Verification and Application of FORMOSAT-3 and FORMOSAT-7 Radio Occultation Data

FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC (F3/C1) has served over thirteen years and provided more than six-million radio occultation (RO) soundings, that are beneficial for weather prediction and climate monitoring. FORMOSAT-7/COSMIC-2 (F7/C2) is the follow-on mission and has been successfully launched on 25 June 2019. For the FORMOSAT-3 and FORMOSAT-7 data processing, a data processing verification platform (Taiwan RO Processing System, TROPS) has been developed jointly by the Taiwan scientist team. To assess the TROPS data quantity and quality, we compare the atmospheric products from TROPS and CDAAC. Verifications against radiosondes and satellite retrievals are conducted as well.

For the RO data application, we use a new structure of MPAS model and GSI data assimilation system to investigate the RO data impact on a typhoon prediction. GNSS-RO data were assimilated by using 3DVAR or hybrid algorithms. For both data assimilation algorithms, the MPAS simulations show smaller track errors when RO data are assimilated.