Abstract The impact of radiance observations from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) was investigated in the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Global Data Assimilation System (GDAS). The GDAS used NCEP’s Gridpoint Statistical Interpolation (GSI) analysis system and the operational NCEP global forecast model. To improve the performance of AMSR-E low-frequency channels, a new microwave ocean emissivity model and its adjoint with respect to the surface wind speed and temperature were developed and incorporated into the assimilation system. The most significant impacts of AMSR-E radiances on the analysis were an increase in temperature of about 0.2 K at 850 hPa at the higher latitudes and a decrease in humidity of about 0.1 g kg−1 at 850 hPa over the ocean when the new emissivity model was used. There was no significant difference in the mean 6-h rainfall in the assimilation cycle. The forecasts made from the assimilation that included the AMSR-E data showed small improvements in the anomaly correlation of geopotential height at 1000 and 500 hPa in the Southern Hemisphere and reductions in the root-mean-square error (RMSE) for 500-hPa geopotential height in the extratropics of both hemispheres. Use of the new emissivity model resulted in improved RMSE for temperature forecasts from 1000 to 100 hPa in the extratropics of both hemispheres. The assimilation of AMSR-E radiances data using the emissivity model improved the track forecast for Hurricane Katrina in the 26 August 2005 case, whereas the assimilation using the NCEP operational emissivity model, FAST Emissivity Model, version 1 (FASTEM-1), degraded it.