ECMWF TOGA Level III-A Atmospheric Archive 1985-1994

European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts maintains a Level III-A atmospheric data archive interpolated from its operational surface and pressure level data. The archive covers a 10-year period beginning 1 January 1985 and is subdivided into Basic, Supplementary Fields, and Extension datasets. It was created in support of projects associated with the World Climate Research Program.

Use Cases

• Analyze surface data and fluxes from the Supplementary Fields dataset for short-term forecast validation.
• Study precipitation patterns derived from 24-hour forecast values in the Extension dataset.
• Use the Basic dataset's 2.5-degree resolution analyzed values for global climate trend analysis with limited processing resources.
• Compare total cloud cover fields from instantaneous 6 or 12-hour forecasts against observational data.
• Extract sub-area data on regular latitude/longitude grids for regional atmospheric studies.

Strengths

• Archive covers a continuous 10-year period from 1985.
• Data is interpolated from ECMWF operational, full-resolution surface and pressure level data.
• Basic dataset provides a compact 2.5-degree x 2.5-degree resolution suitable for limited resources.
• A full extraction service supports obtaining sub-areas and data at various resolutions.

Limitations

• Dataset temporal coverage is limited to a specific decade (1985-1994), not current.
• Derived quantities like fluxes are not included in the Basic dataset, requiring calculation.
• Data representation uses the WMO FM 92-IX Ext GRIB format with ECMWF local table versions, which may require specialized tools.

Provenance

Source

European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF)

Collection Method

Interpolated from ECMWF operational, full resolution, surface and pressure level data.

Time Range

10-year period beginning 1 January 1985.

Freshness

null

Geography

Global