Available products

Please find the French version of this page here.
Veuillez trouver la version française de cette page ici.

Available products: The spatial coverage and what the abbreviations mean

The available CaSPAr products are:

1a. Global Ensemble Prediction System (GEPS; archived 06/2017 - 05/2021)
1b. Global Ensemble Prediction System - North America subset (GEPS_NA; archived since 05/2021)
2. Global Deterministic Prediction System (GDPS; archived since 06/2017)
3. Regional Ensemble Prediction System (REPS; archived since 06/2017)
4. Regional Deterministic Prediction System (RDPS; archived since 01/2015)

GEPS	GDPS	REPS	RDPS

5. Regional Deterministic Reforecast System (RDRS_v1; hourly dataset from 01/2010 to 12/2014)
6. Regional Deterministic Reforecast System (RDRS_v2; hourly dataset from 01/2000 to 12/2017)
7. Regional Deterministic Reforecast System (RDRS_v2.1; hourly dataset from 01/1980 to 12/2018)

RDRS_v1	RDRS_v2	RDRS_v2.1

8. High-Resolution Deterministic Prediction System (HRDPS; archived since 06/2017)
9. Canadian Land Data Assimilation System (CaLDAS; archived since 06/2017)

HRDPS	CaLDAS

10. Canadian Precipitation Analysis- coarse resolution experimental (CaPA_coarse_exp; archived Jan 1, 2002 to Jun 30, 2012)
11. Canadian Precipitation Analysis- coarse resolution operational (CaPA_coarse; archived since 09/2012)
12. Canadian Precipitation Analysis- fine resolution experimental (CaPA_fine_exp; archived June 1, 2017 to March 2, 2018)
13. Canadian Precipitation Analysis- fine resolution operational (CaPA_fine; archived since March 3, 2018)

CaPA_coarse_exp	CaPA_coarse	CaPA_fine_exp	CaPA_fine

14. National Surface and River Prediction System: High Resolution Ensemble Precipitation Analysis (NSRPS-HREPA; archive will start soon)
15. National Surface and River Prediction System: Canadian Land Data Assimilation System (NSRPS-CaLDAS; archive will start soon)
16. National Surface and River Prediction System: High Resolution Deterministic Land Surface Prediction System (NSRPS-HRDLPS; archive will start soon)

Available products: A table with specifics

The details of the archived products are given in the table below. Please be aware that these specifications are subject to changes. The presented details are valid between June 2017 and December 2017.

Product	Docu	Archived since	Archived until	Forecasted time steps [h]	Issues	Ensemble size	Number of variables	Resolution	Memory [GB/month]
GEPS	changelog/ docu	2017-05-23	2021-05-20	1,2,..., 72, 96,..., 384	2/day	21	55	~50.0km	6700
GEPS_NA1)	changelog/ docu	2021-05-07	today	1,2,..., 72, 96,..., 384	2/day	21	55	~39.0km	895
GDPS	changelog/ docu	2017-05-22	today	1,2,..., 144, 147,..., 240	2/day	1	55	~15.0km	506
REPS	changelog/ docu	2017-05-23	today	1,2,..., 72	2/day	21	52	~10.0km	1902
RDPS	changelog/ docu	2015-01-01	today	1,2,..., 84	4/day	1	55	~10.0km	723
RDRS_v12)	pdf	2010-01-01	2014-12-31	1,2,..., 24	1/day	1	12	~15.0km	5
RDRS_v22)	pdf	2000-01-01	2017-12-31	1,2,..., 24	1/day	1	28 (list)	~10.0km	21
RDRS_v2.12)	pdf	1980-01-01	2018-12-31	1,2,..., 24	1/day	1	28 (list)	~10.0km	21
HRDPS	changelog/ docu	2017-05-22	today	1,2,..., 48	4/day	1	50	~2.5km	910
CaLDAS		2017-05-22	today	N/A	8/day	25	14	~2.5km	281
CaPA_coarse_exp3)	changelog/ docu	2002-01-01	2012-06-30	N/A	4/day	1	2	~10.0km	1
CaPA_coarse3)	changelog/ docu	2012-09-17	today	N/A	4/day	1	2	~10.0km	1
CaPA_fine_exp3)	changelog/ docu	2016-06-01	2018-03-02	N/A	4/day	1	2	~2.5km	2
CaPA_fine3)	changelog/ docu	2018-02-02	today	N/A	4/day	1	2	~2.5km	2
NSRPS-HREPA	changelog/ docu	soon	today	N/A	4/day	25	2	~2.5km	42
NSRPS-CaLDAS	changelog/ docu	soon	today	N/A	8/day	1	12	~2.5km	14
NSRPS-HRDLPS	changelog/ docu	soon	today	1,2,...,144	2/day	1	24	~2.5km	547

¹⁾ The GEPS_NA product is exactly the same as GEPS (variables, resolution, horizons, etc); it is only cropped to the domain of North America for the purpose of saving storage.
²⁾ There is a discontinuity at the very south of the domain (see here). This is due to differences in the domains of the system components (CaLDAS, RDPS and CaPA ) used to produce RDRS. To avoid this discontinuity, you should disregard the 30-40 most southern rows of grid cells available in the reanalysis products. The problem exists in RDRS_v1, RDRS_v2 and RDRS_v2.1 but will be resolved in later versions.
³⁾ The CaPA products available are the 6h accumulations. There also exists 24h accumulations which might be added to CaSPAr in future.

More information might be available on this ECCC website. You can find some more information about file naming conventions and some variables on another CaSPAr wiki page here.

Variables available in the Regional Deterministic Reanalysis System (RDRS-v2 and RDRS-v2.1)

The publication describing and evaluating this product is available here.

The data have an hourly temporal resolution and a spatial resolution of about 10 km. It is available for 18 years (2000 to 2017) for RDRS-v2 and 39 years (1980-2018) for RDRS-v2.1. The dataset covers North and Central America.

About precipitation fields

The RDRS-v2 and RDRS-v2.1 product contain two precipitation variables:

• RDRS_v2_P_PR0_SFC/RDRS_v2.1_P_PR0_SFC: Model forecasted precipitation (background field used by CaPA to produce the analysis) labelled with etiquette RDRS02PROD in the original FST files provided by ECCC and called as RDRS_v2_P_PR0_SFC/RDRS_v2.1_P_PR0_SFC in the NetCDF files provided through CaSPAr
• RDRS_v2_A_PR0_SFC/RDRS_v2.1_A_PR0_SFC: Analyzed precipitation labelled with etiquette MODEL+CaPA24h in the original FST files provided by ECCC and called as RDRS_v2_A_PR0_SFC/RDRS_v2.1_A_PR0_SFC in the NetCDF files provided through CaSPAr

Procedures to calculate final off-line hourly precipitation:

1. CaPA-6h is disaggregated to an hourly time step by linearly rescaling the atmospheric model’s hourly precipitation rates in order to match the 6-h accumulations estimated by CaPA-6h.
2. The same procedure is applied to the CaPA-24h precipitation analysis, but using the disaggregated CaPA-6h product as the reference.

In cases where the model precipitation was negligible, but precipitation was observed, a constant precipitation rate was assumed for that time period. You can find some more information about file naming conventions and some variables on another CaSPAr wiki page here.

How the forcing files provided in CaSPAr are constructed

The reanalysis is originally executed twice per day at 00Z and 12Z UTC (internally as fst files). Each of these two run performs 24 h forecasts. For example, the reanalysis issued for Dec 2, 2004 at 12Z UTC (namely 2004120212.nc) is covering the period from Dec 2, 2004 13h to Dec 3, 2004 12h. It is built by stitching together the following forecasts:

• 13-18 h UTC forecast from 00Z run (2004120200_013.fst to 2004120200_018.fst) gives hours 13-18 UTC in the final file 2004120212.nc distributed through CaSPAr.
• 7-18 h UTC forecast from 12Z run (2004120212_007.fst to 2004120212_018.fst) gives hours 19-24 UTC in the final file 2004120212.nc and 1-6 UTC in the final file 2004120312.nc.
• 7-12 h UTC forecast from the next day 00Z run (2004120300_007.fst to 2004120300_012.fst) gives hours 7-12 UTC in the final file 2004120312.nc.

List of available variables in RDRS-v2 and RDRS-v2.1

The variables available in the dataset are listed in the following table. You can find some more useful information about specific variables on another CaSPAr wiki page here.

Variable	Variable long name	Unit	Level
RDRS_v2_P_PR0_SFC RDRS_v2.1_P_PR0_SFC	Quantity of precipitation (model)	[m]	SFC
RDRS_v2_A_PR0_SFC RDRS_v2.1_A_PR0_SFC	Quantity of precipitation (CaPA)	[m]	SFC
RDRS_v2_P_TT_1.5m RDRS_v2.1_P_TT_1.5m	Air temperature	[°C]	1.5m
RDRS_v2_P_TT_09944 RDRS_v2.1_P_TT_09944	Air temperature	[°C]	~40m
RDRS_v2_P_FB_SFC RDRS_v2.1_P_FB_SFC	Downward solar flux	[W/m2]	SFC
RDRS_v2_P_FI_SFC RDRS_v2.1_P_FI_SFC	Surface incoming infrared flux	[W/m2]	SFC
RDRS_v2_P_HR_1.5m RDRS_v2.1_P_HR_1.5m	Relative humidity (fraction)	[-]	1.5m
RDRS_v2_P_HR_09944 RDRS_v2.1_P_HR_09944	Relative humidity (fraction)	[-]	~40m
RDRS_v2_P_HU_1.5m RDRS_v2.1_P_HU_1.5m	Specific humidity	[kg/kg]	1.5m
RDRS_v2_P_HU_09944 RDRS_v2.1_P_HU_09944	Specific humidity	[kg/kg]	~40m
RDRS_v2_P_P0_SFC RDRS_v2.1_P_P0_SFC	Surface pressure	[mb]	SFC
RDRS_v2_P_PN_SFC RDRS_v2.1_P_PN_SFC	Sea level pressure	[mb]	SFC
RDRS_v2_P_TD_1.5m RDRS_v2.1_P_TD_1.5m	Dew point temperature	[°C]	1.5m
RDRS_v2_P_TD_09944 RDRS_v2.1_P_TD_09944	Dew point temperature	[°C]	~40m
RDRS_v2_P_UU_10m RDRS_v2.1_P_UU_10m	U-component of the wind (along the grid X axis)	kts	10m
RDRS_v2_P_VV_10m RDRS_v2.1_P_VV_10m	V-component of the wind (along the grid Y axis)	kts	10m
RDRS_v2_P_UUC_10m RDRS_v2.1_P_UUC_10m	corrected U-component of the wind (along West-East direction)	kts	10m
RDRS_v2_P_VVC_10m RDRS_v2.1_P_VVC_10m	corrected V-component of the wind (along South-North direction)	kts	10m
RDRS_v2_P_UVC_10m RDRS_v2.1_P_UVC_10m	Wind Modulus (derived using UU and VV)	kts	10m
RDRS_v2_P_WDC_10m RDRS_v2.1_P_WDC_10m	Meteorological wind direction (derived using UU and VV)	[degree]	10m
RDRS_v2_P_UU_09944 RDRS_v2.1_P_UU_09944	U-component of the wind (along the grid X axis)	kts	~40m
RDRS_v2_P_VV_09944 RDRS_v2.1_P_VV_09944	V-component of the wind (along the grid Y axis)	kts	~40m
RDRS_v2_P_UUC_09944 RDRS_v2.1_P_UUC_09944	corrected U-component of the wind (along West-East direction)	kts	~40m
RDRS_v2_P_VVC_09944 RDRS_v2.1_P_VVC_09944	corrected V-component of the wind (along South-North direction)	kts	~40m
RDRS_v2_P_UVC_09944 RDRS_v2.1_P_UVC_09944	Wind Modulus (derived using UU and VV)	kts	~40m
RDRS_v2_P_WDC_09944 RDRS_v2.1_P_WDC_09944	Meteorological wind direction (derived using UU and VV)	[degree]	~40m
RDRS_v2_P_GZ_10000 RDRS_v2.1_P_GZ_10000	Geopotential height	dam	SFC
RDRS_v2_P_GZ_09944 RDRS_v2.1_P_GZ_09944	Geopotential height	dam	~40m

Remarks: Variable names are following the convention <Product>_<Type:A=Analysis,P=Prediction>_<ECCC name>_<Level/Tile/Category>. Variables with level 10000 are at surface level. The height [m] of variables with level 0XXXX needs to be inferred using the corresponding fields of geopotential height (GZ_0XXXX - GZ_10000). The variables UUC, VVC, UVC, and WDC are not modelled but inferred from UU and VV for convenience of the users.

List of available variables in NSRPS products

The variables available in the various NSRPS datasets are listed in the following table. You can find some more useful information about specific variables on another CaSPAr wiki page here.

Variable	Variable long name	Unit	Level
NSRPS_HRDLPS_P_ACWF_SFC	Forecast: Accumulation of land surface evaporation amount	[kg/m2]	SFC
NSRPS_HRDLPS_P_ALAT_0-2m	Forecast: Accumulation of lateral sub-surface runoff amount	[kg/m2]	0-2m
NSRPS_HRDLPS_P_MF_SFC	Forecast: Model orography	[m]	SFC
NSRPS_HRDLPS_P_O1_2m	Forecast: Drainage amount through base of soil model	[kg/m2]	2m
NSRPS_HRDLPS_P_TDK_1.5m	Forecast: 1.5-m dew point temperature	[K]	1.5m
NSRPS_HRDLPS_P_TG_SFC	Forecast: Aggregate surface radiative temperature	[K]	SFC
NSRPS_HRDLPS_P_TJ_1.5m	Forecast: 1.5-m air temperature	[K]	1.5m
NSRPS_HRDLPS_P_TRAF_Aggregated	Forecast: Accumulation of surface runoff amount	[kg/m2]	Aggregated
NSRPS_HRDLPS_P_TRAF_Glacier	Forecast: Accumulation of surface runoff amount	[kg/m2]	Glacier
NSRPS_HRDLPS_P_TRAF_LandSurface	Forecast: Accumulation of surface runoff amount	[kg/m2]	LandSurface
NSRPS_HRDLPS_P_TRAF_SeaIce	Forecast: Accumulation of surface runoff amount	[kg/m2]	SeaIce
NSRPS_HRDLPS_P_TRAF_Water	Forecast: Accumulation of surface runoff amount	[kg/m2]	Water
NSRPS_HRDLPS_P_WSOL_0-5cm	Forecast: Volumetric water content of soil	[m3/m3]	0-5cm
NSRPS_HRDLPS_P_WSOL_5-10cm	Forecast: Volumetric water content of soil	[m3/m3]	5-10cm
NSRPS_HRDLPS_P_WSOL_10-20cm	Forecast: Volumetric water content of soil	[m3/m3]	10-20cm
NSRPS_HRDLPS_P_WSOL_20-40cm	Forecast: Volumetric water content of soil	[m3/m3]	20-40cm
NSRPS_HRDLPS_P_WSOL_40-100cm	Forecast: Volumetric water content of soil	[m3/m3]	40-100cm
NSRPS_HRDLPS_P_WSOL_100-200cm	Forecast: Volumetric water content of soil	[m3/m3]	100-200cm
NSRPS_HRDLPS_P_WSOL_200-300cm	Forecast: Volumetric water content of soil	[m3/m3]	200-300cm
NSRPS_HRDLPS_P_WT_AllSurfaceTypes	Forecast: Surface area fraction	[1]	AllSurfaceTypes
NSRPS_HRDLPS_P_WT_Glacier	Forecast: Surface area fraction	[1]	Glacier
NSRPS_HRDLPS_P_WT_SeaIce	Forecast: Surface area fraction	[1]	SeaIce
NSRPS_HRDLPS_P_WT_Soil	Forecast: Surface area fraction	[1]	Soil
NSRPS_HRDLPS_P_WT_Water	Forecast: Surface area fraction	[1]	Water
NSRPS_HREPA_A_CFIA_SFC	Analysis: Confidence Index of Analysis CAPA	[1]	SFC
NSRPS_HREPA_A_PR_SFC	Analysis: Quantity of precipitation	[m]	SFC
NSRPS_CaLDAS_A_SD_Land	Analysis: Snow depth	[cm]	Land
NSRPS_CaLDAS_A_SWE_Land	Analysis: Snow water equivalent	[kg/m2]	Land
NSRPS_CaLDAS_A_TD_1.5m	Analysis: Dew point temperature	[°C]	1.5m
NSRPS_CaLDAS_A_TT_1.5m	Analysis: Air temperature	[°C]	1.5m
NSRPS_CaLDAS_A_WSOL_0-5cm	Analysis: Volumetric water content of soil	[m3/m3]	0-5cm
NSRPS_CaLDAS_A_WSOL_5-10cm	Analysis: Volumetric water content of soil	[m3/m3]	5-10cm
NSRPS_CaLDAS_A_WSOL_10-20cm	Analysis: Volumetric water content of soil	[m3/m3]	10-20cm
NSRPS_CaLDAS_A_WSOL_20-40cm	Analysis: Volumetric water content of soil	[m3/m3]	20-40cm
NSRPS_CaLDAS_P_WSOL_40-100cm	Forecast: Volumetric water content of soil	[m3/m3]	40-100cm
NSRPS_CaLDAS_P_WSOL_100-200cm	Forecast: Volumetric water content of soil	[m3/m3]	100-200cm
NSRPS_CaLDAS_P_WSOL_200-300cm	Forecast: Volumetric water content of soil	[m3/m3]	200-300cm
NSRPS_CaLDAS_P_TG_SFC	Forecast: Aggregate surface radiative temperature	[K]	SFC