A Four-Season Impact Study of Rawinsonde, GOES, and POES Data in the Eta Data Assimilation System. Part II: Contribution of the Components

Abstract The impact of in situ rawinsonde observations (raob), remotely sensed Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES), and Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) observations routinely used in NCEP’s Eta Data Assimilation/Forecast System (EDAS) is studied for extended-length time periods during four seasons. This work examines the contribution of nine individual components of the total observing system. The nine data types examined include rawinsonde mass and wind observations, GOES mass and wind observations, POES observations from the Microwave Sounding Unit (MSU), the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU-A and AMSU-B), the High Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder (HIRS), and column total precipitable water and low-level wind observations from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I). The results are relevant for users of the Eta Model trying to compare/contrast the overall forecast impact of traditional, largely land-based rawinsonde observations against remo...