The forecasting chain is based on the 00 UTC, GFS forecasts at 0.5 degree resolution. The chain comprises the hydrostatic model BOLAM, which is driven directly by the global model, and the non-hydrostatic model MOLOCH (horizontal resolution 0.02 degrees), which is nested in cascade using a 1-way nesting procedure. BOLAM run starts at 00 UTC, MOLOCH is nested at 09 UTC. MOLOCH domain is smaller than official DPHASE domain. A 39-h MOLOCH forecast is provided daily. Only a sub-set of TIGGE list is provided (see DS). More information available here: http://www.isac.cnr.it/~dinamica/ Grid description: lat-lon Arakawa C grid. Rotated equidistant grid. DDOM: xfirst: -2.69 yfirst: -1.84 xsize: 340.0 ysize: 290.0 xinc: 0.02 yinc: 0.02 xnpole: -171.0 ynpole: 44.7

The horizontal grid spacing for MESONH is here 2 km. The domain size is 192 x 180 gridpoints covering the COPS area. The vertical grid has 50 levels up to 20 km with a grid length varying from 60 m close to the surface to 600 m at high altitude. The model was integrated forward for 30 hours every day starting from 00 UTC ECMWF analysis and keeping outputs every 15 minutes. More information is available at http://mesonh.aero.obs-mip.fr/mesonh/cops/ Grid description: CDOM: xfirst: 6.0 yfirst: 47.0 xsize: 251.0 ysize: 151.0 xinc: 0.02 yinc: 0.02 xnpole: 0.0 ynpole: 0.0

The model is the very-high resolution operational implementation of COSMO model used by the Italian Met Service. The geographic area where the model is being run covers the entire italian pensinsula and major islands. The horizontal resolution is 2.8 km (0.025deg) with 50 vertical levels. The model is routinely run on the ECMWF computing resources once a day at 00Z with hourly output. The boundary conditions (BC) are interpolated from COSMO-ME forecast fields with 1 hour frequency update. Grid description: CDOM: xfirst: -2.6 yfirst: -10.65 xsize: 139.0 ysize: 110.0 xinc: 0.025 yinc: 0.025 xnpole: -170.0 ynpole: 32.5 DDOM: xfirst: -5.0 yfirst: -14.3 xsize: 449.0 ysize: 256.0 xinc: 0.025 yinc: 0.025 xnpole: -170.0 ynpole: 32.5

The horizontal grid spacing is here 8 km. The domain size is 160 x 108 gridpoints covering the MAP D-PHASE domain. The vertical grid has 50 levels up to 20 km with a grid length varying from 60 m close to the surface to 600 m at high altitude. The model was integrated forward for 30 hours every day starting from 00 UTC ECMWF analysis and keeping outputs every 1 hour. More information is available at http://mesonh.aero.obs-mip.fr/mesonh/cops/ Grid description: DDOM: xfirst: 2.0 yfirst: 43.0 xsize: 201.0 ysize: 88.0 xinc: 0.08 yinc: 0.08 xnpole: 0.0 ynpole: 0.0

- operational model of MeteoSwiss - configuration: Leap frog time integration; Tiedtke convection scheme with moisture convergence closure; two layer soil module (likely to be changed during DOP); prognostic TKE, qr and qs; no graupel scheme - forecast range 72h starting at 00UTC and 12UTC. Missing time steps are filled with dummy text files. Grid description: DDOM: xfirst: -6.1875 yfirst: -14.625 xsize: 201.0 ysize: 121.0 xinc:0.0625 yinc: 0.0625 xnpole: -170.0 ynpole: 32.5

- preoperational model (planned to become operational in 2008) - configuration: Runge Kutta time integration scheme (dt=20sek); multi layer soil module; no parameterized deep convection; 60 levels; prognostic TKE, rain, snow and graupel - model runs are started at 00UTC 03UTC 09UTC 12UTc and 18UTC. Forecast range is 24h, except 09 and 18 run ranging upt to 30h. To complete the timeseries, dummy text files have been generated for 06UTC, 15UTC, 21UTC. Missing time steps are filled with dummy text files as well. Note: From 12th of July 2007 on, +24h forecasts are produced for 06, 15 and 21 UTC as well. Grid description: CDOM: xfirst: -2.76 yfirst: -0.02 xsize: 174.0 ysize: 141.0 xinc: 0.02 yinc: 0.02 xnpole: -170.0 ynpole: 43.0 DDOM: xfirst: -5.5 yfirst: -3.8 xsize: 500.0 ysize: 330.0 xinc: 0.02 yinc: 0.02 xnpole: -170.0 ynpole: 43.0

The forecasting chain is based on the 18 UTC, ECMWF forecasts at 0.25 degree resolution. The chain comprises the hydrostatic model BOLAM, which is driven directly by the global model, and the non-hydrostatic model MOLOCH (horizontal resolution 0.02 degrees), which is nested in cascade using a 1-way nesting procedure. BOLAM run starts at 18 UTC, MOLOCH is nested at 00 UTC. MOLOCH domain is smaller than official DPHASE domain. A 48-h MOLOCH forecast is provided daily. Only a sub-set of TIGGE list is provided (see DS). More information available here: http://www.isac.cnr.it/~dinamica/ Grid description: lat-lon Arakawa C grid. Rotated equidistant grid. DDOM: xfirst: -3.5 yfirst: -14.0 xsize: 330.0 ysize: 290.0 xinc: 0.021 yinc: 0.02 xnpole: -170.0 ynpole: 32.5

Model system ALADIN, 18km horizontal resolution, 37 levels in vertical, LOPEZ microphysics etc. Ensemble system with 16 members. 2 runs per day at 00, 12 UTC, Initial perturbation: Downscaling of ECMWF Singular vector perturbation Lateral boundary perturbation: Coupling with the ECMWF EPS system Domain of products: Latitude: 38.53---54.98, 0.15 deg grid space, 110 grids; Longitude: 2.55---31.8, 0.15 deg. grid space, 196 grids Every 3 hours, from 0 to 48 hours forecast. Grid description: quadratic grid, it is the Lambert Projection DDOM: xfirst: 2.55 yfirst: 42.95 xsize: 105.0 ysize: 49.0 xinc: 0.15 yinc: 0.15 xnpole: 0.0 ynpole: 0.0

72h forecast with MM5 V3.7 using - 60km x 60km resolution - 55 x 45 Grids - NOAA GFS input - Noah land-surface scheme - MRF PBL - Grell cumulus scheme - Graupel (Reisner2) explicit moisture scheme - Cloud for atmospheric radiation Grid description: DDOM: xfirst: -6.769222 yfirst: 34.404968 xsize: 55.0 ysize: 45.0 xinc: 0.2 yinc: 0.54 xnpole: 0.0 ynpole: 0.0

Forecast data are modelled by a 30-km parallel version of the hydrostatic BOlogna Limited Area Model (BOLAM) operational at the National Agency for Environmental Protection and Technical Services (APAT) at Rome (Italy). This version, referred as 30-km QBOLAM model, is the driving model of the 11-km QBOLAM model which is described in the dphase_qbolam11 experiment. For DPHASE project, forecast data are provided over a subdomain (refered as DDOM) of the original domain (which covers the entire Mediterranean Basin). Not all the meteorological fields selected for the experiment are provided, since some of these are not produced by the QBOLAM model. Initial and boundary conditions for a 60-h QBOLAM33 forecast are derived from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts analysis and forecast issued at 1200 UTC on the previous day. Grid description: Please note that the westermost longitude and the southermost latitude points refer to the sub-domain chosen for MAP DPHASE. The QBOLAM original domain covers the Mediterranean Basin. DDOM: xfirst: -10.2 yfirst: 4.2 xsize: 54.0 ysize: 40.0 xinc: 0.3 yinc: 0.3 xnpole: -167.5 ynpole: 51.5