Diagnostics of radiosonde uncertainties
| Title | Diagnostics of radiosonde uncertainties
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Technical memorandum
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| Date Published |
05/2025
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| Secondary Title |
ECMWF Technical Memoranda
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| Number |
926
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| Author | |
| Publisher |
ECMWF
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| Abstract | Advanced data assimilation diagnostics have been used to estimate vertical uncertainty covariances for radiosonde reports, putting most emphasis on temperature but also looking at humidity and wind. In some cases the assumptions involved are not met and the vertical correlations come from another aspect of the assimilation system, such as forecast model biases. For Vaisala radiosondes the results suggest that the uncertainties are almost uncorrelated in the vertical – at least on the relatively coarse grid formed by the standard levels. For some other radiosondes these diagnostics have shown up problems with the reported profiles. The other strand to this work is to look at the uncertainties for reference (GRUAN) radiosonde profiles and to try to establish a link to the uncertainties of operational radiosonde profiles a) from the same stations and b) for other stations using the same type of radiosonde. Some effort is desirable to a) specify observation uncertainties for new radiosonde types and b) look at the possible benefits of explicitly modelling vertical uncertainty correlations for radiosondes. |
| URL | https://www.ecmwf.int/en/elibrary/81661-diagnostics-radiosonde-uncertainties |
| DOI | 10.21957/26d47264a0 |
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