The 5th JEDI Academy was the first virtually hosted Academy by the JCSDA. It was conducted via Zoom the week of November 16 - 20, 2020. Typically JEDI Academies are held in person, serving as outlets for networking and face-to-face collaboration across partnering institutions and communities. According to participants, the 5th Academy was an excellent learning and networking experience despite the virtual environment.

The JCSDA is pleased to present the first public, open-source release of the Joint Effort for Data assimilation Integration (JEDI) system, JEDI-FV3 1.0.0. The JCSDA is also excited to announce release 2.4.0 of the Community Radiative Transfer Model (CRTM).

The Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation (JCSDA) is pleased to announce the public, open-source release of the Community Radiative Transfer Model (CRTM) version 2.4 on October 28, 2020.

The Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation (JCSDA) is pleased to announce the first public, open-source release of the Joint Effort for Data assimilation Integration (JEDI) system on October 28, 2020. JEDI is a community effort developed and distributed by the JCSDA, a multi-agency research center with its operations hosted by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR).

The JCSDA Near Real-Time (NRT) Observation Monitoring application now includes Global Navigation Satellite System Radio Occultation (GNSSRO) observations from all receiving satellites currently operational at NOAA (COSMIC-2, MetOp, KOMPSAT-5, TanDEM-X and TerraSAR-X).

Hyperspectral IR sounder data from U.S. (i.e., NASA’s AIRS and JPSS CrIS) and European (EUMETSAT’s IASI) sensors has proven to be one of the biggest observational contributors to improved model forecast skill at national and international operational Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) centers. In October 2019, the JCSDA launched a collaboration with the Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC) at the University of Wisconsin to support the assimilation of geostationary hyperspectral infrared data in the Joint Effort for Data assimilation Integration (JEDI) framework.

The Community Radiative Transfer Model (CRTM) allows us to make the best use of the billions of dollars spent on earth-observing satellites for operational data assimilation, calibration and validation, and post-processing applications. CRTM version 3.0 will extend the capabilities of CRTM v2.3, while maintaining backward compatibility; consequently, there will be very little operational risk to test or upgrade to CRTM v3.0.

The Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation (JCSDA) is pleased to announce that we are planning the first public, open-source release of the Joint Effort for Data assimilation Integration (JEDI) system this fall.

JCSDA's Joint Effort for Data assimilation Integration (JEDI) is an innovative, next-generation data assimilation system that leverages modern software development practices to optimize both performance and extensibility. As the software approaches its initial public release, the JEDI user community continues to grow in size and diversity. All this diversity means that users will want to run JEDI on a range of computing platforms, from state-of-the-art HPC systems (on-premise Supercomputers) to cloud instances, to small linux clusters to laptops. Containers to the rescue!

On May 26, 2020, NWS/NCEP started operational assimilation of the GNSS radio occultation (GNSS-RO) measurements from the FORMOSAT-7/COSMIC-2 mission (COSMIC-2 hereafter) in its Global Forecast System (GFS).

This month the JCSDA is announcing a new Near-Real Time (NRT) observation monitoring web product based on the Joint Effort for Data assimilation Integration (JEDI). This product represents the achievement of several firsts for the JCSDA core team as we near our scheduled initial release of JEDI software.

How has the pandemic impacted data and observations from aircraft?

As you may already have noticed, the first real-time prototype application from the Sea-ice Ocean Coupled Assimilation (SOCA) project was launched on the JCSDA website this past January. The SOCA team has been actively partnering with NOAA and NASA to develop improved marine data assimilation methods for the next generation of prediction systems. This real-time system on the JCSDA website acts as a testbed for SOCA software development, and helps give the public an inside window as to how our development is proceeding.

The changes and uncertainty of the past few weeks have proved to be challenging for everyone. Through it all, the JCSDA community is going strong and standing together, providing support to each other wherever, and however, we can.

The JEDI Academy is a training session for new users of the Joint Effort for Data assimilation Integration (JEDI) data assimilation system for Earth System prediction. The 4th JEDI Academy was held last week (Feb 24-28, 2020) in Monterey, California.

The JCSDA was proud to host its 8th Symposium at the Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) in Boston, MA January 12 - 17, 2020. This was the 100th meeting for the AMS, and consequently a very well-attended one.

As part of a two-week code sprint from January 20th to 31st , CRTM community users and core developer team members came together at the Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC) in College Park MD to organize the existing gaseous transmittance coefficient generation software into a coherent, end-to-end package.

It’s almost time for the JCSDA Symposium at the annual AMS Meeting next month on January 14, 2020.

After hearing NOAA’s 2020 proposed budget earlier this year, it was made clear that the United States is behind when it comes to weather forecasting. Among other things, efficient weather forecasting is crucial for protecting lives and predicting natural disasters such as hurricanes. Climate change continues to increase occurrences of disruptive weather events, making the need for superior forecasting critical. Why is the United States seemingly so behind?

JCSDA leadership collaborated with CPAESS/UCP/UCAR to host DC-area JCSDA staff at the Quarterly Staff Meeting at the Consortium for Ocean Leadership in Washington, DC on Wednesday, October 30, 2019.

In an effort to grow the JCSDA within the university community, Program Specialist Kat Shanahan attended the University of Colorado, Boulder STEM career fair to promote internship and job opportunities within JCSDA.

From August 19 to August 30, JEDI affiliates and core team members were busy working on a UFO code sprint here at the UCAR campus in Boulder, CO. During the sprint, team members worked to improve existing observation operators, added some new observation operators to UFO, added new capabilities to generic filters used in JEDI code quality control, and implemented new filters in UFO.

The JEDI Academy is a tutorial held to act as a training session for those working on the Joint Effort for Data assimilation Integration (JEDI) utilized by JCSDA and affiliated partners focused on producing more accurate forecasting predictions. The 3rd JEDI Academy was held this past week in Boulder, Colorado from June 10–13, 2019.

The 17th Annual JCSDA Technical Review Meeting and Science Workshop was held from May 29 - 31, 2019 in Washington, D.C. at NASA Headquarters. The 17th JCSDA Technical Review Meeting and Science Workshop is designed to be a showcase of what JCSDA employees and affiliates have worked on scientifically throughout the year. Participants present posters or give oral presentations on project findings.

Each year NCAR, UCAR, and UCP staff are invited to attend this full day event to network and share recent scientific developments. This year, JCSDA director Tom Auligné gave a talk entitled, “A Fresh Look at O2R/R2O Transition.”

From March 25, 2019 to April 5, 2019 members of the JCSDA SOCA team and affiliated partners are working on developing interfaces to databases (IODA), refining existing UFOs, and implementing new UFOs.

The Interface for Observation Data Access (IODA) is a component of the Joint Effort for Data assimilation Integration (JEDI) software system. From a user’s perspective, IODA handles the input of observation data and output of diagnostic data. Efforts to transform IODA from a prototype system into an operational system that can handle big data is under way, and the task of collecting requirements from the JCSDA partner organizations was initiated by the 2019 IODA Workshop.

The JCSDA held its 7th Symposium at the 99th American Meteorological Society (AMS) Annual Meeting in Phoenix, AZ on January 8, 2019. The symposium spanned the whole day on Tuesday, consisting of six topical sessions and one poster session. Presentations and posters were offered by staff and contractors of the JCSDA partner agencies, the broader academic community, and international representatives such as ECMWF and the UK Met Office.

The JCSDA is hosting the 2nd JEDI Academy on Nov 13-16, 2018 in College Park, MD. This is a multi-day tutorial on the Joint Effort for Data assimilation Integration (JEDI) project and software.