THE LIMITED AREA ANALYSIS AND FORECAST SYSTEM AND ITS OPERATIONAL APPLICATION

The limited area analysis and forecast system (LAFS) was developed and has been put into operational use at National Meteorological Center since January 1991.This system can be regarded as a branch system attached to the global assimilation and medium-range forecast system which is based on a spectral model T42L9.The main advancements as an upgrade operational system are:the use of a regional fine mesh OI analysis schem;the realization of the non-linear normal mode initialization for the regional model; the development of a 15L-spherical grid PE model (with real topography and enstrophy conservation) and its nesting forecast with the spectral model T42L9.