REAL TIME CRAS MODEL COVERAGE

Here are the domains currently covered by CRAS realtime forecasts. Click on an area to view a specific forecast. The resolution (grid-spacing) of the various forecast runs is displayed (km). CRAS forecasts are generated in support of various research projects at CIMSS. DISCLAIMER

CRASNEWS:

The North America CRAS forecast is now running at 45 km horizontal resolution. This change from the previous 48 km was implemented to conform to an NCEP storage grid (superset of the NCEP 106 grid). The map projection has been rotated 10 deg longitude to the west, centered on 105W.

A CRAS forecast for Alaska (45km resolution) has been added to the CRAS realtime forecast suite. Precipitable water and cloud-top pressure from GOES-11 and MODIS are used to initialize water vapor and clouds.

The CRAS postprocessor is now using the latest 101-level GOES radiative transfer model to generate 6.7 and 6.5 micron water vapor imagery for the GOES-11 and GOES-12 footprints. GOES-11 brightness temperatures are computed for the region west of 105W longitude.

CRAS REALTIME NATIONAL FORECAST MAPS

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CRAS 45 kilometer resolution domain for North America (280x180x38 levels)

Here is today's 72-hour forecast, initialized at 12 UTC on 16 Jan 09. These forecast products are produced by the CIMSS Regional Assimilation System (CRAS) model (45km resolution). The daily 00 and 12 UTC forecast results are usually available at approximately 05:00 UTC and 17:00 UTC respectively. DISCLAIMER.

Fcst Sfc/500 hPa Surface Surface PBL Surface 850 hPa 700 hPa 500 hPa 300 hPa Image Image Image
Initial pcp/mslp/Dz spd/dir rainrate PBL RH total PW T/wind VV/wind vort/wind spd/dir %sky 11um 6.7um
06 hr pcp/mslp/Dz spd/dir rainrate PBL RH total PW T/wind VV/wind vort/wind spd/dir %sky 11um 6.7um
12 hr pcp/mslp/Dz spd/dir rainrate PBL RH total PW T/wind VV/wind vort/wind spd/dir %sky 11um 6.7um
18 hr pcp/mslp/Dz spd/dir rainrate PBL RH total PW T/wind VV/wind vort/wind spd/dir %sky 11um 6.7um
24 hr pcp/mslp/Dz spd/dir rainrate PBL RH total PW T/wind VV/wind vort/wind spd/dir %sky 11um 6.7um
36 hr pcp/mslp/Dz spd/dir rainrate PBL RH total PW T/wind VV/wind vort/wind spd/dir %sky 11um 6.7um
48 hr pcp/mslp/Dz spd/dir rainrate PBL RH total PW T/wind VV/wind vort/wind spd/dir %sky 11um 6.7um
60 hr pcp/mslp/Dz spd/dir rainrate PBL RH total PW T/wind VV/wind vort/wind spd/dir %sky 11um 6.7um
72 hr pcp/mslp/Dz spd/dir rainrate PBL RH total PW T/wind VV/wind vort/wind spd/dir %sky 11um 6.7um
Loop pcp/mslp/Dz spd/dir rainrate PBL RH total PW T/wind VV/wind vort/wind spd/dir %sky 11um 6.7um
Fcst Sfc/500 hPa Surface Surface PBL Surface 850 hPa 700 hPa 500 hPa 300 hPa Image Image Image

* East and West Sub-region, North American CRAS

* Forecast Time Series for Selected Sites

* North America Forecast Assimilating MODIS Direct Broadcast Data

* North America CRAS Forecast in grib2 format

* Other Forecast Products

About this Forecast

The purpose of the CRAS is to test the use of satellite observations in a numerical prediction model. The quality of a numerical forecast depends on having accurate observations of the environment to define the forecast model's initial state. Here is a list of the observations that are currently used in the CRAS 12-hour spinnup forecast:
    3-layer precipitable water (mm) from the GOES-10/12 sounders
    Cloud-top pressure (hPa) and effective cloud amount (%) from the GOES-10/12 sounders
    4-layer thickness (m) from the GOES-10/12 sounders
    Cloud-top pressure (hPa) from MODIS
    Gridded hourly precipitation amounts from NCEP
    Cloud-track and water vapor winds (m/s) from the GOES-10/12 imagers
    Cloud-top pressure (hPa) and effective cloud amount (%) from the GOES-12 imager
    Surface temperature (C), dew points (C) and winds (m/s)
    Sea surface temperature (C) and sea ice coverage (%) from NCEP rtg analysis

The CRAS is nested within the National Centers for Environmental Prediction's (NCEP) Global Forecast System (GFS) operational forecast. The combined analysis/forecast cycle takes 250 minutes to execute. Forecast products are available approximately 5.0 hours after synoptic time (00UTC and 12UTC).

Numerical Weather Prediction Research at CIMSS

* Return to CIMSS Home Page

Please refer questions or comments to the CRASmaster at cras@ssec.wisc.edu.