Why use a “local” ensemble approach?
• In the Local Ensemble Kalman Filter we compute the generalized “bred vectors” globally but use them locally (3D patches around each grid point of ~1000km x 1000km).
• These local patches (vertical columns) provide the local shape of the “errors of the day” for each grid point.
• At the end of the local analysis we create a new global analysis and initial perturbations from the solutions obtained at each grid point.
• This reduces the number of ensemble members needed.
• It also allows to compute the KF analysis independently at each grid point (“embarrassingly parallel”).