Accuracy of diagnostic heat and moisture budgets using SESAME-79 field data as revealed by observing system simulation experiments.

The accuracy of diagnostic heat and moisture budgets using the AVE-SESAME 1979 data is investigated through a series of observing system simulation experiments. The four-dimensional (including time) data set provided by a mesoscale model is used to simulate rawinsonde observations taken during the AVE-SESAME 1979 regional-scale experiment. Budget calculations using the simulated data set show that the average root-mean-square error is about 5^oC day^-1 for the heat budget and 2 g kg^-1 day^-1 for the moisture budget, on a spatial scale of 550 X 550 km and a temporal scale of 6 h. -from Authors National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO 80307