Physics Interoperability as a Strategy for Advancing NOAA’s Unified Forecast System Physics Suites

The Common Community Physics Package (CCPP) is a library of physical parameterizations (CCPP-Physics) and associated infrastructure (CCPP-Framework) that enables its use in generic host models in a way that is agnostic of the dynamical core (dycore). The design of the CCPP-Framework encompasses many features that enable technical interoperability. Those include the absence of dycore-specific dependencies (such as grid structure), the use of clear APIs, and respect for the host model parallelization strategy. In addition, the CCPP is developed publicly and is highly portable to foster its utilization in the large community.

NOAA has invested in the CCPP as a strategy for advancing physics for its Unified Forecast System (UFS), which is a modular earth prediction system developed in a distributed manner. The CCPP-Physics contains the physical parameterizations and suites used in the operational UFS implementations, as well as developmental schemes under consideration for future implementations. Enabling experimentation with these schemes both within and outside of the UFS context gives exposure to the operational code and opens the door for generating valuable information and innovations that can translate into advancements for the operational modeling system.

The last public release of the CCPP contained four supported suites, all with full scientific documentation: the GFS operational suite, the suite used in the operational WRF-based Rapid Refresh and High-Resolution Rapid Refresh models (RAP and HRRR), and two suites that differ from the GFS by including variants for the boundary layer scheme or for the representation of microphysics and convection. The CCPP release was accompanied by a single-column model that can be used to run the physics using a variety of case studies deriving from observational field campaigns.

In this presentation we will provide a status update on the CCPP development, on its use within the UFS, and of capabilities available to the broad community.