People often need to examine long time series of monthly means. This is not difficult as GRIB data can be simply concatinated together. In addition GrADS provides a template option to logically combine files with different dates. The only disadvantages are that it requires disk space and little effort (concatinating, making a GrADS control and index files). By the way, we are planning to make a time-series CD-ROM. This CD-ROM will be much easier to use if you are interested in long time series; however, the number of fields will have to be severely limited.
MONTHLY/ATxxZ, xx=00,06,12,18
surface ma G convective/total precipitation rate (CPRAT/PRATE)
2 meter m6 G q (SPFH), T (TMP)
10 meter m6 G U/V (UGRD/VGRD)
925, 850 mb m0 L q (SPFH), T (TMP)
925-600 mb m0 L U (UGRD), V (VGRD)
top ma G upward long wave flux (ULWRF)
MONTHLY/OTHER
0-10,10-200 cm M6 G soil wetness (SOILW)
0-10,10-200, 300 cm M6 G soil temperature (TMP)
mean sea level M0 L pressure (PRES)
2 meter M6 G q (SPFH), T (TMP)
10 meter M6 G U/V (UGRD/VGRD)
col Ma G cloud fraction (TCDC)
column, top Ma G long/short wave cloud forcing (CFNLF/CFNSF)
top Ma G downward short wave flux (DSWRF)
top Ma g upward long/short wave flux (ULWRF/USWRF)
MONTHLY/OTHERVAR
0-10,10-200 cm V6 G soil wetness (SOILW)
0-10,10-200, 300 cm V6 G soil temperature (TMP)
mean sea level V0 L pressure (PRES)
2 meter V6 G q (SPFH), T (TMP)
10 meter V6 G U/V (UGRD/VGRD)
MONTHLY/PRS
1000-10 mb M0 L U'V' (CBMZW), U'T' (CBTZW), V'T' (CBTMW)
1000-100 mb M0 L U'omega' (CBUW), T'omega' (CBTW)
1000-300 mb M0 L U'q' (CBUQ) , V'q' (CBVQ), omega'q' (CBQW)
1000-10 mb M0 L Z (HGT), T (TMP), U/V (UGRD/VGRD),
1000-100 mb M0 L omega (VVEL)
1000-300 mb M0 L rel. humidity (RH), q (SPFH),
* above fields are in ALL.PRS
850, 200 mb M0 L stream function (STRM), velocity pot (VPOT)
levels = 1000 925 850 700 600 500 400 300 250
200 150 100 70 50 30 20 10 mb
MONTHLY/PRSVAR
1000-10 mb V0 L Z (HGT), T (TMP), U/V (UGRD/VGRD)
1000-100 mb V0 L omega (VVEL)
1000-300 mb V0 L rel. humidity (RH), q (SPFH)
* above fields are in ALL.PRS
MONTHLY/SFC
surface Ma G long/short wave cloud forcing (CFNLF/CFNSF)
surface Ma G convective/total precipitation (CPRAT/PRATE)
surface Mo G ice concentration (ICEC)
surface Ma G sensible/latent heat flux (SHTFL/LHTFL)
surface Ma G net long/short wave flux (NLWRS/NSWRS)
surface M6 G potential evaporation (PEVPR)
surface M0 L potential temperature (POT)
surface M6 G pressure, 6 hour forecast (PRES)
surface M0 L pressure, analysis, (PRES, file:PRESF00)
surface M0 L precipitable water, analysis (PWAT)
surface Mg L precipitable water, 1st guess (PWAT, file:PWATGES)
surface Mr G runoff per 6 hours (RUNOF)
surface M6 G skin temperature (height adjusted SST) (TMP)
mean sea level Ma G observed SST (TMP)
surface Ma G momentum flux (neg of wind stress) (UFLX/VFLX)
surface Ma G upward long/short wave flux (ULWRF/USWRF)
surface M6 G snow depth, water equiv. (WEASD)
surface Ma G corrected precipitation (XPRATE)
MONTHLY/SFCVAR
surface Va G convective/total precipitation (CPRAT/PRATE)
surface Va G sensible/latent heat flux (SHTFL/LHTFL)
surface V6 G potential evaporation (PEVPR)
surface V0 L potential temperature (POT)
surface V6 G pressure, 6 hour forecast (PRES)
surface V0 L pressure, analysis, (PRES, file:PRESF00)
surface V0 L precipitable water, analysis (PWAT)
surface Vr G runoff per 6 hours (RUNOF)
surface V6 G skin temperature (height adjusted SST) (TMP)
surface Va G momentum flux (neg of wind stress) (UFLX/VFLX)
surface V6 G snow depth, water equiv. (WEASD)
MONTHLY/THT
270-650K M0 L Montgomery streamfn (MNTSF), pressure (PRES)
270-650K M0 L pot. vorticity (PV), U/V (UGRD/VGRD)
270-650K M0 L mass-weighted U/V (UMAS/VMAS)
levels = 270, 280, 290, 300, 315, 330, 350, 400,
450, 550, 650K
MONTHLY/THTVAR
270-650K V0 L Montgomery streamfn (MNTSF), Pressure (PRES)
270-650K V0 L pot. vorticity (PV), U/V (UGRD/VGRD)
270-650K V0 L mass-weighted U/V (UMAS/VMAS)
270-650K
OBS
surface Mo L GPCP precipitation est. (PRATE, file=GPCPRAIN)
surface Mo L merged precipitation est. (PRATE, file=MRGDRAIN)
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M0=monthly average of analyses (4 times per day)
Ma=monthly average of averages/accumulations (4 times per day)
Mg=monthly average of first guess (4 times per day)
Mo=monthly average of observations
Mr=monthly average of runoff occuring during 6 hours
V0=variance of analyses from monthly mean
Vo=variance of observations (4 times per day)
m0=monthly average of analyses (once analysis per day)
m6=monthly average of 6 hour forecasts (once forecast per day)
ma=monthly average of 0-6 hour average/accumulation (once average per day)
ob=observed
L=2.5x2.5 lat-long grid (144x73)
G=Gaussian grid (192x94)
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