Formulation of scale transformation in a stochastic data assimilation framework

Abstract. Understanding the errors caused by spatial-scale transformation in Earth observations and simulations requires a rigorous definition of scale. These errors are also an important component of representativeness errors in data assimilation. Several relevant studies have been conducted, but the theory of the scale associated with representativeness errors is still not well developed. We addressed these problems by reformulating the data assimilation framework using measure theory and stochastic calculus. First, measure theory is used to propose that the spatial scale is a Lebesgue measure with respect to the observation footprint or model unit, and the Lebesgue integration by substitution is used to describe the scale transformation. Second, a scale-dependent geophysical variable is defined to consider the heterogeneities and dynamic processes. Finally, the structures of the scale-dependent errors are studied in the Bayesian framework of data assimilation based on stochastic calculus. All the results were presented on the condition that the scale is one-dimensional, and the variations in these errors depend on the differences between scales. This new formulation provides a more general framework to understand the representativeness error in a non-linear and stochastic sense and is a promising way to address the spatial-scale issue.