WCD-12. Overlapping Windows in a Global Hourly Data Assimilation System

Abstract
The US operational global data assimilation system provides updated analysis and forecast fields every six hours, which is not frequent enough to handle the rapid error growth associated with fast-moving hurricanes or other storms. This motivates development of an hourly-updating global data assimilation system, but observational data latency can be a barrier. Two methods are presented to overcome this challenge: “catch-up cycles”, in which a 1-hourly system is reinitialized from a 6-hourly system that has assimilated high-latency observations; and “overlapping assimilation windows”, in which the system is updated hourly with new observations valid in the past three hours. The performance of these methods is assessed in a near-operational setup using the Global Forecast System by comparing short-term forecasts to in-situ observations. In this metric, the overlapping windows method generally outperforms the 6-hourly control. The catch-up cycle method performs similarly to the 6-hourly control; reinitializing from the 6-hourly control does not appear to provide a significant benefit. Results suggest that the overlapping windows method performs well in part because of the hourly-update cadence, but also because hourly cycling systems can make better use of available observations.