A Simple Bias Correction Scheme in Ocean Data Assimilation

Abstract

The mode bias is present and time-dependent due to imperfect configurations. Data assimilation is the process by which observations are used to correct the model forecast, and is affected by the bias. How to reduce the bias is an important issue. This paper investigates the roles of a simple bias correction scheme in ocean data assimilation. In this scheme, the misfits between modeled and monthly temperature and salinity with interannual variability from the Met Office Hadley Centre subsurface temperature and salinity data set (EN4.2.2) are used for the innovations in assimilation via the Ensemble Optimal Interpolation method. Two assimilation experiments are implemented to evaluate the impacts of bias correction. The first experiment is a data assimilation system without bias correction. In the second experiment, the bias correction is applied in assimilation. For comparison, the nature run with no assimilation and no bias correction is also conducted. When the bias correction is not applied, the assimilation alone leads to a rising trend in the heat and salt content that is not found in the observations. It is a spurious temporal variability due to the effect of the bias on the data assimilation. Meanwhile, the assimilation experiment without bias correction also produces significant negative impacts on the subsurface salinity. The experiment with bias correction performs best with notable improvements over the results of the other two experiments.