ASSIMILATING THE WINDSAT WINDS IN THE NCEP GLOBAL DATA ASSIMILATION SYSTEM AND DETERMING THE FORECAST IMPACT FROM A TWO-SEASON STUDY

The results from a two-season impact study assimilating US Naval Research Laboratories (NRL) WindSat Environmental Data Records (EDRs) surface winds into the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) global forecast system are presented. Comparisons between the control forecast (conventional database including QuikSCAT winds) and the WindSat experiment (control database with QuikSCAT winds plus the NRL WindSat winds) are made. The impact of assimilating these winds is measured by calculating anomaly correlation scores and geographic Forecast Impacts. Comparisons of assimilating these winds to the control experiment will be presented. Quality control procedures pertinent to the NCEP global model will also be discussed. The results in this study demonstrate that assimilating the surface winds from the WindSat sensor on the CORIOLIS satellite show improvement in low level wind and temperature forecasts, especially in the tropics. 1