The Twelfth (12th) Workshop on Meteorological Sensitivity Analysis and Data Assimilation; Lake George, New York; May 19-24, 2024

Data assimilation plays a crucial role in weather forecasting by combining observations of the atmosphere with numerical model data to determine the current state of the atmosphere. This is important because the current state of the atmosphere is used as a starting point for the weather forecasts, and the more accurate the starting point is, the better the weather forecast will be. A significant improvement in the accuracy of weather forecasts over the past few decades can be attributed to the enhanced precision of current weather estimates obtained through data assimilation. The Workshop will enable collaboration and discussion between experts in data assimilation, including topics such as using machine learning to enhance the performance of data assimilation, how observations can be optimally used to improve weather forecasts, and how data assimilation methods can be used for the ocean as well as for the atmosphere. The workshop's main goal is to advance fundamental understanding of data assimilation and sensitivity analysis, and their applications to weather forecasting and climate estimation for societal benefit. Travel support will be provided for graduate students to attend the Workshop to learn directly from the scientific community and to present their own research. The Workshop participants will present, review, discuss, and evaluate works pertaining to atmospheric sensitivity analysis and data assimilation, but will include representation from oceanography, coupled atmosphere-ocean systems, and other fields that employ similar techniques. Topics for presentation and discussion will include development of computationally efficient techniques for sensitivity analysis, including machine learning, diagnostic tools, and consideration of statistical issues affecting sensitivity analysis or data assimilation. Applications of data assimilation to synoptic and dynamic analysis of weather events, to reanalyses, and to estimation of observation impacts will be evaluated. Presentations will include overview talks on fundamentals and recent paths of development, and posters or short seminars on new works. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.