Daily GFS Precipitation Forecast
Daily Period
Central America
Available Tools
The GeoWRSI is a geo-spatial, stand-alone implementation of the Water Requirements Satisfaction Index (GeoWRSI), as it is implemented by the USGS for the FEWSNET Activity. The program runs a crop-specific water balance model for a selected region in the world, using raster data inputs. The program produces a range of outputs which can either be used qualitatively to help assess and monitor crop conditions during the crop growing season, or can be regressed with yields to produce yield estimation models and yield estimates. Other tools are available to post-process the GeoWRSI outputs so that they can be used in yield estimation models.
The GeoCLIM is a spatial analysis tool designed for climatological analysis of historical rainfall
and temperature data. The GeoCLIM provides non-scientists with an array of accessible analysis
tools for climate-smart agricultural development. These user friendly tools can be used to obtain
and analyze climate data, blend station data with satellite data to create more accurate datasets,
analyze seasonal trends and/or historical climate data, create visual representations of climate
data, create scripts (batch files) to quickly and efficiently analyze similar “batches” of climate
data, view and/or edit shapefiles and raster files, and extract statistics from raster datasets to
create time series.
Product Documentation
As of January 1, 2001, RFE version 2.0 was implemented by the NOAA Climate Prediction Center (CPC). This algorithm replaced the dekadal (or 10-day) version 1.0 that was operational from 1995 through 2000 (Herman et al., 1997). A detailed description of the NOAA CPC daily RFE 2.0 data can be found at the bottom of the web page http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/fews/rfe.shtml The RFE 2.0 daily (06Z to 06Z) data are compiled over three geographic areas or windows for the FEWS NET project. The windows and their bounding coordinates are:
All data are in geographic coordinates at 0.10 degree resolution. Each region's daily data are downloaded from NOAA/CPC and converted into ArcInfo integer (to the nearest whole millimeter) *.bil images which are then zipped and staged at https://edcftp.cr.usgs.gov/?dir=project/fews. All data remain on this server for 8 days before being auto-deleted. The Africa window data are under the africa sub-directory. The Central Asia window data are under the afghan sub-directory, and the South Asia window data are under the seasia sub-directory. The naming convention for the daily image zip file is rain_YYYYJDA.tar.gz where YYYY is the 4 digit year and JDA is the 1-to-3 digit day of the year. Each daily rainfall file is a UNIX *.tar.gz file which contains the ArcInfo *.bil image and related files (i.e. .bil, .blw, .hdr, .stx, .clr) for that day. In the case of Africa, the entire collection is available through the FEWS NET Bulk RFE Data Download page at http://earlywarning.usgs.gov/fews/datadownloads/Continental Africa/Dekadal RFE.The individual daily RFE images are ~65-80 KB per file. The daily data are provided for download in three formats: daily, monthly daily data (~2MB per month), and annual daily data (~25 MB per year).  The Global Forecast System (GFS) precipitation data are provided on a daily basis by the Africa desk of the NOAA Climate Prediction Center (http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/). These data are 7 day forecasts of precipitation at 0.25 degree resolution with a global extent. Each "day" is 00z to 00z. More information on the GFS data can be found at http://www.emc.ncep.noaa.gov/GFS/. Graphic images are provided for both global and regional extents from the original data. The global extent graphics are for the 1st day of the 7-day period and for the total 7-day accumulation. The regional or country specific graphics show individual days for the first 6 of the 7-day forecasts, and are displayed in conjunction with the past 6 days of rainfall estimates. The following links show these data: Global 1-day http://earlywarning.usgs.gov/fews/product/79 Global 7-day http://earlywarning.usgs.gov/fews/product/80 Africa http://earlywarning.usgs.gov/fews/product/59 Afghanistan http://earlywarning.usgs.gov/fews/product/39 Central Asia http://earlywarning.usgs.gov/fews/product/105 South Central Asia http://earlywarning.usgs.gov/fews/product/83 Iraq & Tigres/Euphrates basin http://earlywarning.usgs.gov/fews/product/74 South East Asia http://earlywarning.usgs.gov/fews/product/83 Yemen http://earlywarning.usgs.gov/fews/product/68 Central America http://earlywarning.usgs.gov/fews/product/6 Haiti (Hispaniola) http://earlywarning.usgs.gov/fews/product/18 |