Release Notes for GSI version 2.0

GSI code

• This version GSI code is based on the NCEP's global implementation version of the GSI in December, 2009 (Q1FY10). The following is a list of new functions and changes included in the NCEP operational global implementation version of the GSI:
  • Assimilating tropical storm pseudo sea-level pressure observations
  • Assimilating NOAA-19 HIRS/4 and AMSU-A brightness temperature observations
  • Assimilating RARS 1B data
  • Assimilating NOAA-18 SBUV/2 and AURA OMI Ozone observations. Monitor NOAA-19 and METOP-2 GOME Ozone observations
  • Assimilating EUMETSAT-9 Atmospheric Motion Vectors
  • Using uniform thinning mesh for brightness temperature data
  • Improving assimilation of GPS radio occultation data (forward operator, QC procedures, observation error tuning)
  • Adding dry mass pressure constraint
  • Using GODDARD Modeling and Assimilation Office/EMC merged code including hooks for 4DVAR and Observation Sensitivity
  • Updating background error covariance file
  Besides, the community GSI code also contains community-friendly features, including
  • Updated configuration/compilation tools
  • Updated run script (under ./run)
  • New utilities to read and plot diagnostic files (under ./util)
• The version of the GSI has been tests by DTC on multiple platforms. Two new platforms (Mac and SGI) were added to the existing ones with the community contributions, including:
• IBM: xlf
• LINUX: pgi v7.0 and v8.0
• LINUX: Intel v10.0 and v11.0
• Mac OSX: PGI v8.0
• SGI Altix: Intel v10.0
• A single case test was conducted on all supported platforms. Additional testing using the DTC regression suite was conducted on IBM and LINUX platforms.