SPARC International Polar Year 2007-2009

In March 2007, the International Council for Science (ICSU) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) launched the International Polar Year (IPY). It ended in March 2009 to encompass full year cycles in the Arctic and the Antarctic.

SPARC was actively involved in the IPY programme with its project: The structure and evolution of the stratospheric polar vortices during IPY and its links to the troposphere.

One of the key outcomes was the collection of analysis products from several operational centres and several research centres, archived here. Further information on the SPARC involvement in the IPY programme can be found here.

Source Period Format Parameters
NCEP 2007/03 – 2009/05 GRIB format
1152×576 (0.3125°x0.3125°)
64 levels
00h, 06h, 12h, 18h
u, v, temp, specific humidity, ozone, cloud water, pressure
UKMO 2007/03 – 2009/05 NetCDF format
640×481 (0.5625°x0.375°)
27 levels
12Z:
u, v, temp, geopotential height, dz/dt
Standard data assimilation and data assimilation with uars included
GMAO 2007/01 – 2009/06 HDF format
540×361
(0.667°x0.5°)
72 levels
00h, 06h, 12h, 18h
temperature, u, v, geopotential height, potential, vorticity, divergence, surface pressure,
pressure thickness, temperature tendency, relative humidity, cloud ice water mixing ratio,
cloud liquid water mixing ratio, total cloud fraction, optical thickness of all clouds, ozone
ECMWF 2007/06 – 2009/06 GRIB format
1440×721 (0.25°x0.25°)
91 levels
00h, 06h, 12h, 18h
u, v, temp, divergence, ozone, cloud cover, q, cloud ice water content, cloud liquid water content
CMAM
FDAM
2007/03 – 2009/03 NetCDF format
3.75°x3.75°
71 levels
00h, 06h, 12h, 18h
u, v, temp, sea level pressure, Ox, ozone, NOx, ClOx, BrOx, HNO3, methane, NO, NO2,
NO3, N2O5, ClO, ClONO2, BrO, specific humidity, H2O
GEM-BACH 2007/03 – 2009/02 NetCDF format
240×120 (1.5°x1.5°)
80 levels
00h, 06h, 12h, 18hh
Zonal, meridional winds [m/s]: U, V
Temperature [K]: TEMP
Geopotential [m2/s2]: PHI
ln(surface pressure) [ln(hPa)]: LNSP
Specific humidity [kg/kg]: SHUM
Species [vmr]: CH4 CO ClO ClONO2 HCl HF HNO3 HOCl N2O N2O5 NO NO2 NO3 O3

SPARC International Polar Year data are freely available for non-commercial purposes at ftp://sparc-ftp.ceda.ac.uk/sparc/ipy/.