The NCEP Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR)
Access
UNRESTRICTED
This data set is available from NOAA/NCEP here
RESTRICTED only accessable in CEN/MPI net or via CliSAP login What does that mean?
Data access via File system in /data/icdc/reanalyses/cfsr/
Description
The CFSR was executed as global, high resolution, coupled atmosphere-ocean-land surface-sea ice system. It includes coupling of atmosphere and ocean during the generation of the 6 hour guess field, an interactive sea-ice model and assimilation of satellite radiances by the Grid-point Statistical Interpolation scheme over the period 1979 to 2009 (ref. CFSR overview, pdf, not barrier-free). Additional improvements are: the high horizontal and vertical resolution of the atmosphere (T382L64), assimilation improvements over the last 10-15 years and the use of prescribed CO2 concentrations as a function of time.
CFSR is free of several inadequacies found in NCEP-R1 and R2 such as artificial changes introduced by ingesting data from constantly changing observational platforms or the constant CO2 of 330ppmv, rendering CFSR more useful for climate change studies. CFSR is more accurate than NCEP-R1, while it includes analises of both the ocean and sea-ice with higher resolution in space and time.
CFSR employs the analysis systems:
- operational Global Data Assimilation System (GDAS)
- atmospheric GADAS- Gridded Statistical Interpolation (GSI)
- ocean-ice GODAS
- land GLDAS
Atmospheric Model: operational Global Forecast system (GFS)
Ocean Model: MOM4 Ocean (GFDL Modulal Ocean Model)
Land Model: operational Noah Land Model
Sea Ice model: from the GFDL Sea Ice Simulator
Parameters
| Averages | ||
| Name | Description | Units |
| PRATE | Percipitation Rate | kg/m^2s |
| DLWRF_surface | Downward Long-Wave Radiative Flux | W/m^2 |
| ULWRF_surface | Upward Long-Wave Radiative Flux | W/m^2 |
| USWRF_surface | Upward Short-Wave Radiative Flux | W/m^2 |
| DSWRF_surface | Downward Short-Wave Radiative Flux | W/m^2 |
| SHTFL_surface | Sensible Heat Net Flux | W/m^2 |
| LHTFL_surface | Latent Heat Net Flux | W/m^2 |
| Forecast | ||
| Name | Description | Units |
| TMP_2maboveground | Temperature 2 m above ground | K |
| TMP_surface | Temperature at surface | K |
| TMP_0_0_1mbelowground | Temperature 0-0.1 m below ground | K |
| TMP_0_1_0_4mbelowground | Temperature 0.1-0.4 m below ground | K |
| TMP_0_4_1mbelowground | Temperature 0.4-1 m below ground | K |
| TMP_1_2mbelowground | Temperature 1-2 m below ground | K |
| ICEC_surface | Ice Cover | % |
| UGRD_10maboveground | U-Component of Wind 10 m above ground | m/s |
| VGRD_10maboveground | V-Component of Wind 10 m above ground | m/s |
| SPFH_2maboveground | Specific Humidity 2 m above ground | kg/kg |
| PRES_surface | Pressure at surface | Pa |
| ICETK_surface | Ice Thickness at surface | m |
| DLWRF_surface | Downward Long-Wave Radiative Flux | W/m^2 |
| ULWRF_surface | Upward Long-Wave Radiative Flux | W/m^2 |
| USWRF_surface | Upward Short-Wave Radiative Flux | W/m^2 |
| DSWRF_surface | Downward Short-Wave Radiative Flux | W/m^2 |
| SHTFL_surface | Sensible Heat Net Flux | W/m^2 |
| LHTFL_surface | Latent Heat Net Flux | W/m^2 |
Coverage, spatial and temporal resolution
Period and temporal resolution:
- from 1979 to 2009, 5-day averages and 6-hour forecasts
Coverage and spatial resolution:
- Global
- Spatial resolution: ~38 km (T382)
- Geographic longitude:0°E to 359.687°E
- Geographic latitude: -89.761°N to 89.761°N
- Altitudes: 64 Pressure levels, from surface to 0.26hPa and 40 from surface to 4737 m depth.
Format
- NetCDF 4
Data Quality
Biases arise when the observed radiances are compared to the simulated by CRTM. These biases are associated with instrument calibration, data processing and deficiencies in the radiative transfer model. Thus, before the radiances of a new instrument can be assimilated bias corrections are determined by a separate spin-up assimilation. For a detailed description of the data quality see Saha et al. 2010 supplement (pdf, not barrier-free).
