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Catalog datasets represent a fraction of data in use by active WMA projects. The team is working on including more datasets to provide a complete view of data-in-use. Let us know how your experience is!

Datasets

Analysis Of Record for Calibration (AORC) Dataset

Domain: Climate

Variables:
▶ Total Precipitaion (APCP_surface); Air Temperature (TMP_2maboveground); Specific Humidity (SPFH_2maboveground); Downward Long-Wave Radiation Flux (DLWRF_surface); Downward Short-Wave Radiation Flux (DSWRF_surface);
See 3 More Variables...

Spatial Resolution: 1 kilometer

Temporal Frequency: hourly

Temporal Coverage: 1979 - Present

Spatial Extent: CONUS; Alaska

Source: NOAA

Update Type: Dynamic

Update Frequency: unknown

Update Detail: append

Access:

Description:

The Analysis of Record for Calibration (AORC) is a gridded record of near-surface weather conditions covering the conterminous United States and Alaska and their hydrologically contributing areas. It is defined on a latitude/longitude spatial grid with a mesh length of 30 arc seconds (~800 m), and a temporal resolution of one hour. Elements include hourly total precipitation, temperature, specific humidity, terrain-level pressure, downward longwave and shortwave radiation, and west-east and south-north wind components. It spans the period from 1979 at Continental U.S. (CONUS) locations / 1981 in Alaska, to the near-present (at all locations). This suite of eight variables is sufficient to drive most land-surface and hydrologic models and is used as input to the National Water Model (NWM) retrospective simulation. While the native AORC process generates netCDF output, the data is post-processed to create a cloud optimized Zarr formatted equivalent for dissemination using cloud technology and infrastructure.
AORC Version 1.1 dataset creation
The AORC dataset was created after reviewing, identifying, and processing multiple large-scale, observation, and analysis datasets. There are two versions of The Analysis Of Record for Calibration (AORC) data.
The initial AORC Version 1.0 dataset was completed in November 2019 and consisted of a grid with 8 elements at a resolution of 30 arc seconds. The AORC version 1.1 dataset was created to address issues “see Table 1 in Fall et al., 2023” in the version 1.0 CONUS dataset. Full documentation on version 1.1 of the AORC data and the related journal publication are provided below.
The native AORC version 1.1 process creates a dataset that consists of netCDF files with the following dimensions: 1 hour, 4201 latitude values (ranging from 25.0 to 53.0), and 8401 longitude values (ranging from -125.0 to -67).
The data creation runs with a 10-day lag to ensure the inclusion of any corrections to the input Stage IV and NLDAS data.
Note - The full extent of the AORC grid as defined in its data files exceed those cited above; those outermost rows and columns of data grids are filled with missing values and are the remnant of an early set of required AORC extents that have since been adjusted inward.
Fall, G., Kitzmiller, D., Pavlovic, S., Zhang, Z., Patrick, N., St. Laurent, M., Trypaluk, C., Wu, W., and Miller, D., 2023. The Office of Water Prediction’s Analysis of Record For Calibration, Version 1.1: Dataset Description and Precipitation Evaluation: JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association v. 59, no. 6, p. 1246–1272, https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.13143 .

Citation:

Recommended citation:
NOAA Analysis of Record for Calibration (AORC) Dataset was accessed [YYYY-MM-DD] at https://registry.opendata.aws/noaa-nws-aorc .