In:
Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, American Meteorological Society, Vol. 31, No. 12 ( 2014-12), p. 2777-2794
Abstract:
This paper presents the development of a single executable four-dimensional variational data assimilation (4D-Var) system based on the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model through coupling the variational data assimilation algorithm (WRF-VAR) with the newly developed WRF tangent linear and adjoint model (WRFPLUS). Compared to the predecessor Multiple Program Multiple Data version, the new WRF 4D-Var system achieves major improvements in that all processing cores are able to participate in the computation and all information exchanges between WRF-VAR and WRFPLUS are moved directly from disk to memory. The single executable 4D-Var system demonstrates desirable acceleration and scalability in terms of the computational performance, as demonstrated through a series of benchmarking data assimilation experiments carried out over a continental U.S. domain. To take into account the nonlinear processes with the linearized minimization algorithm and to further decrease the computational cost of the 4D-Var minimization, a multi-incremental minimization that uses multiple horizontal resolutions for the inner loop has been developed. The method calculates the innovations with a high-resolution grid and minimizes the cost function with a lower-resolution grid. The details regarding the transition between the high-resolution outer loop and the low-resolution inner loop are introduced. Performance of the multi-incremental configuration is found to be comparable to that with the full-resolution 4D-Var in terms of 24-h forecast accuracy in the week-long analysis and forecast experiment over the continental U.S. domain. Moreover, the capability of the newly developed multi-incremental 4D-Var system is further demonstrated in the convection-permitting analysis and forecast experiment for Hurricane Sandy (2012), which was hardly computationally feasible with the predecessor WRF 4D-Var system.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
0739-0572
,
1520-0426
DOI:
10.1175/JTECH-D-13-00076.1
Language:
Unknown
Publisher:
American Meteorological Society
Publication Date:
2014
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2021720-1
detail.hit.zdb_id:
48441-6
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