An iterative ensemble kalman smoother in presence of additive model error

Ensemble variational methods are being increasingly used in the field of geophysical data assimilation. Their efficiency comes from the combined use of ensembles, which provide statistics estimates, and a variational analysis, which handles nonlinear operators through iterative optimization techniques. Taking model error into account in four-dimensional ensemble variational algorithms is challenging because the state trajectory over the data assimilation window (DAW) is no longer determined by its sole initial condition. In particular, the control variable dimension scales with the DAW length, which yields a high numerical complexity. This is unfortunate since accuracy improvement is expected with longer DAWs. Building upon the work of [P. Sakov and M. Bocquet, Tellus A, 70 (2018), 1414545], this paper discusses how to algorithmically construct and numerically test an iterative ensemble Kalman smoother with additive model error (IEnKS-Q) which is thought to be the natural weak constraint generalization of the IEnKS [M. Bocquet and P. Sakov, Quart. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc., 140 (2014), pp. 1521-1535], as well as the generalization of IEnKF-Q [P. Sakov, J. Haussaire, and M. Bocquet, Quart. J. Roy. Meteorol. Soc., 144 (2018), pp. 1297-1309] to general DAWs. The number of model evaluations per cycle of the IEnKS-Q is also examined. Solutions based on perturbation decomposition are proposed to dissociate those numerically costly evaluations from the control variable dimension.