The SURFA (Surface Flux Analysis) project is a WCRP initiative promoted by the WCRP Working Groups on Surface Fluxes, Numerical Experimentation, Observation & Assimilation Panel, Ocean Observation Panel for Climate, etc.

The driver is the recognition by both the modeling and observation communities that accurate surface processes are key in improving NWP and climate forecast skills. The SURFA objective is to institutionalize a facility for the evaluation of surface fluxes and related parameters from NWP and climate models, and the facility is equally useful for the evaluation of satellite-based fluxes and related parameters.

SURFA Datasets fall into two categories: 1) NWP/Climate Model Output; and 2) In-situ observations for model/satellite data validations/evaluations.

Currently we have NWP model output from ECMWF and German DWD. The in-situ data are from the OceanSITES reference stations.