THE NOAA OPERATIONAL MODEL ARCHIVE AND DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM (NOMADS) G. K. RUTLEDGE† National Climatic Data Center 151 Patton Ave, Asheville, NC 28801, USA E-mail:
[email protected] J. ALPERT National Centers for Environmental Prediction Camp Springs, MD 20736, USA E-mail:
[email protected] R. J. STOUFFER Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Princeton, NJ 08542, USA E-mail:
[email protected] B. LAWRENCE British Atmospheric Data Centre Chilton, Didcot, OX11 0QX, U.K. E-mail:
[email protected] Abstract An international collaborative project to address a growing need for remote access to real-time and retrospective high volume numerical weather prediction and global climate model data sets (Atmosphere-Ocean General Circulation Models) is described. This paper describes the framework, the goals, benefits, and collaborators of the NOAA Operational Model Archive and Distribution System (NOMADS) pilot project. The National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) initiated NOMADS, along with the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL). A description of operational and research data access needs is provided as outlined in the U.S. Weather Research Program (USWRP) Implementation Plan for Research in Quantitative Precipitation Forecasting and Data Assimilation to “redeem practical value of research findings and facilitate their transfer into operations.” † Work partially supported by grant NES-444E (ESDIM) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). 1 2 1.0 Introduction To address a growing need for real-time and retrospective General Circulation Model (GCM) and Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) data, the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) along with the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) have initiated the collaborative NOAA Operational Model Archive and Distribution System (NOMADS) (Rutledge, et.