Assimilation of Reflectivity Data in a Convective-Scale, Cycled 3DVAR Framework with Hydrometeor Classification

The impact of assimilating radar reflectivity and radial velocity data with an intermittent, cycled three-dimensional variational assimilation (3DVAR) system is explored using an idealized thunderstorm case and a real data case on 8 May 2003. A new forward operator for radar reflectivity is developed that uses a background temperature field provided by a numerical weather prediction model for automatic hydrometeor classification. Three types of experiments are performed on both the idealized and real data cases. The first experiment uses radial velocity data only, the second experiment uses both radial velocity and reflectivity data without hydrometeor classification, and the final experiment uses both radial velocity and reflectivity data with hydrometeor classification. All experiments advance the analysis state to the next observation time using a numerical model prediction, which is then used as the background for the next analysis. Results from both the idealized and real data cases show that, assimilating only radial velocity data, the model can reconstruct the supercell thunderstorm after several cycles, but the development of precipitation is delayed because of the well-known spinup problem. The spinup problem is reduced dramatically when assimilating reflectivity without hydrometeor classification. The analyses are further improved using the new reflectivity formulation with hydrometeor classification. This study represents a successful first effort in variational convective-scale data assimilation to partition hydrometeors using a background temperature field from a numerical weather prediction model.