Analysis and Quality Control of Profiler Data Using Optimum Interpolation

Abstract

An application of optimum interpolation (OI) is described for quality control and combination of wind profiler data with other observations of wind profiles. Data from three separate wind sensors at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration?s Kennedy Space Center are used: conventional rawinsondes, precision wind sounding balloons (jimspheres), and a vertically pointing 50-MHz Doppler radar wind profiler. Collocation statistics of the three sensors are presented, along with analysis and quality control results from selected case studies. The results show the utility of the OI technique for the integration and quality control of disparate wind profile data. The proper choice of the vertical correlation length of the observation error was found to be crucial for a proper weighting of the different data sources. The performance of the OI quality control algorithm was improved if an accurate background field was used for the analysis.