Operational Data Checking

An automatic data checking system has been implemented at ECMWF to trigger warnings in case of anomalies affecting the quality or the availability of the data assimilated by the model. Selected statistical parameters (number of observations, bias correction, and mean bias-corrected background, analysis departures and probability of gross error) are checked against an expected range. An appropriate alert message (including a time series plot) is generated if statistics are outside the specified ranges. A severity level (slight, considerable, severe) is assigned to each message depending on how far statistics are from the expected values. Two kinds of ranges are used by the automatic checking: Soft and Hard limits. Soft limits are updated automatically using statistics from the last twenty days (extremes are excluded during this process). Hard limits are adjusted manually when required.

Currently, the automatic checking is limited to data passing through the minimisation process (including VarBC passive data). It's being applied twice a day to the delayed cut-off 4D-VAR cycles (00 and 12) and four times a day to the early delivery assimilation system (00,06,12 and 18).

The alarm system results are based on feedback information from the ECMWF data assimilation and consequently reflect the ECMWF data usage. Although most warnings are related to data problems, they may on occasion also be related to model issues. Alerts are provided for information on an as-is basis and may be withdrawn or changed without notice. ECMWF accepts no responsibility for actions taken on the basis of these results.

Ensemble Data Assimilation at 2022-01-09 00:00

iasi
METOP-B IASI RADIANCES CHANNEL 265 : out of range
Considerable: obs_number=667.0000, expected range: 819.8304 1258.7946
METOP-B IASI RADIANCES CHANNEL 273 : out of range
Considerable: obs_number=600.0000, expected range: 734.6225 1210.1275
METOP-B IASI RADIANCES CHANNEL 280 : out of range
Considerable: obs_number=529.0000, expected range: 689.1010 1076.2740
METOP-C IASI RADIANCES CHANNEL 3165 : out of range
Considerable: stdev_fgdepar=1.3160, expected range: 0.5423 1.0083
METOP-C IASI RADIANCES CHANNEL 3244 : out of range
Considerable: stdev_fgdepar=1.3545, expected range: 0.5359 1.0533
METOP-C IASI RADIANCES CHANNEL 3411 : out of range
Considerable: stdev_fgdepar=1.4211, expected range: 0.5856 1.1267
airs
AQUA AIRS RADIANCES CHANNEL 1882 : out of range
Considerable: avg_fgdepar=0.0810, expected range: -0.0206 0.0467
mhs
NOAA-19 MHS ALLSKY RADIANCES CHANNEL 4 : out of range
1 times in the last 10 days for at least one item
Slight: obs_number=43197.0000, expected range: 44406.1652 47777.7098
gmi
All GPM GMI ALSKY ALL CHANNELS Global : all data missing
Severe: obs_number=0, expected range: 10860.99 13785.88
mwhs2
FY-3D MWHS2 ALLSKY RADIANCES CHANNEL 14 : out of range
16 times in the last 10 days for at least one item
Severely_persistent: obs_number=6703.0000, expected range: 7907.5258 8031.9841
FY-3D MWHS2 ALLSKY RADIANCES CHANNEL 15 : out of range
16 times in the last 10 days for at least one item
Severely_persistent: obs_number=5706.0000, expected range: 6688.3813 6757.8357
atms
NPP ATMS RADIANCES CHANNEL 13 : out of range
17 times in the last 10 days for at least one item
Severely_persistent: avg_biascorr=-0.2949, expected range: -0.2668 -0.2544
NPP ATMS RADIANCES CHANNEL 11 : out of range
9 times in the last 10 days for at least one item
Severely_persistent: avg_biascorr=-0.1452, expected range: -0.2291 -0.2025
NOAA20 ATMS RADIANCES CHANNEL 13 : out of range
1 times in the last 10 days for at least one item
Severe: avg_biascorr=-0.5014, expected range: -0.4485 -0.4322
Atmospheric Motion Vector
GOES-16 AMV IR1 WIND VECTOR DIFF (M/S) PRESSURE LAYER 900-1200 (HPA) : out of range
1 times in the last 10 days for at least one item
Considerable: obs_number=3069.0000, expected range: 873.1110 2330.1861
Geostationary CSR
All GOES-16 ABI ALL CHANNELS Global : all data missing
Severe: obs_number=0, expected range: 57259.34 82785.66