Mesoscale Modeling Branch Forecast Verification System (FVS) Change Log

When Who What
2009/01/01 Rogers, J. Zhu, Shafran
  • Changes to the FVS database at /mmb/wd20er/data/vsdb on tempest:
    1. E. Rogers' FVS jobs on the CCS turned off, start use of VSDB files produced in operations
    2. DGEXO renamed DGEX
    3. All bias-corrected SREF members, which were named ending in "BC" (NMMCTLBC, for example), are renamed ending in "X" (NMMCTLX) to conform to naming convention in operational FVS jobs
    4. GFSEO (GFS verified from 90-192 h for comparison to DGEX) turned off
    5. NGM turned off
    6. Bias-corrected SREF ensemble mean forecast (SRMEANX) temporarily turned off pending script fix in SREF post-processing
    7. Added verification of specific humidity on pressure levels
    8. Added verification of GFS 1-deg lat/lon output
    9. Operational NAM VSDB file is split into "NAM40" (upper air verification using 40 km grids #212 and #216) and "NAM" (upper air and surface verification using 12 km grids #218 and #242) to provide continuity with E. Rogers' datebase and to allow FVS to run faster on tempest
    10. FVS records in NAM, GFS, and all SREF members VSDB files of new fields are extracted from monolithic VSDB files and put into a new database (see below)
  • New database (/mmb/wd20er/data/vsdb_aux) on tempest which contains FVS records of additional fields added by P. Shafran over the years (not all of these are available for all models):
    1. PBL height
    2. CAPE
    3. CIN
    4. Lifted Index
    5. Tropopause Pressure
    6. Precipitable Water
    7. Visibility
    8. Cloud Base Height
    9. Total Cloud Fraction
    10. Wind Chill Temperature
    11. Maximum Wind Gust
    12. Maximum Temperature
    13. Minimum Temperature
    14. All "FHO" statistics for surface variables
    • 2007/12/13 Rogers, Shafran
  • Begin verification of bias-corrected output from the NCEP Short-range Ensemble Forecast System (both individual members and SREF mean). Filenames are the same as the current SREF FVS files, but with "bc" added (e.g., srmeanbc, etc.)
    • 2007/09/11 Rogers, Pyle
  • Upgrade to HIRESW runs:
    1. WRF-NMM
      1. Increase resolution from 5.2 km to 4.0 km
    2. WRF-ARW
      1. Increase resolution from 5.8 km to 5.1 km
    3. Expanded large domains
      1. Western and Eastern U.S. domains roughly doubled in size
      2. 3 CONUS nests reduced to 2 overlapping domains (West-Central & East Central)
    4. New HIRESW run schedule:
      1. 0000Z : East/Central U.S., Hawaii
      2. 0600Z : West/Central U.S., Puerto Rico
      3. 1200Z : East/Central U.S., Hawaii
      4. 1800Z : Alaska, Puerto Rico
  • Changes to HIRESW FVS files:
    1. CENTNMM, CENTEM, NAMCENTHW dropped
    2. AKEM renamed AKARW
    3. EASTEM renamed EASTARW
    4. HIEM renamed HIARW
    5. PREM renamed PRARW
    6. WESTEM renamed WESTARW
    7. Verifications for EASTNMM, EASTARW, NAMEASTHW, AKNMM, AKARW, and NAMAKHW changed to reflect new East US and Alaska HIRSEW model start times
    8. For upper air data, add verification over the entire expanded 5 km output grid for the large HIRESW domains:
      1. East US (grid number 155)
      2. West US (grid number 156)
      3. Alaska (grid number 159)
    • 2006/12/14 Rogers
  • Changed the grid used to define the data retention area for CONUS verifications of the NAM, GFS, RUC, NGM, parallel NAM, parallel RUC, and all SREF members from grid #212 to grid #236 (set in "keeplist" file)
    • 2006/07/02 Rogers, Shafran
  • Began verifying 03z and 15z SREF runs
  • Turned on verification of 2-m dew point temperature for the following : NAM, RUC, HIRESW, parallel NAM, parallel RUC, all SREF members
  • Removed verification over DWRFE grid #163
    • 2005/12/06 Rogers
  • Added the 6 new WRF members of the SREF:
    • NMMCTL : WRF-NMM dynamic core, NCEP physics, control
    • NMMP1 : WRF-NMM dynamic core, NCEP physics, positive perturbation
    • NMMN1 : WRF-NMM dynamic core, NCEP physics, negative perturbation
    • ARWCTL : WRF-ARW dynamic core, NCAR physics, control
    • ARWP1 : WRF-ARW dynamic core, NCAR physics, positive perturbation
    • ARWN1 : WRF-ARW dynamic core, NCAR physics, negative perturbation
    • 2005/09/05 Rogers
  • Change to verification of SREF:
    • Extented verification of ensemble mean and all members to 87-h
    • Added verification of Alaska SREF output (grid #216) for ensemble mean and all members
    • 2005/07/01 Rogers
  • Change to output grid from GFS used in FVS:
    • Old (up to 30 June 2005) : One-degree lat/lon grid interpolated to 80 km grid #211
    • New (starting 1 July 2005): 1/2 degree lat/lon grid interpolated to 40 km grid #212
  • Change is valid for both "GFS" records (0-84 h) and "GFSEO" records (90-192h)
    • 2005/03/23 Rogers
  • Changes/additions to FVS model names:
    • "FNL" renamed "GDAS"
    • "EDS" renamed "NDAS"
    • "ETA" discontinued, added "NAM40", which is the operational NAM verified against all upper air data using the 40 km grid #212 over the CONUS and 45 km grid #216 over Alaska. All previous on-line "ETA" FVS files were renamed and copied to the "NAM40" directory.
    • For the NAM archive (started 11/7/04, see 1/25/2005 entry below) copied all online "ETA" FVS files prior to 11/7/04 and renamed them "NAM".
    • 2005/02/17 Rogers, Manikin
  • Added verification on the 20 km grid #252 for the RUC and RUCX
    • 2005/02/11 Rogers
  • Changed names of NAM FVS files verified over HiResWindow Model domains:
    • ETHA --> NAMAKHW (Alaska HIRESW domain, 00z cycle)
    • ETHC --> NAMCENTHW (Central US HIRESW domain, 12z cycle)
    • ETHE --> NAMEASTHW (East US HIRESW domain, 18z cycle)
    • ETHH --> NAMHIHW (Hawaii HIRESW domain, 00z and 12z cycles)
    • ETHP --> NAMPRHW (Puerto Rico HIRESW domain, 06z and 18z cycles)
    • ETHW --> NAMWESTHW (Western US HIRESW domain, 06z cycle)
    • 2005/01/25 Rogers
  • Operational Eta-12 officially renamed North American Meso Model (NAM). Started new "NAM" verification files on 11/7/2004 which use grids #218 and #242 to verify upper air data in addition to surface data.
    • 2004/09/22 Rogers
  • Start of WRF HIRESW system, single NMM run replaced with 2 runs: the WRF version of the Non-hydrostatic Meso Model (WRF-NMM) and the WRF version of the NCAR Eulerian Mass Core (WRF-EM). Changes to FVS:
    • Previous ops NMM names (EAST, CENT, WEST, AKHW, PRHW, HIHW) dropped
    • CENTNMM --> Ops WRF-NMM run for Central US
    • AKNMM --> Ops WRF-NMM run for Alaska
    • EASTNMM --> Ops WRF-NMM run for Eastern US
    • WESTNMM --> Ops WRF-NMM run for Western US
    • HINMM --> Ops WRF-NMM run for Hawaii
    • PRNMM --> Ops WRF-NMM run for Puerto Rico
    • CENTEM --> Ops WRF-EM run for Central US
    • AKEM --> Ops WRF-EM run for Alaska
    • EASTEM --> Ops WRF-EM run for Eastern US
    • WESTEM --> Ops WRF-EM run for Western US
    • HIEM --> Ops WRF-EM run for Hawaii
    • PREM --> Ops WRF-EM run for Puerto Rico
    • Added CENTNMMX --> Parallel WRF-NMM run for Central US
    • Added AKNMMX --> Parallel WRF-NMM run for Alaska
    • Added EASTNMMX --> Parallel WRF-NMM run for Eastern US
    • Added WESTNMMX --> Parallel WRF-NMM run for Western US
    • Added HINMMX --> Parallel WRF-NMM run for Hawaii
    • Added PRNMMX --> Parallel WRF-NMM run for Puerto Rico
    • 2004/09/12 Rogers
  • The grid used to verify upper air data (raobs, etc) for model ETHA (Eta model over the Alaska HIRESW domain) was changed from the 45 km grid #216 to the 11.25 km grid #242.
    • 2004/08/18 Rogers
  • New 32-km SREF with physics diversity implemented; FVS database for SREF changed as follows:
    • Old database names (ectl etn1 etn2 etp1 etp2 ekfc ekp1 ekp2 ekn1 ekn2 rctl rsn1 rsn2 rsp1 rsp2) for 48-km ops SREF turned off
    • New database names will be a continuation of those used for the 32-km SREF parallel:
      1. ebmjc : Eta, Betts-Miller-Janjic convection, ops Ferrier microphysics, control
      2. ekfcc : Eta, Kain-Fritsch convection, ops Ferrier microphysics, control
      3. ebmjn : Eta, Betts-Miller-Janjic convection, ops Ferrier microphysics, negative perturbation
      4. ebmjp : Eta, Betts-Miller-Janjic convection, ops Ferrier microphysics, positive perturbation
      5. ekfcn : Eta, Kain-Fritsch convection, ops Ferrier microphysics, negative perturbation
      6. ekfcp : Eta, Kain-Fritsch convection, ops Ferrier microphysics, positive perturbation
      7. esatn : Eta, Betts-Miller-Janjic convection w/saturated vapor pressure profiles, experimental Ferrier microphysics, negative perturbation
      8. esatp : Eta, Betts-Miller-Janjic convection w/saturated vapor pressure profiles, experimental Ferrier microphysics, positive perturbation
      9. edetn : Eta, Kain-Fritsch convection w/full cloud detrainment, experimental Ferrier microphysics, negative perturbation
      10. edetp : Eta, Kain-Fritsch convection w/full cloud detrainment, experimental Ferrier microphysics, positive perturbation
      11. rsasc : RSM, simplified Arakawa-Schubert convection, Zhou GFS microphysics, control
      12. rsasn : RSM, simplified Arakawa-Schubert convection, Zhou GFS microphysics, negative perturbation
      13. rsasp : RSM, simplified Arakawa-Schubert convection, Zhou GFS microphysics, positive perturbation
      14. rrasn : RSM, relaxed Arakawa-Schubert convection, Zhou GFS microphysics, negative perturbation
      15. rrasp : RSM, relaxed Arakawa-Schubert convection, Zhou GFS microphysics, positive perturbation
    • "srm32" : Ensemble mean for 32-km SREF parallel turned off
    • 2004/06/24 Rogers
  • Added parallel 32-km EDAS runs : EDASV, EDASL, EDASY, EDASZ, EDASW. Verified 00-h analysis at start of EDAS and the last 3-h EDAS forecast, both valid at 00z or 12z.
    • 2004/06/08 Rogers
  • Turned back on verification of surface ship data (PREPBUFR ob types 180/280, 182/282) in all models.
    • 2004/04/25 Rogers
  • Turned off DGEX (parallel 00Z DGEX) and GFSE
    • 2004/04/13 Rogers
  • Added DGEXO, operational DGEX from 06z/18z over CONUS, 00z/12z over Alaska. Created new extended GFS archive called "GFSEO" for comparisons to DGEXO
    • 2004/03/15 Rogers
  • Changed DGEX and GFSE verification jobs so that they used the same observation data set
    • 2004/03/03 Rogers
  • Added 00Z DGEX (8-day eta extension parallel) for hours 84-192; added 00Z GFS for hours 84-192; 18z GFS for hours 192, 12Z GFS for hour 204; these GFS verifications designated "GFSE"
    • 2003/12/18 Rogers
  • Fixed bug in SREF-mean prepfits code which caused the first forecast GRIB file read into the code to not be used.
    • 2003/12/17 Manikin, Benjamin, Rogers
  • Switched to using RUC2B 00z/12z analyses in verification scripts; this was originally done on 30 Dec 2002 but was undone at some point by persons unknown.
    • 2003/12/11 Rogers
  • Added generation of regional verification statistics against rawinsondes over the CONUS using the 3 HIRESW CONUS domains to split the CONUS into Eastern (G245), Central (G247) and Western (G246) regions.
    • 2003/10/20 Rogers
  • New/modified models:
    • WRFC (NCAR WRF, central US) changed to CENTEM (EM=NCAR Eulerian Mass Core)
    • WRFA (NCAR WRF, Alaska US) changed to AKEM
    • WRFE (NCAR WRF, east US) changed to EASTEM
    • WRFW (NCAR WRF, west US) changed to WESTEM
    • Added CENTNMM (NMM WRF, central US)
    • Added EASTNMM (NMM WRF, east US)
    • Added WESTNMM (NMM WRF, west US)
    • Added AKNMM (NMM WRF, Alaska)
    • 2003/09/29 (retroactive to 2003/09/01) Ek, Pyle, Rogers
  • New FVS surface subregions implemented:
    • APL = Appalachians verification region
    • NEC = Northern East Coast verification region
    • SEC = Southern East Coast verification region
    • GMC = Gulf of Mexico Coastal verification region
    • MDW = Midwest verification region
    • LMV = Lower Mississippi Valley verification region
    • NPL = Northern Plains verification region
    • SPL = Southern Plains verification region
    • NMT = Northern Mountain verification region
    • SMT = Southern Mountain verification region
    • GRB = Great Basin verification region
    • SWD = Southwest Desert verification region
    • NWC = Northern West Coast verification region
    • SWC = Southern West Coast verification region
  • Names changed/eliminated/combined with other regions:
    • NFR = Northern Front Range verification region
    • SFR = Southern Front Range verification region
    • NMW = Northern Midwest verification region (renamed MDW, southern boundary moved northward)
    • SMW = Southern Midwest verification region (renamed LMV, excludes Gulf Coast)
    • 2003/07/13 Rogers
  • Added verification of 51-84 h forecasts from 06z/18z runs for the Eta and GFS.
    • 2003/06/26 Du
  • SREF Mean statistics changed to include 5 Eta Kain-Fritsch members (now a 15 member ensemble mean).
    • 2003/05/19 Rogers
  • Added 5 SREF Eta Kain-Fritsch members to verification data base.
    • 2003/04/01 Rogers, Brill
  • The official location of the Mesoscale Branch on-line FVS grid-obs data base for all operational / parallel runs (the default $VSDB_DATA path) on mmbsrv will change from /export-6/emc2/data/vsdb (or /disk54/data/vsdb on mmbsrv) to /export/mmbsrv/usr1/wd20er/data/vsdb (or /raid/usr1/wd20er/data/vsdb on mmbsrv).
    • 2003/03/18 Pyle, Rogers
  • Began verification of Alaska WRF nested runs (called WRFA)
    • 2003/03/10 Rogers
  • Fixed error in WRF model parameter files for GRIDTOBS which caused incorrect verification of surface fields.
    • 2003/02/24 Pyle, Rogers
  • Began verification of CONUS WRF nested runs WRFE (East US), WRFW (West US), WRFC (Central US)
    • 2002/12/30 Manikin, Benjamin, Rogers
  • Switched to using RUC2B 00z/12z analyses in verification scripts.
    • 2002/11/21 Rogers
  • Added 5 SREF Eta Kain-Fritsch runs (designated EKFC, EKN1, EKN2, EKP1, EKP2) to the FVS database (Turned off on 12/2/02, will be reactivated when KF runs are turned back on in production)
    • 2002/10/23 Rogers
  • Fixed script error so that verification files for all HiResWindow forecasts valid at 21Z are computed correctly
    		•
    2002/09/25 Rogers
  • AVN database in the EMC FVS system has been changed to GFS (for Global Forecast System), the new official name for the NCEP global model forecast:
    • Old holding directory : /export-6/emc2/data/vsdb/avn
    • New holding directory : /export-6/emc2/data/vsdb/gfs
    • Old FVS file name : avn_yyyymmdd.vsdb
    • New FVS file name : gfs_yyyymmdd.vsdb
    • "AVN" in all the above vsdb files changed to "GFS"
    • 2002/09/18 Rogers
  • Removed use of ship observations (PREPBUFR ob types 180/280, 182/282) due to problems with a Great Lakes buoy. This was done for all models with the Great Lakes in their domain.
    • 2002/08/01 Rogers
  • Switched Eta Alaska surface verification to use the 11.25 km polar stereographic grid #242 instead of grid #217
    • 2002/07/22 (approx) Rogers
  • Switched HIRESW verification to use NMM runs; new model names :
    • Alaska HIRESW : old=ak12 ; new = akhw
    • Hawaii HIRESW : old=hi10 ; new = hihw
    • Puerto Rico HIRESW : old=pr10 ; new = prhw
  • Changed ops Eta verifications over HIRESW domains (model=ethe (East US), etac (Central US), ethw (West US)) to use 12-km Lambert Conformal grid #218 instead of 40 km grid #212)
    • 2002/07/12 Rogers
  • Corrected error in PREPFITS : Code set the default GRIB bitmap to 1, so that any model whose verification grid had a GRIB bitmap=0 would attempt to verify data in the regions outside of the model integration domain where the bitmap=0
  • Added verification of surface METAR data (PREPBUFR obs types 187/287) for all models.
    • 2002/05/27 Rogers
  • Added verification of Eta surface forecasts (10-m wind, 2-m temp/RH) over the CONUS using the 12-km Lambert Conformal grid #218, and over Alaska using the 22.5 km polar stereographic grid #217
    • 2001/10/09 Rogers, Brill
  • Fixed temperature verification problem which observed temperatures were subjected to two virtual to sensible temperature conversions.

    • Page Last Modified: January 15, 2009