Impact of GOLD Retrieved Thermospheric Temperatures on a Whole Atmosphere Data Assimilation Model | CU Experts

The present investigation evaluates the assimilation of synthetic data; which has properties similar to actual Global-scale Observations of the; Limb and Disk (GOLD) level-2 (L2) and other conventional lower; atmospheric observations. The lower atmospheric and GOLD L2 temperature; (Tdisk) are assimilated in the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model; with thermosphere-ionosphere eXtension (WACCMX) using Data Assimilation; Research Testbed (DART). It is found that inclusion of the GOLD Tdisk; improves the forecast root mean square error (RMSE) and bias by 5% and; 71%. When compared to lower atmosphere only assimilation the; improvements in RMSE and bias are 20% and 94%. An investigation of the; global DW1 and local diurnal tidal characteristics shows that inclusion; of the GOLD temperatures improves the DW1 by about 8% and diurnal tide; by more than 17%. The percentage improvement in tides is higher at; lower thermospheric altitudes. Considerable improvements in the model; state are also seen at times and locations where there are no GOLD; observations available. These results and the background data; assimilation procedure are presented here, which demonstrates that GOLD; thermospheric temperature is an excellent dataset which can be used for; thermospheric assimilation studies and operational purposes.

Laskar FI; Pedatella NM; Codrescu MV; Eastes R; Evans JS; Burns AG; McClintock WE

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