In this thesis, we produce a rigorous and quantitative analysis of the errors introduced by finite difference schemes into strong constraint 4D-Variational (4D-Var) data assimilation. Strong constraint 4D-Var data assimilation is a method that solves a particular kind of inverse problem; given a set of observations and a numerical model for a physical system together with a priori information on the initial condition, estimate an improved initial condition for the numerical model, known as the analysis vector. This method has many forms of error affecting the accuracy of the analysis vector, and is derived under the assumption that the numerical model is perfect, when in reality this is not true. Therefore it is important to assess whether this assumption is realistic and if not, how the method should be modified to account for model error. Here we analyse how the errors introduced by finite difference schemes used as the numerical model, affect the accuracy of the analysis vector. Initially the 1D linear advection equation is considered as our physical system. All forms of error, other than those introduced by finite difference schemes, are initially removed. The error introduced by `representative schemes' is considered in terms of numerical dissipation and numerical dispersion. A spectral approach is successfully implemented to analyse the impact on the analysis vector, examining the effects on unresolvable wavenumber components and the l2-norm of the error. Subsequently, a similar also successful analysis is conducted when observation errors are re-introduced to the problem. We then explore how the results can be extended to weak constraint 4D-Var. The 2D linear advection equation is then considered as our physical system, demonstrating how the results from the 1D problem extend to 2D. The linearised shallow water equations extend the problem further, highlighting the difficulties associated with analysing a coupled system of PDEs.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:665395 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Jenkins, Siân |
| Contributors | Smith, Nathan ; Budd, Christopher ; Freitag, Melina |
| Publisher | University of Bath |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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