A Hybrid Ensemble Transform Particle Filter for Nonlinear and Spatially Extended Dynamical Systems

Abstract

Data assimilation is the task to combine evolution models and observational data in order to produce reliable predictions. In this paper, we focus on ensemble-based recursive data assimilation problems. Our main contribution is a hybrid filter that allows one to adaptively bridge between ensemble Kalman and particle filters. While ensemble Kalman filters are robust and applicable to high dimensional problems, particle filters are asymptotically consistent in the large ensemble size limit. We demonstrate numerically that our hybrid approach can improve the performance of both Kalman and particle filters at moderate ensemble sizes. We also show how to implement the concept of localisation into a hybrid filter, which is key to their applicability to high dimensional problems.