An approach to estimating and extrapolating model error based on inverse problem methods:towards accurate numerical weather prediction

Model error is one of the key factors restricting the accuracy of numerical weather prediction(NWP). Considering the continuous evolution of the atmosphere, the observed data(ignoring the measurement error) can be viewed as a series of solutions of an accurate model governing the actual atmosphere. Model error is represented as an unknown term in the accurate model, thus NWP can be considered as an inverse problem to uncover the unknown error term. The inverse problem models can absorb long periods of observed data to generate model error correction procedures. They thus resolve the deficiency and faultiness of the NWP schemes employing only the initial-time data. In this study we construct two inverse problem models to estimate and extrapolate the time-varying and spatial-varying model errors in both the historical and forecast periods by using recent observations and analogue phenomena of the atmosphere. Numerical experiment on Burgers’ equation has illustrated the substantial forecast improvement using inverse problem algorithms. The proposed inverse problem methods of suppressing NWP errors will be useful in future high accuracy applications of NWP.     

基于无导数优化方法的数值模式误差估计

初始场误差和模式误差是制约数值预报准确率的两个关键因素,本文主要考虑利用历史观测资料实现时空演变的模式误差的估计问题.通过把模式误差综合考虑成为准确模式中的未知项,把历史资料看作是带有未知项的准确模式的特解,构造了求解时空演变的模式误差项的反问题及其最优控制问题.给出了一个解决最优控制问题的无导数优化方法,该方法的优点是不需要建立原数值模式的切线性模式与伴随模式,它只需在增加一个外强迫项的基础上运行原数值模式即可实现模式误差项的最优估计.关于Burgers方程的算例表明,无论模式的初始状态是否准确已知,无导数优化方法都能有效解决时空演变的模式误差的最优估计问题,它为实际业务模式利用历史数据提取模式误差信息并显著地改进预报效果提供了一种方便可行的数值方法与理论依据.