Assimilation of FY-4A GIIRS radiance observations in the forecast of Typhoon Bavi

Abstract

We assimilated radiance observations from the Geostationary Interferometric Infrared Sounder (GIIRS) onboard the FengYun-4A geostationary satellite to evaluate their impact on the forecast of Typhoon Bavi using WRFDA. The temperature channels with high information content, representing 90% of the information content of all temperature channels, were selected for assimilation. All radiance observations above the cloud-top were assimilated by comparing the channel height to the cloud-top height coming from the product of the Advanced Geosynchronous Radiation Imager (AGRI). The assimilation of the GIIRS observations decreased the root-mean-square error of the temperature by 2% and improved the precipitation forecast. The rain band in southeast China was reproduced well, thus showing that infrared hyperspectral radiance observations have added value in improving the circulation around typhoons and, therefore, provide better forecasts. The increased relative humidity in the upper layer and stronger typhoon outflow were found to related to the intensify of typhoon in the analysis compared with the control experiment.