The Impact of Data Latency on Operational Global Weather Forecasting

Abstract The impact of low data latency is assessed using observations assimilated into the NCEP Finite-Volume Cubed-Sphere Global Forecast System (FV3GFS). Operationally, a full dataset is used to generate short-term (9-h) forecasts used as the background state for the next cycle, and a limited dataset with fewer observations is used for long-term (16-day) forecasts due to time constraints that exist in an operational setting. In this study, the sensitivity of the global weather forecast skill to the use of the full and limited datasets in both the short- and long-term forecasts (out to 10 days only) is evaluated. The results show that using the full dataset for long-term forecasts yields a slight improvement in forecast skill, while using the limited dataset for short-term forecasts yields a significant degradation. This degradation is primarily attributed to a decrease of in situ observations rather than remotely sensed observations, though no individual observation type captures the amount of degradation noted when all observations are limited. Furthermore, limiting individual types of in situ observations (aircraft, marine, rawinsonde) does not result in the level of degradation noted when limiting all in situ observations, demonstrating the importance of data redundancy in an operational observational system. Significance Statement Millions of observations are used in global models every day to understand the state of the atmosphere. These observations rely on quick transmission from observation source to weather centers for inclusion in operational models. For this study, we test how different groups of observations, which arrive at the model center at different times, impact the model forecast. We find that by not using the observations that take longer to arrive at the weather centers, the forecast is much worse, showing the importance of quick transmission of observations. Direct observations (those measured within the atmosphere) have a greater impact than remote observations (those viewed from afar, such as by satellites). However, no single observation type by itself causes a poor forecast by being limited, showing the importance of using different types of observations to capture the state of the atmosphere.