Impacts of initial estimate and observations availability on convective-scale data assimilation with an ensemble Kalman filter

The feasibility of the EnKF for convective-scale data assimilation has been previously demonstrated in perfect-model experiments using simulated observations of radial velocity from a supercell storm. The present study further explores the potential and behavior of the EnKF at convective scales by considering more realistic initial analyses and variations in the availability and quality of the radar observations.

Assimilation of simulated radial-velocity observations every 5 min where there is significant reflectivity using 20 ensemble members proves to be successful in most realistic observational scenarios for simulated supercell thunderstorms, although the same degree of success may not be readily expected with real observations and an imperfect model, at least with the present EnKF implementation. Even though the filter converges toward the truth simulation faster from a better initial estimate, an experiment with the initial estimate of the supercell displaced by 10 km still yields an accurate estimate of the storm for both observed and unobserved variables within 40 min.