The NCEP Climate Forecast System Version 2 (CFS v2): hourly timeseries reanalysis and analysis

The CFS version 2 was developed at the Environmental Modeling Center at NCEP. It is a fully coupled model representing the interaction between the Earth's atmosphere, oceans, land and seaice. It became operational at NCEP in March 2011.

The NCEP Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) was designed and executed as a global, high resolution, coupled atmosphere-ocean-land surface-sea ice system to provide the best estimate of the state of these coupled domains over the 32-year period of record from January 1979 to March 2011. In April 2011, the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) started running CFSv2 operationally to produce analyses (a continuation of the CFSv2 Reanalysis) and operational forecasts.

This dataset combines hourly CFSR (reanalysis 1979-March 2011) and CFSv2 (analysis April 2011 - near present). The fluxes were regridded to a matching 0.5°x0.5° grid.

Please reference the following article when using the CFS Reanalysis (CFSR) data.

Saha, Suranjana, and Coauthors, 2010: The NCEP Climate Forecast System Reanalysis. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 91, 1015.1057. doi:10.1175/2010BAMS3001.1

Please reference the following article when using the CFS version 2 Reforecast model or data

Saha, Suranjana and Coauthors, 2014: The NCEP Climate Forecast System Version 2. Journal of Climate J. Climate, 27, 2185–2208. doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00823.1

Salinity Note: There was a bug in the CFSR code that removed all salinity variations at 5m. In addition, the CFSR assimilates synthetic salinity based on dermatological T/S relationship, so salinity variability is severely underestimated. Details are in:

Xue, Yan and Coauthors, 2011: An assessment of oceanic variability in the NCEP climate forecast system reanalysis. Climate Dynamics, 37:11, 2511-2539, doi:10.1007/s00382-010-0954-4

 

Variables
200 mb Velocity Potential [m^2/s],
850 mb Velocity Potential [m^2/s],
surface Downward Long-Wave Rad. Flux [W/m^2],
surface Downward Short-Wave Radiation Flux [W/m^2],
450 K isentropic level Potential Vorticity [Km2kg-1s-1],
550 K isentropic level Potential Vorticity [Km2kg-1s-1],
650 K isentropic level Potential Vorticity [Km2kg-1s-1],
surface Latent Heat Net Flux [W/m^2],
20C ocean isotherm Geometric Depth Below Sea Surface [m],
layer between two depths below ocean surface Ocean Heat Content [Jm-2],
bottom of ocean mixed layer Geometric Depth Below Sea Surface [m],
15 m below sea level Salinity [kg/kg],
5 m below sea level Salinity [kg/kg],
surface Sea Surface Height Relative to Geoid [m],
5 m below sea level Potential Temperature [K],
15 m below sea level Potential Temperature [K],
15 m below sea level U-Component of Current [m/s],
5 m below sea level U-Component of Current [m/s],
15 m below sea level V-Component of Current [m/s],
5 m below sea level V-Component of Current [m/s],
55 m below sea level Vertical Velocity (Geometric) [m/s],
surface Precipitation Rate [kg/m^2/s],
surface Pressure [Pa],
mean sea level Pressure Reduced to MSL [Pa],
200 mb Stream Function [m^2/s],
850 mb Stream Function [m^2/s],
2 m above ground Specific Humidity [kg/kg],
500 mb Specific Humidity [kg/kg],
700 mb Specific Humidity [kg/kg],
850 mb Specific Humidity [kg/kg],
925 mb Specific Humidity [kg/kg],
surface Sensible Heat Net Flux [W/m^2],
1000 mb Temperature [K],
200 mb Temperature [K],
2 mb Temperature [K],
500 mb Temperature [K],
50 mb Temperature [K],
700 mb Temperature [K],
850 mb Temperature [K],
2 m above ground Maximum Temperature [K],
2 m above ground Minimum Temperature [K],
2 m above ground Temperature [K],
surface Temperature [K],
surface Upward Long-Wave Rad. Flux [W/m^2],
surface Upward Short-Wave Radiation Flux [W/m^2],
500 mb Vertical Velocity (Pressure) [Pa/s],
1000 mb U-Component of Wind [m/s],
1000 mb V-Component of Wind [m/s],
10 m above ground U-Component of Wind [m/s],
10 m above ground V-Component of Wind [m/s],
200 mb U-Component of Wind [m/s],
200 mb V-Component of Wind [m/s],
500 mb U-Component of Wind [m/s],
500 mb V-Component of Wind [m/s],
700 mb U-Component of Wind [m/s],
700 mb V-Component of Wind [m/s],
850 mb U-Component of Wind [m/s],
850 mb V-Component of Wind [m/s],
surface Momentum Flux, U-Component [N/m^2],
surface Momentum Flux, V-Component [N/m^2],
1000 mb Geopotential Height [gpm],
200 mb Geopotential Height [gpm],
500 mb Geopotential Height [gpm],
700 mb Geopotential Height [gpm],
850 mb Geopotential Height [gpm]
plus more added later.
Zonal Global by 0.5 deg
Meridional Global by 0.5 deg
Vertical  
Temporal Reanalysis: Jan 1, 1979 to Apr 30, 2011
Analysis: Apr 1, 2011 to Nov 30, 2024 by 1 hour
Static? no
Volume  
Server public:
Source http://nomads.ncdc.noaa.gov/data.php?name=access#CFSR-data
http://nomads.ncdc.noaa.gov/data/cfsr/
http://nomads.ncdc.noaa.gov/modeldata/cfsv2_analysis_timeseries/
Acquired July 5, 2016 (Updated January 2025)
APDRC contact
Supplements http://cfs.ncep.noaa.gov/cfsv2/docs.html