Assessments of CIRAS Impacts on NWP through the Community Global Observing System Simulation Experiment (OSSE) Package

The purpose of this research is to quantitatively assess the potential impacts of CubeSat InfraRed Atmospheric Sounder (CIRAS) on global NWP system. CIRAS observations were simulated with CRTM using the NASA GEOS-5 Nature Run (G5NR) on different low Earth-orbiting platforms. These observations measure the temperature and water vapor spectrum (1950 – 2450 cm^-1). CIRAS observations were then assimilated into the NCEP Global Data Assimilation System (GDAS) and Global Forecast System (GFS). The assimilation of CIRAS observations was done for one month (August 15^th to September 15^th, 2006) on top of two OSSEs. One is a control experiment using operational observing system in 2014; the other is a data-gap experiment without early-afternoon polar orbiting satellites. An overview of the CIRAS observations simulation, validation, and their impacts on global analysis and forecast using multiple metrics, i.e., Overall Analysis Score and Overall Forecast Score, will be presented.