Summary report on the working days (pdf)

Agenda for the NetFAM working days on surface and soil data assimilation for the HARMONIE/ALADIN forecasting system


Monday 16 March in meeting room VIA


10.00 – 11.45

Session 1: Status of ALADIN/HARMONIE with regard to the surface and the soil


10.00 – 10.45 Jean-Francois Mahfouf - Strategies for introduction of SURFEX, including data assimilation, in ALADIN and AROME. Joint HIRLAM/ALADIN plans.
presentation PDF

10.45 – 11.00 Discussion

11.00 – 11.30 Ulf Andrae - Status of the SMHI HARMONIE systems with particular emphasis on the surface and the soil and on GL conversions from ECMWF/HIRLAM to HARMONIE
presentation PDF

11.30 – 11.45 Discussion

11.45 – 13.00 Lunch


13.00 – 15.00

Session 2: Discuss and start to develop techniques for a proper conversion of soil and surface variables in the ECMWF model to the soil and surface and soil variables in HARMONIE/SURFEX model (ISBA to start with).


13.00 – 13.30 Roger Randriamampianina and Mariken Homleid – Validation of a trial to make correct conversions of ECMWF soil model variables to the HARMONIE ones.
presentation PDF 1 presentation PDF 2

13.30 – 13.45 Discussion

13.45 – 14.15 Jean-Francois Mahfouf – Some thoughts on a proper (flux-consistent) conversion of ECMWF soil model variables to the SURFEX ones.
presentation PDF

13.45 – 14.15 Jean-Francois Mahfouf on behalf of Patrick LeMoigne – Soil ice initialization in SURFEX
presentation PDF

14.15 – 14.30 Discussion

14.30 – 15.00 Formation of a subgroup (rapporteur J.-M. Mahfouf) to design algorithms for a proper conversion of soil and surface variables from the ECMWF/HIRLAM ones to the HARMONIE/SURFEX ones


15.00 – 15.30 Coffee


15.30 – 16.15

Session 3: Learn the CANARI coding structure in order for HIRLAM staff to make real contributions in the field of land soil temperature and moisture, sst, sea ice, lake and snow assimilation.

– 16.15 Francoise Taillefer – Overview of the CANARI data assimilation, methods and computer code
presentation PDF

16.15 – 16.30 Discussion / Break


Session 4: Validate the present HARMONIE surface and soil assimilation based on CANARI to make certain that everything is carried out correctly.


16.30 – 16.50 Maria Diez – Validation of the CANARI 2m temp and humidity analysis and the OI soil variable assimilation.
presentation PDF

16.50 – 17.00 Discussion

17.00 – 17.20 Mariken Homleid – Validation and improvement of the CANARI SST and sea ice assimilation, with some comments also on lake data assimilation
presentation PDF

17.20 – 17.30 Discussion

Tuesday 17 March


09.00 – 10.30 Work in subgroups in meeting rooms VIA and met.no

Subgroup 1 on soil/surface variable conversion (Rapporteur J.-F. Mahfouf)

Subgroup 2 on CANARI development (Rapporteur Mariken Homleid)

Subgroup 3 on Summer time convection CIS (Rapporteur to be arranged later during the week))

Subgroup 4 on Observations for HARMONIE 3D-Var (Rapporteur Magnus Lindskog)

Note: Subgroup 3-4 have subjects outside the soil/surface working week)


10.30 – 11.00 Coffee

11.00 - 12.00 Continued work in subgroups

12.00 – 13.00 Lunch


Session 5: Report on progress and make a detailed plan for HIRLAM (and ALADIN) staff contributions in HARMONIE/ALADIN surface and soil assimilation (using CANARI and SURFEX as the framework) in meeting room VIA


13.00 – 13.30 Jean-Francois Mahfouf - The simplified EKF for soil data assimilation
presentation PDF

13.40 – 13.50 Elena Bojarova, Nils Gustafsson (based on Han The): An adaptive UKF as an alternative to simplified EKF
presentation PDF 1 presentation PDF 2

13.50 – 14.20 Sam-Erik Walker/William Lahoz: NILU EnsKF ideas for soil assimilation
presentation PDF

14.20 – 14.35 Suleiman Mostamandi – A literature review on snow information data assimilation
presentation PDF

14.35 – 15.00 Coffee

15.00 – 15.15 Nils Gustafsson - Naïve ideas on Lake data assimilation
presentation PDF

15.15 - 15.35 Jure Cedilnik Analysis of the LandSAF albedo product for NWP
presentation PDF

15.35 – 16.00 Discussion


16.00 – 17.00 Practical exercise – Installation of SURFEX EKF in meeting room Castellanus


  1. - 18.00 Continued work in subgroups




Thursday 19 March


13.00 – 16.00

Session 6: Hands-on exercise in soil data assimilation with SURFEX including EKF and OI (lead by J.-F. Mahfouf) in meeting room Castellanus


16.00 – 18.00 Continued work in sub-groups




Friday 20 March

Final session in meeting room VIA


09.00 – 10.00 Reports from sub-groups including discussions

10.00 – 11.30 Drafting of a revised HIRLAM/ALADIN research plan for surface and soil assimilation