This paper considers implications of different forms of the ensemble transformation in the ensemble square root filters (ESRFs) for the performance of ESRF-based data assimilation systems. It highlights the importance of using mean-preserving solutions for the ensemble transform matrix (ETM). The paper shows that an arbitrary mean-preserving ETM can be represented as a product of the symmetric ...

The problem of an ensemble Kalman filter when only partial observations are available is considered. In particular, the situation is investigated where the observational space consists of variables that are directly observable with known observational error, and of variables of which only their climatic variance and mean are given. To limit the variance of the latter poorly resolved variables a...

Stochastic transmission dynamic models are especially useful for studying the early emergence of novel pathogens given the importance of chance events when the number of infectious individuals is small. However, methods for parameter estimation and prediction for these types of stochastic models remain limited. In this manuscript, we describe a calibration and prediction framework for stochasti...

The analysis step of the (ensemble) Kalman filter is optimal when (1) the distribution of the background is Gaussian, (2) state variables and observations are related via a linear operator, and (3) the observational error is of additive nature and has Gaussian distribution. When these conditions are largely violated, a pre-processing step known as Gaussian anamorphosis (GA) can be applied. The ...

We have developed a method for optimal array design and applied it to a suite of applications, including the design of a surface mooring array in the tropical Indian Ocean (Sakov and Oke 2007). The method builds on the work of Bishop et al. (2001), using data assimilation theory to determine the observation locations that best constrain a data assimilating ocean model. The method seeks to ident...

We develop an assimilation method of high horizontal resolution sea surface temperature data, provided from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS-SST) sensors boarded on the Aqua and Terra satellites operated by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), focusing on the reproducibility of the Kuroshio front variations south of Japan in February 2010. Major concerns...

In the present study, we focus on the assimilation of satellite observations for Surface Soil Moisture (SSM) in a hydrological model. The satellite data are produced in the framework of the EUMETSAT project H-SAF and are based on measurements with the Advanced radar Scatterometer (ASCAT), embarked on the Meteorological Operational satellites (MetOp). The product generated with these measurement...

Contemporary data assimilation often involves more than a million prediction variables. Finite ensemble Kalman filters (EnKF) have been developed by geoscientists. They are successful indispensable tools in science and engineering, because they allow for computationally cheap low ensemble state approximation for extremely large dimensional turbulent dynamical systems. The practical finite ensem...

Many ensemble data assimilation schemes utilize spatial localization so that a small ensemble can capture the unstable degrees of freedom in the model state. These local ensemble-based schemes typically allow the analysis at a given location to depend only on observations near that location. Meanwhile, the location of satellite observations cannot be pinpointed in the same manner as conventiona...

Time-series SAR/InSAR techniques have proven to be effective tools for measuring landslide movements over large regions. Prior studies of these techniques, however, have focused primarily on technical innovation and applications, leaving coupling analysis of slope displacements and trigging factors as an unexplored area of research. Linking potential landslide inducing factors such as hydrology...