Ether and the atmospheric chemistry data assimilation
Abstract
The French atmospheric chemistry data base Ether has been developed and funded by the French Space Agency (CNES) and the Institut National des Sciences de l'Univers (INSU/CNRS) for about 6 years. The role of Ether is to assist French atmospheric researchers, European scientists, as long as they are involved in co-operation agreements with French scientists, to locate, access and interpret atmospheric data. This centre gathers data from satellite, balloon campaigns linked to satellite validation, aircraft and model results for stratospheric and tropospheric purposes and from different levels of production (raw data, physical data, interpolated or assimilated data). All Ether data are available on-line through a World Web interface (http://ether.ipsl.jussieu.fr). Software and added-value services are provided to assist in the manipulation of the data or to generate higher levels standard data products. Extensive information is also provided on the data collection procedures, formats, contact names and references to scientific papers. In addition to data support activities, a major goal of Ether is to promote the creation of different expertise networks on varying atmospheric chemistry topics. The first working group has been created on data assimilation. It consists in gathering expertises in different themes (satellites, assimilation techniques, modelling, real-time processing) in order to optimally develop a tool able to answer different scientific questions relative to the evolution of the Earth atmosphere in terms of chemistry and dynamics. Based on the PALM tool able to interconnect different codes, it will be able to process different satellite data using two atmospheric models and assimilation schemes within the French Ether data base. Ether will focus on the handling and on the development of added-value services of data for which the French community is directly or indirectly involved. For these projects Ether will provide all the data needed, and will retrieve and give access to assimilated data results and to assimilation tools. This expertise in both data handling and, above all, added-value services within Ether will be used in the European ASSET project in order to participate to a more global and virtual centre, gathering expertises in assimilation of different countries.
- Publication:
-
35th COSPAR Scientific Assembly
- Pub Date:
- 2004
- Bibcode:
- 2004cosp...35.3332R