The GFS atmospheric model

"This is a brief documentation of the current version of the atmospheric model of NCEP's Global Forecast System (GFS). The GFS mode l, formerly known as the Medium Range Forecast model (MRF) was initially developed by J. Sela (1980,1982). The highly detailed original model documentation (NMC Staff,1988) may be viewed at http://wwwt.emc.ncep.noaa.gov/gmb/wd23ja/doc/web2/tocold1.html. There has been no update of this to reflect the myriad of changes that have occurred since then. We suggest that interested scientists use the current Office Note and the brief summary noted below to facilitate the use of the model in its present form: http://wwwt.emc.ncep.noaa.gov/gmb/STATS/html/model_changes.html. This chronological summary contains short descriptions of all changes in the forecast model and in the assimilation/analysis system, as well as references to more complete descriptions found in a series of Office of Meteorology Technical Procedures Bulletins. Another source of information is the published articles referenced below (Caplan, et al.,1997; Kanamitsu, et al.,1991) containing descriptions of major changes and further references to supporting material in the literature. The Environmental Modeling Center intends to provide an updated Technical Note every 2-3 years"--Introduction. Global Climate and Weather Modeling Branch. "April 11, 2004." System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Includes bibliographical references (pages 10-14). 2004 NWS (National Weather Service) Library Public Domain 2285