The Working Groups serve a fundamental role in the UFS community. They are a diverse group of subject matter experts who provide input and insight on an ongoing basis. The Working Groups also develop and maintain the UFS Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP), which is updated on an annual basis. The Working Groups collaborate closely with the UFS Steering Committee (a part of the UFS Governance) and
the NOAA Program Offices, which fund and support the UFS. The Working Groups are dynamic in that they evolve, and their membership evolves, as needs of the UFS change.
Aerosols and Atmospheric Composition
The Aerosols and Atmospheric Composition Working Group is focused on the inclusion of aerosols and the representation of the gaseous composition of the atmosphere in the UFS.
Communication and Outreach
The Communication and Outreach Working Group’s role is to enable efficient and effective communications within and outside of the
Unified Forecast System Community.
Data Assimilation
The Data Assimilation Working Group has developed plans to improve the data, the software, and the framework in the operational data assimilation system.
Dynamics and Nesting
The Dynamics and Nesting Working Group deals with the engine of the atmospheric model, the dynamical core which drives the atmospheric circulations that make up the Earth’s weather.
Ensemble Development
The objective of the Ensemble Development Working Group is to come up with ways to improve the reliability of forecasts and to better characterize their uncertainty, by combining multiple forecasts for the same time period.
Infrastructure/Software Engineering
The Infrastructure Working Group addresses several key structural components that enable the UFS Community to function at a practical and technical level.
Land
The Land Surface Models (LSM) and Hydrology Working Group is working on improving the representation of the land surface processes, including the flow of water, in the UFS.
Marine
The Marine Working Group contends with a range of modeling and forecast issues in the UFS that happen over two-thirds of the Earth’s surface, our oceans and seas.
Mesoscale and Convection-Allowing Model
The goal of the Mesoscale and Convection-Allowing Model (Meso/CAM) Working Group is to create a high-resolution (~ 3km) ensemble data assimilation and forecast system using the FV3 dynamic core within the Unified Forecast System framework.
Physics
The ultimate goal of the Physics Working Group is the development of a unified suite of atmospheric physical parameterizations that can be applied with minimal modification across convection-permitting to sub-seasonal to seasonal scales in the UFS.
Post-Processing
In operational meteorology, the term post-processing refers to one or more scientific software processes that capture the output from a numerical weather prediction (NWP) system and enhance its value in some way.
Systems Architecture
The UFS system architecture serves as the backbone of a unified modeling system, and must provide high performance, reliable technical and scientific functions for a range of different forecast products.
Verification and Validation
An evidence-based evaluation of all components of the UFS is needed to make effective decisions guiding the development of the UFS and to ensure that the new systems are better than those being replaced.
