Unified Verification System

Verification and validation activities are critical for success of modeling and prediction efforts at NOAA/ National Weather Service (NWS). Verification and validation tools and metrics for evaluation of model performance establish the basis for an evidence-based approach for decision making, modeling system development, and model improvement. Under the auspices of the Next Generation Global Predictions System (NGGPS) program, a unification of the verification system based on the community Model Evaluation Tools (MET+) developed at NCAR is currently ongoing. It is envisioned that this effort will expand to development of a unified verification system that will encompass a variety of spatial scales (from convective to global), temporal scales (from minutes to seasonal predictions) as well as provide a basis for evaluation of individual earth system component models (including atmosphere, atmospheric composition, land, ocean, ice and waves) and of the entire earth system model including coupling among system components and linkages with assimilation of observations. In order to enable more efficient use of operational prediction systems in research environments and more efficient transition of promising research into NWS operations, the unified verification system incorporates community input in its design and development.

In this presentation we will provide an overview of the proposed approach for the unified verification system, highlight progress achieved to date and illustrate some of the challenges towards realizing this ambitious goal.