Great Lakes Observing & Forecasting Systems

Overview and Objectives

Atmospheric models are composed of multiple components that are connected together yielding a complex system. The upper-level components of the atmospheric model are the dynamical core, which solves the governing fluid and thermodynamic equations on resolved scales, and the physical parameterizations, which represent sub-grid scale processes and other processes not included in the dynamical core such as radiative transfer. These upper-level components can be composed of several subcomponents (e.g., cloud macro and microphysics, tracer transport etc.) communicating with each other through couplers and mediators. The choice of the dycore has profound influence on the architecture and performance of the model as a whole. The objective of this project is to contribute to a knowledge-based testing, evaluation, and analysis process for the selection of the dycore for NOAA’s Next Generation Global Prediction System (NGGPS).