2. Code Overview

The UPP is used to post-process model forecasts and provides the capability to compute a variety of diagnostic fields and interpolate to pressure levels or other vertical coordinates.

The UPP also incorporates the Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation (JCSDA) Community Radiative Transfer Model (CRTM) to compute model derived brightness temperature (TB) for various instruments and channels. This additional feature enables the generation of a number of simulated satellite products including GOES products.

Output from the UPP is in National Weather Service (NWS) and World Meteorological Organization (WMO) GRIB2 format and can be used directly by visualization, plotting, or verification packages, or for further downstream post-processing, e.g. statistical post-processing techniques.

Examples of UPP products include:

• T, Z, humidity, wind, cloud water, cloud ice, rain, and snow on pressure levels
• SLP, shelter level T, humidity, and wind fields
• Precipitation-related fields
• PBL-related fields
• Severe weather products (e.g. CAPE, Vorticity, Wind shear)
• Radiative/Surface fluxes
• Cloud related fields
• Aviation products
• Radar reflectivity products
• Satellite look-alike products

A full list of fields that can be generated by the UPP is provided in GRIB2 Fields Produced by UPP.

The UPP has 2D decomposition capabilities (V11.0.0) and is also backwards compatible for 1D decomposition. The functionality demonstrates run-time improvements, especially for larger domains. Support for this feature is available for standalone UPP applications.

Support for the community UPP is provided through the UFS Forum.