The purpose of this talk is to describe the evolving data assimilation activities and numerical model development ongoing at the University of Wisconsin - Madison (UW) Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) and Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (AOS). Considerable infrastructure is being formed in support of the assimilation of information collected by the Geosynchronous Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer (GIFTS) instrument (due to be operational in mid-2004), as well as a host of other satellite-based instruments. This infrastructure includes the development of forward models for GIFTS hypersprectral data, the realtime assimilation of conventional (and remotely sensed) data within the Mesoscale Analysis and Prediction System (MAPS) as part of the Rapid Update Cycle 2 (RUC2) model running at UW, the re-writing of the UW - Nonhydrostatic Modeling System (UW-NMS) mesoscale and "cloud-radiative" model for massively parallel computers, the extensive data visualization and algorithm testing capabilities provided by the VisAD software package, as well as the rapidly developing curriculum in the UW AOS in data assimilation and predictability studies. Specifically, the cloud-radiative UW-NMS model will be a powerful tool for developing an understanding of the relationships between data collected by satellite sensors (like GIFTS) and the conservative atmospheric variables that these data represent, coupling together many of the infrastructure components listed above.

In light of the newly formed Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation (JCSDA), UW CIMSS and AOS offer a robust framework for data assimilation studies, with an emphasis in disciplines related to the use of geostationary satellite data and "nowcasting" of mesoscale atmospheric phenomena using these data. In particular, the UW team has the ability to focus data assimilation studies toward the efficient use of hyperspectral satellite measurements to benefit JCSDA activities. Examples of the research progress UW has made in the assimilation of satellite measurements will be provided during the talk.