JRA-55: Japanese 55-year Reanalysis, Monthly Means and Variances

The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) conducted JRA-55, the second Japanese global atmospheric reanalysis project. It covers 55 years, extending back to 1958, coinciding with the establishment of the global radiosonde observing system. Compared to its predecessor, JRA-25, JRA-55 is based on a new data assimilation and prediction system (DA) that improves many deficiencies found in the first Japanese reanalysis. These improvements have come about by implementing higher spatial resolution (TL319L60), a new radiation scheme, four-dimensional variational data assimilation (4D-Var) with Variational Bias Correction (VarBC) for satellite radiances, and introduction of greenhouse gases with time varying concentrations. The entire JRA-55 production was completed in 2013, and thereafter will be continued on a real time basis.

Specific early results of quality assessment of JRA-55 indicate that a large temperature bias in the lower stratosphere has been significantly reduced compared to JRA-25 through a combination of the new radiation scheme and application of VarBC (which also reduces unrealistic temperature variations). In addition, a dry land surface anomaly in the Amazon basin has been mitigated, and overall forecast scores are much improved over JRA-25.

Most of the observational data employed in JRA-55 are those used in JRA-25. Additionally, newly reprocessed METEOSAT and GMS data were supplied by EUMETSAT and MSC/JMA respectively. Snow depth data over the United States, Russia and Mongolia were supplied by UCAR, RIHMI and IMH respectively.

The Data Support Section (DSS) at NCAR has processed the 1.25 degree version of JRA-55 with the RDA (Research Data Archive) archiving and metadata system. The model resolution data has also been acquired, archived and processed as well, including transformation of the TL319L60 grid to a regular latitude-longitude Gaussian grid (320 latitudes by 640 longitudes, nominally 0.5625 degree). All RDA JRA-55 data is available for internet download, including complete subsetting and data format conversion services.

To Access Resource:

Questions? Email Resource Support Contact:

  • Dave Stepaniak
    davestep@ucar.edu
    UCAR/NCAR - Research Data Archive

Temporal Range

  • Begin:  1958-01-01T00:00:00Z
    End:  2024-01-01T18:00:00Z

Keywords

Resource Type dataset
Temporal Range Begin 1958-01-01T00:00:00Z
Temporal Range End 2024-01-01T18:00:00Z
Temporal Resolution N/A
Bounding Box North Lat 90
Bounding Box South Lat -90
Bounding Box West Long -180
Bounding Box East Long 180
Spatial Representation grid
Spatial Resolution 0.562 degree
0.563 degree
1.25 degree
2.5 degree
Related Links

Related Resource #1 : JRA-55: Japanese 55-year Reanalysis

Related Resource #2 : Description of JRA-55 at the NCAR Climate Data Guide

Related Resource #3 : JRA-55 Quality Issues
Additional Information N/A
Resource Format WMO_GRIB1 (Binary)
Standardized Resource Format GRIB
Asset Size 1367675 MB
Legal Constraints

When accessing the JRA data, you agree to the following Terms and Conditions:

a. Conditions of use

   * Individual users must register their name, affiliation and email address with NCAR before access to datasets will be permitted.
   * The source of the datasets should be duly acknowledged in scientific and technical papers, publications, press releases and other communications regarding the datasets. Example: The dataset used for this study is from the Japanese 55-year Reanalysis (JRA-55) project carried out by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).
   * Individual users should provide JMA (jra@met.kishou.go.jp) with a copy of their scientific or technical papers, publications, press releases or other communications regarding these datasets.

b. Disclaimer

   * Although JMA has taken the utmost care in creating the datasets, it assumes no responsibility regarding their reliability. JMA is not responsible for any damage that may result from their use.

c. Intellectual property

   * The intellectual property rights of the datasets belong exclusively to JMA.

(The complete JMA and NCAR agreement for JRA-55 may be viewed via the Documentation tab.)
Access Constraints None
Software Implementation Language N/A

Resource Support Name Dave Stepaniak
Resource Support Email davestep@ucar.edu
Resource Support Organization UCAR/NCAR - Research Data Archive
Distributor NCAR Research Data Archive
Metadata Contact Name N/A
Metadata Contact Email rdahelp@ucar.edu
Metadata Contact Organization NCAR Research Data Archive

Author Japan Meteorological Agency, Japan
Publisher Research Data Archive at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Computational and Information Systems Laboratory
Publication Date 2013-11-22
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) https://doi.org/10.5065/D60G3H5B
Alternate Identifier d628001
Resource Version N/A
Topic Category climatologyMeteorologyAtmosphere
Progress onGoing
Metadata Date 2024-08-04T02:11:26Z
Metadata Record Identifier edu.ucar.rda::d628001
Metadata Language eng; USA
Suggested Citation Japan Meteorological Agency, Japan. (2013). JRA-55: Japanese 55-year Reanalysis, Monthly Means and Variances. Research Data Archive at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Computational and Information Systems Laboratory. https://doi.org/10.5065/D60G3H5B. Accessed 02 October 2025.

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