S-RIP: Links

Links to the Global Atmospheric Reanalysis Datasets

(for monthly-mean data click)

ERA-Interim (click): Period: January 1979 - present; Format: GRIB or netCDF; Note: Data can be downloaded from: (click; either "Full" or "Low" resolution); Note: One time registration is necessary.; Note: ECMWF data FAQ answers many of your questions.; References: Dee et al. 2011
ERA-40 (click): Period: September 1957 - August 2002; Format: GRIB or netCDF; Note: Data can be downloaded from: (click); Note: One time registration is necessary.; Note: ECMWF data FAQ answers many of your questions.; References: Uppala et al. 2005
JRA-55 (click): Period: January 1958 - present; Format: GRIB; Note: Registration (to get ID and password) is necessary to download data.; Note: Monthly data are now available (October 2013). JRA-55 data will be also available from other, non-JMA websites. See the release schedule at the JRA-55 website for further details.; References: Ebita et al. 2011
JRA-25/JCDAS (click): Period: January 1979 - December 2013(?); Format: GRIB (or 4-byte big_endian for Monthly Means); Note: Registration (to get ID and password) is necessary to download data.; Note: The distribution of the JRA-25/JCDAS data (from the JMA site) will be terminated at the end of February 2014. But, JRA-25/JCDAS data will still be available through NCAR's Research Data Archive.; References: Onogi et al. 2007; see also Ebita et al. 2011
MERRA (click): Period: January 1979 - present; Format: HDF or netCDF; Note: Data can be downloaded from: (click) (See "Data Access Methods" in this NASA page carefully; or, as an example, see "for monthly-mean data click" above); Note: Longitude is from -180 through 0 to +180 degree, and latitude is from -90 through 0 to +90 degree.; Note: MERRA netCDF files do not contain the unit information. See File Specification documents for the unit and other detailed information.; References: Rienecker et al. 2011
NCEP CFSR (click): Period: January 1979 - December 2009; Format: GRIB2; Note: Data can be downloaded from another website: (click); References: Saha et al. 2010; Saha et al. 2010 supplement
NCEP/DOE AMIP-II (R2) (click): Period: January 1979 - present; Format: netCDF; References: Kanamitsu et al. 2002
NCEP/NCAR (R1) (click): Period: January 1948 - present; Format: netCDF; References: Kalnay et al. 1996; Kistler et al. 2001; see also references for R2 and CFSR
NOAA-CIRES 20CR (click): Period: January 1871 - December 2010 (for Version 2) (1908-1958 for Version 1); Format: netCDF; References: Compo et al. 2011

Information on the Reanalyses

Reanalyses.org:"Reanalysis Intercomparison and Observation" (click): The reanalysis website prepared by the reanalysis centers.
NCAR's Research Data Archive (click): NCAR's reanalysis data archive. Most reanalysis data (except for NASA-MERRA) can be found.; Note: You will create your own request at the site, and receive an email (maybe one day later or much sooner) to get the data files using a wget shell script file.; Note: Unfortunately, ECMWF data archived at this site cannot be distributed to scientists outside the USA, who need to go to the ECMWF's official website (see below).
NCAR/CGD's Data Catalog (click): NCAR/CGD's Climate Analysis Section summarizes the reanalysis data information.
NCAR's Climate Data Guide (click): An NCAR's website summarizes the reanalysis data information (click "Data").

Useful Tools

NCAR Command Language (NCL) (click): ncl_convert2nc can convert various file types (including GRIB, GRIB2, and HDF) into netCDF. Note that the options "-nc4c -c 1" will give you a "nc4" file whose size is much smaller than a "nc" file; but, you need a higher version of netCDF to handle "nc4" files (see netCDF FAQ, Formats etc. for the details).

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