A variational method based on previous numerical forecasts is developed to estimate and correct non-systematic component of numerical weather forecast error. In the method, it is assumed that the error is linearly dependent on some combination of the forecast fields, and three types of forecast combination are applied to identifying the forecasting error: 1) the forecasts at the ending time, 2) the combination of initial fields and the forecasts at the ending time, and 3) the combination of the forecasts at the ending time and the tendency of the forecast. The Single Value Decomposition (SVD) of the covariance matrix between the forecast and forecasting error is used to obtain the inverse mapping from flow space to the error space during the training period. The background covariance matrix is hereby reduced to a simple diagonal matrix. The method is tested with a shallow-water equation model by introducing two different model errors. The results of error correction for 6, 24 and 48 h forecasts show that the method is effective for improving the quality of the forecast when the forecasting error obviously exceeds the analysis error and it is optimal when the third type of forecast combinations is applied.
The radar ray path equations are used to determine the physical location of each radar measurement. These equations are necessary for mapping radar data to computational grids for diagnosis, display and numerical weather prediction （NWP）. They are also used to determine the forward operators for assimilation of radar data into forecast models. In this paper, a stepwise ray tracing method is developed. The influence of the atmospheric refractive index on the ray path equations at different locations related to an intense cold front is examined against the ray path derived from the new tracing method. It is shown that the radar ray path is not very sensitive to sharp vertical gradients of refractive index caused by the strong temperature inversion and large moisture gradient in this case. In the paper, the errors caused by using the simplified straight ray path equations are also examined. It is found that there will be significant errors in the physical location of radar measurements if the earth＇s curvature is not considered, especially at lower elevation angles. A reduced form of the equation for beam height calculation is derived using Taylor series expansion. It is computationally more efficient and also avoids the need to use double precision variables to mitigate the small difference between two large terms in the original form. The accuracy of this reduced form is found to be sufficient for modeling use.
