Impact of Higher-Resolution Satellite Soundings of Temperature and Moisture on Large-Scale Numerical Weather Prediction

Abstract

Increasing the resolution of satellite soundings of temperature and moisture from 500 to 250 km is found to be beneficial for large-scale numerical weather prediction for the Southern Hemisphere, particularly for winter. The impact for the Northern Hemisphere was generally not significant, although mostly positive in sign. The results are based on parallel experiments with the Australian Bureau of Meteorology's global analysis and prediction system, with configurations differing only in the use of either the 500- or 250-km soundings. Ten 5-day forecasts for both a January and a July period were carried out.