10km MesoEta West Nest Forecasts

These graphics are created as a result of a cooperative research project between the Mesoscale Modeling Branch of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction and researchers at the University of Utah. Funding is provided by the National Oceanographic Atmospheric Administration and the National Science Foundation. The goal of this project is to examine the sensitivity of model skill to spatial resolution in regions of complex terrain.

A high-resolution version of the Eta model is run daily at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction. Forecasts are made for a 33 hour period beginning from the analysis of the 03Z or 09Z run of the 29km version of the Eta model. Lateral boundary conditions are supplied from the subsequent forecasts of the 29km Eta model run. The domain of the model forecasts is now limited to the southwestern United States and the spatial resolution of the grid is approximately 10 km. NOTE: On 27 June, the horizontal domain was altered so that the 10 km MesoEta only includes the states of California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona, instead of the full Western United States. Testing of the new 32 km/ 45 layer Eta model at the NCEP is the reason for the reduction.

The model graphics are usually created during the early morning. After transfering over 300 Mbytes of data, creation of the graphics may take considerable time. All of the model graphics are computed on the model's native grid.

Comments or suggestions for this page can be directed to Brett McDonald.

10 km MesoEta West Nest Case Studies