Objective
Humidity is a highly variable parameter in atmospheric processes and it plays a crucial role in atmospheric motions on a wide range of scales in space and time Limitations in humidity observation accuracy as vell as temporal and spatial coverage often lead to problems in numerical weather prediction, in particular that of clouds and precipitation. The emerging ground-based Global Positionino System (GPS) networks present appealin, opportunities for an improved humidity observation source that can help resolve these difficulties. There are at least two potential benefits from the GPS observations: I) an independent data set for validating forecast and climate models; and 2) an enhanced weather forecasting system which can make use of the extra humidity information. The objective of the MAGIC project is to develop and test the capacity for meteorological organizations to benefit from this new Earth Observation data source. Three focussed studies of testino and assimilation are proposed for models at three different spatial and temporal scales:
1) a regional European scale weather prediction model, HIRLAM, 2) a high resolution mesoscale weather prediction model for Catalonia, Spain, 3) a European scale climate model, HIRHAM.
GPS-estimation of Integrated Water Vapor (IWV) is a technique in which the delays in the radio signals transmitted by the GPS satellites are used to constrain the quantity of water vapor in the atmosphere. This technique has a demonstrated a accuracy that is at least comparable to that of radiosondes and microwave radiometers, which are presently the primary source of humidity data. In addition, the ground-based GPS receivers have the advantage that they are portable and economic, providing continuous measurements which are not affected by rain and clouds.
HIRLAM (Hlgh Resolution Limited-Area Model), is developed in an international cooperation between weather services in Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden. One of the agencies using HIRLAM as an operational weather forecasting system will participate as a partner in the project. A preliminary study has revealed some weakness in the current HIRLAM system analysis scheme in a comparison of its predicted IWV values to the GPS estimates. Independent data provided by the MAGIC GPS IWV measurements are needed in order to improve model formulation and parameter tuning. A necessary component of this project is the development of the next generation HIRLAM system to enable the GPS IWV data to be directly assimilated. We believe that with an enhanced data assimilation system, all HIRLAM members will be able to improve their services.
The HIRHAM (HIRLAM dynamics + the Hamburg physics package) model has been used at the same agency to study the regional climate changes. One of the important aspects in developing the model is the validation. As water vapor is one of the key elements determining the climate, it is essential to simulate it correctly in the climate model. The information provided by the GPS data will help to identify weaknesses in the climate model as it did for the forecast model.
The Servei de Meteorologia de Catalunya, concerned with the prediction of catastrophic rainfall events for theCatalonian region, is a user of the outputs from a high resolution mesoscale model developed for Catalonia and the surrounding regions. While this local model has had some success in predicting precipitation, key humidity data are required to verify the derived humidity fields to increase accuracy of the precipitation estimates. GPS IWV measurements respond to this need, and also offer a high temporal resolution that ulimately will be of benefit in predicting these rapidly developing storm systems. Assimilation tests for incorporating GPS IWV data into the MASS system will be carried out in the MAGIC project.
These meteorological agencies at present do not have the expertise for the high precision data processing effort required for retrieving these GPS measurements for a preliminary analysis of their utility. They also do not have the resources for operating an experimental network of GPS receivers, especially before their value in operational meteorology has been proven. A large number of permanent GPS stations have been installed in Europe, and more are in the process of being installed, to support geodetic and geodynamic research. The consortium draws on the resources of this geodeticlgeodynamic research community. In bringing together the latest developments in techniques from the space geodetic and meteorological communities, the MAGIC project will be able to make a significant advance in weather prediction and climate modeling.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesmeteorology
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringvehicle engineeringaerospace engineeringsatellite technology
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesdata sciencedata processing
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Topic(s)
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinator
06904 SOPHIA ANTIPOLIS
France