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.