Satellite visible radiance data that contain rich cloud and precipitation information are increasingly assimilated to improve the forecasts of numerical weather prediction models. This study evaluates the Data Assimilation Research Testbed (DART, Manhattan release v9.8.0), coupled with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model (ARW v4.1.1) and the Radiative Transfer for TOVS (RTTOV, v12.3) package, for assimilating the simulated visible imagery of the FY-4A geostationary satellite located over Asia in an Observing System Simulation Experiment (OSSE) framework. The OSSE was performed for the tropical storm Higos that occurred in 2020 and contains multi-layer mixed-phase cloud and precipitation processes. The advantages and limitations of DART for assimilating FY-4A visible imagery were evaluated. Both single-observation experiments and cycled data assimilation (DA) experiments were performed to study the impact of different filter algorithms available in DART, variables being cycled, observation outlier thresholds, observation errors, and observation thinning. The results show that assimilating visible radiance data significantly improves the analysis of the cloud water path (CWP) and cloud coverage (CFC) from first-guess forecasts. The rank histogram filter (RHF) allows WRF to more accurately simulate CWP and CFC compared with the ensemble adjustment Kalman filter (EAKF) although it took roughly twice as long as the latter. By cycling both cloud and non-cloud variables, specifying large outlier threshold values, or setting smaller observation errors without thinning of observations, WRF achieved a better simulation of CWP and CFC. With model integration, DA of the visible radiance data also generated a slightly positive impact on non-cloud variables as they were adjusted through the model dynamics and physics related to cloud processes. In addition, the DA improved the representation of precipitation. However, the impact on the rain rate is limited by the inabilities of the DA to improve cloud vertical structures and cloud phases. A negative impact of the DA on cloud variables was found due to the nature of the non-linear forward operator and the non-Gaussian distribution of the prior. Future works should explore faster and more accurate forward operators suitable for assimilating FY-4A visible imagery, techniques to reduce the non-linear and non-Gaussian errors, and methods to correct the location errors which correspond to the clouds underestimated by the first guess.

Retrieving cloud vertical structures with satellite remote-sensing measurements is highly desirable and technically challenging. In this paper, the conditional adversarial neural network (CGAN) for retrieving the equivalent cloud radar reflectivity at 94 GHz of the Cloud Profile Radar (CPR) onboard CloudSat is extended and evaluated comprehensively for different cloud types and geographical regions. The CGAN-based retrieval model was extended with additional data samples and improved with a new normalization adjustment. The model was trained with the labeled datasets of the moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) cloud top pressure, cloud water path, cloud optical thickness, and effective particle radius data, and the CloudSat/CPR reflectivity from 2010 to 2017 over the global oceans. The test dataset, containing 24,427 cloud samples, was statistically analyzed to assess the performance of the model for eight cloud types and three latitude zones with multiple verification metrics. The results show that the CGAN model possesses good reliability for retrieving clouds with reflectivity > −25 dBZ. The model performed the best for deep convective systems, followed by nimbostratus, altostratus, and cumulus, but presented a very limited ability for stratus, cirrus, and altocumulus. The model performs better in the low and middle latitudes than in the high latitudes. This work demonstrated that the CGAN model can be used to retrieve vertical structures of deep convective clouds and nimbostratus with great confidence in the mid- and lower latitude region, laying the ground for retrieving reliable 3D cloud structures of the deep convective systems including convective storms and hurricanes from MODIS cloud products and used for predicting these storms.

The Advanced Geostationary Radiation Imager (AGRI) on board the Fengyun (FY)-4A geostationary satellite has provided high-spatiotemporal-resolution visible reflectance data since 12 March 2018. Data assimilation experiments under the framework of observing system simulation experiments have shown the great potential of these data to improve the forecasting skills of numerical weather prediction (NWP) models. To assimilate the AGRI visible reflectance in real-world cases, it is important to evaluate the quality and to quantify the observation errors in these data. In this study, the FY-4A AGRI channel 2 (0.55–0.75 µm) reflectance data (O) were compared with the equivalents (B) derived from the short-term forecasts of the China Meteorological Administration Mesoscale (CMA-MESO) model using the Radiative Transfer for the Television Infrared Observation Satellite Operational Vertical Sounder (RTTOV, v12.3). It is shown that the O–B biases could be used to reveal the abrupt change related to the measurement calibration processes. In general, the O–B departure was positively biased in most cases. Potential causes include the deficiencies of the NWP model, the forward-operator errors, and the unresolved aerosol processes. The relative biases of O–B computed from cloud-free and cloudy pixels were used to correct the systematic biases for the corresponding scenarios over land and sea surfaces separately. In general, the method effectively reduced the O–B biases. Moreover, the bias-correction method based on an ensemble forecast is more robust than a deterministic forecast due to the advantages of the former in dealing with uncertainties in cloud simulations. The findings demonstrate that analyzing the O–B biases has a potential to monitor the performance of the FY-4A AGRI visible instrument and to correct the systematic biases in the observations, which will facilitate the assimilation of these data in conventional data assimilation applications.

The Advanced Geostationary Radiation Imager (AGRI) on board the Fengyun-4A (FY-4A) satellite provides visible radiances that contain critical information on clouds and precipitation. In this study, the impact of assimilating FY-4A/AGRI all-sky visible radiances on the simulation of a convective system was evaluated with an observing system simulation experiment (OSSE) using a localized particle filter (PF). The localized PF was implemented into the Data Assimilation Research Testbed (DART) coupled with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model. The results of a 2-day data assimilation (DA) experiment generated encouraging outcome at a synoptic scale. Assimilating FY-4A/AGRI visible radiances with the localized PF significantly improved the analysis and forecast of cloud water path (CWP), cloud coverage, rain rate, and rainfall areas. In addition, some positive impacts were produced on the temperature and water vapor mixing ratio in the vicinity of cloudy regions. Sensitivity studies indicated that the best results were achieved by the localized PF configured with a localization distance that is equivalent to the model grid spacing (20 km) and with an adequately short cycling interval (30 min). However, the localized PF could not improve cloud vertical structures and cloud phases due to a lack of related information in the visible radiances. Moreover, the localized PF was compared with the ensemble adjustment Kalman filter (EAKF) and it was indicated that the localized PF outperformed EAKF even when the number of ensemble members was doubled for the latter, indicating a great potential of the localized PF in assimilating visible radiances.

Radiative Transfer for TOVS (RTTOV) is a commonly used forward-operator software package for the data assimilation (DA) of satellite visible reflectance data. However, the wide choice of cloud optical parameterizations (COPs) in RTTOV poses challenges in discerning the optimal configuration. In this study, the performance of different COPs was evaluated by comparing the observed and synthetic visible satellite images. Observed images (O) were provided by Fengyun-4B (FY-4B) and Himawari-9, two operational geostationary meteorological satellites covering East Asia. Synthetic images (B) were generated by RTTOV (v12.3) with the discrete ordinate method (DOM) and the Method for FAst Satellite Image Simulation (MFASIS). The inputs to RTTOV were provided by the 3 h forecasts of the China Meteorological Administration Mesoscale (CMA-MESO) model and the fifth-generation European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts reanalysis (ERA5) data. On average for the domain, B was smaller than O, especially in cloudy situations. The minimum O−B bias was revealed for the COP of liquid water clouds in terms of effective diameter (D_eff) in combination with the COP of ice clouds developed by the Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC), with the D_eff for ice clouds parameterized in terms of ice water content and temperature. Compared with the O−B biases, the standard deviations of the O−B departure were less sensitive to COPs. In addition, histogram analysis of reflectance indicated that the synthetic images with the minimum O−B bias resembled the observed images best. Therefore, the optimal cloud optical parameterization was proposed to be the “D_eff + SSEC” suite.

Rapid‐update data assimilation (DA) cycles, particularly during the early stages of the assimilation process, often suffer from physical imbalances that degrade the quality of analyses and lead to a rapid decline in forecast skill. This study evaluates the impact of combining the incremental analysis update (IAU) method with the ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) on the assimilation of observations from a Multi‐Parameter Phased Array Weather Radar. A series of experiments were conducted for two convective precipitation cases using a numerical weather prediction model with a 500‐m horizontal grid resolution and a 1‐min DA interval. The results show that the IAU strategy effectively mitigates the imbalances introduced by intermittent EnKF assimilation. Moreover, IAU maintains a slightly higher ensemble spread while still effectively constraining the analysis toward observations, enhancing ensemble diversity without sacrificing accuracy. The time‐continuous, four‐dimensional assimilation provided by IAU enables the model to gradually develop and refine convective structures during the forward integration, resulting in a more pronounced surface cold pool and deeper updrafts, thereby slowing down the rapid decline of forecast skills, particularly in high‐reflectivity regions. This study indicates that for convective‐scale rapid cycling assimilation at minute intervals, combining IAU with EnKF is a superior approach for improving precipitation forecasts.