In October 1995, the CMC became involved in GEWEX (Global Energy and Water Cycle EXperiment), more specifically its North American components GCIP (GEWEX Continental-scale International Project) and MAGS (MAckenzie GEWEX Study), by establishing a special GEWEX-dedicated database of model products. This database consists of model analyses, and gridded and point model forecasts that are output in addition to the operational products and are kept indefinitely on tape. The list of archived fields has been established upon requirements of the scientific community involved in GCIP and MAGS. The archive data are typically used as initial/forcing fields for the hydrological/land surface/climate prediction models that try to simulate the water and energy cycles on a regional scale, as well as for detailed budget calculations. In support of GEWEX, CMC also provides customised assistance to users of the archive on how to obtain the data and interpret them.
Gives a brief description of the archive: driving model and content.
This section outlines the milestones of the forecast system generating the archive data since the beginning of the GEWEX data support project at CMC on October 1st, 1995. Furthermore, it elaborates on changes in the archive content. A list of missing or incomplete files could be found at the end of the section.
Outlines the CMC Regional Forecast System that produces the data: regional GEM model, data assimilation procedure, and surface analyses.
Provides detailed informations on the archived products including forecasts, analyses and time series.
The GEWEX archive is a sub-set of an archived database, referred to as the CMC Conventional Arhive, that was initiated in 1983. If one needs data that go back before the start of the GEWEX archive in 1995, we will have to search the Conventional Arhive. Actually, most of the data there is kept for no more than 5 years. The only data available prior to 1995, are the global upper-air analyses.
A major CMC/RPN activity in support of CAGES (CAnadian Gewex Enhanced Study), was the outputting/archiving of 24-hour forecasts produced by special higher-resolution simulations of the GEM model. The configuration of the model dynamics and physics used for these simulations is referred to as "GEM-CAGES model". The GEM-CAGES physics includes an advanced explicit grid-scale condensation scheme, called "mixed-phase" (Tremblay et al. 1996) and the ISBA (Interactions Soil-Biosphere-Atmosphere, Noilhan and Planton, 1989) land-surface scheme. A number of forecast variables in gridded and/or point form have been archived.
The Green LaneTM,
Environment Canada's World Wide Web Site.