Updates on the Development of GMAO's JEDI-based Coupled Data Assimilation System

NASA’s Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) is developing a JEDI-based coupled data assimilation capability with the long-term goal of producing coupled Earth system reanalyses. Our initial target is to employ a weakly coupled data assimilation (WCDA) approach, integrating Earth system components—atmosphere, ocean, sea ice, and land—through the GEOS global coupled model. A critical aspect of this effort is the transition of GMAO’s existing data assimilation systems into the JEDI unified framework, which includes updating model components to JEDI-compliant versions and creating a cohesive workflow ecosystem for GMAO’s global products. This presentation highlights the ocean and sea-ice data assimilation components, which will utilize the JEDI 3DFGAT methodology. Initial ocean-only data assimilation experiments using JEDI and the GEOS coupled model have shown promising results, particularly in improving initial conditions for surface fields such as Sea Surface Temperature (SST), Sea Surface Height (SSH), and Sea Surface Salinity (SSS). The next phase will incorporate additional ocean observations, including in-situ observations like Argo floats, and sea ice concentration data to further enhance ocean and sea-ice state estimates in the WCDA setup.