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www.geosci-model-dev-discuss.net/3/1783/2010/
doi:10.5194/gmdd-3-1783-2010
© Author(s) 2010. This work is distributed
under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Construction of non-diagonal background error covariance matrices for global chemical data assimilation
1Department of Computer Science, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 2202 Kraft Drive, Blacksburg, VA 24060, USA
2Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA
3Department of Physics, University of Toronto, ON M5S 1A7, Canada
4Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies (COAPS), Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA
Abstract. Chemical data assimilation attempts to optimally use noisy observations along with imperfect model predictions to produce a better estimate of the chemical state of the atmosphere. It is widely accepted that a key ingredient for successful data assimilation is a realistic estimation of the background error distribution. Particularly important is the specification of the background error covariance matrix, which contains information about the magnitude of the background errors and about their correlations. Most models currently use diagonal background covariance matrices. As models evolve toward finer resolutions, the diagonal background covariance matrices become increasingly inaccurate, since they captures less of the spatial error correlations. This paper discusses an efficient computational procedure for constructing non-diagonal background error covariance matrices which account for the spatial correlations of errors. The benefits of using the non-diagonal covariance matrices for variational data assimilation with chemical transport models are illustrated.
Discussion Paper (PDF, 3685 KB) Interactive Discussion (Closed, 4 Comments) Final Revised Paper (GMD)
Notice on Discussion StatusCitation: Singh, K., Jardak, M., Sandu, A., Bowman, K., Lee, M., and Jones, D.: Construction of non-diagonal background error covariance matrices for global chemical data assimilation, Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., 3, 1783-1827, doi:10.5194/gmdd-3-1783-2010, 2010. Bibtex EndNote Reference Manager XML
