Invited research scientist from Alfred-Wegener Institute (AWI) visits the Transregional Collaborative Research Centre 32 (TR32) to talk about the Parallel Data Assimilation Framework (PDAF)

14. + 15.04.2016

Data assimilation is one of the key research aspects within the TR32. Data assimilation allows for the improvement of model predictions by updating the given model state with measurements. Furthermore, data assimilation methods are necessary to produce a reanalysis, which is one goal of the last phase of the TR32. The reanalysis within the framework of TR32 will be run by project Z2 for the Rur catchment area. The aim is to provide a consistent long term data set with constant correction via soil moisture data and water level measurements to get insights about the effect of data assimilation on the water and energy balance in simulations with the terrestrial modeling platform TerrSysMP. Recently, the parallel data assimilation framework PDAF was applied to TerrSysMP by project C6.

To survey further opportunities for collaborations and research exchange of TR32 with the data assimilation department of AWI, Dr. Lars Nerger was recently invited to visit the Forschungszentrum Jülich, the facilities at the High Performance Supercomputing Centre in Jülich. He also gave a talk at the TR32 General Meeting in Cologne in April 2016 about data assimilation and the abilities and advantages of PDAF. During the visit, several members of TR32 presented their latest research on data assimilation to Dr. Nerger and also had some fruitful discussions afterwards.

About PDAF

PDAF is a framework which applies ensemble data assimilation to already existing numerical models. Several data assimilation algorithms (like the Ensemble Kalman Filter or the Local Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter) are already implemented and ready to use. Additionally, it allows the usage of so called “smoothers” including past and future observations to obtain a more smooth adjustment of the model values with respect to observations within a certain assimilation time window.

More information about PDAF: http://pdaf.awi.de/trac/wiki

About Dr. Lars Nerger

Dr. Lars Nerger received his MSc (“Diplom”) at the Physics Department in Bremen. During his PhD about “Parallel Filter Algorithms for Data Assimilation in Oceanography” he worked at AWI and at the University of Bremen. After that, he held PostDoc positions at AWI in Bremerhaven and NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre in Baltimore (US). Currently, he is the lead consultant for the Supercomputing Competence Center BremHLR at the University of Bremen, as well as Senior Research Scientist at AWI in Bremerhaven where he is also responsible for the ongoing development of PDAF.

Article by Clarissa Figura