NOAA and partners have released the source code for its next-generation short-range forecast application to the weather research community to accelerate development of the model, which predicts atmospheric behavior on a timescale from less than an hour to several days, including critical life-saving weather and water forecasts during extreme events.
From its inception as an experiment to improve forecasts for aviation, to its transition of its final update to NOAA National Weather Service operations, the Global Systems Laboratory’s pioneering High-Resolution Rapid Refresh weather model established a remarkable resume of research accomplishments.
From predicting smoke movement from massive wildfires, to investigating how marine life is responding to a quieter ocean, 2020 was a big year for NOAA science. As this unprecedented year draws to a close, we’re looking back at some of our biggest research endeavors in 2020. Here are 5 of our most-read stories from the last year.
New research on wind behavior in complex terrain, led by NOAA and the U.S. Department of Energy, will improve forecasts for wind energy firms by 15-25 percent, and improve wind forecasts for the entire country.
NOAA’s best severe-weather model just received an upgrade developed by NOAA researchers that will help the National Weather Service provide more accurate hazardous weather and aviation forecasts. Scientists are also using it to advance a wide array of future forecast tools.