2024 model release notes

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Release date

Release

18.12.2024

Enhanced Nowcasting for US CONUS Territory:

  • A new nowcast with a 5-minute time step and update frequency has been introduced for the US CONUS territory. The 5-minute nowcast has a lead time (forecast horizon) of 2 hours; for hours 2-4, the 10-minute nowcast is used.

16.12.2024

Enhanced Blending Scheme Functionality:

  • Regional Customization: The system now supports regionally based default blending schemes, allowing any region to have its specific default scheme.

  • US Territory Default: For the US territory, a new default blending scheme using HRRR with slight smoothing has been implemented.

  • Global Defaults Unchanged: For regions outside the US, the default blending schemes remain unchanged.

  • Delivery Methods: This enhancement applies to both WS and PUSH delivery methods, unless a custom scheme is manually pushed, which overrides the default.

11.11.2024

SNOWD and PREC higher accuracy

  • For land areas, higher resolution data from ERA5-Land is implemented. Precipitation (PREC) and snow (SNOWD) datasets will be even more accurate.

28.10.2024

SG1-EVAL harmonization v2.2.58

  • We have changed the CSV file header to simplify the metadata.

9.10.2024

Syngena v2.2.57

  • We have launched a new Syngena 1-minute generator, which provides improved variability characteristics, namely 1-min ramps with higher amplitude and frequency, compared to the previous version of the synthetic generator. This new model significantly enhances variability and delivers more realistic transitions between 1-minute values. The amplitudes, frequency, and extremes closely resemble ground measurements.

26.8.2024

SDWE ERA5Land

  • We have integrated SDWE from ERA5Land, utilizing ERA5 data in areas where the ERA5Land data is not available.

  • A new algorithm to fill residual gaps, such as small islands, coastlines, and lakes, using data from nearby valid pixels was introduced.

GOES-R/S 65N v2.2.56

  • We have extended data availability up to 65N latitude for 180W-40W longitudes (part of Alaska, Canada, Greenland), with data for the year 2018+ (GOES-R) and 2019+ (GOES-W).

  • We have recalculated data in the region 55N-60N to ensure a smooth transition, with the full history from 1999+ still available as before.

  • We have fixed small AOD issues in some GOES-W segments for the years 2015 and 2018.

1.8.2024

IODC PV plant reflection

  • We have noted that Sun reflection from the MBR power plant in UAE (located at 24.745537, 55.401016) was recorded by satellites, which caused a drop in values within the MSG model during May and September. The model has been updated to fix such records, improving data accuracy and reliability.

30.7.2024

Small fixes v2.2.55

  • Nowcast history is now available for 2021 and beyond for all regions.

  • We have fixed issues with the DIF for extreme conditions at very high altitudes.

  • Improved calculation of uncertainty at date transitions (in UTC+0), where discontinuities were identified.

16.7.2024

IOSunpos and fixes v2.2.54

  • We have integrated the sun position (PSA algorithm with new parametrization) into the data delivery processing.

  • We have fixed instability issues  of GHI and DNI that were caused by extreme aerosols in satellite model.

  • We have included PM2.5 and PM10 data for the MERRA2 period (before 2003) in manual data delivery templates.

28.5.2024

Temperature correction fix v2.2.53

  • We have fixed a bug in reading the 1 km elevation used for height correction of AP and TEMP, which had caused a 1-pixel shift.

17.5.2024

GTI shading sync v2.2.52

  • We have implemented a minor change in the GTI and shading calculation for very low sun angles to enhance accuracy.

27.3.2024

Half-hourly timezones

  • The data delivery core now supports sub-hourly time zones, e.g., UTC+5:30 (+5.5). This functionality is now available across different delivery channels.

21.3.2024

TMY 15 and 60 harmonization v2.2.51

  • We have harmonized the TMY candidate selection process for both 15-minute and 60-minute intervals, ensuring consistency and improved data quality across time frames.

8.3.2024

Improved air temperature information with ERA5 and ERA5-Land model blending

  • Solargis has developed a blended dataset by combining ERA5-Land with ERA5 to improve the accuracy of temperature data.

  • The new dataset exhibits smoother daily temperature profiles and helps mitigate the issue of missing coastal data by effectively filling the gaps in coastal pixels.

  • The blended version is accessible in long-term averages (Solargis Prospect), TMY, and time-series data (Solargis Evaluate).

  • More information about this update is in this blog article.