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Model Data

Important Notice: 1.4.17
CFS Service down for Maintenance.
The CFS Access infrastructure is undergoing maintenance and access will be sporadic until 1/9/2017.
Important Notice: 12.27.16
GDS Service to be retired.
Due to lack of developer support we will not be able to continue providing GDS services beyond the end of February 2017.
Important Notice: 12.23.16
Transition to HTTPS and HSTS.
Following Federal government policy, NOMADS web services have transitioned to use of HTTPS and HSTS.
Important Notice: 12.17.15
Plot|FTP4U and offline orders change.
Offline ordering now uses the AIRS (HAS) site.
A 3-D animated image of downscaled Global Forecast System (GFS) model data

A 3-D animated image of downscaled Global Forecast System (GFS) model data showing Hurricane Katrina making landfall on August 29, 2005. This image was generated with the Visualization and Analysis Platform for Ocean, Atmosphere, and Solar Researchers (VAPOR) tool and ImageMagick.

To address a growing need for remote access to high-volume numerical weather prediction and global climate models and data, NCEI, along with the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL), initiated the NOAA Operational Model Archive and Distribution System (NOMADS) project. NOMADS is a repository of weather model output datasets, model input datasets (assimilation), and a limited subset of climate model datasets generated by NOAA. NCEI provides near-real-time access to these weather model forecast data in addition to historical model data.

Looking into the past, present, and future, four broad categories of modeled data are available through NOMADS: Reanalysis, Numerical Weather Prediction, Ocean Models, and Climate Prediction. To assist users in the analysis of multi-disciplinary datasets and promote interoperable data analysis, NOMADS also services derived/other model data including paleoclimate (tree ring and ice core) data, observational, and derived observational datasets.