Analysis of the Impact of Model Nonlinearities in Inverse Problem Solving

Abstract In this study, the relationship between nonlinear model properties and inverse problem solutions is analyzed using a numerical technique based on the inverse problem theory formulated by Mosegaard and Tarantola. According to this theory, the inverse problem and solution are defined via convolution and conjunction of probability density functions (PDFs) that represent stochastic information obtained from the model, observations, and prior knowledge in a joint multidimensional space. This theory provides an explicit analysis of the nonlinear model function, together with information about uncertainties in the model, observations, and prior knowledge through construction of the joint probability density, from which marginal solution functions can then be evaluated. The numerical analysis technique derived from the theory computes the component PDFs in discretized form via a combination of function mapping on a discrete grid in the model and observation phase space and Monte Carlo sampling from known parametric distributions. The efficacy of the numerical analysis technique is demonstrated through its application to two well-known simplified models of atmospheric physics: damped oscillations and Lorenz’s three-component model of dry cellular convection. The major findings of this study include the following: (i) Use of a nonmonotonic forward model in the inverse problem gives rise to the potential for a multimodal posterior PDF, the realization of which depends on the information content of the observations and on observation and model uncertainties. (ii) The cumulative effect of observations over time, space, or both could render the final posterior PDF unimodal, even with the nonmonotonic forward model. (iii) A greater number of independent observations are needed to constrain the solution in the case of a nonmonotonic nonlinear model than for a monotonic nonlinear or linear forward model for a given number of degrees of freedom in control parameter space. (iv) A nonlinear monotonic forward model gives rise to a skewed unimodal posterior PDF, implying a well-posed maximum likelihood inverse problem. (v) The presence of model error greatly increases the possibility of capturing multiple modes in the posterior PDF with the nonmonotonic nonlinear model. (vi) In the case of a nonlinear forward model, use of a Gaussian approximation for the prior update has a similar effect to an increase in model error, which indicates there is the potential to produce a biased mean central estimate even when observations and model are unbiased.