| Paper: | FR-A2.2 |
| Session: | Atmospheric Applications of Radiometry II |
| Time: | Friday, March 30, 11:00 - 11:20 |
| Presentation: |
Oral
|
| Topic: |
Clouds and precipitation: |
| Title: |
Towards an European continental-scale network of ground-based microwave radiometers |
| Authors: |
Domenico Cimini; National Research Council of Italy | | |
| | Ulrich Löhnert; University of Cologne | | |
| | Pauline Martinet; Mètèo-France | | |
| Abstract: |
Nowadays, ground-based microwave radiometers (MWR) are robust instruments providing continuous unattended operations and real time atmospheric observations under nearly all-weather conditions.
Ground-based MWR observations have the potential to help filling the observational gap in the atmospheric boundary layer, which is crucial for several applications including Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP). Despite their importance, the use of MWR data for assimilation into NWP models has been limited to sporadic case studies, mostly due to lack of coordination and appropriate software tools.
In the framework of the EU COST Action TOPROF (Towards operational ground based profiling with ceilometers, doppler lidars and microwave radiometers for improving weather forecasts), a working group dedicated to MWR was established (WG3).
WG3 aims at developing the tools and data cycle for experimenting the exploitation of an European continental scale network of ground-based MWR into Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models.
In this presentation we will present:
1) the WG3 activities on MWR instrument calibration and uncertainty characterisation;
2) a ground-based version (RTTOV-gb) of the fast radiative transfer RTTOV, commonly used to assimilate satellite radiometric observations into NWP;
3) a one-dimensional variational (1DVAR) software, adapted from the NWP Satellite Application Facility (SAF) code, to retrieve temperature and humidity profiles from ground-based MWR observations;
4) the Network 1DVAR (Net1D) software developed to perform 1DVAR retrievals over a prototype network of ground-based MWR;
5) results, such as Observations minus Background (O-B) and 1DVAR temperature and humidity retrievals, from a prototype network of six MWR in Europe and for a dataset spanning over 1 year;
6) current plans for implementing an operational data assimilation framework exploiting observations from an European continental-scale MWR network. |
