NWS Office of Science and Technology Integration: Unified Forecast System | NOAA NWS NWSPO 2022 2007072

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1) What agency is offering this grant opportunity?

This discretionary grant opportunity was offered by the U.S. Department of Commerce through NOAA's National Weather Service (NWS), specifically the Office of Science and Technology Integration (OSTI) Modeling Program Division.

2) What is the main purpose of this funding opportunity?

The goal is to fund research that directly supports development of the Unified Forecast System (UFS), with an emphasis on capabilities that are mature enough to move toward operational use at NOAA.

3) What is the Unified Forecast System (UFS)?

The UFS is NOAA's community-based, fully coupled numerical modeling framework designed to improve operational forecast guidance across many applications. It spans local to global domains and time scales from sub-hourly prediction out to subseasonal-to-seasonal (S2S) forecasting.

4) What does "fully coupled" mean in the context of the UFS?

In this solicitation, fully coupled refers to modeling interactions across components such as the atmosphere, ocean, waves, sea ice, land, and atmospheric composition, with the intent of improving forecast performance across a range of time scales and hazards.

5) What type of award mechanism is used?

Funding was structured as cooperative agreements, meaning NOAA expected substantial involvement during the period of performance rather than a hands-off relationship.

6) Approximately how many awards were anticipated?

The announcement anticipated roughly 15 awards.

7) What is the maximum award size (award ceiling)?

The award ceiling was $300,000.

8) How much total funding was expected to be available initially?

About $3,000,000 was available in the first year to support multi-year projects.

9) How long could projects last?

Projects were expected to be multi-year, lasting two or three years.

10) What is the CFDA number for this opportunity?

The opportunity fell under CFDA 11.468.

11) What general topic area does this funding fall under?

It was categorized as research and development spanning environment, science and technology, and related areas.

12) Who was eligible to apply?

Eligible applicants included state governments, public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, and federally recognized tribal governments and tribal organizations.

13) What were the main competitions or tracks within the solicitation?

The solicitation was organized around three related competitions aligned to major NOAA modeling priorities within the UFS: (1) Next Generation Global Prediction System (NGGPS), (2) Weeks 3-4 and broader subseasonal-to-seasonal (S2S), and (3) Hurricane Forecast Improvement Program (HFIP).

14) What is the NGGPS competition focused on?

NGGPS focuses on advancing NOAA's operational global weather prediction capability within the UFS framework.

15) What kinds of activities were described as relevant to the NGGPS track?

Examples included strengthening coupled model interactions across Earth-system components; improving data assimilation methods; advancing physical parameterizations; improving ensemble prediction approaches; building or refining post-processing tools and forecast products; and improving software architecture, computational performance, and system engineering to make the system faster, more robust, and easier to evolve.

16) What is the Weeks 3-4 / S2S competition focused on?

This competition emphasized extending the UFS forecast horizon from roughly medium-range prediction into weeks-to-seasonal time scales using a coupled modeling approach, including development of coupled data assimilation.

17) What evaluation expectations were highlighted for the Weeks 3-4 / S2S track?

The notice highlighted strong evaluation and diagnostics, stating that projects were expected to develop and apply metrics for validation and verification, along with process-level diagnostics to identify why the system performs well or poorly and where improvements would have the biggest payoff.

18) What is the HFIP competition focused on?

The HFIP competition targeted research to improve operational tropical cyclone forecasting, explicitly motivated by societal benefits such as supporting life-saving decision-making and reducing economic disruption.

19) What kinds of hurricane forecast improvements were expected under HFIP?

Projects were expected to contribute to measurable improvements in hurricane track, intensity, and related hazards through advances consistent with the UFS framework and operational needs.

20) What does the solicitation mean by "transition toward operations"?

The solicitation emphasized moving mature capabilities toward operational use within NOAA, underscoring project maturity through readiness levels referenced in the funding announcement.

21) Was project maturity or readiness explicitly emphasized?

Yes. A central idea was funding research positioned to transition into operations, with the notice emphasizing maturity via readiness levels referenced in the announcement.

22) When was the opportunity created?

Administratively, the opportunity was created on November 8, 2021.

23) What was the original application deadline?

The original application deadline was February 7, 2022.

24) What is the overall intended impact of the funded research?

The overall intent was to accelerate the UFS as a unified, coupled, community modeling system and strengthen forecast skill across time scales, from short-fused weather events through longer-range subseasonal and seasonal outlooks, including high-impact hazards like hurricanes.

25) Does this opportunity cover both weather and longer-range climate-related time scales?

Yes. The UFS scope described in the notice ranges from sub-hourly prediction to subseasonal-to-seasonal (S2S) forecasting, and the solicitation included a dedicated competition focused on Weeks 3-4 and broader S2S goals.

26) Are software and computational performance improvements considered in scope?

Yes. The NGGPS-related description explicitly included enhancing software architecture, computational performance, and overall system engineering to make the modeling system faster, more robust, and easier to evolve.

27) Are data assimilation improvements considered in scope?

Yes. The notice cited improving data assimilation methods under NGGPS, and it also highlighted coupled data assimilation development under the Weeks 3-4 / S2S competition.

28) Are evaluation, validation, and verification specifically called out?

Yes. The Weeks 3-4 / S2S track specifically emphasized validation and verification metrics and process-level diagnostics as expected elements of proposed work.