This dataset contains the input data (initial conditions, boundary conditions, initial perturbations) for Met Office Unified Model simulations performed during the PRESTO (PREcipitation STructures over Orography) project. It also contains the 2D and 3D output files from these simulations. The PRESTO project was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) with the grant references - NE/I024984/1 and NE/I026545/1 - led by Professor Suzanne Gray (University of Reading) and Professor David Schultz (University of Manchester). PRESTO provided a leap forward in the understanding and prediction of quasi-stationary orographic convection in the UK and beyond. This was achieved through an intensive climatological analysis over several regions of the globe where continuous radar data was available, which identified the environmental conditions that support the bands and their characteristic locations and morphologies. Complementary high-resolution numerical simulations pinpointed the underlying mechanisms behind the bands and their predictability in numerical weather prediction models. This work provides positive impacts for the forecasting community, general public, and other academics in the field. Forecasters benefit from the identification of simple diagnostics that can be used operationally to predict these events based on available model forecasts and/or upstream soundings. A series of activities were used to directly engage with forecasters to effectively disseminate our findings. The public benefit from this improved forecasting of potentially hazardous precipitation events. The academic community benefit from the advanced physical understanding (which was disseminated through conferences, workshops, and peer-reviewed publications) and the numerous international collaborations associated with this project.

Data from the operational NWP (Numerical Weather Prediction) output from the Variable resolution UK (UKV) part of the Met Office Unified Model. This latest configuration of the UM model has a high resolution inner domain (1.5 km grid boxes) over the area of forecast interest, separated from a coarser grid (4 km) near the boundaries by a variable resolution transition zone. This variable resolution approach allows the boundaries to be moved further away from the region of interest, reducing unwanted boundary effects on the forecasts. The UKV model is kept close to observations using 3D-Var data assimilation every 3 hours. This archive is currently being populated at the BADC.

This dataset contains the input data (initial conditions, boundary conditions, initial perturbations) for Met Office Unified Model simulations performed during the PRESTO (PREcipitation STructures over Orography) project. It also contains the 2D and 3D output files from these simulations. The PRESTO project was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) with the grant references - NE/I024984/1 and NE/I026545/1 - led by Professor Suzanne Gray (University of Reading) and Professor David Schultz (University of Manchester). PRESTO provided a leap forward in the understanding and prediction of quasi-stationary orographic convection in the UK and beyond. This was achieved through an intensive climatological analysis over several regions of the globe where continuous radar data was available, which identified the environmental conditions that support the bands and their characteristic locations and morphologies. Complementary high-resolution numerical simulations pinpointed the underlying mechanisms behind the bands and their predictability in numerical weather prediction models. This work provides positive impacts for the forecasting community, general public, and other academics in the field. Forecasters benefit from the identification of simple diagnostics that can be used operationally to predict these events based on available model forecasts and/or upstream soundings. A series of activities were used to directly engage with forecasters to effectively disseminate our findings. The public benefit from this improved forecasting of potentially hazardous precipitation events. The academic community benefit from the advanced physical understanding (which was disseminated through conferences, workshops, and peer-reviewed publications) and the numerous international collaborations associated with this project.

This dataset collection contains model data from the Met Office Unified Model (UM) operational Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) UK high resolution model. A post processed regional downscaled configuration of the Unified Model, covering the UK and Ireland, is used with hourly forecast data covering the period T+0 to T+120 hours. With a resolution of approximately 0.018 degrees it is able to produce hourly data at surface level and at standard pressure levels up to eight times a day. The model’s initial state is kept close to the real atmosphere using incremental 3D-Var data assimilation. This archive currently holds data from April 2016 onwards but data will be back populated for earlier years.

A global configuration provides the large-scale weather forecast and also supports the nested higher resolution regional models with boundary data. More detailed short-range forecasts are provided by these high-resolution models which are able to represent certain atmospheric processes more accurately, as well as having a more detailed representation of surface features such as coastlines and orography. This dataset contains UK atmospheric high resolution data from the UK Met Office operational NWP (Numerical Weather Prediction) Unified Model (UM). A post-processed regional downscaled configuration of the Unified Model, covering the UK and Ireland, is used with hourly forecast data covering the period T+0 to T+120 hours is used. With a resolution of approximately 0.018 degrees are able to produce hourly data at surface level and at standard pressure levels up to eight times a day. The model’s initial state is kept close to the real atmosphere using incremental 3D-Var data assimilation. This archive currently holds data from April 2016 onwards. An issue has been identified with the representation of the Transverse Mercator projection in the GRIB files in which some of the projection metadata values were set incorrectly. This error has been corrected in all data since 15th Jan 2020. The values that were corrected are as follows: Up to 15/01/2020: Source of Grid Definition: 12 Latitude of True Origin: 49 Longitude of True Origin: -2 From 15/01/2020: Source of Grid Definition: 0 Latitude of True Origin: 49.0e06 Longitude of True Origin: -2.0e06