Oral A4 Ocean Observing Systems and Data Quality

9:30 AM - 9:45 AM JST(12:30 AM - 12:45 AM UTC)

[MBtCkkTq-03] Multi-system Observing System Experiment Database provided by UN Ocean Decade Project SynObs

*Yosuke Fujii¹ (1. JMA/MRI (Japan))

“Synergistic Observing Network for Ocean Prediction (SynObs)” is a project of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. SynObs aims to identify the roles of individual ocean observing systems, assess their combined value for ocean/climate monitoring and prediction, and explore future designs of the ocean observing network that maximise synergy among diverse observation platforms. SynObs is currently conducting internationally coordinated multi-system observing system experiments (OSEs), known as the SynObs flagship OSEs. OSEs are observation sensitivity experiments carried out using data assimilation and prediction systems. In the flagship OSEs, several ocean/climate prediction centers conduct OSEs using a variety of ocean-only or coupled ocean-atmosphere prediction systems under a pre-defined experimental setting. This activity aims to provide fair and scientifically consistent observation impact assessment which are robust among most prediction systems. All OSE results are stored in netCDF-format files agreed upon SynObs members and are aggregated on the Japanese DITTO server. Thus, SynObs adds a specific function which enable us to evaluate/design the ocean observing system for various purposes. For example, we confirmed that the multi-system ensemble spread of analysis SSH fields is increases when either satellite altimeter data or Argo data are withheld from data assimilation, implying that assimilating Argo data in addition to satellite altimeters is necessary to reduce uncertainty in the analysis sea surface height (SSH) fields. SynObs is now inviting volunteer groups to analyze the impacts of ocean observing systems using this database. It is also planned to improve the user interface of the DITTO to support the use of the SynObs OSE data.