Innovations associated with physical parameterizations is an active area of development directed at improving the performance of Earth System Models (ESMs), both in terms of improving accuracy and characterizing inherent uncertainties. The Common Community Physics Package (CCPP) and its companion Single-Column Model (SCM) provide a framework for accelerating the testing and evaluation of these innovations across various modeling systems.
The DTC is supporting the development of physics within NOAA’s Unified Forecast System (UFS) by conducting process-level testing and evaluation directed at two objectives: 1) to facilitate unification of physics parameterizations across different applications and scales and 2) to support the transition of physics innovations and improvements into operational use. Collaborating closely with UFS physics developers, DTC staff assess key physical processes, model physics interactions, and evaluate performance against benchmarks using the CCPP SCM and various UFS configurations.
From 2021 to 2025, the DTC contributed to the international World Meteorological Organization (WMO) World Weather Research Programme (WWRP) Model Uncertainty - Model Intercomparison Project (MU-MIP), which is a coordinated intercomparison of random model error with over ten participating institutions. The DTC contributions were directed at improving physics suites used by the UFS. The project applied an objective method that uses data from high-resolution simulations to inform model development. Lower-resolution data generated by computing spatiotemporal averages from the high-resolution simulations (“coarse-graining”) was used to force SCM simulations, which focus on the response of the physical parameterizations. Differences between the coarse-grained data and these SCM simulations can be used to inform the development of both deterministic and stochastic physics schemes used in the UFS.
To support physics development for NSF NCAR’s community models, the DTC leveraged the CCPP SCM capabilities to test the implementation of the Model for Prediction Across Scales (MPAS) mesoscale_reference physics suite from the MMM shared physics repository within the CCPP Framework. CCPP SCM testing associated with NSF NCAR community models also included feasibility testing for connecting the GFS physics in the CCPP Physics repository to the MMM models that do not employ the CCPP Framework.
