Common Community Physics Package: Fostering Collaborative Development in Physical Parameterizations and Suites

The Common Community Physics Package (CCPP) is a state-of-the-art infrastructure designed to facilitate community-wide development of atmospheric physics parameterizations, support their interoperability among different modeling centers, and enable the transition of research to operations in NWP and climate modeling. The CCPP consists of two elements: the Physics (a repository of parameterizations) and the Framework (an infrastructure for interfacing the parameterizations with host models). The CCPP is a community resource: Its latest release has 23 primary parameterizations, which can be organized into six supported suites. It is distributed with a single-column model to facilitate physics development and experimentation. The Developmental Testbed Center provides support to users and developers. A key aspect of the CCPP is its interoperability, that is, its ability to be used by multiple host models. This enables synergistic collaboration among groups dispersed over various institutions and working on various models. In this article, we provide an overview of the CCPP and how it is being used in two leading modeling systems. The CCPP is part of the Unified Forecast System (UFS), is included in the NOAA operational Hurricane Analysis and Forecast System (HAFS) version 1, and is slated for use in all upcoming NOAA global and limited-area UFS applications for operations. Similarly, the CCPP has been integrated into the Navy Environmental Prediction System Using a Nonhydrostatic Engine (NEPTUNE) model and is undergoing testing for the upcoming transition to operations. These experiences make physics interoperability a reality and open the doors for much broader collaborative efforts on ESM development.