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

Opportunity Information: Apply for NOAA NWS NWSPO 2022 2007072

The Department of Commerce, through NOAA's National Weather Service (NWS) Office of Science and Technology Integration (OSTI) Modeling Program Division, offered this discretionary grant opportunity to fund research that directly supports development of the Unified Forecast System (UFS). The UFS is NOAA's community-based, fully coupled numerical modeling framework intended to improve operational forecast guidance across many applications, ranging from local to global domains and covering time scales from sub-hourly prediction out to subseasonal-to-seasonal (S2S) forecasting. A central idea in this solicitation is moving capabilities that are mature enough to transition toward operations, with the notice emphasizing project maturity via readiness levels referenced in the funding announcement.

Funding was structured as cooperative agreements, meaning NOAA expected substantial involvement during the period of performance rather than a hands-off grant. The announcement anticipated roughly 15 awards, with an award ceiling of $300,000, and about $3,000,000 available in the first year to support multi-year projects lasting two or three years. The opportunity fell under CFDA 11.468 and was categorized under research and development spanning environment, science and technology, and related areas. Eligible applicants included state governments, public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, and federally recognized tribal governments and tribal organizations.

The solicitation was organized around three related competitions, each aligned to a major NOAA modeling priority within the UFS. The first competition targeted the Next Generation Global Prediction System (NGGPS), which focuses on advancing NOAA's operational global weather prediction capability. Proposed work under NGGPS could include strengthening coupled model interactions across atmosphere, ocean, waves, sea ice, land, and atmospheric composition; improving data assimilation methods; advancing physical parameterizations; improving ensemble prediction approaches; building or refining post-processing tools and forecast products; and enhancing software architecture, computational performance, and overall system engineering so the modeling system is faster, more robust, and easier to evolve.

The second competition addressed the Weeks 3-4 and broader subseasonal-to-seasonal (S2S) program goals. Here, the emphasis was on extending the UFS forecast horizon from the roughly medium-range regime into weeks-to-seasonal time scales using a coupled modeling approach, including development of coupled data assimilation. This track also highlighted the need for strong evaluation and diagnostics: projects were expected to develop and apply metrics for validation and verification, along with process-level diagnostics that help identify why the system is performing well or poorly and where scientific improvements will have the biggest payoff.

The third competition was tied to the Hurricane Forecast Improvement Program (HFIP), aimed at research that improves operational tropical cyclone forecasting. The motivation is explicitly societal: better tropical cyclone forecasts support life-saving decision-making and help reduce economic disruption. Projects in this area would be expected to contribute to measurable improvements in hurricane track, intensity, and related hazards through advances consistent with the UFS framework and its operational needs.

Administratively, the opportunity was created on November 8, 2021, with an original application deadline of February 7, 2022. Overall, the grant call sought research that accelerates the UFS as a unified, coupled, community modeling system and that is positioned to transition into NOAA operations, strengthening forecast skill from short-fused weather events through longer-range subseasonal and seasonal outlooks, including high-impact hazards like hurricanes.

• The Department of Commerce in the business and commerce, environment, science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NWS Office of Science and Technology Integration: Unified Forecast System" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 11.468.
• This funding opportunity was created on Nov 08, 2021.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Feb 07, 2022. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $300,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 15 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments).

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