NCEP Modeling Synergy Meeting Highlights: May 5, 2008

This meeting was led by Bill Bua and attended by Joey Carr (NCO), Keith Brill, Eric Rogers, Ed Danaher, Shrivinas Moorthy (GWCMB). Stephen Jascourt of UCAR/COMET and Steve Silberberg attended by remote teleconference.

1. NCO

Joey Carr reported that the GFS upgrade has been delayed from 13 May 2008 to 27 May 2008. See previous notes for discussion of specifics on those changes. Other implementations are scheduled for June and are currently on time, including the Wave Ensemble (upgraded to the new WW3 multi-scale model) and the Hurricane WRF (HWRF), which is waiting on the new GFS.

There was a facility-related power outage at Fairmont, WV which adversely affected on Sunday, 27 April. Operational runs completed in spite of this; there were problems with copying over files to the appropriate location for use. If any office wishes to get the missing data, a request should be put in with the NCO helpdesk.

2. NOTES FROM EMC

2a. Global Climate and Weather Modeling Branch

Shrivinas Moorthy reported that post-processed output changes are going to be made in Fall 2008 and handed out a table of them. These included:

· Adding sunshine duration, wilting point and field capacity, precipitation rate, visibility, wind gusts, 2-m dewpoint (currently calculated with AWIPS and the 2-m specific humidity), sundry other surface fields to support and BUFR soundings for Alaska and UPS

· Adding, in support of the Goddard Chemistry Aerosol Radiation and Transport (GOCART) model: 2-m temperature, friction velocity, PBL height, 10-m winds, surface roughness, upward max flux, detrainment mass flux, rain production rate, vertical diffusion diffusivity, and layer total cloud fraction

· Changing the freezing level for AWC to start searching with the 2-m temperature, among other changes.

The GFS code is being rewritten to conform to the new Earth System Modeling Framework (ESMF). Another minor GFS upgrade is planned for the fall, largely to allow for the assimilation of new data types.

2b. Mesoscale Modeling Branch

Eric Rogers reported on several issues related to MMB:

A crisis implementation was made on 22 April 2008 to fix the NDAS so that it would incorporate AIRES data. No other changes are expected to the WRF-NMM until at least Q4 of FY2008 or Q1 of FY2009, though experiments are being run to examine potential implementation elements. Changes will probably tend to related to analysis and data assimilation, including new data sources.

2c. Global Ensemble Prediction System

None.

2d. Short Range Ensemble Forecast System

None.

2e. Marine Modeling and Analysis Branch

None.

3. FEEDBACK FROM OPERATIONAL CENTERS/REGIONS

Aviation Weather Center (AWC)

Steve Silberberg reminded the group about a change requested regarding the determination of freezing level by starting with the 2-m temperature rather than artificial pressure surfaces that exist below the model surface. This item actually appears on the post-processing changes list for the GFS.

A problem with high 2-m dewpoints in the GFS, related to high surface evaporation rates when the GFS boundary layer is decoupling, was brought up by Stephen Jascourt. This will be brought to Mark Iredell’s attention.

4. The next Synergy Meeting will be held Monday, June 2, 2008, at 12:00 pm EST in Room 209 at EMC, with remote conference capability.