Climate Forecast System (Isentropic Level CFS)

Description

The Climate Forecast System (CFS), developed by NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), is a state-of-the-art global weather and climate model designed for medium- to long-range forecasting—spanning from days up to several seasons. CFS integrates atmospheric, oceanic, land surface, and sea ice components into a fully coupled modeling framework, delivering highly detailed and reliable forecasts for climate trends, seasonal outlooks, and extended-range weather events. By assimilating real-time observations from satellites, ocean buoys, and weather stations worldwide, CFS ensures its predictions reflect the current state of the Earth system, making it an essential tool for researchers, meteorologists, and organizations that rely on accurate climate guidance.

The CFS Isentropic Levels product delivers forecasts on surfaces of constant potential temperature (isentropic surfaces), which are particularly valuable for understanding atmospheric transport, air mass movements, and large-scale weather patterns. Meteorologists and researchers use isentropic data to track the movement of air parcels, analyze stability, and study the dynamics of fronts and jet streams with greater clarity than standard pressure-based analyses.

Detail

• Product page: https://cfs.ncep.noaa.gov/cfsv2/docs.html
• Key Features:
  • Includes potential vorticity, stream function, and lapse rate data for studying large-scale atmospheric dynamics.
  • Provides insights into jet streams, upper-level troughs, and stratospheric-tropospheric interactions.
  • Supports aviation forecasting and upper-air meteorological research.
• Resolution: 1.0° global grid.
• Temporal Coverage: Updated four times daily, with forecasts extending up to 215 days (5160 hours).
• Primary Use Cases: Upper-atmosphere dynamics, jet stream analysis, and potential vorticity studies.

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