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NCEP Home > NCO Home > Production Management Branch > Documentation > GRIB2 Transition

TRANSITION TO GRIB2 ON NCEP AND NWS FTP SERVERS
Updated: 2/12/2008

The deadline for transitioning from grib1 to grib2 is January 28 2008.  The majority of grib1 data sets will no longer be populated after that date.  Equivalent grib2 data sets are now available on the NCEP and NWS ftp servers

The exceptions to the conversion are listed below with their appropriate directories and filenames.
No other GRIB1 datasets will continue to be populated.

If you would like to continue using data in GRIB1 format, NCEP Central Operations maintains the GRIB2 to GRIB1 conversion utility cnvgrib which can help through this transition. Documentation and source code is available on the Production Management Branch GRIB2 webpage.

If a grib2 data set is not available, please inform the PMB Data Flow Helpdesk at: NCEP.PMB.Dataflow@noaa.gov   
Please direct all questions concerning the software codes to the NCO PMB Dataflow Helpdesk: NCEP.PMB.Dataflow@noaa.gov

Below are tables describing GRIB1 model output files and the GRIB2 equivalents available on tgftp.ncep.noaa.gov and ftpprd.ncep.noaa.gov.

NWS FTP SERVER (tgftp.nws.noaa.gov)
ftp://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/SL.us008001/ST.opnl/

GRIB2 file names on the NWS ftp server will remain the same as the GRIB1 file names, but the GRIB2 files are stored in new uniquely named subdirectories.  However, the GFS 1.0 deg files are an exception; the GRIB2 version will be named fh.HHHH_tl.press_gr.1p0deg instead of fh.HHHH_tl.press_gr.onedeg.  This is to improve continuity of the names of GFS model output for all resolutions (0.5, 1.0, and 2.5 deg).

GRIB1 Directory GRIB2 Directory
Parent Directory:
SL.us008001/ST.opnl/
SL.us008001/ST.opnl/
Subdirectories:
MT.ensg_CY.<CC>/RD.<YYYYMMDD>/PT.grid_DF.gr1_RE.high MT.ensg_CY.<CC>/RD.<YYYYMMDD>/PT.grid_DF.gr2_RE.high
MT.ensg_CY.<CC>/RD.<YYYMMDD>/PT.grid_DF.gr1_RE.low MT.ensg_CY.<CC>/RD.<YYYMMDD>/PT.grid_DF.gr2_RE.low
MT.gdas_CY.<CC>/RD.<YYYYMMDD>/PT.grid_DF.gr1
MT.gdas_CY.<CC>/RD.<YYYYMMDD>/PT.grid_DF.gr2
MT.gfs_CY.<CC>/RD.<YYYYMMDD>/PT.grid_DF.gr1
MT.gfs_CY.<CC>/RD.<YYYYMMDD>/PT.grid_DF.gr2
MT.nam_AR.ak_CY.<CC>/RD.<YYYYMMDD>/PT.grid_DF.gr1
MT.nam_AR.ak_CY.<CC>/RD.<YYYYMMDD>/PT.grid_DF.gr2
MT.nam_CY.<CC>/RD.<YYYYMMDD>/PT.grid_DF.gr1
MT.nam_CY.<CC>/RD.<YYYYMMDD>/PT.grid_DF.gr2
MT.ngm_CY.<CC>/RD.<YYYYMMDD>/PT.grid_DF.gr1
MT.ngm_CY.<CC>/RD.<YYYYMMDD>/PT.grid_DF.gr2
MT.rsas_CY.<CC>/RD.<YYYYMMDD>/PT.grid_DF.gr1
MT.rsas_CY.<CC>/RD.<YYYYMMDD>/PT.grid_DF.gr2
MT.rsm_CY.<CC>/RD.<YYYYMMDD>/PT.grid_DF.gr1 MT.rsm_CY.<CC>/RD.<YYYYMMDD>/PT.grid_DF.gr2
MT.ruc_CY.<CC>/RD.<YYYYMMDD>/PT.grid_DF.gr1 MT.ruc_CY.<CC>/RD.<YYYYMMDD>/PT.grid_DF.gr2
MT.sref_CY.<CC>/RD.<YYYYMMDD>/PT.grid_DF.gr1 MT.sref_CY.<CC>/RD.<YYYYMMDD>/PT.grid_DF.gr2

 GRIB1 FILES WHICH WILL NOT BE REMOVED FROM tgftp.nws.noaa.gov

"bb" DIRECTORY BASED GRIB1 FILES
All grib1 files which are located in a "PT.grid_DF.bb" directory structure will remain on the server indefinitely
ICAO WAFS GRIDS IN THE ".gr1" DIRECTORY
<CC> is cycle, <hhh> is forecast hour, [?] is sector [i,j,k,l,m,n,o,p]
ftp://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/SL.us008001/ST.opnl/MT.gfs_CY.<CC>/RD.<YYYYMMDD>/PT.grid_DF.gr1/fh.<hhh>_tl.press_ar.octan[?]
MDL GRIDDED PRODUCTS
ftp://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/SL.us008001/DF.gr1
CFS GRIDDED PRODUCTS
ftp://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/SL.us008001/ST.opnl/MT.cfs_MR.clim
ftp://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/SL.us008001/ST.opnl/MT.cfs_MR.fcst

NCEP FTP SERVER (ftp.ncep.noaa.gov or ftpprd.ncep.noaa.gov) ftp://ftpprd.ncep.noaa.gov/pub/data/nccf/

For the GFS, NAM, NGM, RUC, and RUCS output GRIB2 files are being placed in the same directory as GRIB1. The GRIB2 files are identified with a ".grib2" extension.

GRIB1 Filename GRIB2 Filename
Parent Directory:
pub/data/nccf/com pub/data/nccf/com
gfs*fHHH gfs*fHHH.grib2
nam*.tm00
nam*.tm00.grib2
ngm.t<CC>z.pgrb.f<HH>
ngm.t<CC>z.pgrb.f<HH>.grib2
ruc2.*f<HH>
ruc2.*f<HH>.grib2
rucs.*anl rucs.*anl.grib2

 GEFS - On ftpprd.ncep.noaa.gov, GEFS GRIB2 output has different file names and is kept in different directories than GRIB1 output
.

GRIB1 Directory GRIB1 Filename GRIB2 Directory GRIB2 Filename
gens/prod/gefs.<YYYYMMDD>/<CC>/pgrba ge*pgrbafHHH gens/prod/gefs.<YYYYMMDD>/<CC>/pgrb2a ge*pgrb2afHHH
gens/prod/gefs.<YYYYMMDD>/<CC>/pgrbalr ge*pgrbafHHH.2 gens/prod/gefs.<YYYYMMDD>/<CC>/pgrb2alr ge*pgrb2afHHH.2
gens/prod/gefs.<YYYYMMDD>/<CC>/pgrbb ge*pgrbbfHHH gens/prod/gefs.<YYYYMMDD>/<CC>/pgrb2b ge*pgrb2bfHHH
gens/prod/gefs.<YYYYMMDD>/<CC>/pgrbblr ge*pgrbbfHHH.2 gens/prod/gefs.<YYYYMMDD>/<CC>/pgrb2blr ge*pgrb2bfHHH.2

GRIB1 FILES WHICH WILL NOT BE REMOVED FROM ftpprd.ncep.noaa.gov

MDL  PRODUCTS
ftp://ftpprd.ncep.noaa.gov/pub/data/nccf/com/gfs/prod/gfs.<YYYYMMDDCC>/mdl*
CFS PRODUCTS
ftp://ftpprd.ncep.noaa.gov/pub/data1/nccf/com/cfs/prod
ICAO WAFS GRIDS
ftp://ftpprd.ncep.noaa.gov/pub/data/nccf/pcom/gfs
ftp://ftpprd.ncep.noaa.gov/pub/data/nccf/com/gfs/prod/gfs.<YYYYMMDD>
<CC> is cycle, <HH> is forecast hour, <??> is sector [L,P]
wafavn.t<CC>z.grb<??>.f<HH>_<YYYYMMDD>
wafsgfs_<??>_t<CC>z_intdsk<HH>



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