Climate Test Bed
The NOAA Climate Test Bed (CTB), housed at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), is charged with accelerating the transition of research advances into operational climate models and predictions. The CTB is a shared responsibility of NCEP and the MAPP program. MAPP works closely with NCEP to ensure that the most relevant and promising research projects enter into the CTB. Recently, the NWS Office of Science and Technology Integration (OSTI) has partnered with MAPP to jointly fund several CTB projects.
NCEP infrastructure and expertise is available to the external community for CTB projects, and developments from CTB projects deemed ready for operations upon formal review are deployed by NCEP into operational forecast systems, products, or applications. NCEP and the MAPP Program work together to facilitate the research-to-operations link. Topical workshops and special collections have been jointly organized by CTB, MAPP, and NWS/OSTI as part of transition activities.
The MAPP Program is currently accepting applications for CTB proposals for FY 2018. Please visit here for more information.
A list of prevaious and ongoing MAPP-funded CTB projects can be found here.
Highlights of recent CTB-related accomplishments and activities include:
- Transition of the North American Multi Model Ensemble (NMME) prediction system from an experimental project to an operational system at the NWS Climate Prediction Center, with a dual platform for research and operations.
- Preparation of an NMME special issue for Climate Dynamics.
- The launch of an interagency subseasonal prediction experiment, SubX, spearheaded by the MAPP Program via the CTB and in partnership with NWS/OSTI and other Federal agencies to test individual and multi-model ensembles for prediction at weeks 3-4 and beyond.
- Publication of a topical collection on Climate Forecast System Version 2 (CFSv2) in Climate Dynamics.