These description is kindly provided by Jooil Kim and Bob Dattore (NCAR)

Now there exists a well-managed source of archived windfields from NCEP for use with FLEXPART. Here are the instructions:

1. Go to website: http://dss.ucar.edu/datasets/ds093.0/

2. Log in with your ucar account, or create one for free.

3. Click the "Data Access" tab -> "Internet Download" link -> "Request a Subset with Format Conversion" link. This opens up a window for choosing a customized subset of the CFSR data.

4. Choose your time period, and select "FLEXPART Model Input - 6-hour Forecasts" under the Parameter presets. When done, push the "Continue" button on the bottom of the page.

5. On the next window, look for the "Type of Product" menu and select "all available", then push the "Click Here" button to update. Doing this will give you the 0hr analysis and 1hr~6hr forecast winds. When done, push the "Submit Request" button.

6. You will receive an e-mail from UCAR when the data is ready. Follow instructions on the e-mail regarding ways to download the data.

7. Note: The 0hr analysis data (labeled "pgbhnl") do not have some of the surface variables like 2 meter temperature and 10 meter winds, and so they do not work with FLEXPART. Use the 6hr forecast files instead.

Getting the Data into FLEXPART