NCEP / NCAR Reanalysis climatologies

CEFA generates upper-air climatology products from Reanalysis data for use in wildland fire and smoke management planning. The NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis Project is an effort to reanalyze historical meteorological data using state-of-the-art models. The reanalysis is done at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), and is a joint project with the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). A T62 (209 km) global spectral model with 28 vertical levels is used. This is the same model used in the assimilation system, as implemented in the NCEP operational system in December 1994. Reanalysis data is provided to CEFA by the NOAA-CIRES Climate Diagnostics Center, Boulder, Colorado, both in archived tape format and via ftp. Additional information on the Reanalysis Project and model details may be found at these web sites:

NCEP/NCAR Global Reanalysis Project (NCEP)
NCEP/NCAR Global Reanalysis Project (NCAR)
NCEP/NCAR Global Reanalysis Project (NOAA-CIRES CDC)

Seasonal streamline climtologies

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Seasonal streamline climatologies show general wind flow patterns over the western U.S. at 850 mb (~5000 feet) and 700 mb (~10,000 feet) by season. Plots are produced by performing a streamline analysis on u and v vector wind components in the GrADS software package (http://grads.iges.org/grads). Long-term mean patterns are produced by first averaging four times a day Reanalysis u and v data into a daily average, and next averaging daily values over a season, such as December, January and February (winter). Seasons are then averaged over the period 1972-1997. The streamlines are smoothed and do not account for complex terrain (i.e., mountain features that are higher than 850 mb).