Documentation and support

Operational configurations of the ECMWF Integrated Forecasting System (IFS)

These tables summarise the key characteristics of ECMWF IFS model, offering links to documentation on data description, graphical products, cycle information, resolution, etc.

Atmospheric general circulation component Latest IFS cycle

Table 1a: Key characteristics since 8th March 2016 of the atmospheric component of the ECMWF IFS
	Forecast / Analysis	Number of members	Horizontal resolution	Vertical levels	Pressure at model top (hPa)	Perturbation models
HRES Atmospheric Model high resolution Data Graphical products Documentation	Forecast 0–10 days	1	Native ⁽¹⁾: O1280 ~9km Interpolated ⁽²⁾: 0.1° ~9km	137	0.01 hPa	No
ENS Ensemble - Atmospheric Model Data Graphical products Documentation	Forecast 0–15 days	51	Day 0-15 Native ⁽¹⁾: O640 ~18km Interpolated ⁽²⁾:0.2°	91	0.01 hPa	Yes⁽⁴⁾
ENS Extended Atmospheric Model Extended forecast (monthly) Data Graphical products Documentation	Forecast 16–46 days run twice a week	51	Native (1): O320 ~36km Interpolated ⁽²⁾: 0.4°	91	0.01 hPa	Yes ⁽⁴⁾
4DVAR 4-Dimensional data assimilation Data (See Analysis in HRES) Graphical products Documentation	Analysis	1	N128/N160/N200 inner loops O1280 outer loop	137	0.01 hPa	No
EDA Ensemble of data assimilations Data	Analysis	25	N96/N96 inner loops O640 outer)	137	0.01 hPa	Yes ⁽⁵⁾
SEAS 2011 version Cycle 36r4 Seasonal forecast Data Graphical products Documentation	Forecast run monthly 0–7 months (monthly) run quarterly 0-13 months (annual range)	51	Native ⁽¹⁾: N128 ~80km Interpolated ⁽²⁾: 0.75° ~83km	91	0.01 hPa	Yes ⁽⁴⁾

Ensemble and Seasonal re-forecasts

Table 1b: Key characteristics since 12 May 2015 of the ENS and SEAS re-forecasts
	Forecast/Analysis	Number of members	Horizontal resolution		Vertical levels	Pressure at model top (hPa)	Perturbation models	Number of years
ENS Cycle 43r3 (Latest) Data Graphical products Documentation	0–46 days run twice a week	11	Day 0-15 Native ⁽¹⁾: O640 Interpolated⁽²⁾: 0.25° ~18km Day 16-46 Native ⁽¹⁾: O320 Interpolated (2): 0.5° ~55km		91	0.01 hPa	Yes ⁽⁴⁾	Most recent 20
SEAS 2011 version Cycle 36r4 Data Documentation (see Seasonal forecasts)	Forecast run monthly 0–7 months (monthly) run quarterly 0-13 months (annual range)	15	Native ⁽¹⁾: N128 ~80km Interpolated ⁽²⁾: 0.75° ~83km		91	0.01 hPa	Yes ⁽⁴⁾	30 (1981–2010)

Ocean general circulation component

Table 1c: Key characteristics since 19 November 2013 of the ocean component general circulation models of the ECMWF IFS
	Forecast/Analysis	Number of members	Horizontal resolution ORCA grid	Vertical levels
NEMO Ocean model Documentation	Forecast 0–13 months	51	1°	42
ORAS4 Ocean reanalyses ORTA4 Ocean Real Time Analysis Graphical products Documentation	Analysis	5	1°	42

Ocean-wave component

Table 1d: Key characteristics since 12 May 2015 of the ocean-wave component
	Forecast/Analysis	Domain	Number of members	Horizontal resolution
HRES-SAW Ocean Wave standalone model Data Graphical products Documentation	Analysis and forecast 0–10 days	Global	1	Native: 0.1° reduced ⁽³⁾ ~11km Interpolated ⁽²⁾: 0.1° ~11km
HRES-WAM Ocean Wave coupled to the atmospheric model Data Graphical products Documentation	Analysis and forecast 0–10 days	Global	1	Native: 0.125° reduced ⁽³⁾ ~14km Interpolated ⁽²⁾: 0.125°~ 14km
ENS-WAM Ensemble wave forecast Data Graphical products Documentation	Forecast 0-46 days	Global	51	0-15 days Native: 0.25° reduced ⁽³⁾ ~28km Interpolated ⁽²⁾: 0.25° ~28km 16-46 days Native: 0.5° reduced ⁽³⁾ ~55km Interpolated ⁽²⁾: 0.5° ~55km
	Forecast 0-46 days	Global	51
SEAS-WAM Seasonal wave forecast Documentation (see Seasonal forecasts)	Forecast run monthly 0–7 months (monthly) run quarterly 0-13 months (annual range)	Global	51	Native: 1° ~111km

Atmospheric and Ocean-wave reanalysis Cycle 31r2

	Forecast/Analysis	Number of members	Horizontal resolution	Vertical levels	Pressure at model top (hPa)	Perturbation models
ERA Interim Atmospheric Reanalysis Data Documentation	Analysis Forecast 0-10 days	1	Native ⁽¹⁾: N128 ~80 km Interpolated ⁽²⁾: 0.75° ~83km	60	0.1 hPa	No
ERA Interim Wave Wave Reanalysis Data Documentation	Analysis Forecast 0-10 days	1	Native⁽³⁾ : 1.0° ~111km			No

Forecast/Analysis

Number of members

Horizontal resolution

Vertical levels

Pressure at model top (hPa)

Perturbation models

ERA Interim

Atmospheric Reanalysis

Analysis

Forecast 0-10 days

Native ⁽¹⁾: N128 ~80 km
Interpolated ⁽²⁾: 0.75° ~83km

0.1 hPa

ERA Interim Wave

Wave Reanalysis

Analysis

Forecast 0-10 days

Native⁽³⁾ : 1.0° ~111km

Table 1e: Key characteristics since 2006 of the ERA Interim reanalyses

(1) Native: as produced by the model on reduced Gaussian grids or spherical harmonics.
(2) Interpolated to lat/lon
(3) Native: as produced by the model on reduced lat/lon grids.
(4) in analysis and model physics
(5) in observations and model physics