1. 4 th COPS Workshop, Hohenheim, 25 – 26 September 2006 Results of Working Group 4 Data Assimilation & Predictability Teilnehmer: Marco Apagaus, Andrea Moltani, Christian Bartlott, Claudia Wunram, Hannes Thiemann, Raymond McCord, George Craig, Galina Dick, Armin Mathes, Christian Koziar, Hans-Stefan Bauer, Matthias Grzeschik, Florian Zus, Volker Wulfmeyer, Andreas Behrendt

2. 4 th COPS Workshop, Hohenheim, 25 – 26 September 2006 Data Management –How should the model and observed data be provided to the data base? –How should the data be stored in the data base? Real-Time Assimilation –Data format –Best way to provide the data Visualization of COPS / D-PHASE model products Data for the COPS Operation Center Since there were nothing really new to discuss since the last meeting, the discussion focused on practical issues concerning the following points:

3. 4 th COPS Workshop, Hohenheim, 25 – 26 September 2006 Data Management The D-Phase definition for model data (TIGGE) should be used to reduce the amount of data to be send to the data base. The model data for the data base has to be provided in GRIB1 format. Furthermore, „metadata“ has to be provided to describe the single data files provided to the data base. A form will be sent around which collects the information necessary to properly store the data. Observations for the data base shall be provided in NetCDF format. Here, „NetCDF cf“ is preferred, since it defines standard names for the stored parameters  easier comparisons possible. Also for the provided observations the content of the data sets has to be described with „meta data“, since the NetCDF–Headers are not visible in the data base.

4. 4 th COPS Workshop, Hohenheim, 25 – 26 September 2006 Real–Time Assimilation It is essential that we know as soon as possible which data can be provided in real time (within a cut-off time of e.g. 2 hours). A direct communication with the observing groups is essential. The real-time efforts shall be independent of the data base –Data used for real-time assimilation has to be provided within a cut-off time to ensure an operational assimilation cycle. –The assimilating group (as all modeling groups in general) are responsible to store all data necessary to reproduce every single forecast. –In the data base only a subset of the model output is stored. UHOH will provide an ftp Server, where data for the real-time assimilation (that is not automatically stored in the data base in Hamburg) can be stored. However, it is not possible that each observing group provides their own format !  Communication necessary The observing groups using this server have to ensure in addition that their observations are provided to the data base in the expected NetCDF format.

5. 4 th COPS Workshop, Hohenheim, 25 – 26 September 2006 Operational Setup - Overview Blue arrows:Data transport Red: Computing (data processing, assimilation, forecast, …) Green: Idle time (time window for data retrieval) Blue: Observation Interval Black: Technical Problems

6. 4 th COPS Workshop, Hohenheim, 25 – 26 September 2006 Products provided to the Operation Center It is important to define as soon as possible the data links to define who is sending what. It has to be decided as soon as possible which model forecast products and observations are needed by the OC for mission planning. –Is the same information as for D-PHASE necessary or only a subset. From this decision a list of needed plots has to be created. To ensure an easy comparison of the provided model forecasts, it is essential to use one graphics package and the same selected color tables for the vizualisation. Here, the following suggestion was made: –As visualization tool GrADS is suggested, since it is freely available and specialized to visualize model data. –Every modeling group provides a sample GRIB1 file to UHOH. –We try to read and process the data and log problems we run into. –This log is send back to the modelling group and the problems are solved iteratively. –Aim is that at the end a set of scripts are available so that every modeling group can create the necessary plots in quasi real-time. –However, communication is necessary about how the work can be distributed within COPS.