Introduction to the OSSE/OSE Project

This project encompasses several well-established atmospheric OSSE/OSE efforts currently existing at Goddard. It is funded under the NASA MAP program with the research title: "Observing System Experiments (OSE and OSSE) to Evaluate and Enhance the Impact of Current and Future Satellite Observations."
The project is managed by Dr. Oreste Reale of the Goddard Laboratory for Atmospheres (GLA). Dr. Juan Carlos Jusem, also of the GLA, provides valuable expertise to the OSSE/OSE effort. The Software Integration and Visualization Office (SIVO) provides support to the GLA in the form of software development, experiment execution, data management, and assistance with certain scientific tasks. The GLA and SIVO OSSE/OSE team have formed or maintained collaborations with many research groups, both outside and within NASA, to help promote satellite research through the use of OSSE's and OSE's. These groups include GSFC researchers in the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) and Sounder Reserach Team (SRT); NOAA researchers at NCEP, ESRL and AOML; and the private research company Simpson Weather Associates.

OSE Description

An Observing System Experiment, or OSE, focuses on identifying the impact of a specific observing system on data assimilation and numerical weather prediction while testing ways in which to improve the quality and usefulness of the level I or level II products. Unlike OSSE's, OSE's involve only real observations from the current observing network. However, the same data assimilation systems, models, and diagnostic tools used for performing OSSE's are also used for OSE's.

Methodology

Observations are obtained from the sampling of the real atmosphere using the existing observing network of sensors. Normally, observations from all available observing systems are then processed and assimilated. When observations from one or more observing systems are excluded from assimilation, their impact can then be measured. The impact on the analyses or forecasts is evaluated using a number of statistical and synoptic tools. If the evaluation reveals neutral or negative results, i.e. below the expectations of the capabilities of the sensor from which the observations being examined were taken, tuning of the system would ensue. The tuning can feedback to either the data assimilation system and/or the method by which the data are gathered or
processed. This may include improving the forward model or quality control of the data, data thinning, refining the observation error estimates used in the DAS, or introducing an improvement to the DAS itself, all of which would be designed to increase the usefulness of the observations and ultimately improve impact.

+ OSE Methodology Diagram

Collaborators

SRT (Sounder Research Team)
Dr. Joel Susskind, Head
Dr. Susskind produces a wide-range of AIRS retrieval products that are evaluated by the OSSE/OSE group.

+ GMAO (Goddard Modeling and Assimilation Office)
Dr. Michele Rienecker, Head
Dr. Rienecker provides the OSSE/OSE group with access to the GEOS-5 DAS with which all experiments are conducted.

Dr. Lars Peter Riishojgaard, acting director of the JCSDA
Dr. Riishojgaard is the GMAO's main point of contact for the OSSE/OSE group and provides valuable scientific advice for many of the group's activities.

+ NOAA/AOML (Atlantic Oceanographic Meteoroligical Laboratory)
Dr. Robert Atlas, Head
Dr. Atlas was the original PI for the OSSE/OSE efforts at NASA and continues to interact with the OSSE/OSE group.