The NOAA Environmental Modeling System at NCEP

Development of the NOAA Environmental Modeling System (NEMS) framework is ongoing at NCEP. This framework is intended to provide software superstructure and infrastructure to NCEP's operational prediction models. The first operational NEMS implementation was in October 2011 with the B-grid Nonhydrostatic Multiscale Model (NMM-B) in the North American Mesoscale (NAM) suite which includes multiple static nests. The second operational NEMS implementation was in September 2012 with the NEMS GFS Aerosol Component (NGAC) coupling the Global Spectral Model (GSM) with the NASA Goddard Chemistry Aerosol Radiation and Transport Model (GOCART) in the Global Forecast System (GFS) suite. The full NEMS/GFS system, including the Global Ensemble Forecast System (GEFS), should become operational by 2015. The NEMS/NMM-B now includes the capability for moving nests with 2-way interaction and its use for hurricane forecasting is being examined. In addition to the GSM and the NMM-B the NEMS now supports a third atmospheric prediction model which is NOAA/ESRL's Finite Element Icosahedral Model (FIM). Work is currently underway to include two ocean prediction models, specifically, the community Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) and the GFDL Modular Ocean Model (MOM5). The atmosphere and ocean models will be coupled using the National Unified Operational Prediction Capability (NUOPC) layer under the Earth System Modeling Framework (ESMF). NEMS continues to be broadened, developed and applied by NCEP and its partners.