A theory for estimating the probability distribution of the state of a model given a set of observations exists. This nonlinear

The ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) is a data assimilation scheme based on the traditional Kalman filter update equation. An ensemble of forecasts are used to estimate the background-error covariances needed to compute the Kalman gain. It is known that if the same observations and the same gain are used to update each member of the ensemble, the ensemble will systematically underestimate analysis-error covariances. This will cause a degradation of subsequent analyses and may lead to filter divergence. For large ensembles, it is known that this problem can be alleviated by treating the observations as random variables, adding random perturbations to them with the correct statistics. Two important

The usefulness of a distance-dependent reduction of background error covariance estimates in an ensemble Kalman filter is demonstrated. Covariances are reduced by performing an elementwise multiplication of the background error covariance matrix with a correlation function with local support. This reduces noisiness and results in an improved background error covariance estimate, which generates a reduced-error ensemble of model initial conditions. The benefits

Data assimilation is an iterative approach to the problem of estimating the state of a dynamical system using both current and past observations of the system together with a model for the system’s time evolution. Rather than solving the problem from scratch each time new observations become available, one uses the model to “forecast ” the current state, using a prior state estimate (which incorporates information from past data) as the initial condition, then uses current data to correct the prior forecast to a current state estimate. This Bayesian approach is most effective when the uncertainty in both the observations and in the state estimate, as it evolves over time, are accurately quantified. In this article, I describe a practical method for data assimilation in large, spatiotemporally chaotic systems. The method is a type of “Ensemble Kalman Filter”, in which the state estimate and its approximate uncertainty are represented at any given time by an ensemble of system states. I discuss both the mathematical basis of this approach and its implementation; my primary emphasis is on ease of use and computational speed rather than improving accuracy over previously published approaches to ensemble Kalman filtering. 1

A Doppler radar data assimilation system is developed based on ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) method and tested with simulated radar data from a supercell storm. As a first implementation, we assume the forward models are perfect and radar data are sampled at the analysis grid points. A general purpose nonhydrostatic compressible model is used with the inclusion of complex multi-class ice microphysics. New aspects compared to previous studies include the demonstration of the ability of EnKF method in retrieving multiple microphysical species associated with a multi-class ice microphysics scheme, and in accurately retrieving the wind and thermodynamic variables. Also new are the inclusion of reflectivity observations and the determination of the relative role of radial velocity and reflectivity data as well as their spatial coverage in recovering the full flow and cloud fields. In general, the system is able to reestablish the model storm extremely well after a number of assimilation cycles, and best results are obtained when both radial velocity and reflectivity data, including reflectivity information outside precipitation regions, are used. Significant positive impact of the reflectivity assimilation

A hybrid 3-dimensional variational (3D-Var) / ensemble Kalman filter analysis scheme is demonstrated using a quasigeostrophic model under perfect-model assumptions. Four networks with differing observational densities are tested, including one network with a data void. The hybrid scheme operates by computing a set of parallel data assimilation cycles, with each member of the set receiving unique perturbed observations. The perturbed observations are generated by adding random noise consistent with observation error statistics to the control set of observations. Background error statistics for the data assimilation are estimated from a linear combination of time-invariant 3D-Var covariances and flow-dependent covariances developed from the ensemble of short-range forecasts. The hybrid scheme allows the user to weight the relative contributions of the 3D-Var and ensemble-based background covariances. The analysis scheme was cycled for 90 days, with new observations assimilated every 12 h...

Ensemble data assimilation methods assimilate observations using state-space estimation methods and lowrank representations of forecast and analysis error covariances. A key element of such methods is the transformation of the forecast ensemble into an analysis ensemble with appropriate statistics. This transformation may be performed stochastically by treating observations as random variables, or deterministically by requiring that the updated analysis perturbations satisfy the Kalman filter analysis error covariance equation. Deterministic analysis ensemble updates are implementations of Kalman square root filters. The nonuniqueness of the deterministic transformation used in square root Kalman filters provides a framework to compare three recently proposed ensemble data assimilation methods.

A rational approach is used to identify efficient schemes for data assimilation in nonlinear ocean–atmosphere models. The conditional mean, a minimum of several cost functionals, is chosen for an optimal estimate. After stating the present goals and describing some of the existing schemes, the constraints and issues particular to ocean–atmosphere data assimilation are emphasized. An approximation to the optimal criterion satisfying the goals and addressing the issues is obtained using heuristic characteristics of geophysical measurements and models. This leads to the notion of an evolving error subspace, of variable size, that spans and tracks the scales and processes where the dominant errors occur. The concept of error subspace statistical estimation (ESSE) is defined. In the present minimum error variance approach, the suboptimal criterion is based on a continued and energetically optimal reduction of the dimension of error covariance matrices. The evolving error subspace is characterized by error singular vectors and values, or in other words, the error principal components and coefficients. Schemes for filtering and smoothing via ESSE are derived. The data–forecast melding minimizes variance in the error subspace. Nonlinear Monte Carlo forecasts integrate the error subspace in time. The smoothing is based on a statistical approximation approach. Comparisons with existing filtering and smoothing procedures

This paper considers several filtering methods of stochastic nature, based on Monte Carlo drawing, for the sequential data assimilation in nonlinear models. They include some known methods such as the particle filter and the ensemble Kalman filter and some others introduced by the author: the second-order ensemble Kalman filter and the singular extended interpolated filter. The aim is to study their behavior in the simple nonlinear chaotic Lorenz system, in the hope of getting some insight into more complex models. It is seen that these filters perform satisfactory, but the new filters introduced have the advantage of being less costly. This is achieved through the concept of second-order-exact drawing and the selective error correction, parallel to the tangent space of the attractor of the system (which is of low dimension). Also introduced is the use of a forgetting factor, which could enhance significantly the filter stability in this nonlinear context.

Many methods using ensemble integrations of prediction models as integral parts of data assimilation have appeared in the atmospheric and oceanic literature. In general, these methods have been derived from the Kalman filter and have been known as ensemble Kalman filters. A more general class of methods including these ensemble Kalman filter methods is derived starting from the nonlinear filtering problem. When working in a joint state-- observation space, many features of ensemble filtering algorithms are easier to derive and compare. The ensemble filter methods derived here make a (local) least squares assumption about the relation between prior distributions of an observation variable and model state variables. In this context, the update procedure applied when a new observation becomes available can be described in two parts. First, an update increment is computed for each prior ensemble estimate of the observation variable by applying a scalar ensemble filter. Second, a linear regression of the prior ensemble sample of each state variable on the observation variable is performed to compute update increments for each state variable ensemble member from corresponding observation variable increments. The regression can be applied globally or locally using Gaussian kernel methods.