RAMS-MLEF Atmosphere-Aerosol Coupled Data Assimilation: A Case Study of A Dust Event over the Arabian Peninsula on 4 August 2016

Ting-Chi Wu; Milija Zupanski; Stephen Saleeby; Anton Kliewer; Lewis Grasso; Qijing Bian; Samuel A Atwood; Yi Wang; Jun Wang

doi:10.5194/acp-2018-1249

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RAMS-MLEF Atmosphere-Aerosol Coupled Data Assimilation: A Case Study of A Dust Event over the Arabian Peninsula on 4 August 2016

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RAMS-MLEF Atmosphere-Aerosol Coupled Data Assimilation: A Case Study of A Dust Event over the Arabian Peninsula on 4 August 2016

Ting-Chi Wu, Milija Zupanski, Stephen Saleeby, Anton Kliewer, Lewis Grasso, Qijing Bian, Samuel A Atwood, Yi Wang and Jun Wang

Atmospheric chemistry and physics discussions, pp.1-25

12/17/2018

DOI: 10.5194/acp-2018-1249

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Preprint (Author's original)This preprint has not been evaluated by subject experts through peer review. Preprints may undergo extensive changes and/or become peer-reviewed journal articles. Open Access

Abstract

Abstract. The Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS) has been interfaced with the Maximum Likelihood Ensemble Filter (MLEF) with the goal of improving initial conditions for aerosol weather forecasting via atmosphere-aerosol coupled data assimilation (RAMS-MLEF). In order to assimilate satellite retrieved aerosol optical depth (AOD), an AOD observation operator customized for the RAMS aerosol module is implemented. Two MLEF-RAMS experiments are carried out for a dust storm event over the Arabian Peninsula that occurred on 4 August 2016. In the first experiment, conventional atmospheric observations from the National Centre for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Prepared Binary Universal Form for the Representation of meteorological data (PrepBUFR) dataset are assimilated (ATMONLY), while both the atmospheric observations and AOD retrievals from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) are assimilated in the second experiment (ATMAOD). In the two experiments, a list of control variables is used and it includes the three-dimensional wind components, perturbation Exner function, ice-liquid water potential temperature, total water mass mixing ratio, and the two dust modes from the aerosol module. Results indicate that the assimilation of MODIS AOD retrievals improves the representation of the dust plume over Persian Gulf, however, has no obvious impact on the dust plume interior of Saudi Arabia. Such finding is further supported by the examination of analysis increments of some control variables and the information measure in terms of degrees of freedom for signal. This is likely due to the lack of AOD retrievals interior of the Arabian Peninsula. Finally, a 12-h forecast initialized from both experiments is conducted. In general, ATMAOD forecast better represents the Persian Plume but performs poorly for the Saudi Plume, when verified against the aerosol reanalysis product from the Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications version 2 (MERRA-2) dataset.

Details

Title: Subtitle: RAMS-MLEF Atmosphere-Aerosol Coupled Data Assimilation: A Case Study of A Dust Event over the Arabian Peninsula on 4 August 2016
Creators: Ting-Chi Wu
Milija Zupanski
Stephen Saleeby
Anton Kliewer
Lewis Grasso
Qijing Bian
Samuel A Atwood
Yi Wang
Jun Wang
Resource Type: Preprint
Publication Details: Atmospheric chemistry and physics discussions, pp.1-25
DOI: 10.5194/acp-2018-1249
ISSN: 1680-7375
eISSN: 1680-7375
Grant note: DOI: 10.13039/100000006, name: Office of Naval Research, award: N00014-16-1-2040
Comment: This preprint was under review for the journal ACP but the revision was not accepted.
Language: English
Date posted: 12/17/2018
Academic Unit: Electrical and Computer Engineering; Civil and Environmental Engineering; Iowa Technology Institute; Physics and Astronomy; Chemical and Biochemical Engineering
Record Identifier: 9984106079502771

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