<p>We all know that ERA5 is a reanalysis product based on a frozen version of IFS, so the results coming from both models are kind of comparable because they at least use a similar setup in the dynamical core and physics parametrizations.</p>
<p>However, I cannot find the analogue of ERA5 for GFS. The only products that I found are the operational analysis of GFS (but this is NOT a reanalysis) and the CFSR reanalysis, which is instead based on CFS, so the climate fully-coupled version of GFS at lower resolution.</p>
<p>While I believe CFSR is the closest we can get, it is not exactly the same thing because it uses a completely different model and is not updated.</p>
<p>As I'm not using GFS products often I may just be confused by their architecture. So...is there or not an ERA5 counterpart for GFS?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-01-18T08:04:54.243Z
[MERRA-2](https://gmao.gsfc.nasa.gov/reanalysis/MERRA-2/)?  NB: ERA-5 is usually the best reanalysis out there, so use it unless you have a strong reason to prefer an alternative.
gerrit
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-01-18T08:09:36.253Z
@gerrit I know, I'd never use GFS products, and that's the reason why I'm asking  I remember seeing MERRA but I never understood where it stands in the NOAA/NCEP products lineup, however it is also NOT based on the same GFS physics/dynamics core right?
Droid
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-01-18T08:24:22.147Z
I'm not sure, hence it's a comment with a question mark and not an answer.
gerrit
<gfs>
What is the ERA5 counterpart for GFS?
Droid
# What is the ERA5 counterpart for GFS?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-01-17)

We all know that ERA5 is a reanalysis product based on a frozen version of IFS, so the results coming from both models are kind of comparable because they at least use a similar setup in the dynamical core and physics parametrizations.

However, I cannot find the analogue of ERA5 for GFS. The only products that I found are the operational analysis of GFS (but this is NOT a reanalysis) and the CFSR reanalysis, which is instead based on CFS, so the climate fully-coupled version of GFS at lower resolution.

While I believe CFSR is the closest we can get, it is not exactly the same thing because it uses a completely different model and is not updated.

As I'm not using GFS products often I may just be confused by their architecture. So...is there or not an ERA5 counterpart for GFS?

**Tags:** gfs

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: [MERRA-2](https://gmao.gsfc.nasa.gov/reanalysis/MERRA-2/)?  NB: ERA-5 is usually the best reanalysis out there, so use it unless you have a strong reason to prefer an alternative.  
> **username_0**: @username_1 I know, I'd never use GFS products, and that's the reason why I'm asking  I remember seeing MERRA but I never understood where it stands in the NOAA/NCEP products lineup, however it is also NOT based on the same GFS physics/dynamics core right?  
> **username_1**: I'm not sure, hence it's a comment with a question mark and not an answer.  

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## 0 answers

