Model:

Updated:

4 times per day, from 08:00, 14:00, 20:00, and 00:00 UTC

Greenwich Mean Time:

12:00 UTC = 01:00 NZDT

Resolution:

0.125° x 0.125°

Parameter:

Relative Humidity at 300 hPa

Description:

This chart shows the relative humidity at 300 hPa, which is equivalent to an altitude of about 30.000 ft a.s.l. depending on the SLP. With the help of this map one is able to draw conclusions on the portion of the sky cover formed by high-level cirrus clouds.

ICON:

ICON The ICON dynamical core is a development initiated by the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (MPI-M) and the Opens external link in current windowGermany Weather Service (DWD). This dynamical core is designed to better tap the potential of new generations of high performance computing, to better represent fluid conservation properties that are increasingly important for modelling the Earth system, to provide a more consistent basis for coupling the atmosphere and ocean and for representing subgrid-scale heterogeneity over land, and to allow regionalization and limited area implementations.

NWP:

Numerical weather prediction uses current weather conditions as input into mathematical models of the atmosphere to predict the weather. Although the first efforts to accomplish this were done in the 1920s, it wasn't until the advent of the computer and computer simulation that it was feasible to do in real-time. Manipulating the huge datasets and performing the complex calculations necessary to do this on a resolution fine enough to make the results useful requires the use of some of the most powerful supercomputers in the world. A number of forecast models, both global and regional in scale, are run to help create forecasts for nations worldwide. Use of model ensemble forecasts helps to define the forecast uncertainty and extend weather forecasting farther into the future than would otherwise be possible.

Wikipedia, Numerical weather prediction, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numerical_weather_prediction(as of Feb. 9, 2010, 20:50 UTC).