Assimilating Precipitation Data via full-hydrometeor scheme in WRF
4D-Var for Convective Precipitation Forecast Associated with the
Northeast Cold Vortex
Abstract
The full-hydrometeor four-dimensional variational (4D-Var) assimilation
scheme in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, based on the
WRF single-moment 6-class microphysics scheme (WSM6), is utilized to
assimilate precipitation data. The focus is on short-term convective
precipitation forecasts influenced by the Northeast cold vortex (NCCV).
Four assimilation experiments were designed to compare the warm rain
scheme with the full-hydrometeor scheme, as well as to examine the
differences between assimilating hourly surface rain gauge data and
multi-source integrated precipitation products. Ten cases of intense
convective precipitation related to NCCV were analyzed. The results
demonstrate that the initial analysis of ice-phase hydrometeors was
satisfactory across the three experiments utilizing the full-hydrometeor
4D-Var schemes. The assimilation of precipitation data full-hydrometeor
scheme in WRF 4D-Var effectively adjusted atmospheric thermodynamic
properties and decreased model spin-up time, leading to improved
precipitation forecasts, especially for the 0-3 hour period.
Furthermore, the assimilation of rain gauge data or multi-source
integrated precipitation data has been demonstrated to be an effective
approach for enhancing the accuracy of weather forecasts.