NOAA Global Forecast System (GFS)

Overview

The NOAA Global Forecast System (GFS) is a global numerical weather prediction system containing a global computer model and variational analysis run by the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS). The model is divided into 127 vertical layers extending from the surface to the mesopause (~80km). The entire globe is covered by the GFS at a base horizontal resolution of 13 kilometers between grid points. The GFS is run operationally four times a day and produces forecasts for up to 16 days in advance. Hundreds Of atmospheric and land-soil variables are available through this dataset, from temperatures, winds, and precipitation to soil moisture and atmospheric ozone concentration.

The current operational GFS is an atmospheric model coupled to a near sea surface temperature model (NSST) over the ocean and lakes, a thermodynamic ice model, and a land/soil model elsewhere. Changes are regularly made to the GFS to improve its performance and forecast accuracy. It is a constantly evolving and improving weather prediction model.

Data are retained for 30 days.

This dataset is available on Azure thanks to the NOAA Open Data Dissemination (NODD) Program.

Storage resources

Data are stored primarily in GRIB format.

GRIB files are stored as blobs in the East US Azure region, in the following blob container:

https://noaagfs.blob.core.windows.net/gfs

Within that container, top-level folders are named as:

[product].[date]

• product is one of:
  • gfs: forecast data from the Global Forecast System (GFS)
  • gdas: forecast data gridded with the Global Data Assimilation System (GDAS)
  • gfsmos: model output statistics from the GFS MOS suite
  • sst: sea surface temperature forecasts produced by the NCEP Sea Surface Temperature (SST) models
  • enkfgdas: data assimilated using the GSI Hybrid/4DEnVar Data Assimilation system
• date is the model execution date in YYYYMMDD format

File format within a folder varies by product; documentation for the primary products (GFS and GFS-GDAS) can be found at:

• GFS
• GFS-GDAS

Region information

Large-scale processing is best performed in the East US Azure region, where the data are

Mounting the container

We also provide an API to get read-only SAS (shared access signature) tokens to allow access via, e.g., BlobFuse, which allows you to mount blob containers as drives:

https://planetarycomputer.microsoft.com/api/sas/v1/token/noaagfs/gfs

API documentation is at https://planetarycomputer.microsoft.com/api/sas/v1/docs. Mounting instructions for Linux are here.

Contact

For questions, please contact the NOAA Open Data Dissemination (NODD) Program Team at nodd@noaa.gov.

Notices

Microsoft provides this dataset on an “as is” basis. Microsoft makes no warranties (express or implied), guarantees, or conditions with respect to your use of the dataset. To the extent permitted under your local law, Microsoft disclaims all liability for any damages or losses - including direct, consequential, special, indirect, incidental, or punitive - resulting from your use of this dataset. This dataset is provided under the original terms that Microsoft received source data.