Insights into the Microwave Instruments Onboard the Fengyun 3DSatellite: Data Quality and Assimilation in theMet Office NWP System

正1Met Office, Exeter EX1 3PB, UK2National Satellite Meteorological Center, China Meteorological Administration, Beijing 100081, China     

Comparison of Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder Biases Estimated Using Radio Occultation and Hurricane Florence(2018) Captured by NOAA-20 and S-NPP

The second Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder(ATMS)was onboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA)-20 satellite when launched on 18 November 2017.Using nearly six months of the earliest NOAA-20 observations,the biases of the ATMS instrument were compared between NOAA-20 and the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership(S-NPP)satellite.The biases of ATMS channels 8 to 13 were estimated from the differences between antenna temperature observations and model simulations generated from Meteorological Operational(MetOp)-A and MetOp-B satellites’Global Positioning System(GPS)radio occultation(RO)temperature and water vapor profiles.It was found that the ATMS onboard the NOAA-20 satellite has generally larger cold biases in the brightness temperature measurements at channels 8 to 13 and small standard deviations.The observations from ATMS on both S-NPP and NOAA-20 are shown to demonstrate an ability to capture a less than 1-h temporal evolution of Hurricane Florence(2018)due to the fact that the S-NPP orbits closely follow those of NOAA-20.     

晨昏轨道微波温度计资料同化对降水定量预报的影响及其对三轨卫星系统的意义

极轨卫星的高级微波温度计(Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A,简称AMSU-A)辐射资料对提高降水定量预报的水平有重要作用.但是极轨卫星的轨道特征导致乘载其上的微波温度计资料在区域同化系统中存在严重缺测.本研究重点分析了晨昏轨道卫星上微波温度计资料同化对墨西哥湾沿岸定量降水预报的重要影响.研究选取了早晨星NOAA-15、上午星MetOp-A和下午星NOAA-18,利用美国NCEP(National Centers for Environmental Prediction)的业务同化系GSI(Gridpoint Statistical Interpolation)资料同化系统,进行了加和不加NOAA-15 AMSU-A资料的两组资料同化和预报试验,来阐明晨昏轨道卫星上微波温度计资料同化对墨西哥湾沿岸降水预报的重要影响.试验结果分析表明如果仅同化NOAA-18和MetOp-A资料,在协调世界时00:00和12:00的同化时间,在墨西哥湾和美国西部大陆就是卫星观测资料缺测区,而早晨星NOAA-15资料正好可以填补这个资料空缺.模式预报也表明,同化NOAA-15的AMSU-A资料可以对墨西哥湾降水有持续的正影响.这一研究证明了保持有搭载着AMSU-A或者相似仪器的早晨星,对区域降水预报的重要性.由于目前NOAA-15是唯一的一颗正在运行的、已远超过其正常运行期的早晨星,通过技术手段维持NOAA-15的AMSU-A仪器更超长期运行也就特别重要.     

All-sky Data Assimilation of MWTS-2 and MWHS-2 in the Met Office Global NWP System.

Microwave radiances from passive polar-orbiting radiometers have been, until recently, assimilated in the Met Office global numerical weather prediction system after the scenes significantly affected by atmospheric scattering are discarded.Recent system upgrades have seen the introduction of a scattering-permitting observation operator and the development of a variable observation error using both liquid and ice water paths as proxies of scattering-induced bias. Applied to the Fengyun 3 Microwave Temperature Sounder 2(MWTS-2) and the Microwave Humidity Sounder 2(MWHS-2), this methodology increases the data usage by up to 8% at 183 GHz. It also allows for the investigation into the assimilation of MWHS-2 118 GHz channels, sensitive to temperature and lower tropospheric humidity, but whose large sensitivity to ice cloud have prevented their use thus far. While the impact on the forecast is mostly neutral with small but significant shortrange improvements, 0.3% in terms of root mean square error, for southern winds and low-level temperature, balanced by 0.2% degradations of short-range northern and tropical low-level temperature, benefits are observed in the background fit of independent instruments used in the system. The lower tropospheric temperature sounding Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer(IASI) channels see a reduction of the standard deviation in the background departure of up to 1.2%. The Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit A(AMSU-A) stratospheric sounding channels improve by up to 0.5% and the Microwave Humidity Sounder(MHS) humidity sounding channels improve by up to 0.4%.     

Remote Sensing of Tropical Cyclone Thermal Structure from Satellite Microwave Sounding Instruments: Impacts of Optimal Channel Selection on Retrievals

Accurate information on atmospheric temperature of tropical cyclones (TCs) is important for monitoring and prediction of their developments and evolution. For hurricanes, temperature anomaly in the upper troposphere can be derived from Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU) and Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) through either regression-based or variational retrieval algorithms. This study investigates the dependency of TC warm core structure on emission and scattering processes in the forward operator used for radiance computations in temperature retrievals. In particular, the precipitation scattering at ATMS high-frequency channels can significantly change the retrieval outcomes. The simulation results in this study reveal that the brightness temperatures at 183 GHz could be depressed by 30–50 K under cloud ice water path of 1.5 mm, and thus, the temperature structure in hurricane atmosphere could be distorted if the ice cloud scattering was inaccurately characterized in the retrieval system. It is found that for Hurricanes Irma, Maria, and Harvey that occurred in 2017, their warm core anomalies retrieved from ATMS temperature sounding channels 4–15 were more reasonable and realistic, compared with the retrievals from all other channel combinations and earlier hurricane simulation results.     

The Effects of Assimilating Satellite Brightness Temperature and Bogus Data on the Simulation of Typhoon Kalmaegi (2008)

Observational and bogus satellite data are directly assimilated into the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model in simulations of Typhoon Kalmaegi (2008). The data assimilation is performed using the Radiative Transfer for TIROS-N Operational Vertical Sounder (RTTOV) model and the three-dimensional variational data assimilation (3DVAR) technique, with satellite observations taken from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-16 (NOAA-16) Advanced TIROS Vertical Sounder (ATOVS) system composed of the High-resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder (HIRS), the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A (AMSU-A), and the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-B (AMSU-B). Data assimilation experiments are initialized at three different times. Improvements in the numerical simulation of the typhoon are discussed in the context of wind, temperature, pressure, and geopotential fields. The results indicate that assimilation of satellite data can improve both the representation of the initial conditions and the subsequent simulation of the typhoon. Different satellite data have different impacts on the typhoon track. In these simulations, data from AMSU-A play a greater role in improving the simulation of the typhoon than data from AMSU-B or HIRS. Assimilation of satellite data significantly affects the simulation of the subtropical high and the steering of the typhoon by the environmental flow. The subtropical high is enhanced and extends westward in the data assimilation experiments. The background flow therefore steers the typhoon more westward, improving the simulated typhoon track. Although direct assimilation of satellite brightness temperature improves the simulated environmental conditions, it does not significantly improve the simulated intensity of the typhoon. By contrast, initializing the typhoon simulation using bogus data in tandem with satellite data improves not only the environmental conditions but also the simulated inner-core structure of the typhoon. Assimilation of both types of data therefore improves the simulation of both the typhoon track and the typhoon intensity. The results of these experiments offer new insight into improving numerical simulations of typhoons.     

Assimilation of Feng-Yun-3B Satellite Microwave Humidity Sounder Data over Land

The ECMWF has been assimilating Feng-Yun-3B(FY-3B) satellite microwave humidity sounder(MWHS) data over ocean in an operational forecasting system since 24 September 2014. It is more difficult, however, to assimilate microwave observations over land and sea ice than over the open ocean due to higher uncertainties in land surface temperature, surface emissivity and less effective cloud screening. We compare approaches in which the emissivity is retrieved dynamically from MWHS channel 1 [150 GHz(vertical polarization)] with the use of an evolving emissivity atlas from 89 GHz observations from the MWHS onboard NOAA and EUMETSAT satellites. The assimilation of the additional data over land improves the fit of short-range forecasts to other observations, notably ATMS(Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder) humidity channels, and the forecast impacts are mainly neutral to slightly positive over the first five days. The forecast impacts are better in boreal summer and the Southern Hemisphere. These results suggest that the techniques tested allow for effective assimilation of MWHS/FY-3B data over land.     

我国新一代极轨气象卫星红外分光计真空辐射定标试验

为了测试红外分光计红外通道的辐射探测性能,确定仪器地面参考定标系数,为分析反演产品误差提供依据,星载仪器的地面定标是仪器上星前必须要做的一项重要工作。基于我国新一代气象卫星红外分光计热真空定标试验数据,利用仪器通道接收的入射辐射与其输出信号值的相关特性,采用统计回归方法,建立了二者之间的转换关系,得到了热红外通道的定标系数,分析了红外分光计红外通道输入辐射量与输出信号的非线性响应。当目标黑体温度为290 K时,计算了仪器的灵敏度。结果表明:红外分光计存在一定的非线性响应,在220~330 K的目标温度范围内非线性偏差大都在0.4 K以内,仪器灵敏度达到了设计指标要求。     

“珍珠”台风卫星红外通道亮温的数值模拟

热带地区云的覆盖率高, 卫星辐射资料特别是红外通道的数值模拟容易受到云的影响, 提高台风等热带天气系统卫星亮温资料的模拟能力, 有助于热带地区数值模式的检验以及提高卫星资料直接同化的水平。首先, 利用天气研究和预报模式(Weather Research and Forecasting Model, 简称WRF) 对 “珍珠” 台风的三维气象场, 包括云结构特征, 进行了模拟, 并诊断分析了总云量、云顶气压等物理量; 然后, 结合快速辐射传输模式 (fast radiative transfer model for TOVS, 简称RTTOV) 8.7版对 “珍珠” 台风的高分辨率红外辐射探测仪3型 (High Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder, 简称HIRS/3) 红外辐射亮温进行了模拟, 并且比较了有云和无云条件下的模拟结果。结果表明, 如果不考虑云的影响, RTTOV模式无法模拟出台风的结构特征; 结合三维云特征的模拟量, RTTOV模式可以较好地模拟出HIRS/3第4～10、13～19通道的辐射亮温。加入云结构特征对峰值能量高度在云层以下的红外通道的模拟有正面影响, 该方案既可以作为检验模式模拟的一种手段, 同时也表明红外资料在热带天气系统的资料同化领域具有潜在的应用能力。     

A COMPARISON OF THE RETRIEVAL OF ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE PROFILES USING OBSERVATIONS OF THE 60 GHZ AND 118.75 GHZ ABSORPTION LINES

The Microwave Temperature Sounder-Ⅱ(MWTS-Ⅱ) and Microwave Humidity and Temperature Sounder(MWHTS) onboard the Fengyun-3 C(FY-3 C) satellite can be used to detect atmospheric temperature profiles. The MWTS-II has 13 temperature sounding channels around the 60 GHz oxygen absorption band and the MWHTS has 8 temperature sounding channels around the 118.75 GHz oxygen absorption line. The data quality of the observed brightness temperatures can be evaluated using atmospheric temperature retrievals from the MWTS-Ⅱ and MWHTS observations. Here, the bias characteristics and corrections of the observed brightness temperatures are described. The information contents of observations are calculated, and the retrieved atmospheric temperature profiles are compared using a neural network(NN) retrieval algorithm and a one-dimensional variational inversion(1 D-var) retrieval algorithm. The retrieval results from the NN algorithm show that the accuracy of the MWTS-Ⅱ retrieval is higher than that of the MWHTS retrieval, which is consistent with the results of the radiometric information analysis. The retrieval results from the 1 D-var algorithm show that the accuracy of MWTS-Ⅱ retrieval is similar to that of the MWHTS retrieval at the levels from 850-1,000 h Pa, is lower than that of the MWHTS retrieval at the levels from 650-850 h Pa and 125-300 h Pa, and is higher than that of MWHTS at the other levels. A comparison of the retrieved atmospheric temperature using these satellite observations provides a reference value for assessing the accuracy of atmospheric temperature detection at the 60 GHz oxygen band and 118.75 GHz oxygen line. In addition, based on the comparison of the retrieval results, an optimized combination method is proposed using a branch and bound algorithm for the NN retrieval algorithm, which combines the observations from both the MWTS-Ⅱand MWHTS instruments to retrieve the atmospheric temperature profiles. The results show that the optimal combination can further improve the accuracy of MWTS-Ⅱ retrieval and enhance the detection accuracy of atmospheric temperatures near the surface.     

利用ATOVS反演产品分析“云娜”台风

ATOVS能接收到穿透台风中心密实云区的微波辐射信息, 利用ATOVS大气参数反演产品分析0414号台风“云娜”的热力结构特征。在准静力平衡假设的前提下, 根据ATOVS对“云娜”台风监测相匹配的4个时次数据, 分别计算出相应的中心海平面最低气压, 同中央气象台利用可见光和红外技术得到的台风报告值相比, 平均偏差为11.8 hPa, 它随时间的变化能显示台风强度演变的过程。     

评估FY-3A微波湿度计O-B对云的识别能力

应用FY-3A微波湿度计2010年1月份的Level-1c观测亮度温度O,NCEP GFS 6 h的预报场作为背景场,用RTTOV 9.3版本辐射传输模式模拟的亮度温度B以及美国NOAA-18 MHS业务微波地表和降水产品,研究了双权重质量控制算法对FY-3A MWHS 通道3至5云和降水视场的识别能力。研究表明双权重质量控制算法判断的负观测增量O-B的离群点中,大多数都受云和降水影响。通道3约占60%,通道4约80%,通道5超过80%。当降水率大于0.2 mm·h^-1时,通道3负离群点可识别超过60%降水云,随着降水率增大识别率超过80%。而通道4对大于0.2 mm·h^-1的降水的识别率超过90%。通道5负离群点几乎可以剔除100%的降水影响资料。在目前还没有MWHS自身云检测产品的条件下,双权重质量控制算法可剔除大部分云和降水影响视野。     

利用高光谱红外探测资料反演大气参数

文章介绍了红外高光谱的卫星探测技术以及利用现有的机载和星载高光谱资料的反演方法，着重讨论了美国NASA地球观测系统上携带的大气红外探测仪AIRS的反演方法。     

Dynamical and Chemical Features of a Cutoff Low over Northeast China in July 2007: Results from Satellite Measurements and Reanalysis

The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Re-Analysis Interim (ERA-Interim) meteorology and measurements from the Microwave Limb Sounder, High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder, and Ozone Monitoring Instrument onboard the Earth Observing System Aura satellite were applied to analyze the dynamical and chemical features of a cutoff low (COL) event over northeast China in early July 2007. The results showed the polar stratospheric origin of an upper-level warm-core cyclone at 100--300 hPa, associated with a funnel-shaped tropopause intruding into the mid-troposphere just above the COL center. The impacts of the stratospheric intrusion on both column ozone and ozone profiles were investigated using satellite measurements. When the intensity of the COL peaked on 10 July 2007, the total column ozone (TCO) increase reached a maximum (40--70 DU). This could be dynamically attributed to both the descent of the tropopause (～75%) and the downward transport of stratospheric ozone across the tropopause (～25%). Analysis of the tropospheric ozone profiles provided evidence for irreversible transport/mixing of ozone-rich stratospheric air across the tropopause near the upper-level front region ahead of the COL center. This ozone intrusion underwent downstream transport by the upper tropospheric winds, leading to further increase in TCO by 12--16 DU over broad regions extending from east China toward the northern Japan Sea via South Korea. Meteorological analysis also showed the precedence of the stratospheric intrusion ahead of the development of cyclones in the middle and lower troposphere.     

AMSU资料监测新疆雪盖范围的初步应用

分析了沙漠、森林、草原、平原、高原地区以及水体、积雪等主要地表特征在NOAA-16 AMSU(Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit)对地观测最为敏感的23．8、31．4和89．0GHz通道中的光谱特性,提出了利用这3个通道监测中国新疆地区雪盖范围的方法,并得到了2001年10月到2002年3月新疆地区的旬雪盖图。AMSU监测结果与地面观测记录“点对点”的对比验证结果表明：绝大多数时间段的判识准确率在70％以上,雪盖率的变化趋势与地面观测结果也基本一致,从而确认了监测方法的可靠性及AMSU资料用于积雪监测的能力。另外,简单分析了影响AMSU监测精度的因素,并指出了需要解决的几点问题。     

Comparison between linear and nonlinear trends in NOAA-15 AMSU-A brightness temperatures during 1998–2010

Brightness temperature observations from Microwave Sounding Unit and Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A (AMSU-A) on board National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellites have been widely utilized for estimating the global climate trend in the troposphere and stratosphere. A common approach for deriving the trend is?linear regression, which implicitly assumes the trend being a straight line over the whole length of a time series and is often highly sensitive to the data record length. This study explores a new adaptive and temporally local data analysis method—Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD)—for estimating the global trends. In EEMD, a non-stationary time series is decomposed adaptively and locally into a sequence of amplitude-frequency modulated oscillatory components and a time-varying trend. The AMSU-A data from the NOAA-15 satellite over the time period from October 26, 1998 to August 7, 2010 are employed for this study. Using data over Amazon rainforest areas, it is shown that channel 3 is least sensitive to the orbital drift among four AMSU-A surface sensitive channels. The decadal trends of AMSU-A channel 3 and other eight channels in the troposphere and stratosphere are deduced and compared using both methods. It is shown that the decadal climate trends of most AMSU-A channels are nonlinear except for channels 3–4 in Northern Hemisphere only and channels 12–13. Although the decadal trend variation of the global average brightness temperature is no more than 0.2?K, the regional decadal trend variation could be more (less) than 3?K (?3?K) in high latitudes and over high terrains.     

Striping Noise Analysis and Mitigation for Microwave Temperature Sounder-2 Observations

The Microwave Temperature Sounder(MWTS)-2 has a total of 13 temperature-sounding channels with the capability of observing radiance emissions from near the surface to the stratosphere. Similar to the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder(ATMS), striping pattern noise, primarily in the cross-track direction, exists in MWTS-2 radiance observations. In this study, an algorithm based on principal component analysis(PCA) combined with ensemble empirical mode decomposition(EEMD) is described and applied to MWTS-2 brightness temperature observations. It is arguably necessary to smooth the first three principal component(PC) coefficients by removing the first four intrinsic mode functions(IMFs) using the EEMD method(denoted as PC3/IMF4). After the PC3/IMF4 noise mitigation, the striping pattern noise is effectively removed from the brightness temperature observations. The noise level in MWTS-2 observations is significantly higher than that detected in ATMS observations. In May 2014, the scanning profile of MWTS-2 was adjusted from varying-speed scanning to constantspeed scanning. The impact on striping noise levels brought on by this scan profile change is also analyzed here. The striping noise in brightness temperature observations worsened after the profile change. Regardless of the scan profile change, the striping noise mitigation method reported in this study can more or less suppress the noise levels in MWTS-2 observations.     

Using longwave HIRS radiances to test climate models

A ‘model-to-radiance’ comparison of simulated brightness temperatures from the Hadley Centre Global Environmental Model 2 with measurements from the High Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder/4 (HIRS/4) instrument onboard the MetOp-A satellite is presented. For the all-sky, the model overestimates brightness temperatures in the atmospheric window region with the greatest biases over areas associated with deep convective cloud. In contrast to many global climate models, much smaller clear-sky biases are found indicating that model clouds are the dominating source of error. Simulated values in upper atmospheric CO₂ channels approximate observations better as a result of compensating cold biases at the poles and warm biases at lower latitudes, due to a poor representation of the Brewer Dobson circulation in the 38 level ‘low-top’ configuration of the model. Simulated all and clear-sky outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) evaluated against the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) and HIRS OLR products reveal good agreement, in part due to cancellation of positive and negative biases. Through physical arguments relating to the spectral energy balance within a cloud, it is suggested that broadband agreement could be the result of a balance between positive window biases and unseen negative biases originating from the water vapour rotational band in the far infrared (not sampled by HIRS).     

毫米/亚毫米波探测大气温度和湿度的通道选择

利用热带大气温湿廓线计算了热带地区毫米/亚毫米波段微波大气透过率权重函数。对权重函数峰值高度的分析结果显示:对流层低层的大气温度可以选择118 GHz通道的远翼频率来探测,而对高层大气温度进行探测时,选择425 GHz通道的远翼频率较为合适;在大气湿度探测方面,183 GHz通道组合适合探测对流层中层大气的湿度,高层大气湿度探测应该首先考虑380 GHz通道组合来实现。根据大气温度探测通道和大气湿度探测通道的权重函数分布,鉴于国内现有遥感仪器的制造水平,建议选择118 GHz 3个通道与425 GHz 8个通道共11个大气温度探测通道和183 GHz 3个通道与380 GHz 5个通道共8个大气湿度探测通道作为未来静止轨道微波探测的候选通道。     

Estimating the Correlated Observation-Error Characteristics of the Chinese FengYun Microwave Temperature Sounder and Microwave Humidity Sounder

In operational data assimilation systems, observation-error covariance matrices are commonly assumed to be diagonal.However, inter-channel and spatial observation-error correlations are inevitable for satellite radiances. The observation errors of the Microwave Temperature Sounder(MWTS) and Microwave Humidity Sounder(MWHS) onboard the FengYun-3A(FY-3A) and FY-3B satellites are empirically assigned and considered to be uncorrelated when they are assimilated into the WRF model's Community Variational Data Assimilation System(WRFDA). To assimilate MWTS and MWHS measurements optimally, a good characterization of their observation errors is necessary. In this study, background and analysis residuals were used to diagnose the correlated observation-error characteristics of the MWTS and MWHS. It was found that the error standard deviations of the MWTS and MWHS were less than the values used in the WRFDA. MWTS had small inter-channel errors, while MWHS had significant inter-channel errors. The horizontal correlation length scales of MWTS and MWHS were about 120 and 60 km, respectively. A comparison between the diagnosis for instruments onboard the two satellites showed that the observation-error characteristics of the MWTS or MWHS were different when they were onboard different satellites. In addition, it was found that the error statistics were dependent on latitude and scan positions.The forecast experiments showed that using a modified thinning scheme based on diagnosed statistics can improve forecast accuracy.