Ensemble Variational Assimilation as a Probabilistic Estimator. Part II: The fully non-linear case
Abstract. In Part II, the method of Ensemble Variational Assimilation (EnsVAR) is implemented in fully nonlinear conditions on the Lorenz-96 chaotic 40-parameter model. In the case of strong-constraint assimilation, it requires to be used in association with the method of Quasi-Static Variational Assimilation (QSVA). It then produces ensembles which possess as much reliability and resolution as in the linear case, and its performance is at least as good as that of Ensemble Kalman Filter and Particle Filter. On the other hand, ensembles consisting of solutions that correspond to the absolute minimum of the objective function (as identified from the minimizations without QSVA) are signif- icantly biased. In the case of weak-constraint assimilation, EnsVAR is fully successful without need to resort to QSVA.