Supporting Mechanisms for R20 within NOAA's Unified Forecast System (UFS) (Invited Presentation)

Supporting Mechanisms for R2O within NOAA’s Unified Forecast System (UFS)

Dorothy Koch1, DaNa Carlis2, William Pryor3

Abstract

The National Weather Service (NWS) Office of Science and Technology Integration (OSTI) and the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) Office of Water and Air Quality (OWAQ) are establishing cross-office collaborative programs with the primary objective of improving the Research to Operations (R2O) transition. Key to utilizing these management initiatives were the R2O initiative which gave rise to the NWS Next Generation Global Prediction System (NGGPS) program in 2013. NGGPS established the framework for accelerating model component development (including implementation of the FV3 dynamical core), advancing physics and data assimilation, and advancing model coupling for the Global Forecast System (GFS). NGGPS has provided the foundation for the Unified Forecast System (UFS), a community-based, coupled Earth modeling system which has emerged as NOAA’s primary modeling vehicle for R2O. While historically OAR has contributed various research developments to the systems that eventually transitioned to operations, over the past year, the two line offices are collaborating much more directly to support the UFS. A key vehicle for this has been the UFS Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP), which includes an outline of priorities and developmental roadmaps for the GFS/UFS. Both line offices have contributed to supporting SIP-related projects.

During the next year, NWS-OSTI and OAR-OWAQ will establish more direct collaborative programmatic alliances for the UFS, including support from both the new EPIC program (OAR) together with NGGPS (OSTI). The collaboration will enable the UFS to extend its reach both to research innovations on the one hand, and to the forecast requirements on the other. The UFS, with EPIC resources, is expected to provide a single infrastructure that will enable the research community to work with an essentially identical modeling system as used by NWS operations. The UFS project will focus on the highest priority forecast requirements and provide these to a broad research community.

The presentation will focus on the successes and challenges for the UFS and cross-office collaborations. It will also cover many of the related projects and programs within NOAA and partner agencies and communities, and a vision for how to more closely integrate those into the UFS.

1 NOAA, National Weather Service, Office of Science and Technology Integration

2 NOAA, Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, Office of Water and Air Quality

3 Science and Technology Corporation, Silver Spring, MD