Building a Coupled ENKF Hybrid Climate Data Assimilation System at EMC/NCEP

The interactive coupling of geophysical models of the land, ocean, atmosphere, sea ice, waves, aerosols, and other constituents of the earth system environment is an active area of interest and reseach wordwide. NCEP has been a pioneer in carrying out coupled reanalysis and operational implementation of coupled climate data assimilation and prediction systems. Since the introduction of the atmospheric ENKF hybrid global data assimilation system into NCEP operations in May 2012, it is apparent that the ensemble based methodology would be the direction taken for the next generation NCEP coupled climate data assimilation and forecast system. Here is descibed the design and status of the development effort to assemble and test an experimental prototype of such a system at the Environmental Modeling Center of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction.