Updates:

-- Hourly LDAS forcing is now available from NCEP. The precipitation product is a blend of Stage IV precipitation data and 24 hour gage precipitation data. In particular, hourly weights are derived from the Stage IV precipitation, and are then applied to the 24 hour gage precipitation data to arrive at the hourly forcing data. EDAS precipitation is used as a backup for weighting purposes only. This product is available approximately 19 hours after real-time.

-- Dag is in the midst of trying to overlay the Air Force snow product with the NOHRSC product snow product.

Decisions on LDAS issues:

-- For now, five different vegetation data sets will be considered for use in the LDAS project (All).

-- NESDIS greenness fraction and fractional vegetation coverage files and images will be posted to LDAS web site (Yun, Brian).

-- Goes radiation coverage is limited, and is not accurate for times surrounding sunrise and sunset, so EDAS must be used as backup. Data files will be flagged (i.e. -999) at points where EDAS must be used as a backup. The goal is for this backup to be in place by April 1^st (NCEP).

-- U and V wind components, rather than wind direction will be archived (NCEP).

-- With the exception of precipitation data, forcing fields will be provided over all possible regions--i.e., a mask will not be applied to the data when it is archived. When precipitation is archived, a mask will be placed over major bodies of water. Furthermore, a threshold value of .25 mm/day will be used to eliminate spurious precipitation values (NCEP).

-- An elevation correction method will be researched and reported on by the next LDAS meeting (Curtis, Dag).

-- Snow depth will be included as an LDAS forcing field--see note in "Updates" section above. Water balance issues will be debated at a later meeting (NCEP, All).

-- Data archiving issues have yet to be fully sorted out. NCEP will archive hourly LDAS forcing files, but the rest of the system still needs to be worked out (All).

-- Automatic scripts on the SGI 100 will first start the NOAA model, and then the MOSAIC model (NCEP).

-- A stream flow routing model may be applied as a post-processing step. For now, results will not be posted on the web (Dag).

-- Brian will conduct a Realtime Image Generator training session and will give an update on the status of the LDAS web site at the next LDAS meeting (NASA/GSFC).

-- Ken will discuss albedo issues at the next meeting (NCEP).

-- John will discuss the PILPS 2C connection at the next meeting (OH).

-- The next LDAS meeting will be at NCEP at 9 am on Friday, April 9^th.

Suggestions / Future Work:

-- In the future (6 months to a year or more), ETA data may be posted directly to the LDAS grid in hourly increments.

-- Catchment models, the TOPLATS model and the Common Land Model may all eventually be used in the LDAS research effort.