"Andrew Bond" wrote in message
...


QuikScat was supposed to be the NWP dream data input for situations
like
this. The ability to calculate wind at 10 levels, temperature,
humidity,
plus let's not forget the new Meteosat Satellite.

Perhaps Jon/Martin/Will know? Does the UKMO model use QuikScat as the
GFS
does?


.... can't answer your question as put - i.e. does the *model* assimilate
the QuikScat data objectively (Jon or Will will be more up to date with
this aspect). These data *are* certainly used by duty staff to monitor
the NWP output. However, the problem lies in the PPN contamination - in
the areas that Q-S might be most useful, the data are regarded as less
than reliable: however, I have found in the past that this caveat was
over-stressed and that Q-S was always worth using across the full range
of output.

The problem with model assimiliation is often with humidity. There is
much data based on satellite irradiance retrieval that purports to
'load' the model atmosphere with the best-fit humidity profile - the
problem is that sometimes the humidity is assigned to the wrong level -
and thus spurious areas of precipitation etc., where none should occur.
Whether this humidity mis-match might feed through to other aspects of
the output (through latent heat exchanges etc.), is beyond my competence
to comment upon.

Martin.