Real-Time Assimiliation of ISS-RapidScat Observations
The above slide shows results from the initial testing of RapidScat at the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office. Onboard the International Space Station, RapidScat is providing surface wind measurements in real-time, and the data have been incorporated into the GEOS-5 Atmospheric Data Assimilation System. Beginning at 1200 UTC on 6 May 2015, the observations have incorporated into real-time, routine forward processing at the GMAO, which produces analysis of atmospheric variables such as temperature, moisture, and wind every six hours and extended forecasts twice daily.
The initial results show that the ISS orbit acts to complement similar observations available from the ASCAT instrument onboard the EUMETSAT Metop platforms. In terms of observation impacts, which are a metric that projects short-term (24 hour) forecast error onto the observations, the observations are shown to have a larger error reduction than the ASCAT measurements. They are also shown to have a similar impact per observation when compared with atmospheric motion vectors (AMVs) derived from Geostationary satellite imagery, though the total impact (not shown) is lower because there are many more AMVs from GEO assimilated.
