The Impact of Aerosols on Satellite Radiance Data Assimilation Using NCEP Global Data Assimilation System

Aerosol radiative effects have been studied extensively by climate and weather research communities. However, aerosol impacts on radiance in the context of data assimilation (DA) received little attention. In this study, we investigated satellite radiances incorporating time-varying three-dimensional distributions into observation operator. A series DA experiments was conducted for August 2017. We assessed simulated brightness temperatures (BTs), bias correction quality control (QC) algorithms assimilated infrared sensors, analyzed temperature fields. found that taking aerosols account reduces BT thermal window channels (8 to 13 μm) up 4 K over dust-dominant regions. The cooler BTs result more positive first-guess departures, produce negative biases, alter QC checks about 20%/40% total/assimilated observations at wavelength 10.39 μm. As a result, assimilating aerosol-affected produces warmer lower atmosphere sea surface which better agreement with measurements trans-Atlantic region.