Strongly Coupled Data Assimilation in Multiscale Media: Experiments Using a Quasi‐Geostrophic Coupled Model
Abstract Strongly coupled data assimilation (SCDA) views the Earth as one unified system. This allows observations to have an instantaneous impact across boundaries such as the air‐sea interface when estimating the state of each individual component. Operational prediction centers are moving toward...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
2019-06-01
|
| Series: | Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1029/2019MS001652 |
| _version_ | 1818129120580599808 |
|---|---|
| author | S. G. Penny E. Bach K. Bhargava C.‐C. Chang C. Da L. Sun T. Yoshida |
| author_facet | S. G. Penny E. Bach K. Bhargava C.‐C. Chang C. Da L. Sun T. Yoshida |
| author_sort | S. G. Penny |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Strongly coupled data assimilation (SCDA) views the Earth as one unified system. This allows observations to have an instantaneous impact across boundaries such as the air‐sea interface when estimating the state of each individual component. Operational prediction centers are moving toward Earth system modeling for all forecast timescales, ranging from days to months. However, there have been few studies that examine fundamental aspects of SCDA and the transition from traditional approaches that apply data assimilation only to a single component, whether forecasts were derived from a coupled model or an uncoupled forced model. The SCDA approach is examined here in detail using numerical experiments with a simple coupled atmosphere‐ocean quasi‐geostrophic model. The impact of coupling is explored with respect to its impact on the Lyapunov spectrum and on data assimilation system stability. Different data assimilation methods are compared within the context of SCDA, including the 3‐D and 4‐D Variational methods, the ensemble Kalman filter, and the hybrid gain method. The impact of observing system coverage is also investigated. We find that SCDA is generally superior to weakly coupled or uncoupled approaches. Dynamically defined background error covariance estimates are essential for SCDA to achieve an accurate coupled state estimate as the observing system becomes sparser. As a clarification of seemingly contradictory findings from previous studies, it is shown that ocean observations can adequately constrain atmospheric state estimates provided that the analysis‐observing frequency is sufficiently high and the ensemble size determining the background error covariance is sufficiently large. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T07:44:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9a58598436d74cf7afcc93b5175040f2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1942-2466 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T07:44:06Z |
| publishDate | 2019-06-01 |
| publisher | American Geophysical Union (AGU) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems |
| spelling | doaj.art-9a58598436d74cf7afcc93b5175040f22022-12-22T01:15:29ZengAmerican Geophysical Union (AGU)Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems1942-24662019-06-011161803182910.1029/2019MS001652Strongly Coupled Data Assimilation in Multiscale Media: Experiments Using a Quasi‐Geostrophic Coupled ModelS. G. Penny0E. Bach1K. Bhargava2C.‐C. Chang3C. Da4L. Sun5T. Yoshida6Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science University of Maryland College Park MD USADepartment of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science University of Maryland College Park MD USADepartment of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science University of Maryland College Park MD USADepartment of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science University of Maryland College Park MD USADepartment of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science University of Maryland College Park MD USADepartment of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science University of Maryland College Park MD USADepartment of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science University of Maryland College Park MD USAAbstract Strongly coupled data assimilation (SCDA) views the Earth as one unified system. This allows observations to have an instantaneous impact across boundaries such as the air‐sea interface when estimating the state of each individual component. Operational prediction centers are moving toward Earth system modeling for all forecast timescales, ranging from days to months. However, there have been few studies that examine fundamental aspects of SCDA and the transition from traditional approaches that apply data assimilation only to a single component, whether forecasts were derived from a coupled model or an uncoupled forced model. The SCDA approach is examined here in detail using numerical experiments with a simple coupled atmosphere‐ocean quasi‐geostrophic model. The impact of coupling is explored with respect to its impact on the Lyapunov spectrum and on data assimilation system stability. Different data assimilation methods are compared within the context of SCDA, including the 3‐D and 4‐D Variational methods, the ensemble Kalman filter, and the hybrid gain method. The impact of observing system coverage is also investigated. We find that SCDA is generally superior to weakly coupled or uncoupled approaches. Dynamically defined background error covariance estimates are essential for SCDA to achieve an accurate coupled state estimate as the observing system becomes sparser. As a clarification of seemingly contradictory findings from previous studies, it is shown that ocean observations can adequately constrain atmospheric state estimates provided that the analysis‐observing frequency is sufficiently high and the ensemble size determining the background error covariance is sufficiently large.https://doi.org/10.1029/2019MS001652coupled data assimilationstrongly coupled data assimilationcoupled modelensemble Kalman filter4D‐Varhybrid gain |
| spellingShingle | S. G. Penny E. Bach K. Bhargava C.‐C. Chang C. Da L. Sun T. Yoshida Strongly Coupled Data Assimilation in Multiscale Media: Experiments Using a Quasi‐Geostrophic Coupled Model Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems coupled data assimilation strongly coupled data assimilation coupled model ensemble Kalman filter 4D‐Var hybrid gain |
| title | Strongly Coupled Data Assimilation in Multiscale Media: Experiments Using a Quasi‐Geostrophic Coupled Model |
| title_full | Strongly Coupled Data Assimilation in Multiscale Media: Experiments Using a Quasi‐Geostrophic Coupled Model |
| title_fullStr | Strongly Coupled Data Assimilation in Multiscale Media: Experiments Using a Quasi‐Geostrophic Coupled Model |
| title_full_unstemmed | Strongly Coupled Data Assimilation in Multiscale Media: Experiments Using a Quasi‐Geostrophic Coupled Model |
| title_short | Strongly Coupled Data Assimilation in Multiscale Media: Experiments Using a Quasi‐Geostrophic Coupled Model |
| title_sort | strongly coupled data assimilation in multiscale media experiments using a quasi geostrophic coupled model |
| topic | coupled data assimilation strongly coupled data assimilation coupled model ensemble Kalman filter 4D‐Var hybrid gain |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1029/2019MS001652 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT sgpenny stronglycoupleddataassimilationinmultiscalemediaexperimentsusingaquasigeostrophiccoupledmodel AT ebach stronglycoupleddataassimilationinmultiscalemediaexperimentsusingaquasigeostrophiccoupledmodel AT kbhargava stronglycoupleddataassimilationinmultiscalemediaexperimentsusingaquasigeostrophiccoupledmodel AT ccchang stronglycoupleddataassimilationinmultiscalemediaexperimentsusingaquasigeostrophiccoupledmodel AT cda stronglycoupleddataassimilationinmultiscalemediaexperimentsusingaquasigeostrophiccoupledmodel AT lsun stronglycoupleddataassimilationinmultiscalemediaexperimentsusingaquasigeostrophiccoupledmodel AT tyoshida stronglycoupleddataassimilationinmultiscalemediaexperimentsusingaquasigeostrophiccoupledmodel |