NOAA HYSPLIT-Compatible Meteorological Data Archives

NOAA's Air Resources Laboratory has archived meteorological datasets from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction since 1989 for use in air quality research. These datasets are formatted for compatibility with the HYSPLIT atmospheric transport and dispersion model, which is one of the most extensively used models in the atmospheric sciences community. The data supports simulations for tracking pollutants, hazardous materials, volcanic ash, and wildfire smoke.

Use Cases

• Conducting back trajectory analysis to determine the origin of air masses based on archived meteorological fields.
• Simulating the transport and dispersion of pollutants from stationary and mobile emission sources.
• Forecasting the release and movement of hazardous materials like radioactive particles or volcanic ash.
• Modeling the atmospheric transport and deposition of allergens or windblown dust.

Strengths

• Data is specifically formatted for the HYSPLIT model, a standard tool in atmospheric sciences.
• Archiving by NOAA's Air Resources Laboratory began in 1989, suggesting a long-term record.
• Includes datasets from NCEP's operational analyses and forecasts, which are regularly updated.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and total dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

NOAA Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) and National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP).

Collection Method

Archived from operational NCEP model runs; some datasets are created outside NOAA.