14R2O Establishing JEDI-Based MOM6 3DVAR Ocean Data Assimilation Capability for the Regional Hurricane Analysis and Forecast System

In June 2023, two configurations of the Hurricane Analysis and Forecast System (HAFS) were implemented as NOAA/NWS/NCEP’s new-generation regional operational hurricane forecast systems to provide tropical cyclone model guidance for the National Hurricane Center and Joint Typhoon Warning Center areas of responsibility. Both configurations are coupled with the Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) to take into account air-sea interaction under TC conditions. Recently, regional ocean coupling capability with the Modular Ocean Model v6 (MOM6) was developed for HAFS. Meanwhile, the Joint Effort for Data-assimilation Integration (JEDI) was leveraged to implement a three-dimensional variational data assimilation (3DVAR) capability for a regional application of MOM6; this configuration was then tested for the HAFS NHC ocean domain. The JEDI-based MOM6 3DVAR assimilates sea-surface temperature retrievals from JPSS, MetOp, AMS-R, NPP, GOES satellite platforms, plus satellite sea surface salinity and absolute dynamic topography, as well as in situ temperature/salinity profiles from many platforms within the 6 h window centered at model initialization time. Currently, the JEDI-based MOM6 ocean 3DVAR capability is being integrated into the HAFS application workflow. Retrospective and near-real-time experiments will be conducted for some 2020-2023 North Atlantic and Eastern North Pacific storms. Details of the workflow will be presented together with analysis of these experiments, including comparisons with both the non-ocean DA version of MOM6-coupled HAFS and the operational HYCOM-coupled HAFS.