Assimilation of Chinese Fengyun-3B Microwave Temperature Sounder radiances into the Global GRAPES system with an improved cloud detection threshold

doi:10.1007/s11707-015-0499-2

Front. Earth Sci.

2016, Vol. 10

Issue (1) : 145-158 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11707-015-0499-2

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Assimilation of Chinese Fengyun-3B Microwave Temperature Sounder radiances into the Global GRAPES system with an improved cloud detection threshold

Juan LI^1,^2,^*(

),Guiqing LIU^1,²

1. Numerical Weather Prediction Center, China Meteorological Administration, Beijing 100081, China
2. National Meteorological Center, China Meteorological Administration, Beijing 100081, China

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Abstract

Fengyun-3B (FY-3B) is the second polar-orbiting satellite in the new Fengyun-three series. This paper describes the assimilation of the FY-3B Microwave Temperature Sounder (MWTS) radiances in the Chinese Numerical Weather prediction system – the Global and Regional Assimilation and PrEdiction System (GRAPES). A quality control procedure for the assimilation of the FY-3B MWTS radiance was proposed. Extensive monitoring before assimilation shows that the observations of channel 4 are notably contaminated. Channels 2 and 3 are used in this research. A cloud detection algorithm with an improved cloud-detection threshold is determined and incorporated into the impact experiments. The clear field-of-view (FOV) percentage increased from 42% to 57% with the new threshold. In addition, the newly added FOVs are located in the clear region, as demonstrated by the cloud liquid water path data from NOAA-18. The impact of the MWTS radiances on the prediction of GRAPES was researched. The observation biases of FY-3B MWTS O-B (differences between satellite observations and model simulations) significantly decreased after an empirical bias correction procedure. After assimilation, the residual biases are small. The assimilation of the FY-3B MWTS radiances shows a positive impact in the Northern Hemisphere and a neutral impact in the Southern Hemisphere.

Keywords Fengyun-3B (FY-3B) MWTS quality control GRAPES

Corresponding Author(s): Juan LI

Just Accepted Date: 29 May 2015 Online First Date: 23 June 2015 Issue Date: 25 December 2015

Cite this article:

Juan LI,Guiqing LIU. Assimilation of Chinese Fengyun-3B Microwave Temperature Sounder radiances into the Global GRAPES system with an improved cloud detection threshold[J]. Front. Earth Sci., 2016, 10(1): 145-158.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fesci/EN/10.1007/s11707-015-0499-2
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fesci/EN/Y2016/V10/I1/145

Tab.1 Channel characteristics of FY-3B MWTS

Fig.1 Global distribution of O-B from (a) FY-3B MWTS channel 4 and (b) NOAA-18 AMSU-A channel 9 at 0300–1500 UTC 1 May 2013.

Fig.2 Daily variations of O-B (a) biases and (b) standard deviations of channel 4 from FY-3B MWTS (solid lines) and channel 9 from NOAA-18 AMSU-A (dashed lines) data in May 2013 over ocean (green), land (red), and both land and ocean (blue).

Fig.3 Latitudinal dependences of the global averaged O-B (a) biases and (b) STDs of channel 4 from MWTS (solid lines) and channel 9 from AMSU-A (dashed lines) data in May 2013.

Fig.4 (a) Global percentage number of MWTS FOVs (solid line), with the cloud fraction greater than f_VIRR, and NOAA-18 AMSU-A FOVs (dashed line), with the LWP greater than f_LWP for data in May 2013. (b) Daily variations of cloudy MWTS FOV number percentages when f_VIRR is 76% (solid line) and cloudy AMSU-A FOV number percentages when f_LWP is 0.03 kg·m^?2 (dashed line).

Fig.5 Distribution of the MWTS clear pixels identified by cloud fraction less than 37% (green dots), between 37% and 76% (red dots) over the ocean during the period from 0300UTC to 0900UTC, May 30, 2013. NOAA-18 AMSU-A FOVs with LWP less than 0.03 kg·m^?2 are shown in grey dots (the FOVs at the scan edge of AMSU-A are in black).

Fig.6 (a) Bias and (b) STD of brightness temperature differences between observations and model simulations from MWTS clear pixels identified by cloud fraction less than 37% (solid bars) or 76% (dashed bars) over the ocean during May 2013.

Fig.7 Distribution of the MWTS (a) channel 2 and (b) channel 3 outliers identified by land, coastal FOVs, sea ice, scan edge, terrain altitude greater than 500 m, cloud detection, and O-B biweighting check, as well as the remaining data on 0300 UTC?0900 UTC May 30, 2013.

Fig.8 Scatter plots of O-B vs. brightness temperature for the MWTS (a) channel 2 and (b) channel 3 outliers (black) and remaining data (green) during 1?5 May 2013.

Fig.9 (a) Percentages of the MWTS data that passed QC in May 2013; (b) global biases; and (c) standard deviations of brightness temperature differences between observations and model simulations before (solid bars) and after (dashed bars) quality control in May 2013.

Fig.10 Daily variations of global (a) mean bias and (b) RMS of O-B for MWTS channels 2 (black) and channel 3 (blue) before (solid lines) and after (dashed lines) bias correction during May 2013.

Fig.11 Distribution of O-B (left panels) and O-A (right panels) for MWTS (a)?(b) channel 2 and (c)?(d) channel 3 on 0300UTC?0900 UTC May 30, 2013.

Fig.12 Analysis temperature difference (contour, K) on model level 10 (about 700 hPa; left panels) and model level 19 (about 300 hPa; right panels) between EXP and CTRL experiments when assimilating only MWTS (a)?(b) channel 2, (c)?(d) only channel 3, (e)?(f) both channel 2 and channel 3 in EXP at 0600UTC on May 30, 2013.

Fig.13 (a) RMS of geopotential height from the analysis field (solid lines) and 6-hour forecast (dashed lines) difference between CTRL and NCEP (black), and EXP and NCEP (red) in the Northern Hemisphere from 1?31 May 2013. (b) Similar to (a) but for the bias of geopotential height. (c) Similar to (a) but for the Southern hemisphere. (d) Similar to (c) but for the bias of geopotential height.

Fig.14 Mean ACC (left panels) and RMS (right panels) of 500 hPa geopotential height of CTRL (dashed line) and EXP (solid line) experiments in (a?b) the Northern and (c?d) the Southern Hemispheres for the period from 1?31 May 2013.

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