The model spectral resolution was increased from T213 to TL319 (improved orography, reduced diffusion, but Gaussian grid unchanged). The other modifications introduced on this occasion were:
A new 2-time level semi-Lagrangian numerical scheme: this made possible the use of a Linear Gaussian Grid reflected by the TL notation already introduced for the EPS configuration in Dec. 1996;
Use of a new 2'30" orography reference dataset; as a result, some large errors over Antartica have been corrected and spurious noise in other areas suppressed;