Applications of GNSS-RO to Numerical Weather Prediction and Tropical Cyclone Forecast
The global navigation satellite system (GNSS) radio occultation (RO) technique is an atmospheric sounding technique that originated in the 1990s. The data provided by this approach are playing a consistently significant role in atmospheric research and related applications. This paper mainly summari...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-11-01
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| Series: | Atmosphere |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/11/11/1204 |
| _version_ | 1797548627001868288 |
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| author | Weihua Bai Nan Deng Yueqiang Sun Qifei Du Junming Xia Xianyi Wang Xiangguang Meng Danyang Zhao Congliang Liu Guangyuan Tan Ziyan Liu Xiaoxu Liu |
| author_facet | Weihua Bai Nan Deng Yueqiang Sun Qifei Du Junming Xia Xianyi Wang Xiangguang Meng Danyang Zhao Congliang Liu Guangyuan Tan Ziyan Liu Xiaoxu Liu |
| author_sort | Weihua Bai |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The global navigation satellite system (GNSS) radio occultation (RO) technique is an atmospheric sounding technique that originated in the 1990s. The data provided by this approach are playing a consistently significant role in atmospheric research and related applications. This paper mainly summarizes the applications of RO to numerical weather prediction (NWP) generally and specifically for tropical cyclone (TC) forecast and outlines the prospects of the RO technique. With advantages such as high precision and accuracy, high vertical resolution, full-time and all-weather, and global coverage, RO data have made a remarkable contribution to NWP and TC forecasts. While accounting for only 7% of the total observations in European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts’ (ECMWF’s) assimilation system, RO has the fourth-largest impact on NWP. The greater the amount of RO data, the better the forecast of NWP. In cases of TC forecasts, assimilating RO data from heights below 6 km and from the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) region contributes to the forecasting accuracy of the track and intensity of TCs in different stages. A statistical analysis showed that assimilating RO data can help restore the critical characteristics of TCs, such as the location and intensity of the eye, eyewall, and rain bands. Moreover, a non-local excess phase assimilation operator can be employed to optimize the assimilation results. With denser RO profiles expected in the future, the accuracy of TC forecast can be further improved. Finally, future trends in RO are discussed, including advanced features, such as polarimetric RO, and RO strategies to increase the number of soundings, such as the use of a cube satellite constellation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T15:02:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9dbc6748d3d141f58ff864380623b612 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4433 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T15:02:19Z |
| publishDate | 2020-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Atmosphere |
| spelling | doaj.art-9dbc6748d3d141f58ff864380623b6122023-11-20T20:03:53ZengMDPI AGAtmosphere2073-44332020-11-011111120410.3390/atmos11111204Applications of GNSS-RO to Numerical Weather Prediction and Tropical Cyclone ForecastWeihua Bai0Nan Deng1Yueqiang Sun2Qifei Du3Junming Xia4Xianyi Wang5Xiangguang Meng6Danyang Zhao7Congliang Liu8Guangyuan Tan9Ziyan Liu10Xiaoxu Liu11National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NSSC/CAS), Beijing 100190, ChinaNational Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NSSC/CAS), Beijing 100190, ChinaNational Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NSSC/CAS), Beijing 100190, ChinaNational Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NSSC/CAS), Beijing 100190, ChinaNational Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NSSC/CAS), Beijing 100190, ChinaNational Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NSSC/CAS), Beijing 100190, ChinaNational Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NSSC/CAS), Beijing 100190, ChinaNational Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NSSC/CAS), Beijing 100190, ChinaNational Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NSSC/CAS), Beijing 100190, ChinaNational Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NSSC/CAS), Beijing 100190, ChinaNational Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NSSC/CAS), Beijing 100190, ChinaNational Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NSSC/CAS), Beijing 100190, ChinaThe global navigation satellite system (GNSS) radio occultation (RO) technique is an atmospheric sounding technique that originated in the 1990s. The data provided by this approach are playing a consistently significant role in atmospheric research and related applications. This paper mainly summarizes the applications of RO to numerical weather prediction (NWP) generally and specifically for tropical cyclone (TC) forecast and outlines the prospects of the RO technique. With advantages such as high precision and accuracy, high vertical resolution, full-time and all-weather, and global coverage, RO data have made a remarkable contribution to NWP and TC forecasts. While accounting for only 7% of the total observations in European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts’ (ECMWF’s) assimilation system, RO has the fourth-largest impact on NWP. The greater the amount of RO data, the better the forecast of NWP. In cases of TC forecasts, assimilating RO data from heights below 6 km and from the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) region contributes to the forecasting accuracy of the track and intensity of TCs in different stages. A statistical analysis showed that assimilating RO data can help restore the critical characteristics of TCs, such as the location and intensity of the eye, eyewall, and rain bands. Moreover, a non-local excess phase assimilation operator can be employed to optimize the assimilation results. With denser RO profiles expected in the future, the accuracy of TC forecast can be further improved. Finally, future trends in RO are discussed, including advanced features, such as polarimetric RO, and RO strategies to increase the number of soundings, such as the use of a cube satellite constellation.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/11/11/1204radio occultationnumerical weather predictiontropical cyclone forecast |
| spellingShingle | Weihua Bai Nan Deng Yueqiang Sun Qifei Du Junming Xia Xianyi Wang Xiangguang Meng Danyang Zhao Congliang Liu Guangyuan Tan Ziyan Liu Xiaoxu Liu Applications of GNSS-RO to Numerical Weather Prediction and Tropical Cyclone Forecast Atmosphere radio occultation numerical weather prediction tropical cyclone forecast |
| title | Applications of GNSS-RO to Numerical Weather Prediction and Tropical Cyclone Forecast |
| title_full | Applications of GNSS-RO to Numerical Weather Prediction and Tropical Cyclone Forecast |
| title_fullStr | Applications of GNSS-RO to Numerical Weather Prediction and Tropical Cyclone Forecast |
| title_full_unstemmed | Applications of GNSS-RO to Numerical Weather Prediction and Tropical Cyclone Forecast |
| title_short | Applications of GNSS-RO to Numerical Weather Prediction and Tropical Cyclone Forecast |
| title_sort | applications of gnss ro to numerical weather prediction and tropical cyclone forecast |
| topic | radio occultation numerical weather prediction tropical cyclone forecast |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/11/11/1204 |
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