Effect of lateral boundary perturbations on the breeding method and the local ensemble transform Kalman filter for mesoscale ensemble prediction

The effect of lateral boundary perturbations (LBPs) on the mesoscale breeding (MBD) method and the local ensemble transform Kalman filter (LETKF) as the initial perturbations generators for mesoscale ensemble prediction systems (EPSs) was examined. A LBPs method using the Japan Meteorological Agency's (JMA's) operational one-week global ensemble prediction was developed and applied to the mesoscale EPS of the Meteorological Research Institute for the World Weather Research Programme, Beijing 2008 Olympics Research and Development Project. The amplitude of the LBPs was adjusted based on the ensemble spread statistics considering the difference of the forecast times of the JMA's one-week EPS and the associated breeding/ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) cycles. LBPs in the ensemble forecast increase the ensemble spread and improve the accuracy of the ensemble mean forecast. In the MBD method, if LBPs were introduced in its breeding cycles, the growth rate of the generated bred vectors is increased, and the ensemble spread and the root mean square errors (RMSEs) of the ensemble mean are further improved in the ensemble forecast. With LBPs in the breeding cycles, positional correspondences to the meteorological disturbances and the orthogonality of the bred vectors are improved. Brier Skill Scores (BSSs) also showed a remarkable effect of LBPs in the breeding cycles. LBPs showed a similar effect with the LETKF. If LBPs were introduced in the EnKF data assimilation cycles, the ensemble spread, ensemble mean accuracy, and BSSs for precipitation were improved, although the relative advantage of LETKF as the initial perturbations generator against MDB was not necessarily clear. LBPs in the EnKF cycles contribute not to the orthogonalisation but to prevent the underestimation of the forecast error near the lateral boundary. The accuracy of the LETKF analyses was compared with that of the mesoscale 4D-VAR analyses. With LBPs in the LETKF cycles, the RMSEs of the forecasts from the LETKF analysis were improved and some of them became comparable to those of the mesoscale 4D-VAR analyses based on the JMA's operational data assimilation system. These results show the importance of LBPs in the MBD method and LETKF. LBPs are critical not only to ameliorate the underestimation of the ensemble spread in the ensemble forecast but also to produce better initial perturbations and to improve the LETKF analysis.