Impact of ATOVS temperature and moisture profiles on NCMRWF analysis and prediction

Abstract

Global high resolution (120 km) ATOVS temperature and moisture profile data from polar orbiting satellites NOAA 15 & 16 is been made available to user community recently by NESDIS (National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service). NCMRWF also has started using these products in its operational global data assimilation system.  Extensive impact assessment experiments have been conducted prior to its operational utilization.   Impact is also studied during the onset phase of southwest monsoon over India. Results of these experiments are presented in this article. Study show that the impact of ATOVS data is seen on the mean analysed and predicted fields upto 120 hrs prediction specially over the oceanic region. It also reveals that the utilization of these data is able to predict the rainfall over the Indian peninsular region and the adjoining ocean in more realistic manner upto 72 hr forecast, beyond which there is hardly any meaningful improvement.