Improve the Use of Conical Sensors in U.S. Navy’s Global Weather Prediction System

Satellite radiances at the channels near 18 GHz, 23 GHz and 36 GHz frequencies from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) and the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Microwave Imager (GMI) have historically held untapped potential in the Navy’s current global operational data assimilation (DA) system. Presently, radiances from the AMSR2 at 23 GHz and GMI at 23 GHz and 183 GHz are actively assimilated in the system. The forecast sensitivity to observation impact (FSOI) indicates that these two sensors have a much lower impact compared to other microwave sensors, largely driven by the lower assimilated data count from the two sensors.

Recent investigations during the tech demo mission Compact Ocean Wind Vector Radiometer (COWVR) have shown significant positive impacts on model forecasts in the Southern Hemisphere through the assimilation of COWVR radiances at 18 GHz, 23 GHz, and 34 GHz. Building on this result, we aim to enhance the use of AMSR2 and GMI radiances in the DA system by assimilating channels at 18GHz and 36 GHz, as well as improving the quality control and data superobbing for these two sensors.

Following the successful launch of the Department of Defense’s weather satellite follow-on (WSF-M) microwave imager (MWI) on April 11 2024, this study will also present preliminary results on the application of MWI on tropical cyclone imagery and initial DA trials using MWI radiances.