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HOME > Monitoring_and_Data > Oceanic and Atmospheric Data > Reanalysis: Atmospheric Data > CFSR number of days/year with Tmax >= 30C, Heat zones
 

CFSR: products and notes

Introduction

The Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) creates analyses using a modified version of the Global Forecast System (GFS) coupled with a MOM4 ocean model. The system has been documented in the Bulletin of the Meteorological Society (Saha et al. 2010).

One advantage of the CFSR over the ealier NCEP global reanalyses is the higher resolution (Gaussian grid is ~35 km). As a result, the analyses is more useful for people who are interested in their local conditions rather than the global patterns. Given the recent release of the CFSR (at time of writing), it is prudent that users evaluate the CFSR products before using them. With time, the community will know the strengths and weaknesses of the various CFSR products but until that time, "trust but verify".

CFSR based products

#days >= 30C (heat zones) is one factor for plant growth
plant hardiness zones a USDS-like index based on average minimum temperatures
growing degree days (GDD) a factor in plant growth

Comments

Please send comments/suggestions to: Wesley.Ebisuzaki@noaa.gov

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Page last modified: Aug 13, 2010
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