Assimilation of GNSS-R Delay-Doppler Maps into Weather Models

Feixiong Huang, James L Garrison, S Mark Leidner, Bachir Annane, Giuseppe Grieco, Ad Stoffelen, Ross N Hoffman

Global Navigation Satellite System Reflectometry (GNSS-R) observations from the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) mission are expected to improve numerical weather prediction (NWP) models. Level 1 GNSS-R observables, delay-Doppler maps (DDMs), contain information that is lost in producing the Level 2 wind speed retrievals at the specular point. DDMs could, therefore, prove to be a better observable for data assimilation. In this study, assimilation of GNSS-R DDMs into both global and regional NWP models is demonstrated. In the global case, DDM assimilation shows improvements on the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) background for one month of data. In the regional case, DDM assimilation shows its impact on the hurricane structure and intensity. Results using a two-dimensional variation analysis method (VAM) are presented. A plan for an Observation System Experiment (OSE) experiment is proposed.

Bibliographic data

Feixiong Huang, James L Garrison, S Mark Leidner, Bachir Annane, Giuseppe Grieco, Ad Stoffelen, Ross N Hoffman . Assimilation of GNSS-R Delay-Doppler Maps into Weather Models
Journal: IGARSS 2020 - 2020 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, Year: 2020, doi: https://doi.org/10.1109/IGARSS39084.2020.9324128