Evaluation of the weather research and forecasting (WRF) model over Guyana

In the present study, diagnostic studies were undertaken using station-based rainfall data sets of selected stations of Guyana to understand the variability of rainfall. The multidecadal variation in rainfall of coastal station Georgetown and inland station Timehri has shown that the rainfall variability was less during the May–July (20–30%) of primary wet season compared to the December--January (60–70%) of second wet season. The rainfall analysis of Georgetown based on data series from 1916 to 2007 shows that El Niño/La Niña has direct relation with monthly mean rainfall of Guyana. The impact is more predominant during the second wet season December--January. A high-resolution Weather Research and Forecasting model was made operational to generate real-time forecasts up to 84 h based on 00 UTC global forecast system (GFS), NCEP initial condition. The model real-time rainfall forecast during July 2010 evaluation has shown a reasonable skill of the forecast model in predicting the heavy rainfall events and major circulation features for day-to-day operational forecast guidance. In addition to the operational experimental forecast, as part of model validation, a few sensitivity experiments are also conducted with the combination of two cloud cumulus (Kain--Fritsch (KF) and Betts–Miller–Janjic (BMJ)) and three microphysical schemes (Ferrier et al. WSM-3 simple ice scheme and Lin et al.) for heavy rainfall event occurred during 28–30 May 2010 over coastal Guyana and tropical Hurricane ‘EARL’ formed during 25 August–04 September 2010 over east Caribbean Sea. It was observed that there are major differences in the simulations of heavy rainfall event among the cumulus schemes, in spite of using the same initial and boundary conditions and model configuration. Overall, it was observed that the combination of BMJ and WSM-3 has shown qualitatively close to the observed heavy rainfall event even though the predicted amounts are less. In the case of tropical Hurricane ‘EARL’, the forecast track in all the six experiments based on 00 UTC of 28 August 2010 initial conditions for the forecast up to 84 h has shown that the combination of KF cumulus and Ferrier microphysics scheme has shown less track errors compared to other combinations. The overall average position errors for all the six experiments taken together work out to 103 km in 24, 199 km in 48, 197 km in 72 and 174 km in 84 h.     

利用WRF3D-Var同化多普勒雷达反演风场试验研究

为了将C波段雷达风场资料更好地应用于数值预报模式中,利用两步变分法反演多普勒雷达风场资料,并处理成标准的常规探空资料,以WRF模式及其三维变分同化系统为平台,针对2013年6月19日发生在天水的一次强暴雨过程进行同化雷达反演风的试验研究.试验结果表明:同化雷达反演风场后,对降水预报的改进能维持12h,尤其同化雷达反演风场后3~9h效果非常显著;0~3h作用不是很明显;9~12h预报具有一定的正作用.另外,循环同化比同化一次效果好,但并不是同化次数越多越好.因此,同化C波段雷达反演风场后,对降水预报具有一定的正作用.     

Optimisation of Hidden Markov Model using Baum–Welch algorithm for prediction of maximum and minimum temperature over Indian Himalaya

Maximum and minimum temperatures are used in avalanche forecasting models for snow avalanche hazard mitigation over Himalaya. The present work is a part of development of Hidden Markov Model (HMM) based avalanche forecasting system for Pir-Panjal and Great Himalayan mountain ranges of the Himalaya. In this work, HMMs have been developed for forecasting of maximum and minimum temperatures for Kanzalwan in Pir-Panjal range and Drass in Great Himalayan range with a lead time of two days. The HMMs have been developed using meteorological variables collected from these stations during the past 20 winters from 1992 to 2012. The meteorological variables have been used to define observations and states of the models and to compute model parameters (initial state, state transition and observation probabilities). The model parameters have been used in the Forward and the Viterbi algorithms to generate temperature forecasts. To improve the model forecasts, the model parameters have been optimised using Baum–Welch algorithm. The models have been compared with persistence forecast by root mean square errors (RMSE) analysis using independent data of two winters (2012–13, 2013–14). The HMM for maximum temperature has shown a 4–12% and 17–19% improvement in the forecast over persistence forecast, for day-1 and day-2, respectively. For minimum temperature, it has shown 6–38% and 5–12% improvement for day-1 and day-2, respectively.     

Flood forecasts based on multi-model ensemble precipitation forecasting using a coupled atmospheric-hydrological modeling system

The recent improvement of numerical weather prediction (NWP) models has a strong potential for extending the lead time of precipitation and subsequent flooding. However, uncertainties inherent in precipitation outputs from NWP models are propagated into hydrological forecasts and can also be magnified by the scaling process, contributing considerable uncertainties to flood forecasts. In order to address uncertainties in flood forecasting based on single-model precipitation forecasting, a coupled atmospheric-hydrological modeling system based on multi-model ensemble precipitation forecasting is implemented in a configuration for two episodes of intense precipitation affecting the Wangjiaba sub-region in Huaihe River Basin, China. The present study aimed at comparing high-resolution limited-area meteorological model Canadian regional mesoscale compressible community model (MC2) with the multiple linear regression integrated forecast (MLRF), covering short and medium range. The former is a single-model approach; while the latter one is based on NWP models [(MC2, global environmental multiscale model (GEM), T213L31 global spectral model (T213)] integrating by a multiple linear regression method. Both MC2 and MLRF are coupled with Chinese National Flood Forecasting System (NFFS), MC2-NFFS and MLRF-NFFS, to simulate the discharge of the Wangjiaba sub-basin. The evaluation of the flood forecasts is performed both from a meteorological perspective and in terms of discharge prediction. The encouraging results obtained in this study demonstrate that the coupled system based on multi-model ensemble precipitation forecasting has a promising potential of increasing discharge accuracy and modeling stability in terms of precipitation amount and timing, along with reducing uncertainties in flood forecasts and models. Moreover, the precipitation distribution of MC2 is more problematic in finer temporal and spatial scales, even for the high resolution simulation, which requests further research on storm-scale data assimilation, sub-grid-scale parameterization of clouds and other small-scale atmospheric dynamics.     

Progress in Researches on Ensemble Forecasting of Extreme Weather Based on Numerical Models

Under the background of climate change, extreme weather events (e.g., heavy rainfall, heat wave, and cold damage) in China have been occurring more frequently with an increasing trend of induced meteorological disasters. Therefore, it is of great importance to carry out research on forecasting of extreme weather. This paper systematically reviewed the primary methodology of extreme weather forecast, current status in development of ensemble weather forecasting based on numerical models and their applications to forecast of extreme weather, as well as progress in approaches for correcting ensemble probabilistic forecast. Nowadays, the forecasting of extreme weather has been generally dominated by methodology using dynamical models. That is to say, the dynamical forecasting methods based on ensemble probabilistic forecast information have become prevailing in current operational extreme weather forecast worldwide. It can be clearly found that the current major directions of research and development in this field are the application of ensemble forecasts based on numerical models to forecasting of extreme weather, and its improvement through bias correction of ensemble probabilistic forecast. Based on a relatively comprehensive review in this paper, some suggestions with respect to development of extreme weather forecast in future were further given in terms of the issues of how to propose effective approaches on improving level of identification and forecasting of extreme events.     

Forecasting for flood warning

Advances in flood forecasting have been constrained by the difficulty of estimating rainfall continuously over space, for catchment-, national- and continental-scale areas. This has had a concomitant impact on the choice of appropriate model formulations for given flood-forecasting applications. Whilst weather radar used in combination with raingauges – and extended to utilise satellite remote-sensing and numerical weather prediction models – have offered the prospect of progress, there have been significant problems to be overcome. These problems have curtailed the development and adoption of more complete distributed model formulations that aim to increase forecast accuracy. Advanced systems for weather radar display and processing, and for flood forecast construction, are now available to ease the task of implementation. Applications requiring complex networks of models to make forecasts at many locations can be undertaken without new code development and be readily revised to take account of changing requirements. These systems make use of forecast-updating procedures that assimilate data from telemetry networks to improve flood forecast performance, at the same time coping with the possibility of data loss. Flood forecasting systems that integrate rainfall monitoring and forecasting with flood forecasting and warning are now operational in many areas. Present practice in flood modelling and forecast updating is outlined from a UK perspective. Challenges for improvement are identified, particularly against a background of greater access to spatial datasets on terrain, soils, geology, land-cover, and weather variables. Representing the effective runoff production and translation processes operating at a given grid or catchment scale may prove key to improved flood simulation, and robust application to ungauged basins through physics-based linkages with these spatial datasets. The need to embrace uncertainty in flood-warning decision-making is seen as a major challenge for the future. To cite this article: R.J. Moore et al., C. R. Geoscience 337 (2005).     

Location specific forecasting of maximum and minimum temperatures over India by using the statistical bias corrected output of global forecasting system

The output from Global Forecasting System (GFS) T574L64 operational at India Meteorological Department (IMD), New Delhi is used for obtaining location specific quantitative forecast of maximum and minimum temperatures over India in the medium range time scale. In this study, a statistical bias correction algorithm has been introduced to reduce the systematic bias in the 24–120 hour GFS model location specific forecast of maximum and minimum temperatures for 98 selected synoptic stations, representing different geographical regions of India. The statistical bias correction algorithm used for minimizing the bias of the next forecast is Decaying Weighted Mean (DWM), as it is suitable for small samples. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the skill of Direct Model Output (DMO) and Bias Corrected (BC) GFS for location specific forecast of maximum and minimum temperatures over India. The performance skill of 24–120 hour DMO and BC forecast of GFS model is evaluated for all the 98 synoptic stations during summer (May-August 2012) and winter (November 2012–February 2013) seasons using different statistical evaluation skill measures. The magnitude of Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) for BC GFS forecast is lower than DMO during both summer and winter seasons. The BC GFS forecasts have higher skill score as compared to GFS DMO over most of the stations in all day-1 to day-5 forecasts during both summer and winter seasons. It is concluded from the study that the skill of GFS statistical BC forecast improves over the GFS DMO remarkably and hence can be used as an operational weather forecasting system for location specific forecast over India.     

陕西省地质灾害-气象预报预警系统研制及应用

为了提高地质灾害-气象预报预警工作的自动化程度和产品的质量,文章从计算机系统制作的角度探讨了地质灾害-气象预报预警的方法,论述了陕西省地质灾害-气象预报预警系统的运行环境、软件功能、空间数据库、模型方法等内容,并介绍了陕西省汛期地质灾害-气象预报预警的应用实例。     

Evaluation of statistical bias correction methods for numerical weather prediction model forecasts of maximum and minimum temperatures

Statistical bias correction methods for numerical weather prediction (NWP) forecasts of maximum and minimum temperatures over India in the medium-range time scale (up to 5 days) are proposed in this study. The objective of bias correction is to minimize the systematic error of the next forecast using bias from past errors. The need for bias corrections arises from the many sources of systematic errors in NWP modeling systems. NWP models have shortcomings in the physical parameterization of weather events and have the inability to handle sub-grid phenomena successfully. The statistical algorithms used for minimizing the bias of the next forecast are running-mean (RM) bias correction, best easy systematic estimator, simple linear regression and the nearest neighborhood (NN) weighted mean, as they are suitable for small samples. Bias correction is done for four global NWP model maximum and minimum temperature forecasts. The magnitude of the bias at a grid point depends upon geographical location and season. Validation of the bias correction methodology is carried out using daily observed and bias-corrected model maximum and minimum temperature forecast over India during July–September 2011. The bias-corrected NWP model forecast generally outperforms direct model output (DMO). The spatial distribution of mean absolute error and root-mean squared error for bias-corrected forecast over India indicate that both the RM and NN methods produce the best skill among other bias correction methods. The inter-comparison reveals that statistical bias correction methods improve the DMO forecast in terms of accuracy in forecast and have the potential for operational applications.     

Review and Prospect of Global Operational Ocean Forecasting

The marine environmental forecast plays an increasingly important role in economic growth and infrastructure development, and touches upon many fields and aspects, including marine security, energy resources development and protection, ocean shipping and fisheries. Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment (GODAE) OceanView supports the national research groups providing them with coordination and technical support among the partners. Forecasting centers develop and establish global operational ocean forecast systems. The global operational ocean forecasting system uses the ocean dynamic numerical model as the dynamic framework, and the near real-time high-quality observation input field is integrated into the model by data assimilation to realize the future environmental forecasts of the marine conditions covering the multi-time scale. The products are routinely validated with observations in order to assess their quality. This paper briefly introduced and reviewed the development process and current situation of the global ocean forecasting system covered by GODAE OceanView, and outlined the future development of global ocean forecasting.     

Improvements in medium range weather forecasting system of India

Medium range weather forecasts are being generated in real time using Global Data Assimilation Forecasting System (GDAFS) at NCMRWF since 1994. The system has been continuously upgraded in terms of data usage, assimilation and forecasting system. Recently this system was upgraded to a horizontal resolution of T574 (about 22 km) with 64 levels in vertical. The assimilation scheme of this upgraded system is based on the latest Grid Statistical Interpolation (GSI) scheme and it has the provision to use most of available meteorological and oceanographic satellite datasets besides conventional meteorological observations. The new system has an improved procedure for relocating tropical cyclone to its observed position with the correct intensity. All these modifications have resulted in improvement of skill of medium range forecasts by about 1 day.     

Numerical simulation of cyclonic storms FANOOS, NARGIS with assimilation of conventional and satellite observations using 3-DVAR

In this work, the impact of assimilation of conventional and satellite data is studied on the prediction of two cyclonic storms in the Bay of Bengal using the three-dimensional variational data assimilation (3D-VAR) technique. The FANOOS cyclone (December 6?C10, 2005) and the very severe cyclone NARGIS (April 28?CMay 2, 2008) were simulated with a double-nested weather research and forecasting (WRF-ARW) model at a horizontal resolution of 9?km. Three numerical experiments were performed using the WRF model. The back ground error covariance matrix for 3DVAR over the Indian region was generated by running the model for a 30-day period in November 2007. In the control run (CTL), the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) global forecast system analysis at 0.5° resolution was used for the initial and boundary conditions. In the second experiment called the VARCON, the conventional surface and upper air observations were used for assimilation. In the third experiment (VARQSCAT), the ocean surface wind vectors from quick scatterometer (QSCAT) were used for assimilation. The CTL and VARCON experiments have produced higher intensity in terms of sea level pressure, winds and vorticity fields but with higher track errors. Assimilation of conventional observations has meager positive impact on the intensity and has led to negative impact on simulated storm tracks. The QSCAT vector winds have given positive impact on the simulations of intensity and track positions of the two storms, the impact is found to be relatively higher for the moderate intense cyclone FANOOS as compared to very severe cyclone NARGIS.     

Solar shield: forecasting and mitigating space weather effects on high-voltage power transmission systems

In this paper, central elements of the Solar Shield project, launched to design and establish an experimental system capable of forecasting the space weather effects on high-voltage power transmission system, are described. It will be shown how Sun–Earth system data and models hosted at the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) are used to generate two-level magnetohydrodynamics-based forecasts providing 1–2 day and 30–60 min lead-times. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) represents the end-user, the power transmission industry, in the project. EPRI integrates the forecast products to an online display tool providing information about space weather conditions to the member power utilities. EPRI also evaluates the economic impacts of severe storms on power transmission systems. The economic analysis will quantify the economic value of the generated forecasting system. The first version of the two-level forecasting system is currently running in real-time at CCMC. An initial analysis of the system’s capabilities has been completed, and further analysis is being carried out to optimize the performance of the system. Although the initial results are encouraging, definite conclusions about system’s performance can be given only after more extensive analysis, and implementation of an automatic evaluation process using forecasted and observed geomagnetically induced currents from different nodes of the North American power transmission system. The final output of the Solar Shield will be a recommendation for an optimal forecasting system that may be transitioned into space weather operations.     

Operational mesoscale atmospheric dispersion prediction using a parallel computing cluster

An operational atmospheric dispersion prediction system is implemented on a cluster supercomputer for Online Emergency Response at the Kalpakkam nuclear site. This numerical system constitutes a parallel version of a nested grid meso-scale meteorological model MM5 coupled to a random walk particle dispersion model FLEXPART. The system provides 48-hour forecast of the local weather and radioactive plume dispersion due to hypothetical airborne releases in a range of 100 km around the site. The parallel code was implemented on different cluster configurations like distributed and shared memory systems. A 16-node dual Xeon distributed memory gigabit ethernet cluster has been found sufficient for operational applications. The runtime of a triple nested domain MM5 is about 4 h for a 24 h forecast. The system had been operated continuously for a few months and results were ported on the IMSc home page. Initial and periodic boundary condition data for MM5 are provided by NCMRWF, New Delhi. An alternative source is found to be NCEP, USA. These two sources provide the input data to the operational models at different spatial and temporal resolutions using different assimilation methods. A comparative study on the results of forecast is presented using these two data sources for present operational use. Improvement is noticed in rainfall forecasts that used NCEP data, probably because of its high spatial and temporal resolution     

Track prediction of very severe cyclone ‘Nargis’ using high resolution weather research forecasting (WRF) model

The recent very severe cyclonic storm (VSCS) ‘Nargis’ over the Bay of Bengal caused widespread destruction over Myanmar after hitting the coast on 2 May 2008. The real time forecasting of the VSCS ‘Nargis’ was a very difficult task as it did not follow the normal westerly/northwesterly track. In the present study, a detailed diagnostic analysis of the system ‘Nargis’ is carried out initially to investigate the features associated with this unusual movement and subsequently the real time forecast of VSCS ‘Nargis’ using high resolution advanced version weather research forecasting (WRF) model is presented. The advanced research WRF model was run for 72 h at 27 km and 20 km resolutions with 28, 29, 30 April and 1 May as the initial conditions. The diagnostic study indicates that the recurvature of the system ‘Nargis’ was mainly associated with:

Precipitation forecasting using classification and regression trees (CART) model: a comparative study of different approaches

Interest in semiarid climate forecasting has prominently grown due to risks associated with above average levels of precipitation amount. Longer-lead forecasts in semiarid watersheds are difficult to make due to short-term extremes and data scarcity. The current research is a new application of classification and regression trees (CART) model, which is rule-based algorithm, for prediction of the precipitation over a highly complex semiarid climate system using climate signals. We also aimed to compare the accuracy of the CART model with two most commonly applied models including time series modeling (ARIMA), and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) for prediction of the precipitation. Various combinations of large-scale climate signals were considered as inputs. The results indicated that the CART model had a better results (with Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency, NSE?>?0.75) compared to the ANFIS and ARIMA in forecasting precipitation. Also, the results demonstrated that the ANFIS method can predict the precipitation values more accurately than the time series model based on various performance criteria. Further, fall forecasts ranked “very good” for the CART method, while the ANFIS and the time series model approximately indicated “satisfactory” and “unsatisfactory” performances for all stations, respectively. The forecasts from the CART approach can be helpful and critical for decision makers when precipitation forecast heralds a prolonged drought or flash flood.     

Impact of hybrid GSI analysis using ETR ensembles

Performance of a hybrid assimilation system combining 3D Var based NGFS (NCMRWF Global Forecast System) with ETR (Ensemble Transform with Rescaling) based Global Ensemble Forecast (GEFS) of resolution T-190L28 is investigated. The experiment is conducted for a period of one week in June 2013 and forecast skills over different spatial domains are compared with respect to mean analysis state. Rainfall forecast is verified over Indian region against combined observations of IMD and NCMRWF. Hybrid assimilation produced marginal improvements in overall forecast skill in comparison with 3D Var. Hybrid experiment made significant improvement in wind forecasts in all the regions on verification against mean analysis. The verification of forecasts with radiosonde observations also show improvement in wind forecasts with the hybrid assimilation. On verification against observations, hybrid experiment shows more improvement in temperature and wind forecasts at upper levels. Both hybrid and operational 3D Var failed in prediction of extreme rainfall event over Uttarakhand on 17 June, 2013.     

Observation targeting with a second-order adjoint method for increased predictability

The efficiency of current adjoint-based observations targeting strategies in variational data assimilation is closely determined by the underlying assumption of a linear propagation of initial condition errors into the model forecasts. A novel targeting strategy is proposed in the context of four-dimensional variational data assimilation (4D-Var) to account for nonlinear error growth as the forecast lead time increases. A quadratic error growth model is shown to maintain the accuracy in tracking the nonlinear evolution of initial condition perturbations, as compared to the first-order approximation. A second-order adjoint model is used to provide the derivative information that is necessary in the higher-order Taylor series approximation. The observation targeting approach relies on the dominant eigenvectors of the Hessian matrix associated with a specific forecast error aspect as an indicator of the directions of largest quadratic error growth. A comparative qualitative analysis between observation targeting based on first- and second-order adjoint information is presented in idealized 4D-Var experiments with a two-dimensional global shallow-water model. The results indicate that accounting for the quadratic error growth in the targeting strategy is of particular benefit as the forecast lead time increases.     

Experimental real-time multi-model ensemble (MME) prediction of rainfall during monsoon 2008: Large-scale medium-range aspects

Realistic simulation/prediction of the Asian summer monsoon rainfall on various space–time scales is a challenging scientific task. Compared to mid-latitudes, a proportional skill improvement in the prediction of monsoon rainfall in the medium range has not happened in recent years. Global models and data assimilation techniques are being improved for monsoon/tropics. However, multi-model ensemble (MME) forecasting is gaining popularity, as it has the potential to provide more information for practical forecasting in terms of making a consensus forecast and handling model uncertainties. As major centers are exchanging model output in near real-time, MME is a viable inexpensive way of enhancing the forecasting skill and information content. During monsoon 2008, on an experimental basis, an MME forecasting of large-scale monsoon precipitation in the medium range was carried out in real-time at National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), India. Simple ensemble mean (EMN) giving equal weight to member models, bias-corrected ensemble mean (BCEMn) and MME forecast, where different weights are given to member models, are the products of the algorithm tested here. In general, the aforementioned products from the multi-model ensemble forecast system have a higher skill than individual model forecasts. The skill score for the Indian domain and other sub-regions indicates that the BCEMn produces the best result, compared to EMN and MME. Giving weights to different models to obtain an MME product helps to improve individual member models only marginally. It is noted that for higher rainfall values, the skill of the global model rainfall forecast decreases rapidly beyond day-3, and hence for day-4 and day-5, the MME products could not bring much improvement over member models. However, up to day-3, the MME products were always better than individual member models.     

Surface temperature forecast skill comparison for the west coast of Saudi Arabia

Given the growing interest of the general public in accessing commercial weather forecasts through various media outlets and the available impetuses for promoting tourism in Saudi Arabia (SA), a first attempt is made to present a forecast skill comparison for surface temperature in four cities (Wejh, Yenbo, Jeddah, and Gizan) along the west coast of SA, for the 61-day transitional period (from January 16 to March 16) between the December-January-February (DJF) and the March-April-May (MAM) seasons. A simple skill score comparison method is used to assess the next-day city forecasts for surface temperature from six commercial weather forecast providers based on the operational numerical weather prediction (NWP) model outputs. All the NWP model forecast providers performed better than the respective daily climatology (Clm) for each station. Depending upon the station and the provider, the absolute average maximum daily surface temperature difference between the forecasts and the observations was less than 2 °C. Daily surface temperature forecasts from two versions of an atmospheric-ocean general circulation model are also compared to assess their performance for these coastal locations.