Constrained Variational Analysis of Sounding Data Based on Column-Integrated Budgets of Mass, Heat, Moisture, and Momentum: Approach and Application to ARM Measurements

For the purpose of deriving grid-scale vertical velocity and advective tendencies from sounding measurements, an objective scheme is developed to process atmospheric soundings of winds, temperature, and water vapor mixing ratio over a network of a small number of stations. Given the inevitable uncertainties in the original data, state variables of the atmosphere are adjusted by the smallest possible amount in this scheme to conserve column-integrated mass, moisture, static energy, and momentum. The scheme has the capability of incorporating a variety of supplemental measurements to constrain large-scale vertical velocity and advective tendencies derived from state variables.