Fh. Carr et al., OBSERVING SYSTEMS EXPERIMENTS - RELATIVE MODEL RESPONSE TO VARIOUS FGGE DATASETS IN THE TROPICS, Monthly weather review, 121(11), 1993, pp. 3106-3122
The successful deployment of many different observing systems during t
he summer Monsoon Experiment of 1979 provides a unique opportunity to
perform extensive observing system experiments. These numerical studie
s, accomplished here with a ten-level, limited-area primitive equation
model, allow the assessment of the value of individual or combined ob
serving systems to the model's four-dimensional data assimilation syst
em as well as to its subsequent forecasts. The specific objectives of
this work include the investigation of (i) the relative merit of ten d
ifferent data platforms, (ii) the relative role of wind and mass field
data, (iii) the effect of different vertical distributions of single-
level wind data, and (iv) the dynamical response of the model to diffe
rent modes of data insertion. Eight experiments are summarized, all of
which involved a 12-h data assimilation period based on the Newtonian
relaxation procedure followed by a 36-h forecast. Predictions using a
ll of the data produced very good forecasts of the June 1979 onset vor
tex over the Arabian Sea. The dropwindsonde data were found to be most
responsible for this success, primarily because they resolve the rota
tional modes of the system and cover a significant depth of the tropos
phere. While the winds were more important, the dropsonde thermodynami
c data were beneficial. All datasets, when tested individually, had a
positive impact on the forecasts. When used in combination, however, s
ome datasets became less important or even redundant. The influence of
satellite winds was enhanced greatly by spreading the wind increments
over a larger vertical depth. It is shown that the dynamical response
of the model to the various distributions and amounts of new data is
consistent with geostrophic adjustment theory and provides guidance fo
r future observing system strategies.