I'm accessing model level data and have found the list of A and B values along with level and half-level pressures in a standard atmosphere for each level number - using this information I can construct a converter to get the pressure of the level given the level number and pressure at the surface. My question is, how do I know which of the parameters (specific humidity, temperature u and v winds) are held on full levels and which on half-levels? As far as I remember, for Met Office Unified Model data the winds are held on levels intermediate to those on which temperature is held. I can see no information on this in the CERRA documentation. Have I missed something?

2 Comments

  1. Hi Edward,

    all parameters are on full-levels in CERRA. 
    The reason to provide even information for half levels is that the lowest level is at the ground and sometimes you need to compute gradients, e.g. T*dp.

    Best regards, Semjon

    1. Thanks very much Semjon!