Received: 29 Apr 2017 – Discussion started: 07 Jul 2017 – Revised: 08 Nov 2017 – Accepted: 10 Nov 2017 – Published: 18 Jan 2018
Abstract. The ALADIN System is a numerical weather prediction (NWP) system developed by the international ALADIN consortium for operational weather forecasting and research purposes. It is based on a code that is shared with the global model IFS of the ECMWF and the ARPEGE model of Météo-France. Today, this system can be used to provide a multitude of high-resolution limited-area model (LAM) configurations. A few configurations are thoroughly validated and prepared to be used for the operational weather forecasting in the 16 partner institutes of this consortium. These configurations are called the ALADIN canonical model configurations (CMCs). There are currently three CMCs: the ALADIN baseline CMC, the AROME CMC and the ALARO CMC. Other configurations are possible for research, such as process studies and climate simulations.
The purpose of this paper is (i) to define the ALADIN System in relation to the global counterparts IFS and ARPEGE, (ii) to explain the notion of the CMCs, (iii) to document their most recent versions, and (iv) to illustrate the process of the validation and the porting of these configurations to the operational forecast suites of the partner institutes of the ALADIN consortium.
This paper is restricted to the forecast model only; data assimilation techniques and postprocessing techniques are part of the ALADIN System but they are not discussed here.
This paper describes the ALADIN System that has been developed by the international ALADIN consortium of 16 European and northern African partners since its creation in 1990. The paper also describes how its model configurations are used by the consortium partners for their operational weather forecasting applications and for weather and climate research.
This paper describes the ALADIN System that has been developed by the international ALADIN...
