The NILU SURFEX-EnKF land data assimilation system

Development of the NILU SURFEX-EnKF land data assimilation system is described. The system is being developed in collaboration with the Norwegian Meteorological Institute and Météo-France. It is based on the Météo-France SURFEX land surface model, and uses various variants of the Ensemble Kalman filter and Particle filer method. It also uses the Extended Kalman filter method from Météo-France. The system assimilates land surface temperature and soil moisture; it will be extended to snow variables later. Observations assimilated are from in situ platforms; later, observations from satellite platforms will be assimilated. The main objective for developing this assimilation system is to evaluate observations and models; analyses of land surface variables will be produced. Results will benefit Numerical Weather Prediction agencies, space agencies and the broad scientific community.