Stratospheric Characteristics of the NCEP Climate Forecast System Reanalysis

As part of NCEP's planned improvements to its Climate Forecast System (CFS), a new reanalysis (CFSR) beginning in January 1979 through the present was recently completed. The CFSR improves upon NCEP's other reanalyses (NCEP/NCAR and NCEP/DOE) in many ways: in horizontal and vertical resolution; in data assimilation; in usage of radiances versus retrievals; and in being a the first reanalysis using a coupled land-ocean-atmosphere-cryosphere model. We will present an evaluation of the CFSR focusing upon its stratospheric characteristics (i.e. temperature, winds, and ozone). We will discuss the successes and failures of NCEP's latest reanalysis and what NCEP's plans are to rectify and improve the CFSR.