P6     Impact of the Assimilation of AIRS Retrievals on Antarctic WRF Forecasts

Powers, Jordan G., and Kevin W. Manning, National Center for Atmospheric Research

The Antarctic Mesoscale Prediction System (AMPS) is a real-time implementation of WRF to support the forecasters of the United States Antarctic Program.  For data assimilation, AMPS employs WRFDA running 3DVAR and ingesting numerous observation types.  This study examines the impact of the assimilation of retrieved profiles of moisture and temperature from the satellite-borne AIRS (Atmospheric Infrared Sounder) instrument on AMPS forecasts.  WRF in AMPS is run for month-long periods for both warm and cold seasons, and verifications are performed using both radiosonde data and Antarctic AWS (Automatic Weather Station) observations.  Error statistics are analyzed to assess the forecast results from the AIRS retrievals over Antarctica.