reGRAF: a global MPAS reforecast data set with convection-allowing refinements over the US and Europe
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: NVIDIA and The Weather Company (TWC) have generated a data set of reforecasts from TWC's GRAF (Global high-Resolution Atmospheric Forecasting) model, a version of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Model for Predictions Across Scales (\href{https://ncar.ucar.edu/what-we-offer/models/model-prediction-across-scales-mpas}{\underline{MPAS}}). GRAF is global, but the configuration for this reforecast had a mesh refinement to \textasciitilde4 km over the US, Caribbean Basin, and Europe, and 15 km elsewhere. This model was designed to run much of the computation on graphical processing units (GPUs), with this development assisted by NVIDIA. The 1836 reforecast cases (\textasciitilde5 years) were generated from ECMWF reanalyses (ERA5) for selected initial condition dates spanning more than 20 years, 2004--2024. These dates of the chosen initial conditions were mostly selected based on high-impact weather in the contiguous US (CONUS) and Caribbean. Sampling in this way, the reforecast spanned a wider range of interesting, high-impact weather scenarios than had we performed five contiguous years of once-daily reforecasts. The reforecast still provides many samples in non-precipitating regions with more ordinary weather. GRAF reforecasts were mostly run to $+$27 h lead time, assuming a 3-h spin-up followed by a full diurnal cycle. Data were saved in zarr format on the native model vertical coordinate. Most fields were archived at 15-min intervals, though several precipitation variables were saved at 5-min cadence. Data are made publicly available to all through Amazon Web Services' Open-Data Initiative at https://registry.opendata.aws/graf-reforecast.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Institution: Nvidia (United States)
Language: English
Subfield: Atmospheric Science
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Climate action
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7215130110