Satellite Radiance Data Assimilation in the NOAA’s Next Generation Regional Model - Rapid Refresh Forecast System (RRFS)

The next generation operational regional forecast and data assimilation system at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) uses the unified hourly-updated, storm-scale ensemble data assimilation and forecasting system based on the FV3 dynamic core, which will be called the Rapid Refresh Forecast System (RRFS). As the satellite radiance data becomes higher and higher in both space and temporal resolution, how to effectively assimilate radiance data in a high resolution regional model to improve the weather forecast is always a challenging project. Although the satellite radiance data has been assimilated in the operational regional model (NAM and RAP) for a decade, it still needs to be re-addressed within this new RRFS system by evaluating the performance of each satellite instrument. In order to do so, a series of data sensitivity experiments have been performed within RRFS, specifically adding one type of satellite in each experiment by the order of ABI, AMSUA, ATMS, MHS, CrIS, and IASI. Compared to these experiments, better forecast scores for relative humidity within 12-hours were obtained from GOES-16 ABI clear sky data. Polar satellite radiance data has a relatively small impact on all forecasts. More details about each type of satellite data’s performance in RRFS will also be discussed in the presentation.