The Developmental Testbed Center (DTC) is pleased to announce the Common Community Physics Package (CCPP) Single-Column Model (SCM) v8.0.0 public release on October 29, 2026. This release updates the CCPP Framework with a new-generation script to auto-generate software caps. The updated Framework has been integrated into the CCPP SCM and the Unified Forecast System (UFS) used by NOAA. Through the efforts of the Navy Research Laboratory, it has also been integrated into the Navy Environmental Prediction sysTem Utilizing a Nonhydrostatic Engine (NEPTUNE) model. Additional information on the CCPP SCM and access to the code can be found here.
The CCPP SCM includes the following updates:
- CCPP Framework new capabilities:
- Flipping of arrays, e.g. for cases in which the physics is oriented bottom to top and the host model top to bottom.
- Kind transformations e.g., double to single precision, creating flexibility in connections between host and physics.
- Superior memory management: suite-owned variables do not need to be allocated by the host model.
- Introspection. Capgen provides a data file containing all necessary scheme and host files, required dependencies, and all variable lists needed by host-model. This can be used directly by the build-system, or for debugging purposes.
- Integer state machine. Allows physics working precision to be build-time configurable. Currently this is hardcoded and included as part of the CCPP Physics library.
- Registered scalar-index dimensions for threading and ensembles. This allows for host configurability for multi-threaded and multi-instance implementations.
- Write-if-changed build integration. Facilitates quicker model build time and debugging.
- Enhanced error-checking: a Fortran-vs-metadata validator tool identifies inconsistencies and prompts the developer to address it at build-time.
- Handling of constituents array for the flexible management of atmospheric tracers (like moisture, aerosols, or chemical species).
- Ease of code inspection, since the code does not involve a static driver with conditional statements.
- Improved computational performance.
- CCPP Physics:
- Newer code base for the parameterizations and suites supported in CCPP v7
- CCPP SCM:
- SCM code cleanup: Removed unsupported code and eliminated nonfunctional or unimplemented components.
- New SCM Case: Atlantic Tradewind Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Interaction Campaign (ATOMIC) for January/February 2020 marine shallow convection. The ATOMIC test case consists of seven 33-hour periods.
- SCM run_scm.py script has new `--ls, --list` option to list runnable cases and suites for the current build and list their data dependencies
- Updated technical documentation
For access to the SCM and CCPP code and documentation, please visit the CCPP website at https://dtcenter.org/ccpp, where you will find a Users’ Guide, a list of known issues, frequently-asked questions, technical documentation, and scientific documentation. For information about the UFS please visit https://ufs.epic.noaa.gov/.
For questions or comments about the CCPP and the SCM, please use our Github discussions at https://github.com/NCAR/ccpp-physics/discussions. When using CCPP with the UFS, you can also direct your questions to the UFS Github discussions.
We would like to acknowledge the scientific community for their valuable contributions, which informed several of the improvements in this release. In particular, we would like to acknowledge those that contributed to the new CCPP Framework updates: Dom Heinzeller, Courtney Peverley, Steve Goldhaber, Dustin Swales
DTC CCPP team (Ligia Bernardet, Lulin Xue, Dustin Swales, Grant Firl, Man Zhang, Mike Kavulich, Weiwei Li, Soren Rasmussen, Tracy Hertneky, Samuel Trahan, Mike Ek, and Jimy Dudhia)
