Training course: Data assimilation

The aim of this lecture is to introduce the concept of the EnKF in the context of atmospheric data assimilation. Strengths and weaknesses of the algorithm will be discussed and results of the ECMWF implementation will be presented.

By the end of the lecture the participants should be able to:

• Describe the basic EnKF algorithm and its connections with the Kalman Filter;
• Discuss some of the advantages and the limitations of EnKF algorithms with respect to more established variational algorithms;
• Be aware of recent developments in hybrid variational-EnKF data assimilation