This file contains the description of the model output data derived from the NCEP Global Forecast System (GFS) intended for CEOP MOLTS. The files are ieee binary, 4-byte real numbers, with the exception that record #1 has 12 fields of 4-byte integer numbers. record 1 ... Time & count variables (12 fields, integer*4 ) hour (e.g.00) month (e.g.11) day (e.g.7) year (e.g.2000) nsfc # of surface variables (e.g. 25) nflx # of flux variables (e.g.28) nvar # of variables for each sounding (e.g.7) levs # of vertical levels for each sounding (e.g.42) npoint # of station points (e.g.50) starting forecast hour (e.g.0) ending forecast hour (e.g.48) forecast output step (e.g.3) record 2 ... vertical sounding levels ( 2*levs +1 fields) sigi(levs+1), sigl(levs) sigi denotes the interface and sigl the model levels All vertical level variables start from the near surface level Records 3 to 15 are repeated for each station point for the initial forecast time. Once all stations are read (npoint in record 1), the cycle repeats for the next forecast time step. record 3 ... surface variables latitude of station (degree) longitude of station (degree) zsfc (model surface height for the station) (m) psfc (model surface pressure for the station) (mPa) dpsdt (surface pressure tendency) (Pa/sec) tsfc (model surface temperature) (K) soilm1 (first soil layer volumetric water content) () soilm2 (second soil layer volumetric water content) () snow (water equivalent snow depth) (m) soilt1 (first soil layer temperature) (K) soilt2 (second soil layer temperature) (K) soilt3 (third soil layer temperature, fixed for time) (K) z0 (model surface roughness length) (cm) cv (model convective cloud fraction) () cvb (model convective cloud base pressure) (?) cvt (model convective cloud top pressure) (?) albedo1 (one of four albedo used in the model) () albedo2 (one of four albedo used in the model) () albedo3 (one of four albedo used in the model) () albedo4 (one of four albedo used in the model) () slimsk (sea(0) land(1) and ice(2) flag) vegfrac (model vegetation fraction) () f10m (model 10-meter to sigma level1 similarity profile ratio () canopy (canopy water content) (m) vegtype (vegetation type 1-13) () soiltype (soil type 1-9) () vegfrac1 (vegfrac type 1 used in radiation) vegfrac2 (vegfrac type 2 used in radiation) record 4 ... flux type variables lsmask (land(0) sea(1) mask) ustress (stress in zonal direction) (N/m**2) vstress (stress in meridional direction) (N/m**2) shf (sensible heat flux) (W/m**2) lhf (latent heat flux) (W/m**2) dlws (downward long wave flux at surface) (W/M**2) ulws (upward long wave flux at surface) (W/M**2) ulwt (upward long wave flux at toa) (W/M**2) uswt (upward short wave flux at toa) (W/M**2) usws (upward short wave flux at surface) (W/M**2) dsws (downward short wave flux at surface) (W/M**2) cldh (high cloud fraction) () cldm (mid cloud fraction) () cldl (low cloud fraction) () precip (precipitation accumulated between outputs) (kg/m**2) cnvprc (conv precipitation accumulated between outputs)(kg/m**2) gflx (ground heat flux) (W/m**2) u10 (model derived 10-meter zonal wind) (m/s) v10 (model derived 10-meter meridional wind) (m/s) t2 (model derived 2-meter temperature) (K) q2 (model derived 2-meter specific humidity) (g/g) psfc (surface pressure again) (hPa) tmax (maximum temp between outputs) (K) tmin (minimum temp between outputs) (K) ugrw (zonal stress due to gravity wave drag) (W/m**2) vgrw (meridional stress due to gravity wave drag) (W/m**2) hpbl (model diagnosed planetary boundary layer depth) (m) albedo (effective model albedo..derived) () cldpbl (pbl cloud fraction) () record 5 ... levs of model zonal wind velocity (m/s) record 6 ... levs of model meridional wind velocity (m/s) record 7 ... levs of model temperature (K) record 8 ... levs of model specific humidity (g/g) record 9 ... levs of model pressure (mPa) record 10 .. levs of model derived omega (mPa/sec) mPa is milli-Pascal record 11 .. levs of model derived dtdt (advection) (K/sec) record 12 .. levs of model derived dqdt (advection) (g/g/sec) record 13 .. levs of model cloud water/ice concentration (g/g) record 14 .. levs of model derived cloud water tendency (advection) (g/g/sec) record 15 .. levs of model cloud fraction For records 5-15, the value of levs is the number of fields in each record 10e+5 mPa = 1 hPa