Microwave land emissivity and skin temperature for AMSU-A and -B assimilation over land

AMSU-A and -B measurements are still not extensively used over land surfaces for atmospheric applications. Recent studies have shown that it should now be possible to take advantage of the information content of these instruments provided land emissivity and skin temperature estimates are improved. This paper reports on comparisons between three land-surface schemes using the Meteo-France four-dimensional variational (4D-Var) assimilation system. Firstly, a monthly mean estimated land emissivity atlas using AMSU data is used. A second land-surface scheme based on direct emissivity calculations is developed to obtain dynamically emissivity values. The third approach is based on the first one with the addition of a dynamic skin temperature estimation based on one AMSU-A or AMSU-B window channel. The land-surface schemes described above have been implemented within the 4D-Var system and their results have been compared with those of the operational surface scheme (which uses emissivity models). All land schemes have been evaluated by examining the performances of the observation operator for sounding channels prior to the assimilation. With dynamically varying emissivities and/or skin temperatures or with averaged emissivities, the simulations are clearly improved compared with the operational model and many more data pass the quality-control check.