Initial Condition Sensitivity and Predictability of a Severe Extratropical Cyclone Using a Moist Adjoint
| By Reinecke, P Alex | |
| Proquest LLC |
ABSTRACT
The sensitivity and predictability of a rapidly developing extratropical cyclone, Xynthia, that had a severe impact on
(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)
1. Introduction
Extratropical cyclones over the North Atlantic and
Given the socioeconomic impact of these storms, ac- curate prediction of severe extratropical cyclones is of growing importance and interest. In spite of the great improvements in numerical weather prediction (NWP) achieved over the past several decades (e.g., Simmons and Hollingsworth 2002; Jung et al. 2006, 2010), these severe cyclones are often a challenge for the operational NWP models to predict (e.g., Shutts 1990;
The mechanisms for the development of these severe extratropical cyclones point to a myriad of dynamical aspects and contributing factors. For example, the
Lorenz (1969) hypothesized that errors due to small- scale motions will grow in amplitude and scale suffi- ciently rapidly such that they result in a limit on the predictive skill of a model, even if the forecast errors can be reduced through either improved initial conditions or the forecast model. Many key questions related to predictability are closely tied to aspects of sensitivity. To better assess these sensitivity issues, a method is re- quired to quantify how specific aspects of predictions will change based on modifications to the model or, as considered in this study, to changes in the initial state. An ensemble of NWP forecasts with perturbed initial conditions or model formulations can be used to quan- tify initial condition or model sensitivity (e.g., Zhang et al. 2002, 2007; Torn and Hakim 2008, 2009; Durran et al. 2013). However, in order to properly represent the distribution of possible forecast outcomes, a large and computationally expensive ensemble is typically needed, especially for high-resolution applications. To quantitatively address sensitivity in an efficient manner, an adjoint model (e.g., Errico 1997) provides the influ- ence of each component of an earlier model state (xt )on a later forecast metric J (for model state x t at time t ),
... (1)
where M is the nonlinear model and J is the response function (referred to as the cost function in data assim- ilation applications). The gradient of J with respect to the initial model state is expressed as
... (2)
where M is the tangent linear model of the nonlinear model M and the superscript T denotes the transpose operation. The adjoint model MT is formulated by re- alizing the transpose of the tangent linear model. The adjoint model forcing J/xt is directly computed through differentiation of J with respect to the model state at time t given that J is a continuous and differen- tiable function.
Adjoint-based systems and tools have been applied to extratropical cyclones for applications that includes initial condition sensitivity and predictability studies (Gelaro et al. 1998; Langland et al. 2002; Coutinho et al. 2004; Hoskins and Coutinho 2005), synoptic-scale dy- namics (Reynolds and Gelaro 2001; Reynolds et al. 2001; Kleist and Morgan 2005a), and targeted observing strategies (Gelaro et al. 1999; Langland et al. 1999; Szunyogh et al. 2000; Leutbecher et al. 2002). A rela- tively high-resolution nested adjoint modeling system is used in this study to quantify the initial condition sensitivity and predictability of processes that influence the rapid development of Xynthia. We make use of the gradient fields derived from the adjoint model to in- terpret the initial condition sensitivity. Furthermore, perturbations are constructed from these gradient cal- culations with initial magnitudes comparable to analysis errors to investigate the growth of structures that are relevant for the predictability of extreme events such as Xynthia.
A number of studies have highlighted the importance of initial condition sensitivity in limiting the predict- ability of extratropical cyclones. The "surprise" snow- storm of
Other studies of extratropical cyclone predictability have emphasized the increased perturbation and error growth that occurs in the presence of moisture (Tan et al. 2004; Hoskins and Coutinho 2005), which is con- sistent with the overall importance of moist processes for rapid development of severe extratropical cyclones (e.g., Wernli et al. 2002). The ensemble results of Zhang et al. (2007) for an idealized baroclinic wave suggest a three-stage error-growth progression. The initial stage features error growth due to small-scale convective in- stability that quickly saturates followed by a progression from unbalanced convective scales to large-scale bal- anced motions, and in the final stage, error growth oc- curs as a result of baroclinic instability. In contrast to this three-stage model, Durran et al. (2013) used a large ensemble to study the predictability of two
The overall objective of this study is to quantify the sensitivity of the intensification of Xynthia to the initial state and to explore the predictability characteristics of this high-impact cyclone. The sensitivity of numerical predictions to the initial moisture state is of particular importance in this event because Xynthia developed rapidly along a filament of anomalously high moisture content in the lower- and midtroposphere. The focus on moisture sensitivity is also of relevance from a cli- mate change perspective, since the strength of extra- tropical storms is sensitive to projected future moisture changes (e.g., Booth et al. 2013). Section 2 contains a description of the models including the adjoint and tangent linear model formulations. A synoptic-scale overview is presented in section 3. Section 4 contains an interpre- tation of the adjoint sensitivity results and the summary and conclusions can be found in section 5.
2. Nonlinear and adjoint numerical model description
a. Nonlinear numerical model
The nonlinear numerical simulations of the evolution of Xynthia are performed using the atmospheric module of the Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Predic- tion System (COAMPS;1 Hodur 1997), which is based on a finite-difference approximation to the fully com- pressible, nonhydrostatic equations and makes use of a terrain-following vertical coordinate transformation. The vertical acoustic modes are solved using a semi- implicit formulation to efficiently integrate the com- pressible equations (Klemp and Wilhelmson 1978). The finite-difference schemes are of second-order accuracy in this study, although higher-order options are avail- able. Fourth-order accurate horizontal diffusion is used for all variables with the exception of perturbation pressure, to mitigate nonlinear instability through the damping of short-wavelength horizontal scales.
The nonlinear model prognostic variables include the u, y , and w components of the wind, the perturbation Exner function (related to the atmospheric pressure), potential temperature, water vapor, microphysical spe- cies, and turbulent kinetic energy (TKE). A terrain- following height coordinate and a horizontally staggered C grid are used. Cloud microphysical processes are rep- resented using explicit moist physics based on a modified version of Rutledge and Hobbs (1983). The subgrid-scale deep convection is parameterized following a modified Kuo convective parameterization (Molinari 1985). The planetary boundary layer and free-atmospheric turbulent mixing and diffusion are parameterized using a prognostic equation for the TKE budget (Hodur 1997). A surface- layer parameterization based on Louis (1979) is used to represent the surface fluxes and a force-restore method is used for the surface energy budget. The nonlinear, adjoint, and tangent linear models use identical physical parameterizations. The physical parameterizations in the adjoint and tangent linear models are formulated with no additional simplifying assumptions relative to the nonlinear model. To avoid significant challenges associated with the more nonlinear aspects of the physics, ice processes and radiative processes are neglected.
The nonlinear, adjoint, and tangent linear models are applied in a nested grid mesh mode. The horizontal grid increment for the coarse and fine meshes are 45 and 15 km, respectively, each with 45 vertical levels. The coarse mesh contains 201 3 161 grid points and the fine mesh comprises 121 3 121 points. A sponge upper- boundary condition is applied to mitigate the reflection of vertically propagating gravity waves over the top 10 km of the model, with the model top located at 30 km. Topography is based on a 1-km resolution digital ele- vation model [i.e., the Global Land One-km Base Ele- vation (GLOBE), http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/topo/ globe.html].
The initial conditions are created from multivariate optimum interpolation (MVOI) analyses (Barker 1992) of upper-air sounding, surface, commercial aircraft, and satellite data that are quality controlled. The analysis background fields and the lateral boundary conditions for the outer most grid mesh are based on the Navy Operational Global Atmospheric Prediction System (NOGAPS) forecast fields (Hogan and Rosmond 1991; Peng et al. 2004).
b. Adjoint and tangent linear models
The tangent linear and adjoint COAMPS (Amerault et al. 2008) models include the nonhydrostatic dynami- cal core, as well as the TKE, cumulus, and explicit moist physics parameterizations. In this study, only warm-rain processes are included to minimize the inherent non- linearities associated with the microphysics, although the adjoint and tangent linear models include ice, snow, and graupel microphysical species (Doyle et al. 2012). The decision points or switches that may result in dis- continuities are identical in the nonlinear, tangent lin- ear, and adjoint models (Zou et al. 1993; Vukicevic and Errico 1993). The nonlinear model's trajectory is saved every time step to provide sufficient accuracy for the adjoint and tangent linear models. Gradients and per- turbations associated with the vertical diffusion are ne- glected in the adjoint and tangent linear models (Mahfouf 1999). These adjoint simulations are considerably higher resolution (45- and 15-km grid meshes) than applied in previous adjoint- and singular vector-based studies of extratropical cyclones [e.g., 150 km in Langland et al. (2002), 175 km in Coutinho et al. (2004), 60 km in Kleist and Morgan (2005a), 24-216 km in Ancell and Mass (2006), and 45 km in Ancell and Mass (2008)].
c. Adjoint optimal perturbations
In this study, optimal perturbations are derived using the adjoint, and evolved using both the tangent linear and nonlinear models (Errico and Raeder 1999; Rabier et al. 1996; Oortwijn and Barkmeijer 1995). Perturba- tions to a scalar measure J of the forecast are expressed as
... (3)
where J/xj is the gradient (from the adjoint) of the scalar measure or response function with respect to the jth component of the initial condition. All components of x and x0 are at time t0 in Eqs. (3)-(6), however, for clarity purposes the subscript has been removed. The jth component of the perturbation vector x0 is optimal when defined such that
... (4)
for weights wj. The solution in Eq. (4) is found by im- posing a constraint I,
... (5)
and the scaling parameter s is determined by applying Eq. (4) to Eq. (5) to obtain
... (6)
The weights are calculated from the largest forecast differences of the state components on each vertical level k and for each variable m:
... (7)
where the subscript t0 corresponds to the initial time, 0 h, and tr is the final time, 36 h in this application. For ex- ample, if the largest 36-h forecast difference in the zonal wind speed on the seventh model level was 4 m s21, then all of wj values for zonal wind speed would be set to 1/16 m2 s22 on that same model level. In practice, the value of the constraint, I, is not calculated. Instead, the gradient values from the adjoint model are multiplied by the inverse of the weights. To complete the right-hand side of Eq. (4), the scaling, s (with units of J21), is de- termined such that the largest perturbation of the zonal wind speed, potential temperature, or water vapor does not exceed 1 m s21, 1 K, or 1 g kg21, respectively. Ap- plying this scaling to the result of the multiplication mentioned above completes the perturbation compu- tation. The perturbation magnitudes can serve as a lower bound for the analysis errors since they are com- parable to the errors assigned to radiosonde and drop- sonde observations in the data assimilation system, which are 1 K, 1.8 m s21, and 10% relative humidity at 925 mb (;1-1.5 g kg21). The optimal perturbations are calculated for the zonal u, meridional y , and vertical w wind speed components, potential temperature u, the Exner pressure perturbation p, mixing ratio q,andthemi- crophysical species (cloud water and rainwater). The TKE is the only prognostic variable that is not perturbed. Kinetic energy, ½(u2 1
3. Synoptic-scale overview
The extratropical cyclone Xynthia developed over the subtropical ocean to the south of the Azores Islands on
The extratropical cyclone developed along a filament of enhanced moisture, which emanated from the sub- tropics and was oriented along a southwest to northeast corridor, as apparent in the water vapor composite valid at
4. Adjoint sensitivity results
An analysis of the nonlinear, adjoint, and tangent linear model simulations of Xynthia is presented in this section in order to explore the sensitivity to the initial state and related predictability issues. A number of different nonlinear, adjoint, and tangent linear numeri- cal simulations are performed to elucidate various as- pects of the sensitivity and predictability of the storm.
a. Nonlinear model simulation
The nonlinear model 36-h integration begins with a cold start initialization at
To further evaluate the skill and fidelity of the non- linear model simulation, the 10-m wind speed valid at
b. Accuracy of adjoint and tangent linear models, and tangent linear approximation
The COAMPS tangent linear and adjoint models have undergone a suite of tests for correctness and accuracy. A gradient check and perturbation test have been con- ducted, the results of which indicate that the adjoint has been accurately coded. The results of these tests for the codes are discussed in Amerault et al. (2008). The gradient fields are used to construct optimal perturba- tions in order to test the validity of the tangent linear approximation.
The optimal perturbations derived from the adjoint gradients and evolved in the tangent linear and non- linear models are used to evaluate the validity of the tangent linear approximation for the integration length (36 h) and resolutions considered in this study [see similar evaluation for this model in Doyle et al. (2012) for a tropical application]. The nonlinear perturbation is defined as the difference between the nonlinear forecast from the control state and the nonlinear forecast from the perturbed state. The tangent linear model is considered useful when the nonlinear and tangent-linear-evolved perturbations at the final time are similar in magnitude and pattern. We examine both the coarse mesh (45-km resolution grid) and nested grid (15-km resolution grid) simulations. Both of these simulations include microphysical and con- vective parameterizations. The evolved zonal velocity perturbations u0 at 850 hPa in the nonlinear and tangent linear models are shown in Figs. 6a and 6b, re- spectively, for the coarse mesh at the 36-h integration time. The evolved zonal velocity perturbation patterns are quite similar for the nonlinear and tangent linear simulations. The domain-wide correlations (all vertical levels) between the nonlinear and tangent linear model simulations at the final time (36 h) are 0.83 for both the u-wind component and potential temperature, for the coarse mesh simulation.
At higher resolution, nonlinearities become more important and saturation processes involving moist physical parameterizations, which often include discrete branches and on/off switches, are more prominent. Ancell and Mass (2006) found that for perturbations made in sensitive regions, the tangent linear approxi- mation degrades at finer grid spacing. In spite of these challenges associated with an increase in resolution, the evolved u0 perturbations (36 h) for the moist non- linear and tangent linear simulations that use a 15-km grid increment in the nested grid mesh, shown in Figs. 6c and 6d, respectively, are overall very similar. However, the magnitude of the perturbations are considerably larger in the tangent linear than nonlinear model, in part because the perturbation growth saturates because of nonlinearities in the nonlinear simulation. The correla- tions between the tangent linear and nonlinear simula- tions at the final time on the fine mesh are 0.63 and 0.58 for the 850-hPa u-wind component and potential tem- perature, respectively. The correlations for the fine mesh grid are less than that of the coarse mesh; however, this is to be expected because of the greater importance of nonlinearities at higher resolution, as well as the in- creasing influence of moisture processes on these scales, which introduce additional nonlinearities. Overall, the agreement between evolved perturbations in the non- linear and tangent linear models is reasonable, which lends confidence that the tangent linear model is useful for both the coarse and fine mesh resolutions over the 36-h integration period.
c. Adjoint sensitivity
The adjoint and tangent linear models are applied to investigate the initial condition sensitivity for Xynthia using an initialization time of
The sensitivity of the 36-h kinetic energy to the initial 700-hPa water vapor, displayed in Fig. 7b, is character- ized by a narrow maximum elongated in the southwest- northeast direction and oriented along the 700-hPa mean wind direction at the leading edge of the short- wave trough. The water vapor sensitivity is located near the northern edge of the enhanced region of precipitable water (Figs. 2a,b). Likewise, the potential temperature sensitivity (Fig. 7c) shows a similar elongated structure. The results suggest that moistening and warming along the narrow filament of sensitivity at the initial time leads to a strengthening of the storm. Although a large region of enhanced moisture is indicated in Fig. 2b, only a relatively small portion of this atmospheric river at the initial time was critically important for the development of Xynthia. The moisture sensitivity [(m2 s22)(gkg21)21] has maxi- mum numerical values that are approximately 5-10 times greater than the horizontal wind sensitivity (m s21) and 1.5 times greater than the potential temperature sensitivity [(m2 s22)K21]. These sensitivity fields for each variable have different units making their direct com- parison somewhat less clear. However, when these sen- sitivities are scaled by typical values of observational uncertainty, approximately, 1-1.5 g kg21,1.8ms21,and 1 K, the moisture sensitivity clearly dominates with tem- perature sensitivity second largest. The dominance of the moisture sensitivity is overall consistent with numerous other studies that underscore the importance of moisture and diabatic heating for extratropical cyclogenesis (e.g., Kuo et al. 1991).
The vertical structure of the water vapor adjoint sensitivity and PV optimal perturbation fields is shown in Figs. 8a and 8b, respectively. The vertical cross section has a northwest-southeast orientation approximately normal to the banded moisture and temperature sensi- tivity region at 700 hPa (Fig. 7a) and the low- and mid- level front. The water vapor sensitivity is a maximum along the sloping warm frontal zone, with a secondary maximum just above the boundary layer near the 1-km altitude. The sensitivity suggests moistening along the narrow sloping band of positive sensitivity will lead to further intensification of the winds at the 36-h time near the coast of
A proxy for the PV sensitivity, computed using the adjoint optimal perturbations (Fig. 8b), also exhibits a narrow maximum along the sloping frontal zone, al- though the slope of the PV sensitivity bands is shallower than that of the water vapor sensitivity. The bands of maximum PV sensitivity are positioned beneath the upper-level jet in a region of strong vertical wind shear, qualitatively similar to the coarser-resolution singular vectors of Reynolds et al. (2001). When the optimal perturbation is added to the control analysis, the PV sensitivity maximum connects the low-level PV anomaly with a narrow PV region in the upper portion of the front (as shown by the bold purple contour corresponding to 0.5 PVU in Fig. 8b), which may be an indication of a tropopause fold. Increasing and sharpening the PV concentrated in this sloping maximum along the front will promote a strengthening of the winds at the 36-h time.
The 36-h forecast of Xynthia's intensity is most sen- sitive to regions in the lower and midtroposphere along the warm frontal zone. This sensitivity is further illus- trated through examination of the water vapor sensi- tivity interpolated to the 300-K surface, shown in Fig. 9. The moisture sensitivity is a maximum in a narrow re- gion along the warm conveyor belt (e.g., Harrold 1973; Browning et al. 1973; Carlson 1980; Eckhardt et al. 2004) and embedded within the low-level jet and in the region of strongest ascent along the isentropic surface. It is noteworthy that the positive moisture sensitivity maxi- mum in the sloped ascent region is flanked by negative sensitivity minima to the east and west, which under- scores the necessity of accurately representing the moisture field in the warm conveyor belt in the initial state, in particular the position and gradients associated with the moist filament (Figs. 2a,b). This implies that moisture gradients within atmospheric rivers are po- tentially important.
The development and intensification of Xynthia oc- curred over the relatively warm subtropical waters west of
While quantifying the analysis errors is inherently difficult, assessing the differences between two cycling analysis systems, in this case COAMPS and NOGAPS, can provide some insight into the nature of the analysis uncertainty and error growth. The analysis difference be- tween the two modeling systems (COAMPS 2 NOGAPS) at 850 hPa for the water vapor, potential temperature, and potential vorticity is shown in Figs. 11a-c, respectively, along with the hatched regions of large sensitivity (and adjoint perturbations for PV). The differences between the moisture analyses (Fig. 11a) are particularly large in the region of the moist plume where the moisture sen- sitivity is generally large (hatching in Fig. 11a). The differences in the water vapor between the two analyses are greater than 1 g kg21 over large regions, particularly along the coast of
d. Adjoint optimal perturbation characteristics
The results of several numerical experiments provide further insight into the characteristics of the adjoint optimal perturbations, as well as the predictability of intense cyclones such as Xynthia. A pair of simulations is conducted with positive and negative signs on the ad- joint optimal perturbations that are introduced into the nonlinear COAMPS model at the initial time (
The evolution of the vertical structure of the adjoint perturbation is complex in this case, although many similarities are apparent to previous adjoint and singular vector studies (e.g., Badger and Hoskins 2001; Reynolds et al. 2001; Ancell and Mass 2006). Initially, the sensi- tivity fields and adjoint optimal perturbations exhibit a marked up-shear tilt in this study along the sloping warm conveyor belt and frontal system. The sloped perturbations extract energy from the mean flow as they are untilted by it (Farrell 1988, 1989; Lacarra and Talagrand 1988; Borges and Hartmann 1992). Buizza and Palmer (1995) describe an amplifying Rossby wave packet that is characterized by a phase tilt against the vertical shear that leads to the group velocity being focused toward the jet core, which results in an increase in the intrinsic frequency and energy growth, while the propagation and refraction of the wave packet into the jet leads to a de- crease in the tilt with time. In the case of Xynthia, the sloping PV optimal perturbation maximum implies that a sharpening and redistribution of the PV, essentially providing a more continuous PV maximum between the low-level and upper-level anomalies (Fig. 8), will lead to intensification of the low-level winds. These re- sults are broadly consistent with the simple-model re- sults of Badger and Hoskins (2001) and Morgan (2001) that suggest that the interaction between internal PV anomalies and surface thermal anomalies is an im- portant part of SV perturbation growth and evolution. However, this interaction discussed in these studies oc- curs after the initial fast-growth phase dominated by the PV unshielding.
The perturbation growth is quite sensitive to the lo- cation of the adjoint optimal perturbations. When the initial adjoint optimal perturbations are shifted by 10 grid cells to the west (or 450 km), the resultant growth in the nonlinear model is reduced considerably, as appar- ent in Fig. 13, which compares the 925-hPa u-wind component perturbation at 36 h on the fine mesh for the simulation with the unshifted initial-time perturbation field, (Fig. 13a) and the simulation with the shifted ini- tial-time perturbation field (Fig. 13b). The maximum perturbation 10-m wind speed is 3 m s21 after 36 h, in contrast to 20.6 m s21 in the positive (unshifted) per- turbation simulation.
A comparison of the domain-averaged total energy of the initial- and final-time adjoint optimal perturbations is shown in Fig. 14. Here we compute the dry total en- ergy following Ehrendorfer et al. (1999) and Errico et al. (2004), defined as
... (8)
where i, j, k are horizontal and vertical gridpoint indices; N is the number of points; u and y are the wind com- ponents; T is the temperature; R 5 287.04Jkg21K21 is the gas constant; Cp 5 1005.7 J kg21 K21 is the specific heat of air at constant pressure; Tr 5 300 K and psr 5 1000 hPa are reference T and ps values, respectively; and a prime indicates a perturbation. The D s is a factor that accounts for the normalized mass in each layer. The initial perturbations are scaled so that the potential temperature, wind velocity, and moisture are of similar magnitude as typical analysis errors as discussed above.
The domain-averaged total dry energy and individual terms in Eq. (8) for the initial perturbations (Fig. 14a) indicate a well-defined peak in the middle troposphere with a maximum in the 4-6-km layer and a secondary maximum near 1.5 km. The total energy is dominated by the available potential energy at the initial time. This is to be expected because the temperature sensitivity is approximately 5 times greater than the wind sensitivity (e.g., Fig. 6). Rapid total energy perturbation growth (by a factor of over 104) ensues during the 36-h adjoint in- tegration period with the kinetic energy dominant by the final time (Fig. 14b). The growth is large throughout the troposphere, with the strongest growth near the jet stream level (;8 km) and a low-level secondary maxi- mum (;2 km). The upper-level maximum at final time occurs at the same altitude as the upper-tropospheric jet.
The evolution of the perturbation u-wind component power spectrum for the coarse mesh domain at 1500 m, shown in Fig. 15, provides further insight into the char- acteristics of the adjoint optimal perturbations. The spectra are an average of every other two-dimensional zonal slice over the domain for the coarse mesh. The spectra are shown every 2 h during the integration of the tangent linear model. The initial-time adjoint optimal perturbations have an energy peak at a ;900-km wavelength with secondary maxima at 1300 and 700 km. During the 6-24-h period, a primary or secondary maxi- mum in the spectrum occurs at relatively short wave- lengths of ;600-800 km. Perturbation growth overall occurs rapidly and generally shifts upscale to a ;1200 km wavelength after 36 h. This rapid perturbation growth is consistent with unshielding (Orr 1907; Farrell 1982) of the midtropospheric optimal perturbations and the subsequent vertical superposition of PV anomalies that occurs in the region of sloped ascent and latent heating along the warm conveyor belt, which in turn reinforces the baroclinic growth.
e. Dry simulation
The adjoint sensitivity results highlight the impor- tance of moisture within the ascending warm conveyor belt region. To examine the role of moisture further, a simulation was conducted without moist processes in- cluding latent heating in the nonlinear, adjoint, and tangent linear models. The dry nonlinear forecast has a weaker and slower-moving cyclone by the 36-h time with a cen- tral pressure of 980 hPa and maximum 10-m wind speed of 12.5 m s21 over the Bay of Biscay in contrast to the 960-hPa central pressure and 32 m s21 wind speed maximum over the bay in the control. The sensitivity of the 36-h forecast kinetic energy, within the response function box surrounding the strongest winds (as pre- viously discussed), to the initial potential temperature at 700 hPa for the dry simulation is shown in Fig. 16a. The sensitivity is a maximum in the sloped region along the warm front, similar to the control sensitivity (e.g., Fig. 7c), however, the maximum sensitivity in the dry simu- lation is spatially more expansive and attains a smaller sensitivity maximum (0.08 m2 s22 K21), only one-third that of the control (0.25 m2 s22 K21). The growth rate of the adjoint optimal perturbations is considerably slower in the dry simulation relative to the control. For exam- ple, the optimal u-wind component perturbation at 925 hPa evolved in the nonlinear model at 36 h, shown in Fig. 16b, indicates a maximum of 19 m s21, which is ;40% weaker than the control maximum of 31 m s21 (Fig. 13a). The vertically integrated total energy of the evolved adjoint optimal perturbations at the 36-h time isreducedbyafactorof20inthedrysimulationrel- ative to the control (Fig. 14b). It should be noted that a simulation using the moist trajectory with an adjoint that excludes moist processes yields relatively similar sensitivity and perturbation growth results to the simulation that excludes moist processes in both the nonlinear trajectory and adjoint. Overall these results are consistent with the findings of Ancell and Mass (2008) in that the inclusion of moisture in both the forward and adjoint models produces quite different sensitivity fields relative to a fully dry nonlinear and adjoint simulation. Additionally, they found that a simulation, which excludes moisture from the adjoint model but retains moisture in the nonlinear trajectory, to be very similar to that from a fully dry nonlinear and adjoint integration.
5. Summary and conclusions
To quantify the initial condition sensitivity and pre- dictability of the high-impact extratropical cyclone Xynthia, we have applied a high-resolution nonhydrostatic nested adjoint modeling system with microphysics to simulate the life cycle of this storm over the east At- lantic. The high resolution and moist capabilities of the adjoint modeling system allow us to address sensitivity and predictability of severe extratropical cyclones such as Xynthia more completely and with greater fidelity than possible in previous studies. The extratropical cy- clone Xynthia had a large socioeconomic impact on
The adjoint diagnostics indicate that the intensity and aerial extent of severe winds associated with the front just prior to landfall were particularly sensitive to per- turbations in the moisture and temperature fields and to a lesser degree the wind fields. The sensitivity maxima are generally found in the low- and midlevels and ori- ented in a sloped region along the warm front and maximized within the warm conveyor belt. The moisture sensitivity indicates that only a relatively small filament of moisture within the atmospheric river at the initial time was critically important for the development of Xynthia. The moisture sensitivity has maximum values that are approximately 5-10 times greater than the horizontal wind sensitivity and ;1.5 times greater than the temperature sensitivity when the fields are scaled by typical values of observational uncertainty. The PV optimal perturbations at the initial time are positioned beneath the upper-level jet in a region of strong vertical wind shear with a sloping maximum that connects the low-level PV anomaly with a narrow PV region in the upper portion of the front.
The development and intensification of Xynthia oc- curred along the northern portion of a region where the SST anomalies were 18-28C warmer than the climato- logical average. The inclusion of surface flux and boundary layer parameterizations in the adjoint provides a method to quantify the sensitivity of the strong winds at the final time (36 h) to the initial SST. The SST sensitivity max- imum is positioned in a swath to the right of the track of the surface cyclone within the warm sector of the storm. The strength of the near surface winds at 36 h is most sensitive to the SST during the period when Xynthia undergoes rapid intensification, with the strongest sen- sitivity located well to the southwest of the final position of the cyclone.
The nested application of the nonhydrostatic moist adjoint modeling system provides an opportunity to examine perturbation growth on finer scales than pre- viously addressed. Adjoint-based optimal perturbations introduced into the tangent linear and nonlinear models, with initial magnitudes comparable to analysis errors (;1ms21, 1 K, and 1 g kg21), exhibit rapid growth with a perturbation 10-m wind speed maximum in excess of 20 m s21 at the 36-h time. In contrast, initial perturba- tions of the opposite sign lead to substantial weakening of the low-level jet (perturbation wind speed minimum of less than 220 m s21 opposing the basic state flow) and a marked reduction in the spatial extent of the strong low-level winds, which would produce weaker waves and a smaller surge. When the initial adjoint optimal perturbations are shifted by 10 grid cells to the west (or 450 km), the resultant growth is reduced substantially, such that the maximum perturbation 10-m wind speed is 3 m s21 after 36 h, in contrast to more than 20 m s21 in the control perturbation simulation. This result sug- gests that the overall growth is quite sensitive to the location and structure of the initial perturbations, which is particularly important for predictability given the nature of the finescale gradients associated with the front. Analysis differences between the COAMPS and NOGAPS cycling data assimilation systems project onto these mesoscale sensitivity regions, and to the de- gree that these reflect potential analysis errors, point to the potential for rapid forecast error growth.
The adjoint optimal perturbations show a total energy maximum in the midtroposphere (near 500 hPa) that grows rapidly over the 36-h integration period and the growth proceeds throughout the depth of the tropo- sphere. At the initial time, the total energy is dominated by the available potential energy. Rapid growth of the perturbation total energy ensues during the 36-h in- tegration, with the kinetic energy dominant by the final time. The sensitivity fields and adjoint optimal pertur- bations exhibit a marked up-shear tilt along the sloping warm conveyor belt and frontal system and the pertur- bations extract energy from the mean flow as they are untilted by the shear, which is consistent with the PV unshielding mechanism. The evolution of the perturba- tion u-wind component power spectrum indicates that perturbation growth occurs rapidly and shifts upscale to a ; 1200-km wavelength after 36 h.
This study demonstrates the utility of a high-resolution nonhydrostatic adjoint modeling system to provide an efficient and accurate method to diagnose sensitivity and quantify predictability of high-impact mesoscale phenomena, such as Xynthia. The adjoint results sug- gest that in spite of the severe socioeconomic damage attributed to the cyclone, the situation could have been considerably worse. The adjoint sensitivity and optimal perturbation experiments point to scenarios with even stronger low-level jets that are more spatially expan- sive as reasonable possibilities, which presumably would have posed a greater flooding and wind damage risk. The results underscore the need for more accurate moisture observations and data assimilation systems that can ad- equately assimilate these observations in order to reduce the forecast uncertainties as much as possible in severe extratropical cyclones. However, given the nature of the sensitivities and the potential for rapid perturbation and error growth, the intrinsic predictability of these severe cyclones is likely limited. The results motivate the need for high-resolution ensembles to quantify the forecast uncertainty and provide probabilistic guidance to miti- gate the impact of severe extratropical cyclones.
Acknowledgments. This research is supported by the Chief of
1 COAMPS is a registered trademark of the
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JAMES D. DOYLE,CLARK AMERAULT,CAROLYN A. REYNOLDS, AND P. ALEX REINECKE
(Manuscript received
Corresponding author address:
E-mail: [email protected]
DOI: 10.1175/MWR-D-13-00201.1
| Copyright: | (c) 2014 American Meteorological Society |
| Wordcount: | 11333 |



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