The GCM Reality Project for SPARC (GRIPS) was initiated to examine model simulations of the coupled troposphere-middle atmosphere system. First results were published in Pawson et al. (2000). Further details and references regarding GRIPS can be found here. Questions regarding the project should be directed to Steven Pawson.
Fourteen research groups are participating in GRIPS. The individual groups supplied monthly mean three-dimensional horizontally gridded data sets and two-dimensional zonal averages of several atmospheric variables. Monthly mean temperature and geopotential height (or in one case Geopotential) are generally available as three-dimensional fields. The two-dimensional data sets contain between 2 and 22 variables. Temperature and the zonal wind component are generally found in each set. The data sets can be downloaded from the SPARC-DC either as binary files with GrADS ctl-file description or in NetCDF with the COARDS convention. The original owner of the data sets should be consulted prior to the data being used for publication.
A list of research groups, the resolution of their models, and their variables is given below. Data are available on CEDA and can be accessed anonymously via:
sparc-ftp.ceda.ac.uk/sparc/grips
Please use an ftp client such as FileZilla to connect to the ftp server as many browsers, including chrome, no longer support urls using the ftp protocol.
Horizontally Gridded Data
| Sources | Country | P.I. | Dimensions | Variables | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| lon | lat | lev | time | # | Names | ||||||
| CMAM | Canada | T. G. Shepherd | 64 | 32 | 24 | 120 | 2 | T | Phi | ||
| CNRM | France | P. Simon | 64 | 32 | 9 | 240 | 2 | T | z | ||
| FUB | Germany | U. Langematz | 64 | 32 | 13 | 120 | 2 | T | z | ||
| GFDL | USA | K. P. Hamilton | 100 | 60 | 24 | 144 | 2 | T | z | ||
| GISS | USA | D. Rind | 72 | 46 | 11 | 120 | 2 | T | z | ||
| GSFC | USA | L. Coy | 144 | 91 | 5 | 60 | 2 | T | z | ||
| LARC | USA | W. R. Grose | 128 | 64 | 24 | 48 | 2 | T | z | ||
| MPI-HH | Germany | E. Manzini | 96 | 48 | 26 | 120 | 4 | T | z | u | v |
| MRI-LRF | Japan | K. Shibata | 64 | 32 | 24 | 120 | 2 | T | z | ||
| MRI-CLIM | Japan | A. Kitoh | 72 | 46 | 2 | 120 | 1 | z | |||
| NCAR | USA | B. A. Boville | 64 | 64 | 21 | 60 | 2 | T | z | ||
| UCLA | USA | C. R. Mechoso | 72 | 44 | 10 | 12 | 2 | T | z | ||
| UKMO | UK | R. Swinbank | 36 | 37 | 22 | 60 | 2 | T | z | ||
Zonally Gridded Data
| Sources | Country | P.I. | Variables | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| lat | lev | time | # | Names | |||||||||
| CMAM | Canada | T. G. Shepherd | 32 | 24 | 120 | 12 | u | v | w | others | |||
| CNRM | France | P. Simon | 32 | 17 | 240 | 2 | u | ||||||
| FUB | Germany | U. Langematz | 32 | 27 | 120 | 2 | u | ||||||
| GFDL | USA | K. P. Hamilton | 60 | 24 | 144 | 2 | u | ||||||
| GISS | USA | D. Rind | 46 | 24 | 120 | 3 | u | v | |||||
| GSFC | USA | L. Coy | 91 | 29 | 60 | 22 | u | v | others | ||||
| LARC | USA | W. R. Grose | 64 | 24 | 48 | 4 | u | v | q | ||||
| MPI-HH | Germany | E. Manzini | 48 | 26 | 120 | 4 | u | v | z | ||||
| MRI-LRF | Japan | K. Shibata | 32 | 24 | 120 | 18 | u | v | w | others | |||
| MRI-CLIM | Japan | A. Kitoh | 46 | 16 | 120 | 2 | u | ||||||
| NCAR | USA | B. A. Boville | 64 | 21 | 60 | 2 | u | ||||||
| NCEP/NCAR-RA | USA | W. J. Randel | 40 | 17 | 207 | 5 | u | others | |||||
| UCLA | USA | C. R. Mechoso | 44 | 16 | 12 | 2 | u | ||||||
| UKMO | UK | R. Swinbank | 37 | 25 | 60 | 15 | u | v | w | others | |||
T-temperature (K); z-geopotential height (m); Phi-geopotential (m2/s2); u-zonal wind component (m/s); v-meridional wind component (m/s); w-vertical wind component (m/s);lon-longitude (degrees); lat-latitude (degrees); lev-pressure levels (mb); time-time steps (months)
References
Pawson, S., et al. (2000), The GCM-Reality Intercomparison Project for SPARC (GRIPS): Scientific Issues and Initial Results, Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 81, 781-796, doi:10.1175/1520-0477(2000)081<0781:TGIPFS>2.3.CO;2.