PIRCS(1C) Forcing Data Description

1 - Introduction

PIRCS experiment 1(c) consists of a minimum of 7.5 years of integration, 1986 July 1 through 1993 December 31 (past PIRCS participants have recommended extending simulations to 1999 December 31), with the first 6 months as spinup. The minimum period overlaps the monsoon experiments SWAMP-90, SWAMP-93, and EMVER-93 and the Midwest drought of 1988 and flood of 1993. Model domains should fall within the region 145.0 W -55.0 W and 5.0 N - 60.0 N, for which we supply NCEP/DOE Reanalysis-2 (R-2) and Reynolds SST as driving data. This area includes both the forcing frame for lateral boundary conditions and the inner "free" domain that will be analyzed. Models do not need to cover this entire region, as it has been chosen to ensure all models cover approximately the same inner region no matter what projection they use. In particular, modelers who participated in PIRCS 1(a) and 1(b) simulations are asked simply to move the southern boundary of their PIRCS domain 5 degrees to the south. Although Reynolds SST is ingested by R-2, we request that participants use Reynold's SST instead, because higher spatial resolution is retained by doing so.


2 - Data files

How to get the dataset:

NNRP-2 data may be acquired from either NCAR Mass Storage System or PIRCS.

Reynolds SST is available from either CDC or PIRCS. Available files from PIRCS:
R-2 Pressure Level Files: YYYYMM_pgb.tar
R-2 Surface and Sub-surface Files: YYYYMM_subsfc.tar
Reynold's SST: sst86-02.bin
Reynold's SST reader: rewrite_sst.f
YYYYMMM refers to the year (YYYY) and month (MM) for which the data is valid.

Please direct all questions to pircs@iastate.edu

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