Overview¶
Analysis products are the real-time, operational data-assimilation outputs produced by weather forecasting centers (e.g., NCEP GFS). They use the current version of the forecast model and assimilation system to produce the “best estimate” of the atmospheric state right now — optimized for short-term weather forecasting.
Characteristics¶
Uses the current version of the forecast model and assimilation system
The model and assimilation methods change over time as improvements are made — analysis fields are not temporally homogeneous
Optimized for short-term weather forecasting, not long-term climate studies
Available in near-real-time
Analysis vs. Reanalysis¶
These two product types are easy to confuse. For a detailed comparison, see the Reanalysis section.
In short: analysis is what an operational center thinks the atmosphere is right now using today’s model and assimilation system; reanalysis is what a center retrospectively reconstructs over decades using a fixed model and assimilation system for temporal consistency.
Datasets in this section¶
Notebooks for this section are not yet available. Planned examples will use:
NCEP GFS analyses — Global Forecast System operational analyses
If you would like to contribute an example, see the contribution guide.
Related sections¶
See Reanalysis for the retrospective, temporally consistent counterpart to operational analyses.