FV3py: A Python-Based Integration Platform for FV3 Development

The Finite-Volume Cubed Sphere Dynamical Core (FV3) is one of the leading dynamical cores for global weather and climate models in the United States. It has extensive applications ranging from the basic 2D shallow water idealized environment to the short-term weather forecast to long-term climate simulations. As a result, developing or extending the capability of FV3 requires a comprehensive set of testing validation processes. We present the FV3py, which is a Python based integration Platform containing a suite of software development tools for developing FV3 runtime environment, validation script generation, regridding/post-processing and plotting. Due to the wide range of variations during the testing/validating processes, the FV3py uses the object-oriented design, and following the Model-View-Control software architectural pattern for the maximum portability of the code.