Overview

From 1980-2019, NCEP ran a global spectral model in the various production slots allocated for it. Its evolution in the NCEP Production Suite can be tracked in the table below, and documentation on the GFS spectral model can be found here.

In 2017, the Finite Volume Cubed Sphere (FV3) dynamical core, developed at NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, was selected for the new Unified Forecast System (UFS) atmospheric model for both global and regional scales. At NCEP, the FV3 dynamical core implementation included incorporating FV3 into NEMS, and developing advanced physics and data assimilation techniques to match or exceed the skill of spectral model-based Global Forecast System (GFS). In addition, NOAA/NWS is working with federal partners, universities, and the community to create a fully accessible FV3-based community model, see the UFS Community page and the UFS Weather Model page on GitHub.

The first implementation of the UFS Atmospheric model in NCEP occurred on June 12th 2019 with the deployment of GFS Version 15 in the NCEP Production Suite (NPS). The major component of this implementation was to replace the Global Spectral Model in the GFS with the FV3 dynamical core. The operational GFS version 15 runs the same physics as the previous GFS, except that the Zhao-Carr microphysics was replaced with the more advanced GFDL microphysics scheme. More details on the 2019 implementation of the GFS version 15 can be found in the NWS Service Change Notice for this change, on EMC's GFS page on the NWS Vlab site, or at the "Recent GFS Implementation details" link above. Comprehensive information on the official evaluation of GFS v15 is available at the EMC GFS V15 Model Evaluation Group’s (MEG) web site....

On March 22th, 2021, NCEP implemented GFS version 16. In addition to the numerous model and data assimilation changes that are described in the NWS Service Change Notice, with this upgrade, NCEP is merging the operational standalone global deterministic WAVEWATCH III based wave model Multi_1 into the GFS system. An updated version of the WAVEWATCH III model has been coupled to the GFS using a one-way coupling scheme in which the atmospheric model provides forcing to the wave model using the NOAA Environmental Modeling System (NEMS). Additional information can be found on the EMC Model Evaluation Group’s GFS v16 website, which includes numerous links to presentations showing details on GFS v16 model/assimilation changes and performance evaluations.

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The following table shows the evolution of NCEP global model since 1980, also see https://www.emc.ncep.noaa.gov/gmb/STATS/html/model_changes.html