The Japanese 55-year Reanalysis (JRA-55)

Reanalysis of long-term records of past observations with a state-of-the-art numerical analysis and weather prediction (NWP) system aims at producing a high quality, honogeneous data set for climate variables such as temperature and precipitation. The Japan Meteorological Agency has conducted the second reanalysis project named the Japanese 55-year Reanalysis (JRA-55) using a more sophisticated NWP system, which is based on the operational system as of December 2009, and newly prepared past observations. The reanalysis period has been extended covering the period from 1958 to 2012. JRA-55 is a data set that aims at reproducing the climate change over the past half century more accurately.