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Presenter: Will McCarty

Seminar Title: The Impact of the Assimilation of AIRS Radiance Measurements on Short-term Weather Forecasts

The impact of AIRS radiances have been shown to improve medium-range weather forecasts in global models. The approach to assimilating AIRS measurements in a regional-scale model and assimilation system differs from that of a globally-designed system. The work presented will illustrate the methodologies used to properly utilize the AIRS measurements within a pseudo-operational system mimicking the North American Model (NAM) Data Assimilation System (NDAS), and present the impacts of the addition of AIRS observations on both the analysis fields and subsequent short-term (0-48h) forecasts.

Additionally, current methodologies used in operational data assimilation systems only utilize channels within the thermal infrared spectrum that are not contaminated by clouds. The detection of cloud contamination within the system presented is instrument and channel independent. A new methodology,single AIRS footprint.

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