Mingjing Tong presented an update on her work with the assimilation of airborne Doppler radar data with GSI for hurricane initialization and prediction. A control run (which used GFS analysis) was compared to runs using assimilated radial velocity. For the case of Felix, the radial velocity data had a negative impact on track and intensity, however this impact was not large. The negative impacts were smaller for Karen. When the runs with assimilated radial velocity, which used the GFS forecast, were compared to a different control, which also used the GFS forecast, track and intensities for the assimilated radial velocity were closer to the best track values. More cases are going to be run for this work, which is ongoing.

Hyun-Sook Kim discussed some topics from the 2008 NOAA Hurricane Conference she attended, which group members then weighed in on. Specifically, the group discussed the need to design a method of real-time data transfer of ocean observations from field campaigns. There is currently a 12-hour turn-around rate for observational data, and ways to reduce this time are still awaiting funding. If data can be obtained more efficiently, it must then be examined and tested for relevancy before being assimilated. The next topic was the use of measurements taken from Gustav and Ike. Hyun-Sook mentioned about a 3-month wait for such data, which would be very useful once obtained. Finally, Hyun-Sook mentioned the topic of open communication or interaction with other groups working on coupling HYCOM with the WRF. Some examples given were HRD and FSU. It was agreed that cases for this work should be carefully chosen so that they are most useful to both parties.