The Weather Research & Forecasting Model
The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model is a
next-generation mesoscale numerical weather prediction system
designed to serve both atmospheric research and operational
forecasting needs. It features two dynamical cores, a data assimilation
system, and a software architecture allowing for
parallel computation and system extensibility. The model serves a
wide range of meteorological applications across scales ranging
from meters to thousands of kilometers. The effort to develop WRF
began in the latter part of the 1990's and was
a collaborative partnership principally among the National Center
for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (represented by the National Centers for
Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and the (then) Forecast Systems
Laboratory (FSL)), the Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA), the Naval
Research Laboratory, the University of Oklahoma, and the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA).
WRF allows researchers the ability to produce
simulations reflecting either real data (observations, analyses)
or idealized atmospheric conditions. WRF provides operational
forecasting a flexible and computationally efficient platform,
while offering advances in physics, numerics, and
data assimilation contributed by the many research community
developers. WRF is currently in operational use at
NCEP, AFWA, and other centers.
WRF has grown to have a large worldwide community of users
(over 20,000 in over 130 countries), and workshops and
tutorials are held each year at NCAR.
There are two dynamical core versions of WRF, each with
its own web page. The Advanced Research WRF (ARW) is
supported to the community by the NCAR Mesoscale and
Microscale Meteorology Division:
http://www.mmm.ucar.edu/wrf/users. The WRF-NMM (NMM) is supported
to the community by the Developmental Testbed
Center (DTC):
http://www.dtcenter.org/wrf-nmm/users.
This site (wrf-model.org) provides general information on the
WRF model and its organization and offers links to WRF users' pages,
real-time applications, and WRF announcements.
For full, updated information on use of the modeling system, users are
encouraged to visit the WRF-ARW and WRF-NMM home pages (see above).
WRF Questions or Comments: email wrfhelp@ucar.edu
Website Questions or Comments: email Webmaster
|
