Better data selection for forecast models STAR and the National Centers for Environmental Prediction, of the National Weather Service (NWS), are improving the prediction of weather from numerical models, especially the Global Forecast System (GFS). The two centers have tried and tested new techniques that exploit the power of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument. The GFS model cannot use every single data point, or "field of view (FOV)," of the AIRS instrument, so it uses only one of every nine fields of view. This greatly speeds up the processing of data and cuts the time required to make a forecast. The field of nine points corresponds to a single field of view of another instrument (the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit). The new technique selects the one best field of the nine that is "least obscured by clouds" in all channels of the AIRS instrument. Since the model cannot use all nine points, it can either take the center point (blue bars in the figure), or it can use the "least cloudy view" (red bars). The figure suggests that the latter choice leads to better forecasts.  Day 5 Anomaly Correlations for Mid-Latitudes Geopotential Heights Waves 1-20 |
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