Observing System Simulation Experiments for DWSS in the Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation

Following the reconfiguration of the nation's most important future meteorological satellite program into two separate programs, Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS, administered by NASA/NOAA) and Defense Weather Satellite System (DWSS, administered by the Department of Defense), the agencies implementing these new systems are now in the process of reassessing the expected impacts of their respective systems. Since 2007, the Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation has coordinated Joint Observing System Simulation Experiment (OSSE) collaboration across a number of groups within NASA and NOAA. This study makes this Joint OSSE capability available to the DWSS for assessment of the expected consequences of a variety of possible programmatic decisions regarding e.g. the instrument payload. Conforming to standard practice for OSSE studies, the experiments extend over two separate two-month periods, one in the Northern hemisphere winter (Jan-Feb 2012), one in the NH summer (Jul-Aug 2011). Experimental runs compared include a) the impact of removing NOAA-16 Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMI/S); b) adding Crosstrack Infrared Sounder (CrIS) and Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) to the early-morning orbit; c) adding a Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument to this orbit; and d) adding VIIRS and ATMS to this orbit.