The MAP-SOP reanalysis project, currently initiated at the ECMWF, with the T511/60L/4DVAR (40km) system with good satellite coverage over the sea, will provide a rich uniform-format dataset of the SOP observations and a benchmark set of 3-hourly analysis files. This project will permit further research on the mesoscale data assimilation of the MAP observations.

The adjoint of a Kain-Fritsch convective parametrization scheme has been developed and is used here in a 1D-Var mode (Fillion 2002) to provide results on the extra-tropical assimilation of precipitation data in a mesoscale context. The scheme is inserted in the MC2 dual grid (14 and 3 km) forecast system used during the MAP-SOP (Benoit et al. BAMS january 2002). The system is tested for MAP events featuring important convection. In addition, Fillion and Mahfouf (2000) have shown the importance of properly partitioning the precipitation observations into convective and stratiform components before attempting the variational assimilation onto the model state. This partitioning problem is carefully examined here. Results of such assimilation experiments will provide first indications for mesoscale data assimilation in an operational NWP context and is one important component of the Canadian Weather Research Programme (CWRP) which focuses on improving QPF at the mesoscale.