Preliminary Evaluation of FY-3E Microwave Temperature Sounder Performance Based on Observation Minus Simulation

The FY-3E satellite was successfully launched on 5 July 2021 and carries on board the Microwave Temperature Sounder-Ⅲ (MWTS-Ⅲ). In this study, the biases of MWTS-Ⅲ data with respect to simulations are analyzed according to the instrument field of view and location latitude over the Pacific region. The cloud liquid water path (CLWP) over oceans is retrieved from two new window channels at 23.8 and 31.4 GHz and is used for detecting the clouds-affected microwave sounding data. The absolute bias between the observed and simulated brightness temperature (O–B) under the clear sky point is, in general, less than 2.0 K, depending on the MWTS-III channel. The standard deviations of O-B in most channels are less 1.0 K, but they are 1–1.5 K in channels 1–4 and 17. The average and the standard deviation of O−B from the channels 1–10 shows an obvious symmetrical variation with FOV. The evaluation results all indicate good prospects for the assimilation application of FY-3E microwave sounding data.

Evaluation and Assimilation of FY-3C/D MWHS-2 Radiances in the RMAPS-ST

Currently, humidity information can be obtained from the Microwave Humidity Sounder-2 (MWHS-2) mounted on the polar-orbiting satellites FY-3C and FY-3D. However, making full use of the MWHS-2 data remains a challenge, particularly in the application of regional numerical weather models. This study is the first to include MWHS-2 radiance data in the Rapid-refresh Multi-scale Analysis and Prediction System—Short-term (RMAPS-ST) regional model. The results and impact of MWHS-2 radiance data assimilation were investigated and evaluated. It is found that MWHS-2 radiance data can be effectively assimilated in the RMAPS-ST after a series of quality control and variational bias correction. Benefits could be obtained in the reduction of background departures for each humidity sounding channel. Assimilation experiments over a period of one month were carried out, and the impacts of MWHS-2 radiances were quantitatively analyzed on the forecasts of RMAPS-ST system. The results showed that MWHS-2 saw a small but significant improvement for low-level humidity of short-range forecast, by 16.5% and 3.2% in terms of mean bias and root-mean-square error, respectively. The positive impact on short-range forecast also can be found for middle and low level temperature and wind. For quantitative precipitation forecast, the assimilation of MWHS-2 radiances increased the score skills of different rainfall levels in the first 12 h forecast by an average of 1.4%. There was a slight overall improvement in the 24-h precipitation forecast for over-estimation and false alarm of 3-h accumulated rainfall below 1.0 mm, with 0.75% and 0.36%, respectively. The addition of MWHS-2 radiance data gives a small positive impact on low-level humidity, temperature, and wind in the RMAPS-ST regional model, and it also improves short-range forecast of rainfall, particularly in the first 12 h of the forecast.

Studies of FY-3 Observations over the Past 10 Years: A Review

With the rapid advances and abundant observations from Chinese Fengyun-3 (FY-3) meteorological satellites, it is of great interest to summarize a decade of quality assessments of FY-3 observations. The topics covered are noise characterization, bias estimation, striping noise detection and mitigation of striping noise, radio frequency interference detection, geolocation accuracy estimation and improvement, data assimilation cloud detection and quality control for observations from the MicroWave Temperature Sounder (MWTS), the MicroWave Humidity Sounder (MWHS), the MicroWave Radiation Imager (MWRI) and the Hyperspectral Infrared Atmospheric Sounder (HIRAS) instruments on board FY-3A/B/C/D. Whether and how much FY-3 data assimilation could improve the numerical weather forecast skill strongly depends on how well the FY-3 data characteristics and errors listed above are known. This review article shall contribute to promoting internal and national usages of FY-3 observations for weather and climate studies.