Utilization of AMSR2 Data for Numerical Weather Prediction in Japan Meteorological Agency

Abstract

Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) plans to use the observation data from Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) on board Global Change Observation Mission 1st - Water “Shizuku” (GCOM-W1) for its Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models from summer 2013. Data quality of AMSR2 was investigated and the data assimilation tests were conducted in advance. Although the result showed that the radiances have positive bias against the first guess produced from JMA’s NWP models, it can be corrected by a bias correction scheme in JMA’s data assimilation system. The data assimilation test result showed that AMSR2 contributes to fill the gap in the current microwave imager data constellation and its assimilation can contribute for the early prediction of heavy rain.