Incorporating Gas-Phase Chemistry Into the Unified Forecast System (UFS) for Global Air Quality Applications

The Unified Forecast System (UFS) is a community-based Earth modeling system designed to support operational forecasts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), while also facilitating the integration of research advances from the broader scientific community. The Configurable ATmospheric Chemistry (CATChem) library and modeling component is being developed to include comprehensive chemical and aerosol processes for representing atmospheric composition through a flexible, easy-to-modify, and well-documented infrastructure. Here CATChem version 1.0 (v1.0) is linked to the UFS High Resolution 3 configuration to create the Unified Forecast System with Chemistry (UFS-Chem) v1.0. The configurability of UFS-Chem enables its use for both research and operational applications, reducing time and effort for transitions to operations and enhancing collaboration with the research community. As a first step toward this goal, the gas-phase chemistry from the Atmosphere Model version 4.1 (AM4.1), developed at NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL), is incorporated into CATChem and linked to the UFS as the first UFS-Chem configuration for global air quality applications. The simulated atmospheric compositions are generally consistent with those in GFDL-AM4.1 and agree well with surface observations, aircraft measurements, and satellite retrievals (with biases mostly within 30%), demonstrating atmospheric chemistry is reasonably well represented in the model. This work documents model uncertainties and biases in UFS-Chem v1.0 to help prioritize further improvements in emissions and process-level representations. The new global configuration is shown to be robust in representing atmospheric composition and chemical processes and serves as a foundation for future development.