Three-dimensional variational analysis

{
  "id": "MLC-T-MET-009636",
  "term": "Three-dimensional variational analysis",
  "field": "Meteorology and atmospheric science",
  "definition": "A data assimilation technique used in numerical weather prediction to combine observational data with a short-range forecast (background field) to produce an optimal initial state for the model. It minimizes a cost function that measures the departure from both the observations and the background, weighted by their respective error covariances. This method, often abbreviated as 3D-Var, is a precursor to more advanced four-dimensional techniques.",
  "url": "https://mlchart.com/terminology/meteorology/three-dimensional-variational-analysis/"
}