NCEP/NCAR reanalysis provides valuable research data

by Nancy Dawson

Monthly mean 850 millibar reanalysis data for December 1994 (372K).

Present archives of gridded analysis and forecast fields are based on methods that have changed significantly over time. These changes can cause jumps in the perceived climate parameters that can obscure the true short-term climate changes or interannual climate variability. The National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and NCAR started the Reanalysis Project in 1991 to produce a more consistent set of analyses.

SCD Data Support staff have been active in the project since its beginning. The 40 years of reanalysis (1957-1996) is scheduled to be completed in early 1997. The collection will be continuously updated using the identical Climate Data Assimilation System (CDAS). The addition of years previous to 1957 is being considered.

The March 1996 issue of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society features a paper detailing the project. Roy Jenne and Dennis Joseph, both of SCD, are among the 22 co-authors of the paper. The issue includes a CD-ROM that contains 13 years of monthly fields, daily fields for 1993, climatological fields, and selected observed data from the NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis.

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