Intercomparison of Model and Observational Data

 

Adam Baxter

May 2005

Advisor: Susan Reiser

Client: NEMAC/NCDC

 

NCDC, or National Climactic Data Center, is a NOAA based organization whose central purpose is to ingest, store, and retrieve data. New initiatives under the NOAA Operational Model Archive and Distribution System (NOMADS) project have come about to add the capabilities for the computation and display of this data as well. In association with NEMAC, or National Environmental Modeling and Analysis Center, I was charged with expanding the ingest process to allow for new dataset called the SRRS, or Service Records Retention System.

I was also charged with creating an intercomparison of two datasets, the North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR), which is model data, and the Integrated Global Radiosonde Archive (IGRA), which is observational data,  to check the quality of these two datasets by identifying time and observational dependant biases. 

Other work included maintaining, upgrading, and troubleshooting NOMADS software, provide, improve, and update Web pages and data and metadata documentation, provide general user support for NOMADS external Web users.  This was accomplished by installing software, troubleshooting problems with users and developers, limited system administration tasks, and coordination with external developers and computer specialists and scientists collaborating under the NOMADS project.