2017 Volume 13 Pages 1-6
With a goal of real-time, high-resolution, short-term prediction of heavy rainfall systems, the SCALE-LETKF was developed implementing the local ensemble transform Kalman filter with the Scalable Computing for Advanced Library and Environment-Regional Model (SCALE-RM). The system has been running in near real time experimentally since May 2015, configured for weather analyses and forecasts at 18-km resolution for a 5760 × 4320 km area around Japan. Among the data for more than one year, the near-real-time forecasts and the 3-km resolution downscaling simulations are demonstrated for a selected case of the September 2015 Kanto-Tohoku heavy rainfall associated with Typhoon Etau (2015). The typhoon track was successfully analyzed and predicted by the system, and the line-shaped rainband producing heavy rainfall can be reasonably forecasted by the downscaling simulation from the near-real-time data.
