The Data Assimilation Research Testbed: A community facility

DART's ensemble data assimilation algorithms, careful software engineering, and diagnostic tools allow atmospheric scientists, oceanographers, hydrologists, chemists, and other geophysicists to build state-of-the-art data assimilation systems with unprecedented ease. For global numerical weather prediction, DART produces ensemble-mean analyses comparable to analyses from major centers while also providing initial conditions for ensemble predictions.

In addition, DART supports more novel assimilation applications like parameter estimation, sensitivity analysis, observing system design, and smoothing. Implementing basic systems for large models requires only a few person-weeks; comprehensive systems have been built in a few months. Incorporating new observation types is also straightforward, requiring only a forward operator mapping between a model's state and an observation's expected value.