Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot Gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

HTTPS

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Spatially Extended Estimates of Analysis and Short-range Forecast Error Variances

Abstract

Accurate estimates of ‘true’ error variance between Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) analyses and forecasts and the ‘reality’ interpolated to a NWP model grid (Analysis and true Forecast Error Variance, hereafter AFEV) are critical for successful data assimilation and ensemble forecasting applications. Peña and Toth (2014, PT14) introduced a Statistical Analysis and Forecast Error estimation (hereafter called SAFE) algorithm for the unbiased estimation of AFEV. The method uses variances between NWP forecasts and analyses (i.e. ‘perceived’ forecast errors) and assumptions about the time evolution of true error variances. PT14 successfully tested SAFE for the estimation of area mean error variances. In the present study, SAFE is extended by mitigating the effects of increased sampling noise and by accounting for the spatiotemporal evolution of forecast error variances, both critical for gridpoint-based applications. The enhanced method is evaluated in a Simulated Nature, Observations, Data Assimilation, and Prediction Environment using a quasi-geostrophic model and an ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF). SAFE estimates of true analysis error variance are within 6% of the actual values, as compared to 24–55% deviations in EnKF estimates. The spatial correlation between estimated and actual true error variances was also found high (above 0.9) and comparable with EnKF estimates, but much higher than NMC method estimates (0.63–0.78). Estimates of the other two SAFE parameters, the growth rate and decorrelation of analysis and forecast error variances are within 3% of the corresponding actual values.

Article / Publication Data
Active/Online
YES
Volume
69
Available Metadata
Accepted On
April 27, 2017
DOI ↗
Fiscal Year
NOAA IR URL ↗
Peer Reviewed
YES
Publication Name
Tellus Series A Dynamic Meteorology and Oceanography
Published On
May 01, 2017
Publisher Name
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Print Volume
69
Print Number
1
Page Range
Article: 1325301
Issue
1
Submitted On
December 22, 2016
URL ↗

Authors

Authors who have authored or contributed to this publication.