Assimilation of lidar back-scatter and wind retrievals of planetary boundary layer height into WRF atmospheric forecast states | CU Experts

Lidar backscatter and wind retrievals of the planetary boundary layer; height (PBLH) are assimilated into forecasts from the NASA Unified -; Weather and Research Forecast (NU-WRF) model during the Plains Elevated; Convection Convection at Night (PECAN) campaign on July 11, 2015 in; Greensburg, Kansas, using error statistics collected from the model; profiles to compute the necessary covariance matrices. Assimilation of; the observed PBLH was found to improve the temperature, water vapor and; velocity profiles relative to independent sonde profiles in the late; afternoon, while little improvement was seen during the night and early; morning. The computed forecast error covariances between the PBLH and; state variables were found to rise in the late afternoon, leading to the; larger improvements at this time.

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