Progress Toward Variational Data Assimilation for the Model for Prediction across Scales (MPAS) within the Joint Effort for Data Assimilation Integration (JEDI)

Under the Prediction and Data Assimilation for Cloud (PANDA-C) program, which is funded by the US Air Force and aimed at cloud analysis and forecasting, we are making rapid progress toward a fully capable assimilation system for MPAS. Our work both contributes to JEDI, including aspects of observation processing, background-covariance modeling and automated testing, and leverages JEDI tools and expertise from JCSDA partners, especially in the area of satellite data assimilation. We will present recent results in cycling global data assimilation with MPAS and JEDI, along with our experiences in the most novel aspect of JEDI, namely as a collaborative development effort across multiple institutions, spanning both research and operational numerical weather prediction.