Maintaining Atmospheric Mass and Water Balance in Reanalyses

This study describes the modifications made to the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) Atmospheric Data Assimilation System (ADAS) to conserve atmospheric dry-air mass and to guarantee that the net source of water from precipitation and surface evaporation equals the change in total atmospheric water. The modifications involve changes to both the atmospheric model and the analysis procedure. In the model, sources and sinks of water are included in the continuity equation; in the analysis, constraints are imposed to penalize (and thus minimize) analysis increments of dry-air mass. Finally, changes are also required to the Incremental Analysis Update (IAU) procedure. The effects of these modifications are separately evaluated in free-running and assimilation experiments. Results are also presented from a multiyear reanalysis (Version 2 of the Modern Era Retrospective-Analysis for Research and Applications: MERRA-2) that uses the modified system.