The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) started assimilating GPS RO observations from the COSMIC mission into its Global Data Assimilation System on May 1, 2007. Early impact experiments showed that this type of observations incorporates a unique piece of information to the Global Observing System. Model skill in terms of anomaly correlation globally improved after the assimilation of COSMIC data. The stratospheric cool bias of our model was reduced by the assimilation of COSMIC as well.

NOAA has recently updated the assimilation of the COSMIC observations and has been testing data from the CHAMP and GRACE-A missions in order to incorporate them into the operational GPS RO suite. In addition, preliminary testing of the GRAS data is underway.

During the presentation, updates on the system and results of the impact of the GPS RO observations on the operational weather forecasts at NOAA will be analyzed.