Below is a list of all agreed upon parameters. Participating Centers are expected to produce output fields in GRIB2 data format and with consistent units. All units are defined by the WMO in the GRIB2 manual . For more information please refer to Guide to the WMO Table Driven Code Form.
- Rules for parameter exchanges and GRIB2 encoding can be found here.
- List of parameters provided by each partner for S2S archive is available here.
List of parameters
Pressure level parameters
The following parameters are available on ten pressure levels (1000, 925, 850, 700, 500, 300, 200, 100, 50 and 10 hPa)
(during 2016-7 the vertical velocity will be added to all pressure levels by providers in their earliest convenience)
Name | Abbreviation | Unit | Frequency |
Geopotential height | gh | gpm | Instantaneous once a day (00Z) |
Temperature | t | K | Instantaneous once a day (00Z) |
U-velocity | u | m s-1 | Instantaneous once a day (00Z) |
V-velocity | v | m s-1 | Instantaneous once a day (00Z) |
Vertical velocity | w | pa s-1 | Instantaneous once a day (00Z) |
The following parameters are available on seven pressure levels (1000, 925, 850, 700, 500, 300 and 200 hPa)
Name | Abbreviation | Unit | Frequency |
Specific humidity | q | kg kg-1 | Instantaneous once a day (00Z) |
The following parameter are available on 1 pressure level (500 hPa)
(during 2016-7 the vertical velocity will be added to all pressure levels by providers in their earliest convenience)
Name | Abbreviation | Unit | Frequency |
Vertical velocity | w | pa s-1 | Instantaneous once a day (00Z) |
Potential temperature level parameters
The following parameters are available on one potential temperature level (320 K)
Single-level parameters
The following parameters are available on single levels
Name | Abbreviation | Unit | Frequency |
10 metre u-velocity | 10u | m s-1 |
6-hourly where possible (new request since 2020) |
10 metre v-velocity | 10v | m s-1 |
6-hourly where possible (new request since 2020) |
CAPE | cape | J kg-1 | Daily averaged |
Skin temperature | skt | K | Daily averaged |
Snow depth water equivalent | sd | kg m-2 | Daily averaged |
Snow density | rsn | kg m-3 | Daily averaged |
Snow fall water equivalent | sf | kg m-2 | Accumulated, archived every 24 hours |
Snow albedo | asn | % | Daily averaged |
Soil moisture top 20 cm | sm20 | kg m-3 | Daily averaged |
Soil moisture top 100 cm | sm100 | kg m-3 | Daily averaged |
Soil temperature top 20 cm | st20 | K | Daily averaged |
Soil temperature top 100 cm | st100 | K | Daily averaged |
Surface air maximum temperature | mx2t6 | K | 6-hourly |
Surface air minimum temperature | mn2t6 | K | 6-hourly |
Surface air temperature | 2t | K | Daily averaged |
Surface air dewpoint temperature | 2d | 2d | Daily averaged |
Sea surface temperature | wtmp | K | Daily averaged |
Sea ice cover | ci | proportion | Daily averaged |
Surface pressure | sp | Pa | Instantaneous once a day (00Z) |
Time-integrated top net thermal radiation | ttr | W m-2 s | Accumulated, archived every 24 hours |
Time-integrated surface latent heat flux | slhf | W m-2 s | Accumulated, archived every 24 hours |
Time-integrated surface net solar radiation | ssr | W m-2 s | Accumulated, archived every 24 hours |
Time-integrated surface net thermal radiation | str | W m-2 s | Accumulated, archived every 24 hours |
Time-integrated surface sensible heat flux | sshf | W m-2 s | Accumulated, archived every 24 hours |
Time-integrated surface solar radiation downwards | ssrd | W m-2 s | Accumulated, archived every 24 hours |
Time-integrated surface thermal radiation downwards | strd | W m-2 s | Accumulated, archived every 24 hours |
Total cloud cover | tcc | % | Daily averaged |
Total column water | tcw | kg m-2 | Daily averaged |
Total precipitation | tp | kg m-2 | Accumulated, 6-hourly |
Convective precipitation | cp | kg m-2 | Accumulated, archived every 24 hours |
Northward turbulent surface stress | nsss | N m-2 s | Accumulated, archived every 24 hours |
Eastward turbulent surface stress | ewss | N m-2 s | Accumulated, archived every 24 hours |
Mean sea-level pressure | msl | Pa | Instantaneous once a day (00Z) |
Water runoff and drainage | ro | kg m-2 | Accumulated, archived every 24 hours |
Surface water runoff | sro | kg m-2 | Accumulated, archived every 24 hours |
Land sea mask | lsm | Proportion of land | Instantaneous once a day (00Z) Only control forecast |
Orography | orog | gpm | Instantaneous once a day (00Z) Only control forecast |
Soil type | slt | Categorical | Instantaneous once a day (00Z) Only control forecast |
Ocean parameters
The following parameters coming from ocean part of modelling system are available on single levels
Name | Abbreviation | Unit | Frequency |
Depth of 20 C isotherm | t20d | m | Daily averaged |
Mean sea water practical salinity in the upper 300 m | sav300 | psu (numeric) | Daily averaged |
Mean sea water potential temperature in the upper 300 m | mswpt300 | K | Daily averaged |
Ocean mixed layer thickness defined by sigma theta 0.01 kg/m3 | mlotst010 | m | Daily averaged |
U-component of surface current | ocu | m s-1 | Daily averaged |
V-component of surface current | ocv | m s-1 | Daily averaged |
Sea-ice thickness | sithick | m | Daily averaged |
Sea surface height | zos | m | Daily averaged |
Sea surface practical salinity | sos | psu (numeric) | Daily averaged |