The Unified Forecast System (UFS) application suite requires a land model that can work at weather to climate scales. Currently, all UFS land models are implemented within the atmospheric physics interface. In future, the UFS land model capabilities will likely include both inline land models and component land models coupled through the UFS mediator. The UFS land models will be used in multiple UFS Applications, including short-range weather (SRW), medium-range weather (MRW), sub-seasonal to seasonal (S2S) and also in the other applications such as  Hurricane Modeling, Coastal Modeling and Air Quality.

In efforts to develop strategy for land modeling within UFS, the 2021 UFS Land Modeling Workshop (May 25-26, 2021) was organized and hosted by NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) Office of Science and Technology Integration (OSTI) Modeling Program Division in collaboration with NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) Weather Program Office and Climate Program Office. The main objective of the Workshop was to develop design requirements for the UFS  land model by engaging the land community across the NOAA line offices, centers and labs, NASA, DOE/PNNL, NCAR and University partners. The workshop focused on identifying priorities of UFS land model development in the next 2-5 years, including better representations of key processes for capturing land-atmosphere interactions. A report is underway documenting the key findings of the workshop discussion and developing a strategic plan to include land modeling in the UFS framework. The UFS land model development environment is expected to change drastically in the next 2-5 years by removing barriers to community engagement in the future UFS land model.