Multi-Source Observations and Intelligent Data Assimilation for Improving High-Impact Weather Prediction

A Special Issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433) belonging to the section "Atmospheric Techniques, Instruments, and Modeling".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 February 2027 | Viewed by 991

Editors


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Guest Editor
Key Laboratory of Meteorological Disaster, Ministry of Education (KLME), Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing 211544, China
Interests: doppler weather radar data assimilation; satellite remote sensing observation data assimilation; integrated variational hybrid assimilation system development; wind, solar and other renewable energy research
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Atmospheric Sciences, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing 211544, China
Interests: satellite remote sensing observation data assimilation; radiance data application for cloud retrievals; ensemble–variational data assimilation; radar data assimilation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, with the rapid development of multi-source observation networks—including next-generation weather radar systems, geostationary and polar-orbiting satellites, ground-based GNSS, water vapor detection systems, UAVs, and surface sensor networks—atmospheric science has entered a data-rich era. At the same time, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have shown great potential in model bias correction, observation fusion, and intelligent data assimilation.

This Special Issue will focus on how to integrate multi-source observational data and intelligent algorithms to improve the capability and accuracy of high-impact weather prediction, particularly for severe convective systems, extreme precipitation, typhoons, and other hazardous weather events. We aim to bring together contributions from both methodological innovation and application-oriented studies, encouraging cross-disciplinary approaches that combine atmospheric science, computational techniques, and artificial intelligence.

Topics of Interest

The topics of this Special Issue include, but are not limited to, the following:

Fusion and application of multi-source observational data (radar, satellite, UAV, ground-based networks, etc.);

Data assimilation methods and algorithmic innovations for emerging observation systems;

Applications of artificial intelligence and deep learning in weather forecasting and data assimilation;

Intelligent design of observation networks and strategies for optimal observing systems;

Improvement in extreme weather prediction through high-resolution numerical models and observation fusion;

Cross-scale observational applications in nowcasting and extended-range forecasts.

Dr. Feifei Shen
Dr. Dongmei Xu
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • multi-source observations
  • artificial intelligence in weather forecasting
  • data assimilation
  • high-impact weather prediction
  • extreme weather events
  • intelligent observation networks
  • nowcasting and short-term forecasting
  • machine learning for atmospheric science

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

16 pages, 5241 KB  
Article
Impact of YunYao GNSS-RO Refractivity Data Assimilation on Typhoon Forecasts: A Case Study of Typhoon BEBINCA (2024)
by Liang Kan, Fenghui Li, Jinxiao Li, Manyi Huang, Pengcheng Wang, Yan Cheng, Jiawen Cui, Dan Yan, Wenxi Zhang, Chaochao He, Xuewei Liang, Zili Shen and Wen Zhou
Atmosphere 2026, 17(5), 467; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos17050467 - 30 Apr 2026
Viewed by 503
Abstract
The accuracy of numerical weather prediction largely depends on the quality of the initial conditions. Global Navigation Satellite System radio occultation (GNSS-RO) observations, with their high vertical resolution, play an important role in reducing initial condition errors. In this study, multiple simulations with [...] Read more.
The accuracy of numerical weather prediction largely depends on the quality of the initial conditions. Global Navigation Satellite System radio occultation (GNSS-RO) observations, with their high vertical resolution, play an important role in reducing initial condition errors. In this study, multiple simulations with different initialization times were conducted during the development of Typhoon BEBINCA using the WRF-GSI assimilation system to evaluate the impact of YunYao GNSS-RO observations on improving extreme weather simulation performance and to investigate the sensitivity of refractivity assimilation to different cloud microphysics parameterization schemes. The results show that assimilating YunYao GNSS-RO data significantly improves the consistency between the model initial fields and observations and enhances the analysis quality in the middle and upper troposphere. Compared with ERA5 reanalysis data, the assimilation experiments better reproduce the spatial and temporal evolution of key atmospheric variables, and the improvements persist from 36 h to 120 h forecast lead time. Statistical results from multiple initializations show that the maximum RMSE reductions exceed 0.2 K for temperature, 0.1 m s−1 for wind speed, and geopotential height shows consistent improvements throughout the entire atmosphere. In addition, the assimilation experiments improve the simulation of Typhoon BEBINCA’s track and intensity. Statistical results from multiple initializations indicate that the 84 h track error is reduced by approximately 30 km on average, and the minimum central pressure bias is also reduced. Sensitivity experiments further show that the WSM6 microphysics scheme performs better in track forecasting, while the Thompson scheme is more suitable for intensity forecasting. Overall, YunYao GNSS-RO assimilation effectively improves typhoon forecast accuracy and demonstrates strong potential for operational applications. Full article
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