7. In Hungary

The main area of development during the first half of 2003 was the further assessment of the 3d-var data assimilation scheme used for the ALADIN/HU model version. This topic is in fact carried out in the framework of the ALATNET project, therefore the main conclusions of this work will be elaborated in the ALATNET part of this Newsletter.

The other development areas are as follows:

Gabor Radnoti validated the B-level parallelization of the ALADIN model code together with the revision of the coupling code (see detailed description in this Newsletter).

A closer collaboration started at the beginning of the year with the forecasters : they systematically evaluate the performance of the operational model and then we are trying to respond to their inquiries. This winter the performance of the ALADIN model was rather poor, especially for a period when the cold air was dominating in the Carpathian basin together with some partial snow cover. According to the preliminary investigations the main cause of the (temperature) forecast failure was the incorrect consideration of the snow at the surface (the studies will be continued and a report will be given in the next Newsletter).

Gergely Boloni, as "data assimilation working group" leader of the LACE cooperation, prepared the working plan on data assimilation of the LACE cooperation for 2003.