Seminars & Events

LANS Informal Seminar
"Non-Smooth Optimization in the Data Assimilation of Satellite Observations In Numerical Weather Prediction"

DATE: May 19, 2010
TIME: 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
SPEAKER: Jeff Steward, Florida State University
LOCATION: Bldg 240 Conference Center 1404-1405, Argonne National Laboratory

Description:
In order to improve numerical weather prediction, observations of the state of the lower atmosphere and surface are essential. Orbiting satellites provide a dense set of observations; however, the data is in the form of radiant flux density. Determining the temperature, wind speed, pressure and other meteorological quantities is thus an inverse ill-posed problem. The presence of clouds is a further complication that makes the optimization problem to use this data, called data assimilation, non-smooth in nature. In this talk, I will present the Aeolus framework developed over the last four months for simplifying the use of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, present a brief introduction to data assimilation, review the problem of data assimilation of satellite radiances, and discuss non-smooth optimization strategies I will be investigating as part of my Ph. D. thesis at the Florida State University.

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