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MM5/WRF World Wide Data
MM5/WRF are
widely-used three-dimensional numerical meteorological
models which contain non-hydrostatic dynamics, a variety
of physics options for parameterizing cumulus clouds,
microphysics, the planetary boundary layer and
atmospheric radiation. MM5/WRF have the capability to
perform Four Dimensional Data Assimilation (FDDA), and
are able to simulate a variety of meteorological
phenomena such as tropical cyclones, severe convective
storms, sea-land breezes, and terrain forced flows such
as mountain valley wind systems.
MM5
vs WRF
The WRF model is
a newer model with updated physics schemes.
Studies have shown the WRF model to have less
smoothing, which can allow smaller scale
features such as terrain
effects to affect the solution. The WRF model has also been shown to
provide equal or better forecasts than those of
the MM5 model. For
more information click here.
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In order to facilitate the use of advanced
non-steady-state air quality modeling techniques such as
CALPUFF in areas with sparse or no meteorological
observations, TRC is making available MM5/WRF datasets
in two formats:
Tiled Data Format: Convenient
small portions of data and may be ordered in as many
(or as few) as you need to cover your domain of
interest. Tiles can be converted to CALMET-ready
3D.DAT files using extraction software provided with
the data set. This format is intended for CALMET use
only. Each tile covers an area of 10 x 10 grid
points. It includes hourly data for a full year. The
time stamp of the data is UTC (GMT) time. Each tile
contains 8760 hours (or 8784 hours for a leap year)
plus 12 hours of the prior year (in UTC time) and 12
hours of the following year (in UTC time). The
hourly 3-D meteorological parameters included in the
tiles are wind speed, wind direction, temperature,
pressure, geopotential height, vertical velocity,
relative humidity, mixing ratios for water vapor,
cloud water, rain, ice, snow, and graupel. Hourly surface
(2-D) parameters in the tiles include sea-level
pressure, rainfall amount, snow cover, short wave and
long wave radiation at the surface, air temperature at
2m, specific humidity at 2m, wind speed and wind
direction at 10m and sea surface temperature. There
are 52,000 3-D data points per hour and 1,000 2-D data
points per hour included in each tile. Each tile
contains one year of data in a packed (compressed)
format that is roughly 450 MB in size.
Native Binary Output Format: The
ideal file format when data needs to be used for
applications other than CALMET (for example: grid
modeling). The binary data is provided on a
domain-wide basis only. MMOUT files from MM5 and
WRFOUT files from WRF can be converted to CALMET-ready
3D.DAT files using the CALMM5 or CALWRF preprocessing
programs respectively.
All MM5/WRF Data Sets have been classified into six
(6) world region groups, roughly corresponding to the
continents. For more information, including available
data sets and ordering information, please click on the
links below.
If you
already know what you want, please fill out the
--OR--
If you cannot find the specific area or year you are looking for.
Not sure what tile or domain is needed? Please
click on the button below to use the "Tile Selector"
Application. Note: Before you begin,
please read the "Tile Selector Help" document for
instructions on installing and using this
application.
CALMET can be run in "No-Observations Mode" with no
other meteorological data other than the MM5/WRF data,
or it can be run in "Hybrid Mode" using observations
together with the MM5/WRF dataset (CALMET can also be
run in an "Observations Only" mode using only
observational data.). CALMET contains algorithms
to compute the cloud cover and ceiling height for each
CALMET grid point from the relative humidity and liquid
water data contained in the MM5/WRF dataset.
MM5/WRF CHARACTERISTICS
include:
Hourly Time Resolution, Horizontal Grid Spacing, 3-D
Variables and 2-D Variables
| Horizontal grid spacing: 12 km (4 km
or 1.33 km for higher resolution data). 40
vertical half-sigma levels. The nominal heights
above the ground at a MM5/WRF grid depend on its
surface elevation. The nominal heights listed
below are for a grid location at the sea level. |
| Below 100 meters: |
1, 34, 60, 90, 123, 160, 202, 250, 304, 365,
434, 511, 600, 700, 814, 944 (meters) |
| 1,000 - 3,500 Meters: |
1092, 1262, 1455, 1678, 1934, 2231, 2576, 2980,
3456 (meters) |
| Above 3,500 Meters |
4022, 4628, 5180, 5706, 6265, 6866, 7546, 8317,
9225, 10311, 11427, 12262, 12875, 13547, 14290
(meters) |
| 3-D Variables Include |
Wind speed and wind direction, Temperature,
Relative Humidity, Pressure, Mixing ratios of
water vapors, cloud water, rain water, ice, snow
and graupel.
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| 2-D Variables Include |
Precipitation Amount, Short wave solar
radiation, Long wave solar radiation, Snow
cover, 2-m temperature and specific humidity,
10-m wind speed and direction, Sea surface
temperature
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| Available Data Formats |
| Tiled (2 versions) |
Native Binary (1 version) |
-
Individual Tiles
-
Full Domain (for use with CALPUFF modeling
system)
|
-
Full Domain only (for use with models such
as CMAQ)
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| Available Data Storage |
Individual tiles are available on either DVD
or USB hard drive. The Full Domain dataset is
provided on a hard drive only. Be sure to
specify the hard drive format on the order form.
External USB Hard Drive - Hard
drives provided are USB 2.0 external drives of
at least 250 GB capacity up to 2000 GB. The
power supply can handle voltage in the range of
100-240V, 50-60Hz but contain a USA-type of
electric plug that will require an adapter in
other countries (not provided). User-supplied
hard drives can be accommodated as a special
order. Smaller drives (250 GB) do not require a
power supply as these run on USB connection.
DVD Orders - MM5/WRF data will be
provided on DVDs, except for the Full Domain,
which are available only on hard drives due to
the large space requirements of the files.
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| Software |
Easy-to-use software is provided with the
tiles to extract the data and create a
CALMET-compatible 3D.DAT file. Any rectangular
set of tiles can be combined into a 3D.DAT file
for input into CALMET. The user selects a range
in terms of latitude/longitude or model grid
points to be extracted and a time period and the
extraction software will identify the tiles
needed and perform the data extraction. New
tiles can be added to existing tiles to allow
the capability to create larger domains in the
3D.DAT files.
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For questions or comments,
please contact asg@trcsolutions.com.
~ Last updated: December 28, 2012~
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