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--> --> --> -->2.1. SV theory
For an initial state vector X, ifHere () means
where
in which
The solution of the SV can be achieved with the largest ratio of the evolved perturbed vector to the initial perturbed vector:
where
Then, Eq. (4) can be written as:
Equation (5) can be converted into a singular value decomposition problem:
where
Many studies have shown that using the energy norm to calculate SVs can obtain mesoscale baroclinic perturbations (Hoskins and Coutinho, 2005; Diaconescu and Laprise, 2012; Liu et al., 2013).
The input and output variables of the GRAPES TLM and adjoint models in the process of solving the GRAPES-SV are the perturbed wind speeds
where
Ehrendorfer et al. (1999) studied the perturbation growth characteristics of SVs under moist physics and proposed that the use of moist energy norms may lead to the unclear growth of disturbances. Hoskins and Coutinho (2005) pointed out that the SV with perturbed water vapor is similar to that without perturbed water vapor, so the dry energy norm is a better choice for calculating SVs. ECMWF uses the total energy norm (i.e., the dry energy norm without water vapor) for calculating SVs. To make a clean comparison between the moist TLM and dry TLM, this paper also uses the energy norm without water vapor.
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2.2. Linearized moist physical processlarge-scale condensation
The linearized large-scale condensation process developed by Liu et al. (2019) is the large-scale cloud and precipitation scheme developed by Tompkins and Janisková (2004). This scheme describes the relationship between moist processes and clouds. The governing equation for humidity is:where
The governing equation for temperature is:
where
To avoid the abnormal growth of some false perturbations in the TLM, some constraints and conventions are derived from ECMWF (2017). It can be seen from the above formulae that the calculation of SVs by large-scale condensation is mainly reflected in the temperature and humidity. However, since the SV adopts the dry energy norm, the effect of large-scale condensation is mainly reflected in the temperature term.
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2.3. GRAPES-GEPS settings
The initial conditions of the control forecast in the ensemble prediction system are derived from the GRAPES 4DVAR method (Zhang et al, 2019) with a horizontal resolution of 0.5° and 60 vertical layers (The parameters of SV is showed in Table 1). After 60 iterations with the Lanczos algorithm, approximately 30 SVs can be produced in GRAPES-GEPS. These 30 SVs can be combined with random (Gaussian) linear combinations to form 30 initial perturbations. In this study, the evolved SVs were not involved in the initial perturbation, and the model perturbation was shut down. The complete test period ranged from 1200 UTC 1 May to 1200 UTC 5 May 2019, and from 1200 UTC 16 May to 1200 UTC 20 May 2019, spanning a total of 10 cases, the evolved time of the initial perturbation was 48 h, the ensemble forecast time was 240 h, and the forecast interval was 24 h. During this period, the atmospheric circulation in the Northern Hemisphere exhibits the characteristics of summer. In addition, the monsoon begins, meaning precipitation is abundant in South China.Parameter | Setting |
Horizontal resolution | 2.5° × 2.5° |
Vertical levels | 60 layers |
Southern Hemisphere | 80°?20°S |
Northern Hemisphere | 20°?80°N |
Optimal time interval | 48 h |
Norm | Energy norm |
Table1. SV calculation parameters.
In the original SV calculation process, only the linearized boundary layer scheme, including the terrain parameterization scheme and vertical diffusion, is used. In this study, large-scale condensation was added to calculate the SV, and the result was compared with that of the original SV scheme. The experimental setup is shown in Table 2.
Test name | Linearized physical process |
DRY-SV | Linearized PBL scheme |
MOIST-SV | Linearized PBL + large-scale condensation |
Table2. Different test sets of linearized physical processes in the SV calculation.
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3.1. Energy analysis
33.1.1. Energy norm at the initial time and the evolved time
Statistical analysis was performed on the results of the 10 test cases. Figure 1 shows the distribution of the 10-case average energy norm of the SV at the initial time and the difference between the moist SV and dry SV. As shown in Fig. 1c1 and c2, in the Northern Hemisphere, the proportion of internal energy (red) in the moist SV energy is larger than that of the kinetic energy (blue), indicating that the moist physical process mainly affects the temperature term of the SV. The large-scale condensation process mainly affects precipitation through the temperature term, which is consistent with the above. The growth of the energy at the initial time in the Southern Hemisphere has similar characteristics, but the growth rate is not as large as that in the Northern Hemisphere. This may be due to different seasonal characteristics; at the initial time, the Southern Hemisphere is in winter, and the precipitation characteristics are not obvious. Therefore, the influence of large-scale condensation on the SV structure is reflected mainly in the temperature and further affects precipitation by releasing the latent heat of condensation.Figure1. Schematic diagram of the SV energy norm (units: J m?3) at the initial time. The left-hand column is the Northern Hemisphere and the right column is the Southern Hemisphere. Blue represents the kinetic energy (kic). Red and green are the internal energy containing the temperature term (thp) and the pressure term (pip), respectively. (a1, a2) DRY-SV; (b1, b2) MOIST-SV; (c1, c2) MOIST-SV minus DRY-SV.
It can be seen from Fig. 2 that at the evolved time (48 h), the proportion of the energy norm of the moist SV is similar to that of the dry SV, while the energy norm of the moist SV is nearly twice that of the dry SV. From the differences between the moist SV and dry SV (Figs. 2c1 and c2), the increase in kinetic energy (blue) in the evolved moist SV is more significant than that in the evolved dry SV, and the internal energy of temperature also increases. The reason is that the SVs are defined as the fastest-growing perturbation at the evolved time. Therefore, the evolved SVs represent the growth in the perturbation energy of the initial SV. There is a significant increase in the internal energy of the moist SV after tangent linear integration, which may be due to the release of the latent heat of condensation. Compared to the evolved dry SV, the addition of the linearized large-scale condensation process increases not only the internal energy but also the kinetic energy of the moist SV. This is due to the interaction among the physical processes that produces feedback between the variables; that is, the growth of internal energy promotes the growth of kinetic energy.
Figure2. As in Fig. 1 but for the energy norm (units: J m?3) at the evolved time (48 h).
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3.1.2. Vertical distribution of energy norm
By averaging the energy norm of the 30 SVs in the vertical direction, the energy norm vertical profile in Fig. 3 can be obtained. The peak initial energy norm of the dry SV in the Northern Hemisphere is found approximately in the layers 28?30 (the middle layer of the troposphere), while the peak distribution of the initial energy norm of the moist SV is approximately in layers 20?25. Compared to the total energy norm of the dry SV, the total energy norm of the lower layer in the moist SV is increased. The perturbation energy norm of the evolved dry SV features two peaks: one transmitting upward and one transmitting downward. The upward peak is related to the jet, which is consistent with previous research (Coutinho et al., 2004; Li and Liu, 2019). The evolved moist SV maintains this feature, and it can be seen that the energy norm of the valley (layers 15?20, corresponding to 850?700 hPa) between the two peaks also increases, and this increase is mainly reflected in the internal energy. The Southern Hemisphere also has similar characteristics. However, the two-peak structure at the evolved time in the Southern Hemisphere is less obvious, and the downward energy norm peak is weaker than the upward energy norm peak. In general, the addition of the linearized large-scale condensation process maintains the basic characteristics of the energy distribution of the dry SV and simultaneously increases the perturbation energy norm in the lower layer of the troposphere. This tends to stimulate the instability of the middle and lower layers.Figure3. Vertical distribution of the energy norm (units: J m?3). The left-hand column is the Northern Hemisphere and the right column is the Southern Hemisphere. (a1, a2) DRY-SV; (b1, b2) MOIST-SV. The black line is the initial time (magnified 10 times) and the red line is the evolved time. The solid line is the total energy (TE) norm and the dashed line is the kinetic energy (KE) norm.
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3.2. Spectral analysis
The grid data of GRAPES can be converted to spectral coefficients, and the variables can be expanded according to spherical harmonic functions. Then, the energy spectrum can be written as a function related only to the total number of spherical waves. The results of an energy spectrum analysis at different heights are shown in Fig. 4. From this figure, at 500 hPa (Figs. 4a1 and a2), the energy spectrum peak of the dry SV at the initial time is at approximately 15 wavelengths, while the evolution time is at 12?13 wavelengths; that is, the propagation energy is increasing (Coutinho et al., 2004; Li and Liu, 2019). This increase in the propagation energy is a feature that distinguishes the subtropical SV from the Lyapunov vector. The moist SV also maintains this feature, and at the initial time, the energy spectrum peak of the moist SV is at approximately 20 wavelengths, and the scale is smaller than that of the dry SV. At the evolved time, the energy spectrum of the moist SV exhibits increasing propagation energy. Compared to that of the dry SV, the growth in the total energy of the moist SV is reflected at 15?40 wavelengths; that is, the energy growth caused by the moist SV manifests as a relatively small-scale weather system. At 850 hPa, the moist SV energy is more concentrated at relatively small-scale wavelengths, and the energy peak of the moist SV is significantly higher than that of the dry SV at the evolved time. The release of latent heat of condensation leads to an energy increase at the small and medium scales; therefore, the SV under the linearized large-scale condensation process is more unstable and can grow rapidly, which is beneficial for describing the changing characteristics of a weather system.Figure4. Energy spectrum analysis at different levels (units:
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3.3. Growth rate of the perturbation
Singular values can reflect the growth rate of the perturbation over the time interval, and the 10-case average of the singular values is demonstrated in Fig. 5. It can be seen that, in both hemispheres, the singular value of moist SVs is larger than that of dry SVs, which means the moist SVs contain more uncertainty information. As the number of SV steps increases, the growth rate decreases and the first few SVs grow larger.Figure5. The 10-case average of the singular values. Red lines represent dry SVs and blue lines represent moist SVs. Dashed and solid lines are for the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere, respectively.
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3.4. Spatial structure
33.4.1. Horizonal distribution of SVs at the initial time
Figure 6 shows the distribution of the SVs at 500 hPa on different days. The dry SV02 on 1 May (Fig. 6a) is distributed in the 150°E ridge area of the midlatitudes, which is also an area with obvious baroclinic features, while the moist SV02 on the same day (Fig. 6b) not only covers the ridge area but also substantially disturbs the area behind the East Asian trough, indicating that the moist SV can generate more disturbances than the dry SV in this baroclinically unstable region. The moist SV02 is more compact, meaning that the amplitude of its perturbation is greater than that of the dry SV02. It should be noted that the positive or negative sign does not affect the characteristics of SVs. The differences of sign can be eliminated when constructing the initial perturbation. Figures 6c and d show another example of the same sign, where the dry SV03 on 2 May (Fig. 6c) is located in the unstable area in the mid-to-high latitude region, while the moist SV03 (Fig. 6d) on that day is more widely distributed, extending to the trough around 70°E, and has a larger perturbation.Figure6. Distributions of the initial (a, b) SV02 on 1 May and (c, d) SV03 on 2 May at 500 hPa, for the (a, c) dry SV and (b, d) moist SV. Shading and arrows indicate the potential temperature (unit: K) and the wind field (units: m s?1) of the SV, respectively (with an amplification factor of
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3.4.2. Horizonal distribution of SVs at the evolved time
At the evolved time (48 h), the growth of the dry (Fig. 7a) and moist (Fig. 7b) SV02 on 1 May is consistent with the atmospheric circulation, while the moist SV02 can cover the entire low-pressure circulation region in 150°E?180°, and the small- and medium-scale perturbations have also developed. The dry (Fig. 7c) and moist (Fig. 7d) SV03 on 2 May exhibit a similar character, and the growth rate in the moist SV03 is larger than that of the dry SV03.Figure7. As in Fig. 6 but for the evolved time (48 h). The contour lines are the 48-h forecast of the control member starting at 1200 UTC on that day.
The evolution of the SVs is synchronous with that of the atmospheric circulation, which is flow-dependent. The moist SVs maintain the basic characteristics of the dry SVs but are wider than the dry SVs, can contain more small- and medium-scale information, and have more energy. To analyze the spatial characteristics of these SVs, the vertical structure of the disturbance will be analyzed further.
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3.4.3. Vertical structure
A vertical section was constructed through the large-value area of potential temperature of SV03 on 2 May at 500 hPa. As shown in Fig. 8a2, the dry SV tilts westward with height at the initial time, which is a basic feature of the midlatitude baroclinic atmosphere. At the evolved time (48 h, Fig. 8b2), the energy exhibits large growth, and with the transmission of energy upward and downward, the typical baroclinic structure gradually turns into a barotropic structure.Figure8. Horizonal distribution and vertical section of the dry SV03 potential temperature (unit: K) at 500 hPa (with an amplification factor of
Figure 9 shows that the moist SV03 on 2 May maintains the basic characteristics of the dry SV regarding both its horizontal structure and its vertical structure; that is, the moist SV can generate the perturbation in the baroclinically unstable region in the midlatitudes, but the disturbance range caused by the moist SV is wider, the scale is smaller, and the amplitude is larger, which shows that the moist SV contains more medium- and small-scale information.
Figure9. As in Fig. 8 but for the first moist SV03 on 2 May.
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3.5. Sensitivity to precipitation
Figure 10 shows the 48-h forecast beginning at 1200 UTC 2 May 2019. Figure 10a shows the 24-h accumulated (3?4 May from 1200 UTC) convective rain, and Fig. 10b the non-convective rain (refers to large-scale precipitation). The rain in Fig. 10b is located mainly to the east of the Sea of Japan while covering the 850-hPa low-pressure circulation center. From the evolution of the two dry SVs (Figs. 10c and e), the perturbation is distributed within the transverse trough region of the 850-hPa geopotential height field. In addition to this transverse trough region, the two evolved moist SVs (Figs. 10d and f) are also distributed in the low-pressure circulation and its trough extension. The perturbation of this area is more consistent with the location of the large-scale condensation process, indicating that the moist SVs can produce perturbations related to large-scale condensation and precipitation, which is not a characteristic of the dry SVs.Figure10. Distribution of the 48-h forecast precipitation of the dry (moist) SVs beginning at 1200 UTC 2 May 2019 for the (a) 48-h convective precipitation (rainc) (unit: mm) and 850-hPa geopotential height field (units: gpm) and (b) 48-h large-scale precipitation (rainnc) (unit: mm) and 850-hPa temperature field (unit: K). Panels (c, e) show the 48-h evolution of the first and second dry SVs at 850 hPa. Panels (d, f) are the same as (c, e) but for the moist SV. The shading, arrows and contours indicate the potential temperature (unit: K), wind field (units: m s?1) and pressure of the SV, respectively (with an amplification factor of
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4.1. Scoring the meteorological field
The target area of the SVs is divided into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. Therefore, a calculation scheme that separates the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere is also adopted for evaluation of the meteorological field. The scoring area is 20°?80°N in the Northern Hemisphere and 20°?80°S in the Southern Hemisphere. The results of the ensemble prediction from the 10 cases show little difference in the scores between the Northern and Southern hemispheres. Taking into account both the root-mean-square error (RMSE) and the spread, Figs. 11a-d give the ratio of the spread to the RMSE (consistency), and Figs. 11e and f directly plot the spread and RMSE in the early stage of the forecast.Figure11. (a?d) Ratio of the spread to the RMSE (consistency) of the ensemble forecast: (a, c) Northern Hemisphere; (b, d) Southern Hemisphere (red line is for the dry SV and blue line for the moist SV); (a, b) zonal winds (u) at 850 hPa (units: m s?1); (c, d) zonal winds at 10 m (units: m s?1). Panels (e, f) plot the spread and RMSE directly in the black box of (a, c) from the forecast time of 0 h.
Both the RMSE and spread were calculated with a latitude weight, and the average score of the 10 cases was calculated through the mean of the mean square error, as recommended by the World Meteorological Organization (h
The blue line in Fig. 11 represents the forecast result formed by the moist SV, and the red line is the forecast result formed by the dry SV. The low-level variables (zonal winds at 10 m) of the moist SV forecasts are better than those of the dry SV forecasts, especially in the first 72 h (Fig. 11), whereas the mid-level variables are not different in the early stage, and the high-level variables of the moist SV are slightly lower than those of the dry SV at 48?72 h and higher for the rest of the forecast (not shown). Figures 11e and f show more details of the spread and RMSE, from which it can be seen that the improvement comes from an increase in spread from 00 to 72 h. According to the results of the medium- and long-term forecasts, the results of the moist SV are also improved at 144?240 h (6?10 days).
It should be noted that there is a scaled process in which an empirical coefficient
Considering the structural characteristics of the energy distribution and the energy spectrum, as well as the spatial distribution of the moist SV, it can be found that the addition of physical processes with large-scale condensation can form new perturbations in the SV. The increase in energy caused by the release of latent heat of condensation is reflected mainly in the middle and lower troposphere, and the scale is small. It is inferred from the results that the perturbation lasts for a short time and is likely to be eliminated during the process of nonlinear integration. Therefore, the addition of a large-scale condensation process to the calculation of SVs can improve the prediction of short-term weather systems, which is consistent with the analysis of the predictability of high-impact weather by Hoskins and Coutinho (2005). From the perspective of mid- and long-term ensemble forecasts, it is also beneficial to add moist physical processes to the calculation of SVs.
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4.2. Anomaly correlation coefficient
The anomaly correlation coefficient (ACC) is a common method used in the evaluation of ensemble forecasts. After deducting the mean of the climate field, it reflects the correlation between the forecast field and the observation (analysis) field. In this section, the average ACC of 10 cases is calculated to assess the impact on large-scale circulation in both the Northern and Southern Hemisphere. The average ACC (Here,
Figure12. ACCs for the Northern Hemisphere (left) and Southern Hemisphere (right): (a, b) 500-hPa geopotential height (units: gpm); (c, d) 850-hPa geopotential height (units: gpm); (e, f) 850-hPa temperature (unit: K). The dashed, red and blue lines denote the control member (Ctr), dry SV forecast (DRY-EM), and moist SV forecast (MOIST-EM), respectively.
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4.3. Precipitation score
The scoring area is the whole of China, covering approximately 2400 stations. Owing to the short duration of precipitation, only the first 120-h precipitation forecast of the 10 cases is evaluated here. The precipitation scores of light rain and rainstorms are basically the same. Here, only the area under the relative operating characteristic curve (AROC) scores of moderate rain and heavy rain are given. The scores are all greater than 0.5, and the closer the score is to 1, the better.From Fig. 13, in the forecast of the first 48 h, the 10-case statistical precipitation score of the moist SV is better than that of the dry SV from moderate to heavy rainfall. At 72 h, the moist SV has a higher precipitation score in moderate rain than the dry SV, while the precipitation scores in heavy rain decrease. One reason for this result may be that the linearization of large-scale condensation causes the precipitation distribution to become wider rather than narrower. Therefore, under the same water vapor conditions, the moderate rainfall in the moist SV experiment increases, while the heavy rainfall decreases.
Figure13. AROC scores of the precipitation ensemble forecasts. The solid line denotes moderate rain (10 mm) and the dashed line denotes heavy rain (25 mm), with red and blue representing the forecasts formed by the dry SVs and moist SVs, respectively.