CFSV2: NCEP Climate Forecast System Version 2, 6-Hourly Products Harmonized

NOAA/CFSV2/FOR6H_HARMONIZED
Dataset Availability
1979-01-01T00:00:00Z–2026-03-20T12:00:00Z
Dataset Producer
Earth Engine Snippet
ee.ImageCollection("NOAA/CFSV2/FOR6H_HARMONIZED")
Cadence
6 Hours
Tags
climate daylight flux forecast geophysical ncep noaa nws precipitation radiation snow temperature vapor water weather

Description

The National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Climate Forecast System (CFS) is a fully coupled model representing the interaction between the Earth's atmosphere, oceans, land, and sea ice. CFS was developed at the Environmental Modeling Center (EMC) at NCEP. The operational CFS was upgraded to version 2 (CFSv2) on March 30, 2011.

Forecasts are initialized four times per day (0000, 0600, 1200, and 1800 UTC). This is the same model that was used to create the NCEP Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR), and the purpose of the CFSv2 dataset is to extend CFSR. We ingest only a subset of bands from files matching cdas1.t??z.sfluxgrbf06.grib2.

For more information about CFS, please see the CFS NOAA site.

This dataset harmonizes all temperature bands to Kelvin.

Bands

Bands

Pixel size: 22264 meters (all bands)

Name Units Min Max Pixel Size Description
Downward_Long-Wave_Radp_Flux_surface_6_Hour_Average W/m^2 41.76* 532.67* 22264 meters

Downward long-wave radiation flux at surface, 6-hour average
Downward_Short-Wave_Radiation_Flux_surface_6_Hour_Average W/m^2 0* 1125.23* 22264 meters

Downward short-wave radiation flux at surface, 6-hour average
Geopotential_height_surface gpm -292* 5938.65* 22264 meters

Geopotential height at surface
Latent_heat_net_flux_surface_6_Hour_Average W/m^2 -628* 2357* 22264 meters

Latent heat net flux at surface, 6-hour average
Maximum_specific_humidity_at_2m_height_above_ground_6_Hour_Interval Mass fraction 0* 0.1* 22264 meters

Maximum specific humidity 2m above ground, 6-hour interval
Maximum_temperature_height_above_ground_6_Hour_Interval K 189.8* 334.89* 22264 meters

Maximum temperature 2m above ground, 6-hour interval
Minimum_specific_humidity_at_2m_height_above_ground_6_Hour_Interval Mass fraction 0* 0.02* 22264 meters

Minimum specific humidity 2m above ground, 6-hour interval
Minimum_temperature_height_above_ground_6_Hour_Interval K 188.39* 324.39* 22264 meters

Minimum temperature 2m above ground, 6-hour interval
Potential_Evaporation_Rate_surface_6_Hour_Average W/m^2 -202* 6277* 22264 meters

Potential evaporation rate at surface, 6-hour average
Precipitation_rate_surface_6_Hour_Average kg/m^2/s 0* 0.03* 22264 meters

Precipitation rate at surface, 6-hour average
Pressure_surface Pa 47200* 109180* 22264 meters

Pressure at surface
Sensible_heat_net_flux_surface_6_Hour_Average W/m^2 -2295* 3112* 22264 meters

Sensible heat net flux at surface, 6-hour average
Specific_humidity_height_above_ground Mass fraction 0* 0.06* 22264 meters

Specific humidity 2m above ground
Temperature_height_above_ground K 188.96* 328.68* 22264 meters

Temperature 2m above ground
u-component_of_wind_height_above_ground m/s -57.2* 57.99* 22264 meters

U-component of wind 10m above ground
Upward_Long-Wave_Radp_Flux_surface_6_Hour_Average W/m^2 59* 757* 22264 meters

Upward long-wave radiation flux at surface, 6-hour average
Upward_Short-Wave_Radiation_Flux_surface_6_Hour_Average W/m^2 0* 812* 22264 meters

Upward short-wave radiation flux at surface, 6-hour average
v-component_of_wind_height_above_ground m/s -53.09* 57.11* 22264 meters

V-component of wind 10m above ground
Volumetric_Soil_Moisture_Content_depth_below_surface_layer_5_cm Fraction 0.02* 1* 22264 meters

Volumetric soil moisture content 5cm below surface layer
Volumetric_Soil_Moisture_Content_depth_below_surface_layer_25_cm Fraction 0.02* 1* 22264 meters

Volumetric soil moisture content 25cm below surface layer
Volumetric_Soil_Moisture_Content_depth_below_surface_layer_70_cm Fraction 0.02* 1* 22264 meters

Volumetric soil moisture content 70cm below surface layer
Volumetric_Soil_Moisture_Content_depth_below_surface_layer_150_cm Fraction 0.02* 1* 22264 meters

Volumetric soil moisture content 150cm below surface layer
* estimated min or max value

Image Properties

Image Properties

Name Type Description
end_hour DOUBLE

End hour
start_hour DOUBLE

Start hour

Terms of Use

Terms of Use

NOAA data, information, and products, regardless of the method of delivery, are not subject to copyright and carry no restrictions on their subsequent use by the public. Once obtained, they may be put to any lawful use. The forgoing data is in the public domain and is being provided without restriction on use and distribution. For more information visit the NWS disclaimer site.

Citations

Citations:

  • Saha, S., et al. 2011, updated daily. NCEP Climate Forecast System Version 2 (CFSv2) 6-hourly Products. Research Data Archive at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Computational and Information Systems Laboratory. https://doi.org/10.5065/D61C1TXF. Accessed dd mmm yyyy.

DOIs

Explore with Earth Engine

Code Editor (JavaScript)

var dataset = ee.ImageCollection('NOAA/CFSV2/FOR6H_HARMONIZED')
                  .filter(ee.Filter.date('2018-03-01', '2018-03-14'));
var temperatureAboveGround = dataset.select('Temperature_height_above_ground');
var visParams = {
  min: 220.0,
  max: 310.0,
  palette: ['blue', 'purple', 'cyan', 'green', 'yellow', 'red'],
};
Map.setCenter(-88.6, 26.4, 1);
Map.addLayer(temperatureAboveGround, visParams, 'Temperature Above Ground');
Open in Code Editor
The National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Climate Forecast System (CFS) is a fully coupled model representing the interaction between the Earth's atmosphere, oceans, land, and sea ice. CFS was developed at the Environmental Modeling Center (EMC) at NCEP. The operational CFS was upgraded to version 2 (CFSv2) on March …
NOAA/CFSV2/FOR6H_HARMONIZED, climate,daylight,flux,forecast,geophysical,ncep,noaa,nws,precipitation,radiation,snow,temperature,vapor,water,weather
1979-01-01T00:00:00Z/2026-03-20T12:00:00Z
-90 -180 90 180
Google Earth Engine