UARZCUKM: Daily Global Stratospheric Weather Model Assimilations

Daily 12:00 GMT model runs from the UK Met Office provide an independent analysis for validating Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) instrument data. The dataset contains global gridded fields for temperature, geopotential height, and wind components at a horizontal resolution of 2.5° latitude by 3.75° longitude on UARS standard pressure levels. Vertical velocity data are available from 26 August 1992 onward.

Use Cases

• Validating satellite-derived temperature and wind profiles from UARS instruments against an independent model analysis.
• Studying large-scale stratospheric circulation patterns using daily global gridded wind and geopotential height fields.
• Assessing model representation of vertical motion (omega) in the stratosphere for dynamics research.
• Comparing assimilation system performance by using the World Weather Watch network and satellite data as described inputs.

Strengths

• Provides a consistent, daily global analysis at a defined 2.5°x3.75° resolution for the stratosphere.
• Includes a specific, mathematically defined vertical coordinate system based on UARS standard pressure levels.
• Serves as a key correlative dataset explicitly created for independent validation of the UARS mission.

Limitations

• Metadata completeness is low: row counts, file sizes, and specific column names are not provided.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates (2001 vs. 2026) suggest potential metadata staleness or platform synchronization issues.
• Data is stored in a proprietary binary record-oriented format, which may require specialized tools for access.

Provenance

Source

U.K. Meteorological Office (UKMO)

Collection Method

Output from daily runs of the numerical Unified Model, assimilating surface, upper-air, and satellite data from the World Weather Watch network.

Time Range

Coverage begins at least by 26 August 1992 (for vertical velocity); full temporal range is not explicitly stated.

Freshness

Last updated dates conflict: 2001-09-30 on NASA Earthdata and 2026-04-09 on Data.gov.

Geography

Global coverage on a staggered latitude-longitude grid.