High-resolution limited-area ensemble predictions based on low-resolution targeted singular vectors

The operational limited-area model, HIRLAM, at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute is used at 0.25degrees latitude/longitude resolution for ensemble weather prediction over Northern Europe and adjacent parts of the North Atlantic Ocean; this system is called LAMEPS. Initial and lateral boundary perturbations are taken from coarse-resolution European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts global ensemble members based on targeted singular vectors (TEPS). Five winter and five summer cases in 1997 consisting of 20 ensemble members plus one control forecast are integrated. Two sets of ensembles are generated, one for which both initial and lateral boundary conditions are perturbed, and another with only the initial fields perturbed. The LAMEPS results are compared to those of TEPS using the following measures: r.m.s. ensemble spread of 500 hPa geopotential height, r.m.s. ensemble spread of mean-sea-level pressure; Brier Skill Scores (BSS); Relative Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves; and cost/loss analyses. For forecasts longer than 12 hours, all measures show that perturbing the boundary fields is crucial for the performance of LAMEPS. For the winter cases TEPS has slightly larger ensemble spread than LAMEPS, but this is reversed for the summer cases. Results from BSS, ROC and cost/loss analyses show that LAMEPS performed considerably better than TEPS for precipitation, a result that is promising for forecasting extreme precipitation amounts. We believe this result to be linked to the high predictability of mesoscale flows controlled by complex topography. For two-metre temperature, however, TEPS frequently performed better than LAMEPS.