Below is a list of all agreed upon parameters. Participating Centres 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.
Work in progress (temporary)
Remarks:
- *** should be confirmed by UERRA
- ??? should be reviewed by GRIB-API team
- +++ parameter must be added to GRIB-API
- in red colour WMO GRIB2 definition does not exist yet
Useful links:
- UERRA parameters
- GRIB-API parameter database
- how is soil moisture defined for TIGGE
- example of soil layers in MARS
- description of multi-layer definition in MARS
- radiation in MARS
Attached documents to this page which were used for creation of GRIB2 UERRA definitions (they are linked above too):
- radiation_in_mars.pdf (to understand the radiation fluxes)
- Parameter_table_20150427.docx (the latest official version of agreed upon UERRA parameters)
Model level parameters
Output of analyses on model levels are stored up to a height of about 15km every six hours (at 00/06/12/18UTC).
| Name | Abbreviation | Unit |
| Cloud cover +++ | cc | % |
| Pressure | pres | Pa |
| Specific cloud liquid water content | clwc | kg kg-1 |
| Specific cloud ice water content | ciwc | kg kg-1 |
| Specific humidity *** | q | kg kg-1 |
| Temperature | t | K |
| U-velocity | u | m s-1 |
| V-velocity | v | m s-1 |
Pressure level parameters
Output of forecasts and analyses on pressure levels for defined time steps.
Pressure levels [hPa]:
1000, 975, 950, 925, 900, 875, 850, 825, 800, 750, 700, 600, 500, 400, 300, 250, 200, 150, 100, 70, 50, 30, 20, 10
Time steps:
Analysis:
● Store analysis output in six hourly intervals (at 00/06/12/18UTC) for the Unified Model and Harmonie
● Store analysis output in hourly intervals for COSMO
Forecasts for all models:
● T+1,2,3,4,5,6,9,12,15,18,21,24,27,30 started at 00 UTC and 12 UTC
● T+1,2,3,4,5,6 started at 06 UTC and 18 UTC
| Name | Abbreviation | Unit |
| Cloud cover +++ | cc | % |
| Geopotential height | gh | gpm |
| Specific cloud liquid water content | clwc | kg kg-1 |
| Specific cloud ice water content | ciwc | kg kg-1 |
| Relative humidity *** | r | % |
| Temperature | t | K |
| U-velocity | u | m s-1 |
| V-velocity | v | m s-1 |
Height level parameters
Output of forecasts and analyses on pressure levels for defined time steps.
Height levels [m]:
15, 30, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 400, 500
Time steps:
Analysis:
● Store analysis output in six hourly intervals (at 00/06/12/18UTC) for the Unified Model and Harmonie
● Store analysis output in hourly intervals for COSMO
Forecasts for all models:
● T+1,2,3,4,5,6,9,12,15,18,21,24,27,30 started at 00 UTC and 12 UTC
● T+1,2,3,4,5,6 started at 06 UTC and 18 UTC
| Name | Abbreviation | Unit |
| Cloud cover +++ | cc | % |
| Pressure | pres | Pa |
| Specific cloud liquid water content | clwc | kg kg-1 |
| Specific cloud ice water content | ciwc | kg kg-1 |
| Relative humidity *** | r | % |
| Temperature | t | K |
| Wind speed | ws | m s-1 |
| Wind direction +++ | wd | deg |
Surface level parameters
Time steps:
Analysis:
● Store analysis output in six hourly intervals (at 00/06/12/18UTC) for the Unified Model, Harmonie, MESCAN
● Store hourly analysis output for COSMO, MESAN, SURFEX
Forecast:
● Store forecast output at T+1,2,3,4,5,6,9,12,15,18,21,24,27,30 started at 00 UTC and 12 UTC for the Unified Model, COSMO, Harmonie
● Store forecast output at T+1,2,3,4,5,6 started at 06 UTC and 18 UTC for the Unified Model, COSMO, Harmonie
| Name | Abbreviation | Unit | original name (temporary) |
Precipitation and humidity | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Water runoff and drainage *** ??? | ro | kg m-2 | Drainage |
| 2 metre relative humidity *** +++ | 2r | % | |
| Surface runoff *** ??? | sro | kg m-2 | Runoff |
| Total column water | tcw | kg m-2 | |
| Total precipitation | tp | kg m-2 | |
Accumulated radiation fluxes | |||
| Albedo | al | % | |
| Evaporation *** +++ | e | kg m-2 | |
| Surface latent heat flux | slhf | J m-2 |
|
| Surface sensible heat flux | sshf | J m-2 |
|
| Surface clear-sky solar radiation downwards *** +++ | scsrd | J m-2 | Clear-sky short-wave downward flux at the surface |
| Surface clear-sky solar radiation upwards *** +++ | scsru | J m-2 | Clear-sky short-wave upward flux at the surface |
Surface direct solar radiation *** +++ | sdsr | J m-2 | Direct short-wave radiation flux at the surface |
| Surface net solar radiation | ssr | J m-2 | Net short-wave radiation flux at the surface |
| Surface solar radiation downwards | ssrd | J m-2 | Total short-wave radiation flux at the surface |
| Surface clear-sky thermal radiation downwards ***+++ | strcd | J m-2 | Clear-sky long-wave downward flux at the surface |
| Surface net thermal radiation | str | J m-2 | Net long-wave radiation flux at the surface |
| Surface thermal radiation downwards | strd | J m-2 | Long-wave downward flux at the surface |
Temperature and wind speed | |||
| 10 metre wind speed +++ | 10ws | m s-1 | 10m wind speed |
| 10 metre wind direction +++ | 10wd | deg | 10m wind direction |
| 10 metre wind gust *** +++ | 10fg | m s-1 | 10 m wind gust [in the last 24 hrs | since previous post-processing] |
| Maximum temperature at 2 metres *** ??? | mx2t6 | K | Maximum [1.5 m | 2 m] temperature since previous post-processing |
| Minimum temperature at 2 metres *** ??? | mn2t6 | K | Minimum [1.5 m | 2 m] temperature since previous post-processing |
| 2 metre temperature *** | 2t | K | [1.5 | 2 ] m temperature |
| Skin temperature *** | skt | K | Surface temperature |
Pressure/Height | |||
| Mean sea level pressure | msl | Pa | |
| Surface pressure | sp | Pa | |
Cloud properties | |||
| High cloud cover *** +++ | hcc | % | |
| Low cloud cover *** +++ | lcc | % | |
| Medium cloud cover *** +++ | mcc | % | |
| Total cloud cover | tcc | % | |
Snow | |||
| Snow density | rsn | kg m-3 | |
| Snow depth | sd ??? | m | |
| Snow depth water equivalent | sd ??? | kg m-2 | Water equivalent of accumulated snow depth |
| Snow fall water equivalent | sf | kg m-2 | Accumulated total snowfall |
Soil | |||
| Liquid non-frozen volumetric soil moisture in the root zone *** +++ | lvswr | m3 m-3 | Soil water index in the root zone (liquid) |
| Liquid non-frozen volumetric soil moisture top 1 cm *** +++ | lsw1 | m3 m-3 | Soil water index for the first cm (liquid) |
| Liquid non-frozen volumetric soil moisture top 5 cm *** +++ | lvsw5 | m3 m-3 | Soil water index for 5cm (liquid) |
| vsw | m3 m-3 | Volumetric soil water layer 1/2/3/4 | |
| Volumetric soil moisture in the root zone *** +++ | vswr | m3 m-3 | Soil water index in the root zone (total) |
| Volumetric soil moisture top 1 cm *** +++ | vsw1 | m3 m-3 | Soil water index for the first cm (total) |
| Volumetric soil moisture top 5 cm *** +++ | vsw5 | m3 m-3 | Soil water index for 5cm (total) |
| Soil heat flux *** ??? | hflux | W m-2 | |
Soil temperature *** +++ | st | K | Soil temperature level 1/2/3/4 |
Static fields | |||
| Land-sea mask *** | lsm | (0-1) | Land cover |
| Orography *** | orog | gpm | |
| Surface roughness *** | sr | m |