 mm）. When the horizontal grid spacing reduces from 6 to 3 km, there is no obvious improvement to the prediction results. This suggests that there is a limit to how far increasing horizontal resolution can do for the improvement of the prediction. Therefore, an effective approach to improve the short-term numerical prediction is to combine the radar data assimilation with an optimal horizontal resolution.

Impacts of Multigrid NLS-4DVar-based Doppler Radar Observation Assimilation on Numerical Simulations of Landfalling Typhoon Haikui (2012)

We applied the multigrid nonlinear least-squares four-dimensional variational assimilation(MG-NLS4DVar)method in data assimilation and prediction experiments for Typhoon Haikui(2012)using the Weather Research and Forecasting(WRF)model.Observation data included radial velocity(Vr)and reflectivity(Z)data from a single Doppler radar,quality controlled prior to assimilation.Typhoon prediction results were evaluated and compared between the NLS-4DVar and MG-NLS4DVar methods.Compared with a forecast that began with NCEP analysis data,our radar data assimilation results were clearly improved in terms of structure,intensity,track,and precipitation prediction for Typhoon Haikui(2012).The results showed that the assimilation accuracy of the NLS-4DVar method was similar to that of the MG-NLS4DVar method,but that the latter was more efficient.The assimilation of Vr alone and Z alone each improved predictions of typhoon intensity,track,and precipitation;however,the impacts of Vr data were significantly greater that those of Z data.Assimilation window-length sensitivity experiments showed that a 6-h assimilation window with 30-min assimilation intervals produced slightly better results than either a 3-h assimilation window with 15-min assimilation intervals or a 1-h assimilation window with 6-min assimilation intervals.

Time-Expanded Sampling for Ensemble-Based Filters:Assimilation Experiments with Real Radar Observations

By sampling perturbed state vectors from each ensemble prediction run at properly selected time levels in the vicinity of the analysis time, the recently proposed time-expanded sampling approach can enlarge the ensemble size without increasing the number of prediction runs and, hence, can reduce the computational cost of an ensemble-based filter. In this study, this approach is tested for the first time with real radar data from a tornadic thunderstorm. In particular, four assimilation experiments were performed to test the time-expanded sampling method against the conventional ensemble sampling method used by ensemble- based filters. In these experiments, the ensemble square-root filter （EnSRF） was used with 45 ensemble members generated by the time-expanded sampling and conventional sampling from 15 and 45 prediction runs, respectively, and quality-controlled radar data were compressed into super-observations with properly reduced spatial resolutions to improve the EnSRF performances. The results show that the time-expanded sampling approach not only can reduce the computational cost but also can improve the accuracy of the analysis, especially when the ensemble size is severely limited due to computational constraints for real-radar data assimilation. These potential merits are consistent with those previously demonstrated by assimilation experiments with simulated data.

Analyses and Forecasts of a Tornadic Supercell Outbreak Using a 3DVAR System Ensemble

As part of NOAA＇s ＂Warn-On-Forecast＂ initiative, a convective-scale data assimilation and prediction system was developed using the WRF-ARW model and ARPS 3DVAR data assimilation technique. The system was then evaluated using retrospective short-range ensemble analyses and probabilistic forecasts of the tornadic supercell outbreak event that occurred on 24 May 2011 in Oklahoma, USA. A 36-member multi-physics ensemble system provided the initial and boundary conditions for a 3-km convective-scale ensemble system. Radial velocity and reflectivity observations from four WSR-88 Ds were assimilated into the ensemble using the ARPS 3DVAR technique. Five data assimilation and forecast experiments were conducted to evaluate the sensitivity of the system to data assimilation frequencies, in-cloud temperature adjustment schemes, and fixed- and mixed-microphysics ensembles. The results indicated that the experiment with 5-min assimilation frequency quickly built up the storm and produced a more accurate analysis compared with the 10-min assimilation frequency experiment. The predicted vertical vorticity from the moist-adiabatic in-cloud temperature adjustment scheme was larger in magnitude than that from the latent heat scheme. Cycled data assimilation yielded good forecasts, where the ensemble probability of high vertical vorticity matched reasonably well with the observed tornado damage path. Overall, the results of the study suggest that the 3DVAR analysis and forecast system can provide reasonable forecasts of tornadic supercell storms.

Assimilation of Doppler Radar Observations with an Ensemble Square Root Filter:A Squall Line Case Study

The effectiveness of using an Ensemble Square Root Filter（EnSRF） to assimilate real Doppler radar observations on convective scale is investigated by applying the technique to a case of squall line on 12July 2005 in midwest Shandong Province using the Weather Research and Forecasting（WRF） model.The experimental results show that：（1） The EnSRF system has the potential to initiate a squall line accurately by assimilation of real Doppler radar data.The convective-scale information has been added into the WRF model through radar data assimilation and thus the analyzed fields are improved noticeably.The model spin-up time has been shortened,and the precipitation forecast is improved accordingly.（2） Compared with the control run,the deterministic forecast initiated with the ensemble mean analysis of EnSRF produces more accurate prediction of microphysical fields.The predicted wind and thermal fields are reasonable and in accordance with the characteristics of convective storms.（3） The propagation direction of the squall line from the ensemble mean analysis is consistent with that of the observation,but the propagation speed is larger than the observed.The effective forecast period for this squall line is about 5-6 h,probably because of the nonlinear development of the convective storm.