Influence of targeted observations on short-term forecasts of high-impact weather events in the Mediterranean

Abstract

The influence of targeted observations on short-range forecasts is tested over two different periods of PREVIEW (2008) and MEDEX (2009) data targeting field campaigns for a set of Mediterranean high-impact weather events. As targeted observations we have used not only extra radiosondes, but also enhanced satellite data observed in singular vector (SV)-based sensitive regions. Three parallel observing system experiments, based on the High-Resolution Limited-Area Model (HIRLAM) data assimilation and forecast system, have been conducted. Forecasts of the three experiments have been assessed using both verifying analyses for upper-air fields, and surface observations for several meteorological parameters. Furthermore, quantitative precipitation forecasts (QPF) have been objectively verified using the novel feature oriented Structure–Amplitude–Location (SAL) method.