Impact of combined AIRS and GPS-RO data in the new version of the Canadian global forecast model

Environment Canada is currently planning to raise the lid of its operational global forecast model GEM (Global Environmental Multiscale) from 10 hPa (~30 km) to 0.1 hPa (~60 km) in the first quarter of 2009. The new version is called GEM-Strato. This project has several major components: changes to the model physics, new vertical coordinate, new background error statistics, and additional data types for the assimilation system. These include AMSU-A stratospheric channels 11-14 in addition to data types recently implemented operationally: AIRS and SSM/I radiances and Quickscat oceanic winds. This paper presents results on the impact of the new model configuration, followed by that of adding the new data types mentioned above, and that from GPS-RO refractivity profiles in the variational assimilation system.