Characteristics of Fengyun-4A Satellite Atmospheric Motion Vectors and Their Impacts on Data Assimilation

The high observation efficiency, scanning speed and observation frequency of the Fengyun-4A (FY-4A) satellite indicates the progress of Chinese geostationary meteorological satellites. The characteristics of FY-4A atmospheric motion vectors (AMVs) derived from the high-level water vapor (WV-High) channel, mid-level water vapor (WV-Mid) channel, and infrared (IR) channel of FY-4A are analyzed, and their corresponding observation errors estimated. Then, the impacts of single-channel and multi-channel FY-4A AMVs on RMAPS-ST (the Rapid-refresh Multi-scale Analysis and Prediction System—Short Term) are evaluated based on one-month data assimilation cycling and forecasting experiments. Results show that the observation errors of FY-4A AMVs from the three channels have an explicit vertical structure. Results from the cycling experiments indicate that the assimilation of AMVs from WV-High produces more apparent improvement of the wind in the upper layer, while a more positive effect in the lower layer is achieved by the assimilation of AMVs from IR. Furthermore, the assimilation of AMVs from IR is more skillful for medium and moderate precipitation than from other channels owing to the good quality of data in the lower layer in the AMVs from IR. Assimilation of FY-4A AMVs from the three channels could combine the advantages of assimilation from each individual channel to improve the wind in the upper, middle and lower layers simultaneously.