**Progress in Joint OSSE**

October 14, 2008

Joint OSSE is the international effort for collaborative OSSEs, where
many centers share the same Nature Runs (NRs) to conduct OSSEs with
different data assimilation systems.  Verification of the NR and the
simulation of observations consume a significant amount of resources. 
If the same NRs are used the results can be compared and the performance
of reliable OSSEs will be faster. We need to realize that the
performance speed is important, so that meteorological community will be
able to influence any decision making in future observing systems.

EMC, NASA/GMAO, JCSDA, NESDIS, NASA/SIVO, NASA/ GLA, SWA, ECMWF,
NOAA/ESRL, KNMI, and GRI at the Mississippi State University (MSU) are
working together and exchanging ideas.  Recently, Environment Canada
(EC), University of Tokyo, Northrop Grumman, Univ. of Utah, and MMM/NCAR
have gotten involved as well. Some members of JMA, Meteo France, and the
UK Met Office are also participating in discussions.  We have also
gotten contacts from Australia, China and Russia.

The first three NRs have been completed by ECMWF.  Much of the work has
been conducted by volunteers.** ** We are trying to get funding for this
effort to ensure the production. Now we are facing a challenge in
balancing between funding and scientific principles. Although there are
various attractive alternative OSSEs proposed, we believe a coordinated
effort in OSSEs will get results with the quickest and reliable
performance.

Joint OSSE is also working on the list of requirements for the future
NRs and post-processing to release to the modeling community. Producing
a good NR could be one of the goals for a numerical modeling effort.

\[Simulation of Observations\]

Recently Ron Errico and the GMAO staff presented an observation
simulator\
<http://www.emc.ncep.noaa.gov/research/JointOSSEs/Manuals/GMAO_SimObs/>\
The posted version is old and an update will be available soon. If you
would like to be included in the E-mail list for this software, please
contact Ron Errico (ronald.m.errico@nasa.gov) and Michiko Masutani.
(Michiko.masutani@noaa.gov).\
\
Information about conventional observations simulated by Jack Woollen is
posted at\
<ftp://ftp.emc.ncep.noaa.gov/exper/mmasutani/SIMOBS/prepbufrT511>\
\
No observational error has been added to this dataset.  Software to add
observational error is included in the GMAO observation simulator.

\[Simulation of DWL preparation for ADM-Aeolus\]

Data structure and the simulation of DWL has been discussed. It seems
realistic to simulate level 2B data. When ADM-Aeolus data become
available the operational centers will receive the level 1B data, and a
processor to produce 2B data will be available from ESA but the test
version is available to the Joint OSSEs community.

<ftp://ftp.emc.ncep.noaa.gov/exper/mmasutani/ADM/>

\- Current plan

KNMI will simulate the ESA DWL and SWA will simulate the NASA DWL. SWA
will also simulate ADM-Aeolus from ESA and KNMI will compare both
products.

GMAO is planning to simulate aerosols which is required for DWL
simulation and to also simulate the DWL from NASA/GSFC.

\[Nature Run is available to public\]

Joint OSSE NRs (T511 and T799) are now available to the general research
community from the NASA portal system. Background from the Joint OSSE
and information about access to NRs is posted at

<http://www.emc.ncep.noaa.gov/research/JointOSSEs/data>

\[Evaluation of Joint OSSE Nature Run\]

Various presentations and papers related to the evaluation of the NRs
are posted at

<http://www.emc.ncep.noaa.gov/research/JointOSSEs/record/NR_diag/>

The first NR was produced by IFS C31r1 at T511 with 91 levels. ECMWF
conducted an integration using the same model for 16 summers and
winters. A short note has been published to GRL by Reale et al., and all
showed climatologically well represented, realistic storms and TCs.
There is no QBO and the MJO is underestimated.

We did not find improvement in TCs and other tropical features in the
T799 NR. There are significant improvements in the IFS C31r1 over the
IFS C32r2 but ECMWF will not rerun the T799 NR with newer model. Future
NRs with T1023 are being considered.

A high resolution (3.5 km) model, NICAM, is being reviewed as a
candidate for a future NR.

<http://www.emc.ncep.noaa.gov/research/JointOSSEs/record/2007/Nov07/071129/>

\[Meso-Regional OSSE\]

There are strong reservations about a regional OSSE because of
uncertainty in lateral boundary conditions, and there are also strong
demands for an OSSE for hurricane and mesoscale storms. We are trying to
make a meso-regional OSSE as sensible as possible. Most of us agreed
that we should concentrate on the best use of the T511 NR (40km) and
T799 NR (25Km).

A regional analysis is available from the WRF project but GSI is also
receiving support from the Development Test Center (DTC at NCAR). Better
support for radiance data, handy scripts used at NCEP (Namx), a flexible
recycling option, and a non isotropic error covariance all made GSI more
attractive.

Mississippi State University, MMM/NCAR, University of Utah, and NESDIS
are working on a meso-regional OSSE but each is focused on different
instruments.

\[Meeting summary and presentation from past meetings\]

Meeting summaries and presentations from past OSSE meetings are
available from

<http://www.emc.ncep.noaa.gov/research/JointOSSEs/record/index.record.html>

Publications from Joint OSSEs are at

<http://www.emc.ncep.noaa.gov/research/JointOSSEs/publications>

If you have any comments please contact Michiko Masutani
(michiko.masutani@noaa.gov)