NCEP NARR

NCEP NARR
A high resolution (32km x 29 pressure levels) data set focused upon the North American Region. Relative to the NCEP-DOE (R2) it has a much improved land-hydrology, diurnal cycle and land-atmosphere interaction. As such, it can be considered a second generation reanalysis. A unique feature is the direct assimilation of observed precipitation.

Please cite data sources, following the data providers' instructions
Dataset DOIs
None
Hosted Climate Index Files
None
Data Access
  1. NCEP NOMADS
  2. NOAA ESRL
  3. NCAR Research Data Archive NARR data products
Usage Restrictions
None

Cite this page

Acknowledgement of any material taken from or knowledge gained from this page is appreciated:

National Center for Atmospheric Research Staff (Eds). Last modified "The Climate Data Guide: NCEP NARR.” Retrieved from https://climatedataguide.ucar.edu/climate-data/ncep-narr on 2025-09-20.


Citation of datasets is separate and should be done according to the data providers' instructions. If known to us, data citation instructions are given in the Data Access section, above.


Acknowledgement of the Climate Data Guide project is also appreciated:

Schneider, D. P., C. Deser, J. Fasullo, and K. E. Trenberth, 2013: Climate Data Guide Spurs Discovery and Understanding. Eos Trans. AGU, 94, 121–122, https://doi.org/10.1002/2013eo130001

Key Figures

Climate Data Guide Image

NARR daily precipitation for April 11, 1979. Data are plotted on a Lambert Conformal projection. The values are the mean of eight 3-hourly values. (Climate Data Guide; D. Shea)
Climate Data Guide Image

NARR daily mean temperature for April 11, 1979. Data are plotted on a Lambert Conformal projection. The values are the mean of eight 3-hourly values. (Climate Data Guide; D. Shea)

Other Information

Earth system components and main variables
Atmosphere, Air Temperature, Geopotential Height, Precipitable water, Land
Type of data product
Atmospheric Reanalysis, NCEP NARR
Dataset collections
None

Years of record
to
Metadata ID
oai:edu.ucar.rda:ds608.0
Data time period extended
Yes, data set is extended
Timestep
Climatology, Sub-daily, Monthly
Domain
North America
Formats:
GRIB
Input Data

standard reanalysis sources; precipitation, TOV-1B radiances

Vertical Levels:
None
Missing Data Flag
Spatially complete
Ocean or Land
None
Spatial Resolution

32km

Model Resolution (reanalysis)

32km x 45 eta

Data Assimilation Method
3DVAR
Model Vintage (reanalysis)

2003