The effect of targeted dropsonde observations during the 1999 winter storm reconnaissance program

Abstract

In this paper, the effects of targeted dropsonde observations on operational global numerical weather analyses and forecasts made at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) are evaluated. The data were collected during the 1999 Winter Storm Reconnaissance field program at locations that were found optimal by the ensemble transform technique for reducing specific forecast errors over the continental United States and Alaska. Two parallel analysis-forecast cycles are compared; one assimilates all operationally available data including those from the targeted dropsondes, whereas the other is identical except that it excludes all dropsonde data collected during the program. It w..