Browne et al. (2026) Coupled observation‐operator approximations in outer‐loop coupling data assimilation

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-07-28
• Authors: Philip A. Browne, Patricia de Rosnay, Alan Geer, Samuel Quesada-Ruiz, Tracy Scanlon, Ethel Villeneuve
• DOI: 10.1002/qj.70266

Research Groups

• European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF)

Short Summary

This paper presents a methodology for coupled variational data assimilation that allows the effect of coupled observation operators to be approximated while maintaining separate minimizations across model components, enabling direct constraint of atmosphere, ocean, and sea-ice components from satellite radiances.

Objective

• Develop a coupled variational data assimilation method that accounts for the sensitivity of observations to multiple model components

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Global scale, focusing on numerical weather prediction (NWP) applications
• Temporal Scale: Real-time or near-real-time data assimilation for NWP

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Coupled ocean-atmosphere-sea ice models, incremental four-dimensional variational assimilation (4D-Var)
• Data sources: Satellite radiances from microwave and infrared satellites

Main Results

• The proposed methodology allows for the approximation of coupled observation operators while maintaining separate minimizations across model components.
• Example increments are shown from coupled ocean-atmosphere data assimilation experiments using both microwave and infrared satellite observations.

Contributions

• Provides a new method for exploiting existing and planned observation systems to improve numerical weather predictions.
• Enables direct constraint of atmosphere, ocean, and sea-ice components from satellite radiances.

Funding

• This research was supported by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) internal funding.

Citation

@article{Browne2026Coupled,
  author = {Browne, Philip A. and Rosnay, Patricia de and Geer, Alan and Quesada-Ruiz, Samuel and Scanlon, Tracy and Villeneuve, Ethel},
  title = {Coupled observation‐operator approximations in outer‐loop coupling data assimilation},
  journal = {Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1002/qj.70266},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.70266}
}