Definition-aware Constituent Verification using JEDI-METplus

Model Evaluation Tools (MET) and its python-based wrapper, METplus, developed by the Developmental Testbed Center (DTC) are widely used to verify model performance with observations. To evaluate satellite measurements with MET/METplus requires users to post-process model variables to observation variables (e.g., radiance, AOD, tropospheric NO₂, etc.). However, users may not be aware of the detail of converting model variables into observed variables. Hence, we coupled METplus with the Joint Effort for Data Assimilation Integration (JEDI) system to provide a definition-aware and consistent verification. For instance, we can use the generic column retrieval operator from the unified forward operator (UFO) in JEDI to convert and compare gridded model outputs with level 2 (L2) products. The operator can take various L2 products such as the NO₂ tropospheric columns from TropOMI and use the averaging kernel information to remove the apriori contribution from the retrieved values in the model to observations comparisons. The developed use cases and ongoing efforts will be presented.