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Table of Contents

Units

  • All fields shall use units as defined in GRIB Edition 2.

Output frequency

  • all details are available here 

Accumulations

  • All accumulations shall start from the beginning of the forecast
  • The initial state (forecast step zero) must not be included (as it should be 0 value field by definition)

General requirements

Encoding format

  • WMO GRIB2 data format.

Missing values

  • Bitmaps shall be used to indicate missing values (i.e. Soil temperature (st) shall be coded using a bitmap, because there is no model output over the sea)

Grid and resolution

  • The fields have to be provided on a  regular latitude‐longitude grid at the resolution that is best matching the native resolution of the direct  model output.
  • Grids are defined in GRIB2 using an accuracy of 1/1000000 (one millionth) of a degree.
  • If several limited areas will be provided  they should be merged into one larger area on a regular lat-lon grid, with a missing value indicator in the grid-points not covered.

GRIB2 encoding

...

All data must be encoded following the required rules described below to achieve fully compliant LC-WFV format from all centres.

Encoding software

ECMWF makes available a GRIB decoding library (GRIB-APIecCodes) for the benefit of the WMO community. GRIB-API ecCodes can be freely downloaded from here and the documentation can be found here. The GRIB-API provides a simplified access to GRIB2 headers through a set of virtual keys documented here

WAVE-GRIB2 checking tool

TBD

GRIB2 encoding details

The complete WMO compliant GRIB2 definitions of all wave parameters are in the parent page.

For more general information about GRIB2 format please refer to WMO Manual on Codes .

Encoding details

Parameters

General encoding

Specific details which should be encoded in GRIB2 sections 1 and 4The additional generally required encoding details are listed below:

Section 1
Octets Key nameValueDescription
6-7centre78COSMO products (code Offenbach edzw)
  84Meteo-France products (code Toulouse lfpw )
  82HARMONIE products (code Sweden eswi)
  74MO products (code UK Meteorological Office Exeter egrr)
XWMO Centre's code (table below)
8-9subCentreXWMO Sub-Centre's code if needed (table below)
10tablesVersion19The latest WMO table10tablesVersion17latest WMO table with some new definitions for UERRA 
20productionStatusOfProcessedData

8

operational UERRA products

0

Production data



1Test data  9test UERRA products
21typeOfProcessedData0Analysis products 


 1Forecast products

...


Section 4
OctetsKey name

Value

Description

8-9productDefinitionTemplateNumber

0

Analysis and Forecast products (instantaneous)

(Analysis or forecast at a horizontal level or in a horizontal layer at a point in time (grib2/tables/17/4.0.table))

  8

Analysis and Forecast products (statistically processed = accumulated/min/max values)

(Average, accumulation, extreme values or other statistically processed values at a horizontal level or in a horizontal layer in a continuous or non-continuous time interval (grib2/tables/17/4.0.table))

Ensemble DA system (both analysis and forecast products)

...

Value

...

Description

...

1

 

...

Analysis and Forecast products (instantaneous)

(Individual ensemble forecast, control and perturbed, at a horizontal level or in a horizontal layer at a point in time  (grib2/tables/17/4.0.table))

...

Analysis and Forecast products (statistically processed = accumulated/min/max values)

(Individual ensemble forecast, control and perturbed, at a horizontal level or in a horizontal layer, in a continuous or non-continuous time interval (grib2/tables/17/4.0.table))

...

WMO Centre codes

The codes below are based on WMO Manual 306 - WMO Codes. Each organization must be uniquely identified by its WMO code. If necessary to distinguish between two organizations using the same WMO code the Sub-Centre one which differs must be provided.

OrganisationAcronymWMO Centre codeWMO subCentre codeCentre acronym*1

European Centre for  Medium-Range Weather, UK

ECMWF98 N/Aecmf
Met office, UKUKMO74 N/Aegrr
Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center, USAFNMOC58 N/Afnmo
Environment and Climate Change Canada, CanadaECCC54 N/Acwao
National Centres for Environmental Prediction, USANCEP7 N/Akwbc
Météo France, FranceMETFR84 N/Alfpw
Deutscher Wetterdienst, GermanyDWD78 N/Aedzw
Bureau of Meteorology, AustraliaBoM1 N/Aammc
Laboratoire D'Océanographie Physique et Spatiale, FranceLOPS84202lops
Japan Meteorological Agency, JapanJMA34 N/Arjtd
Korea Meteorological Administration, Republic of KoreaKMA40 N/Arksl
Puertos del Estado, SpainPRTOS214 N/Alemm
Danmarks Meteorologiske Institut, DenmarkDMI94 N/Aekmi

National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, New Zealand

NIWA204 N/Aniwa

Det Norske Meteorologiske Institutt, Norway

METNO88 N/Aenmi

Servicio de Hidrografía Naval, Servicio Meteorológico, Argentina

SHNSM41 N/Asabm

New Zealand MetService

NZMS69 N/Anzkl
Servizio Meteorologico dell'Aeronautica Militare, ItalyMETEOAM80 N/Acnmc

Remarks:

*1 in ECMWF's eCcodes


Example of the validity type encoding

Examples of UERRA compliant GRIB2 files

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Accumulations

(evaporation)

...

grib

dump

...

grib

dump

...

Instantaneous on surface level

(Surface air temperature)

...

grib

dump

...

grib

dump

...

grib

dump

...

grib

dump

...

Instantaneous on model level

(Specific humidity on model level 1)

...

grib

dump

...

grib

dump

...

grib

dump

...

grib

dump

...

Maximum since previous post-processing

(Surface air maximum temperature since previous post-processing)

...

grib*

dump

...

grib*

dump

...

Minimum since previous post-processing

(Surface air minimum temperature since previous post-processing)

...

grib*

dump

...

grib*

dump

...

Parameter on soil level

(Soil temperature on soil level 1)

...

grib

dump

...

grib

dump

...

*disregard data values in this grib (some step/level values were created artificially as real data has not been available yet) 

...

Instantaneous

This example describes an instantaneous field  valid on 20120103 00Z from a forecast starting on 20120101 00Z (time step=48 hours) .

...

Time ( instantaneous )
Start of forecast ( section 1 )

Octets

 

 values

Meaning of valuesGrib_api values
12Significance of Reference Time1Start of forecast 
13-14Year (four digits)2012year of start of forecast


 

dataDate=20120101 

dataTime=0

 

15Month01month of start of forecast
16Day01day of start of forecast
17Hour00hour of start of forecast
 section 4 e.g. template 4.1
18Indicator of unit of time range 1Hour 
19-22Forecast time48Forecast stepstepType=instant, step=48
Accumulations

This example represents a  54 hour accumulation of a field produced by a forecast started on 20120101 00Z.

  • In bold, the values are fixed. They are meant to be used by all partners
  • In green, these are the values for the example.

...

Octets

...

Values

...

Examples of  the required GRIB2 files

parameter

Sample file

10 metre U wind component 

wave.10u.grib2

10 metre V wind component 

wave.10v.grib2
Mean wave period based on second momentwave.mp2.grib2
Mean wave directionwave.mwd.grib2
Peak wave periodwave.pp1d.grib2

Significant height of combined wind waves and swell

wave.swh.grib2

dataDate=20120101

dataTime=0

...

 

End of accumulated period, 20120103 06Z

...

   

 

endStep=54

 

 

...

Statistical process used to calculate the processed

field from the field at each time increment during the time range

...

stepType=accum

...

Type of time increment between successive fields used in the statistical processing

...

Successive times processed have same start time of forecast,

forecast time is incremented

...

Indicator of unit of time for time range over which statistical processing is done

...

Length of the time range over which statistical processing is done,

in units defined by the previous octet

...

 

...

Indicator of unit of time for the increment between the successive fields used

...

Time increment between successive fields, in units defined by the previous octet

...

 

 

...