Climate Forecast System Reanalysis Model-Level Data

For most studies on the upper troposphere- lower stratosphere (UTLS), pressure-level reanalysis output does not have sufficient vertical resolution in the region of the tropopause, and model-level output is required. While this output is available for other reanalysis products, NOAA CFSR model-level output was previously only provided in an undocumented binary file format using spectral coefficients. We have created a 6-hourly global CFSRv1/v2 reanalysis model level data set in CF-compliant netcdf format, provided on a regular latitude-longitude grid (0.5° x 0.5°) instead of its native horizontal resolution of T382, from 1979-2014. This allows comparison of NOAA CFSR model-level output with other reanalyses in projects such as S-RIP (SPARC- Reanalysis Intercomparison Project), use as input to trajectory and offline chemical transport models, and more careful analysis of tropopause dynamics and other UTLS processes. Using the newly processed CFSR model-level data, we compare various definitions of tropopause pressure between multiple reanalysis products.