Aerosol optical depth assimilation for a modal aerosol model: Implementation and application in AOD forecasts over East Asia

Abstract

A new aerosol optical depth (AOD) data assimilation (DA) module was developed in Gridpoint Statistical Interpolation (GSI) 3-dimensional variational (3DVAR) system, named FastJ/CRTM-AOD DA module. And applied to the Modal Aerosol Dynamics Model for Europe with the Secondary Organic Aerosol Model (MADE/SORGAM) in the Weather Research and Forecasting/Chemistry model (WRF/Chem). The Fast-J optical module in WRF/Chem was used as the observation operator of AOD. The corresponding Jacobian code was modified from the one of CRTM-AOD in GSI. This way obviated the need for the Jacobian code's generation, which was complex and difficult for the highly nonlinear observation operator. During the studying period (January and April of 2014), compared to the ground AOD observations, AOD DA reduced about 20% fractional error (FE) with MADE/SORGAM. The original DA framework, which applied to the Goddard Chemistry Aerosol Radiation and Transport (GOCART) mechanism, performed slightly better than the new assimilation scheme for the low-value AOD situations (value < 0.4). However, compared to the original DA framework, the new DA scheme show a notable improvement for the high-value (0.4 < value ≤ 1.2) and extreme-high-value (value > 1.2) AOD situations. FE can be reduced by 48% and 64%, respectively. It indicates that the AOD DA impacts on AOD forecasts vary significant between different aerosol mechanisms. Moreover, FastJ/CRTM-AOD DA module can be easily and efficiently applied to the other aerosol schemes and the other optical modules, which is important to the development on AOD assimilation.