Director: | Dr.Hendrik Tolman | (301) 683-3748 |
ABOUT EMC
We are the premiere Environmental Numerical Prediction System
Development Organization in the World. Our mission is to “Develop,
enhance and maintain numerical forecast systems for the atmosphere,
hydrosphere, and cryosphere in support of national and international
forecast requirements.”
We are one of nine National Centers in the National Centers for
Environmental Prediction (NCEP). NCEP, an arm of the NOAA's National
Weather Service (NWS), provides a wide variety of national and
international weather guidance products to NWS field offices,
government agencies, emergency managers, private sector meteorologists
and oceanographers, and meteorological/oceanographic organizations and
societies throughout the world. NCEP is a critical national resource in
national and global weather
prediction. NCEP is the starting point for nearly all weather forecasts
in the United States.
NWS NATIONAL CENTERS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PREDICTION
What we do
- We develop numerical forecast
systems for
- - Weather Prediction (domestic, global out to 15 days)
- - Ocean Prediction ( daily to annual; coastal to global)
- - Climate prediction (seasonal to inter-annual, coupled system).
- We enhance (test and improve) numerical
forecasts through advanced
- - Data assimilation techniques
- - Model physics (parameterization)
- - Numerical methods
- - Computational physics.
- We maintain the scientific
correctness and integrity of operational forecast systems by
- - Adapting to format changes and other changing operational requirements
- - Monitoring and ensuring the integrity of operational observing systems.
- We accomplish our objectives
through
- - in-house research and development
- - cooperative alliances with the outside research community
- - visiting scientists
- - participation in international experiments.
History
The
story of operational Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) begins in 1954,
when the Joint Numerical Weather Prediction Unit (JNWPU) was founded by
the NWS and the military weather services. It was the ancestor of EMC,
Air Force Global Weather Center and Fleet Numerical Meteorology and
Oceanography Center (US Navy). JNWPU began by issuing manually-produced
weather prediction products, but the Joint Meteorology Committee (made
up of the heads of the weather services) directed JNWPU to pursue
operational NWP forecast production. JNWPU installed an IBM 701
computer in March 1955, and chose Charney's Princeton 3-level
quasi-geostrophic model to be the first operational NWP model. When the
model began running operationally
later in 1955, the results were very disappointing and not usable by
forecasters. JNWPU didn't have an operational NWP model until 1958,
when a one-level, improved barotropic version of the Princeton model
(with improved numerics, automated objective analysis initial
conditions, and octagonal NH domain) was developed. After a new, more
powerful IBM 704 computer was installed, JNWPU began using the model
operationally to produce useful numerical forecasts.
The
JNWPU was co-located with the National Weather Analysis Center (NAWAC)
at Suitland, MD from 1955 to 1958. In January 1958, JNWPU and NAWAC
merged and formed the National Meteorological Center (NMC), the direct
predecessor of NCEP, while the USAF and Navy formed their own global
prediction centers (in Omaha and Monterey) to support military
operations. NMC at once became the "nerve center" for weather data in
the United States. NMC processed weather observations from around the
globe and disseminated analyses and forecasts to customers throughout
the U.S. and other countries. Research increased, with emphasis on
developing faster and more accurate numerical techniques. It was the
only such facility in the world at the time, and at least one
publication described its creation as being "a milestone in the
progress of meteorology." In January 1975 NMC (except for the
supercomputer facility) moved to its present location in the World
Weather Building (also known as the NOAA Science Center) in Camp
Springs MD.
In
October of 1995, NMC was reorganized into its current structure and
renamed the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP). The
Aviation Weather Center (AWC), Climate Prediction Center (CPC),
Hydrometeorological Prediction Center (HPC), Ocean Prediction Center
(OPC), Storm Prediction Center (SPC), and Tropical Prediction Center
(TPC) are NCEP service centers. EMC and NCEP Central Operations (NCO)
provide support to the service centers; EMC by developing and
maintaining numerical prediction and data assimilation models, and NCO
by running the models and maintaining NCEP's IT and comm systems. In
2005, the Space Environment Center (SEC) also became part of NCEP and
was renamed the Space Weather Prediction Center in October 2007.