13.6. Calculation algorithm “EnsembleBlue”¶
Description¶
This algorithm realizes a BLUE (Best Linear Unbiased Estimator, which is here an Aitken estimator) type estimation of the state of a system by an ensemble method. To work, one must give a set of backgrounds, their number determining the size of the ensemble for the estimation.
It is theoretically reserved for observation operator cases which are linear, but has to work also in “slightly” non-linear cases. One can verify the linearity of the observation operator with the help of the Checking algorithm “LinearityTest”.
Optional and required commands¶
The general required commands, available in the editing user graphical or textual interface, are the following:
- Background
- Vector. The variable indicates the background or initial vector used,
previously noted as
. Its value is defined as a
“Vector” or “VectorSerie” type object. Its availability in output is
conditioned by the boolean “Stored” associated with input.
- BackgroundError
- Matrix. This indicates the background error covariance matrix, previously
noted as
. Its value is defined as a “Matrix” type
object, a “ScalarSparseMatrix” type object, or a “DiagonalSparseMatrix”
type object, as described in detail in the section
Requirements to describe covariance matrices. Its availability in output is
conditioned by the boolean “Stored” associated with input.
- Observation
- List of vectors. The variable indicates the observation vector used for
data assimilation or optimization, and usually noted
.
Its value is defined as an object of type “Vector” if it is a single
observation (temporal or not) or “VectorSeries” if it is a succession of
observations. Its availability in output is conditioned by the boolean
“Stored” associated in input.
- ObservationError
- Matrix. The variable indicates the observation error covariance matrix,
usually noted as
. It is defined as a “Matrix” type
object, a “ScalarSparseMatrix” type object, or a “DiagonalSparseMatrix”
type object, as described in detail in the section
Requirements to describe covariance matrices. Its availability in output is
conditioned by the boolean “Stored” associated with input.
- ObservationOperator
- Operator. The variable indicates the observation operator, usually noted as
, which transforms the input parameters 
to
results 
to be compared to observations
. Its value is defined as a “Function” type object or a
“Matrix” type one. In the case of “Function” type, different functional
forms can be used, as described in the section
Requirements for functions describing an operator. If there is some control 
included in the observation, the operator has to be applied to a pair
.
The general optional commands, available in the editing user graphical or textual interface, are indicated in List of commands and keywords for data assimilation or optimisation case. Moreover, the parameters of the command “AlgorithmParameters” allows to choose the specific options, described hereafter, of the algorithm. See Description of options of an algorithm by “AlgorithmParameters” for the good use of this command.
The options are the following:
- SetSeed
Integer value. This key allow to give an integer in order to fix the seed of the random generator used in the algorithm. By default, the seed is left uninitialized, and so use the default initialization from the computer, which then change at each study. To ensure the reproducibility of results involving random samples, it is strongly advised to initialize the seed. A simple convenient value is for example 123456789. It is recommended to put an integer with more than 6 or 7 digits to properly initialize the random generator.
Example:
{"SetSeed":123456789}- StoreSupplementaryCalculations
List of names. This list indicates the names of the supplementary variables, that can be available during or at the end of the algorithm, if they are initially required by the user. Their avalability involves, potentially, costly calculations or memory consumptions. The default is then a void list, none of these variables being calculated and stored by default (excepted the unconditionnal variables). The possible names are in the following list (the detailed description of each named variable is given in the following part of this specific algorithmic documentation, in the sub-section “Information and variables available at the end of the algorithm”): [ “Analysis”, “CurrentOptimum”, “CurrentState”, “Innovation”, “SimulatedObservationAtBackground”, “SimulatedObservationAtCurrentState”, “SimulatedObservationAtOptimum”, ].
Example :
{"StoreSupplementaryCalculations":["BMA", "CurrentState"]}
Information and variables available at the end of the algorithm¶
At the output, after executing the algorithm, there are information and
variables originating from the calculation. The description of
Variables and informations available at the output show the way to obtain them by the method
named get, of the variable “ADD” of the post-processing in graphical
interface, or of the case in textual interface. The input variables, available
to the user at the output in order to facilitate the writing of post-processing
procedures, are described in the Inventory of potentially available information at the output.
Permanent outputs (non conditional)
The unconditional outputs of the algorithm are the following:
- Analysis
List of vectors. Each element of this variable is an optimal state
in optimization or an analysis 
in
data assimilation.Example:
Xa = ADD.get("Analysis")[-1]
- CurrentState
List of vectors. Each element is a usual state vector used during the iterative algorithm procedure.
Example:
Xs = ADD.get("CurrentState")[:]
- Innovation
List of vectors. Each element is an innovation vector, which is in static the difference between the optimal and the background, and in dynamic the evolution increment.
Example:
d = ADD.get("Innovation")[-1]
Set of on-demand outputs (conditional or not)
The whole set of algorithm outputs (conditional or not), sorted by alphabetical order, is the following:
- Analysis
List of vectors. Each element of this variable is an optimal state
in optimization or an analysis in
data assimilation.Example:
Xa = ADD.get("Analysis")[-1]
- CurrentOptimum
List of vectors. Each element is the optimal state obtained at the usual step of the iterative algorithm procedure of the optimization algorithm. It is not necessarily the last state.
Example:
Xo = ADD.get("CurrentOptimum")[:]
- CurrentState
List of vectors. Each element is a usual state vector used during the iterative algorithm procedure.
Example:
Xs = ADD.get("CurrentState")[:]
- Innovation
List of vectors. Each element is an innovation vector, which is in static the difference between the optimal and the background, and in dynamic the evolution increment.
Example:
d = ADD.get("Innovation")[-1]
- SimulatedObservationAtBackground
List of vectors. Each element is a vector of observation simulated by the observation operator from the background
. It is the
forecast from the background, and it is sometimes called “Dry”.Example:
hxb = ADD.get("SimulatedObservationAtBackground")[-1]
- SimulatedObservationAtCurrentState
List of vectors. Each element is an observed vector simulated by the observation operator from the current state, that is, in the observation space.
Example:
hxs = ADD.get("SimulatedObservationAtCurrentState")[-1]
- SimulatedObservationAtOptimum
List of vectors. Each element is a vector of observation obtained by the observation operator from simulation on the analysis or optimal state
. It is the observed forecast from the analysis or the
optimal state, and it is sometimes called “Forecast”.Example:
hxa = ADD.get("SimulatedObservationAtOptimum")[-1]
See also¶
References to other sections: