26 May 2015

ds608.0 NARR 20090401-20150131 rerun4 updates

Updates of NCEP North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) data from April 1, 2009 to January 31, 2015 have been archived as "rerun4" version of ds608.0 dataset in rda.ucar.edu in May 2015.  This update fixes the codes that misread Mexican precipitation data and a bug introduced when NCEP switched the computer systems. The direct effects of these changes are in the precipitation and in the soil moisture fields.

Review rr4.pdf for details.

20 May 2015

GRIB1, GRIB2, NetCDF: What do I use?

[Note: An older version of this information is available under the Documentation Tab of both ds083.2 FNL and ds084.1 GFS as README_Formats.pdf.  This page is maintained and should be considered the definitive version.]

We get this question often from users setting up their data workflow, particularly for datasets for which the data translation option, "Get Converted Files" is available.
Data Access Matrix for ds083.2, which is available in its native GRIB1 and GRIB2 formats or translated to NetCDF.  If you want data translation to NetCDF, click on the options circled in red.
The answer (or non answer) is it depends upon which dataset you want to use (and dates within the series) and which tool(s) you will use to analyze the data.

17 May 2015

The data starts here

At the Water Conservation Gardens Fair yesterday in Berthoud, Colorado (near NCAR's Boulder home), several vendors showed soil moisture monitoring systems.  I took a picture to show where data comes from.
Soil moisture monitor/data logger and one sensor.

13 May 2015

2015 Unidata Users Workshop

The Unidata Users Committee invites you to join Unidata staff, community members, and distinguished speakers at the 2015 Unidata Users Workshop, scheduled to take place 22-25 June 2015 in Boulder, Colorado.