TOC > MSC data > RDPA > RDPA on MSC Datamart
Regional Deterministic Precipitation Analysis (RDPA - CaPA) data in GRIB2 format
This page describes the Regional Deterministic Precipitation Analysis (RDPA) data based on the Canadian Precipitation Analysis (CaPA) system.
Data location
MSC Datamart data can be automatically retrieved with the Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP) as soon as they become available. An overview and examples to access and use the Meteorological Service of Canada's open data is also available.
The data is available using the HTTPS protocol and resides in a directory that is plainly accessible to a web browser. Visiting that directory with an interactive browser will yield a raw listing of links, each link being a downloadable GRIB2 file.
Data on a rotated lat-lon grid can be accessed at the following URL :
where :
- hh : time interval of 06 or 24 hours in which precipitation accumulations are analyzed
- HH : UTC run time [00, 06, 12, 18]
A 30-day history is kept on the MSC Datamart.
Technical specification of the grid
The following table lists the values of various parameters of the rotated lat-lon grid:
| Parameter | Valeur |
|---|---|
| ni | 1102 |
| nj | 1076 |
| resolution at 60° N | 10 km |
| coordinate of the first grid point | -31.76° N ; 92.40° W |
Note : The most recent versions of wgrib2 and GDAL support these rotated grids.
File name nomenclature
Files have one of the following nomenclatures:
{YYYYMMDD}T{HH}Z_MSC_RDPA_{VAR}_Sfc_RLatLon0.09_PT0H.grib2{YYYYMMDD}T{HH}Z_MSC_RDPA-Prelim_{VAR}_Sfc_RLatLon0.09_PT0H.grib2
where:
- YYYYMMDD: Year, month and day of the beginning of the forecast
- T : Time delimiter according to ISO8601 norms
- HH: UTC run time [00, 06, 12, 18]
- Z : Time zone (UTC hour)
- MSC : Constant string indicating the Meteorological Service of Canada, source of data
- RDPA : Constant string indicating that data is from the Regional Deterministic Precipitation Analysis. Observation cut-off time is about 007 hours after the time YYYYMMDDHH indicating that a maximum of observations has likely been collected
- RDPA-Prelim: Constant string indicating that data is from the Regional Deterministic Precipitation Analysis. Observation cut-off time is one hour after the time YYYYMMDDHH indicating that possibly not all observations have been collected
- VAR : Constant string indicating the variable included in the file namely in this case, the accumulated precipitation which has been analyzed over a specific period [APCP-Accum6h, APCP-Accum24h]
- Sfc : Constant string indicating that the surface is the vertical level
- RLatLon0.09 : Constant string indicating a rotated lat-lon grid with 0.09 deg resolution (about 10km)
- PT0H : Based on ISO8601 norms. P, T and H are constant character designating Period, Time and Hour. Here PT0H indicates an analysis.
- grib2 : constant string indicating the GRIB2 format is used
Examples of files names :
- 20220301T00Z_MSC_RDPA-Prelim_APCP-Accum6h_Sfc_RLatLon0.09_PT0H.grib2
The file originates from the Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC) and contains a Regional Deterministic Precipitation Analysis (RDPA). It contains a preliminary analysis of precipitation accumulation represented by the APCP variable over a 6 hour interval. The data are on a lat-lon rotated grid at a 10 km resolution (RLatLon0.09). The analysis was produced on March 01, 2022 at 00Z (20220301T00Z). The 006-hour interval in which the precipitation is analyzed is 2022030100 to 2022030106.
- 20220302T12Z_MSC_RDPA_APCP-Accum24h_Sfc_RLatLon0.09_PT0H.grib2
The file originates from the Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC) and contains a Regional Deterministic Precipitation Analysis (RDPA). It contains a final analysis of precipitation accumulation represented by the APCP variable over a 24-hour interval. The data are on a lat-lon grid rotated to a 10 km resolution (RLatLon0.09). The analysis was produced on 02 March 2022 at 12Z (2022030212). The 24-hour interval in which precipitation is analyzed is 2022030212 to 2022030312.
NOTE: A second variable is also included in this file and it is the confidence index for the analysis.
List of variables
Online archives
-
An RDPA data archive from April, 6th 2011 to September 23th, 2023 is available online in GRIB2 format.
-
An archive of re-analyses, covering the period from January 2002 to June 2012, is available online in GRIB2 format.
Support
If you have any questions about this data, please contact us.
Announcements from the dd_info mailing list
Announcements related to this dataset are available in the dd_info list.