
A UFS Collaboration Powered by EPIC
Monday, September 8, 2025 – Friday, September 12, 2025
Boulder, CO & Online
Overview
Join us this September at University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) Center Green in Boulder, Colorado or online for the Unifying Innovations in Forecasting Capabilities Workshop 2025 (UIFCW25). This event is an opportunity for community partners, including academia, industry, and government, to collaborate in our shared mission to advance forecasting capabilities. Our objective is to deepen the understanding of our collaborative efforts to improve the UFS, accelerate contributions, and measure success effectively.
We will continue to focus on integrating sectors of the Weather Enterprise and fostering a community aligned with EPIC’s mission, emphasizing government research and the crucial role of community building. UIFCW25 is about engaging and uniting our efforts to advance forecasting capabilities for a more informed future. The theme for this year’s workshop is Building a Stronger UFS Community Through Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing.
Registration
Registration is now open! Click the button below to register for UIFCW25 either in person at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) Center Green in Boulder, Colorado, or virtually.
If you have ANY issues submitting the form, please reach out to EPIC Support ( support.epic@noaa.gov ) to register.
In-person registration must be completed by Friday, August 22, 2025; there will be no on-site registration for in-person attendance.
This travel grant will include funds to cover travel to and from the workshop, hotel accommodations, and meals. Applications are due by July 30th.
Workshop Schedule
For the latest updates on UIFCW25, including registration details, session schedules, and keynote speakers, please check back regularly. Join the conversation and become part of a growing community dedicated to advancing weather forecasting innovations.
- Monday
- Tuesday
- Wednesday
- Thursday
- Friday
September 8, 2025
11:30 am | Virtual Poster Session
1:00 pm - 4:00 pm | Training #1 (Using Containers to run Global Workflow)
1:00 pm - 4:00 pm | Training #2 (AI in Weather Modeling)
September 9, 2025
9:00 am | Welcome and Kickoff
9:15 am | Opening Remarks by Dr. Everette Joseph
9:30 am | State of the Earth Prediction Innovation Center (EPIC) and the Unified Forecast System (UFS)
10:15 am | BREAK
10:45 am | Testing and Continuous Integration Updates
11:30 am | Current Status of Earth System Models
12:00 pm | LUNCH
1:00 pm | Data Assimilation Update
2:00 pm | UFS Coupling: How the UFS Is Being Expanded to Include Additional Environmental Modeling Components
3:00 pm | BREAK
3:30 pm | NOAA National Center for Artificial Intelligence (NCAI) Overview
4:00 pm | Keynote: Coupled Modeling
4:30 pm | Meet The Community Panel Discussion
5:45 pm | Networking Mixer
7:15 pm | Informal Gathering at Avery Brewery
September 10, 2025
9:00 am | Welcome and Kickoff
9:15 am | Student/Lapenta/Weather Program Office (WPO) Innovation for Next Generation Scientists (WINGS) Presentations
10:15 am | BREAK
10:25 am | New User/Student Parallel Track Begins
10:45 am | UFS Community Social Science Survey Results
11:15 am | UFS Coastal Project Overview
12:00 pm | LUNCH
1:00 pm | Parallel Sessions with Q&A
UFS Application - Global Applications Across Scales
Cross-Cutting - Data Assimilation
3:00 pm | BREAK
3:30 pm | Emerging Technologies: Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning
4:30 pm | Creating Better Feedback Loops Between Users and Developers Panel Discussion
5:30 pm | Adjourn
6:00 pm | Local Hike Activity
September 10, 2025: New User/Student Parallel Track Begins
10:25 am | Welcome and Kickoff
10:30 am | Overview of Operational Models
11:30 am | UFS 101: Introduction to the Unified Forecast System
12:00 pm | LUNCH
1:00 pm | Intro to Data Assimilation, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
1:30 pm | Academic Research that benefits NOAA
2:30 pm | BREAK
3:00 pm | Starting Your Career in NOAA: Resources and Getting Your Foot in the Door
3:45 pm | Early Career Professionals: Effective Ways to Network
4:30 pm | Adjourn
September 11, 2025
9:00 am | Welcome and Kickoff
9:15 am | Testbeds/Research to Operations (R2O)
9:30 am - 12:00 pm | Training #3 (Running Test Cases on HSD Framework)
9:30 am - 12:00 pm | Training #4 (NOAA AI Learning Journeys Tutorial)
10:15 am | US Navy's Earth System Prediction Capability Efforts by Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Enterprise
10:45 am | Fire Behavior Model Being Coupled to the UFS
11:15 am | Poster Session
12:00 pm | LUNCH
1:00 pm | Parallel Sessions with Q&A
UFS Application – Coastal, Marine, Oceans and Ecology
UFS Application – Short-Range Weather (SRW) Application, Rapid Refresh Forecast System (RRFS) and Model for Prediction Across Scales (MPAS)
UFS Application – Air Quality, Atmospheric Composition, Aerosols (including smoke, dust and fire capabilities)
3:00 pm | BREAK
3:15 pm | Tour of the National Science Foundation National Center for Atmospheric Research (NSF NCAR) Mesa Lab
3:30 pm | MPAS Collaborations & Transition to the UFS
5:00 pm | MPAS in Warn on Forecast (WoFS): Generation of grid-mesh with multi-refinements for MPAS to predict high-impact weather over multiple regions
5:30 pm | Adjourn
September 12, 2025
9:00 am | Welcome and Kickoff
9:15 am | Community Engagement/Collaboration
10:15 am | BREAK
10:45 am | UFS Coastal Code Development, Applications, and Use Cases
11:15 am | Commercial Weather Observations
12:00 pm | LUNCH
1:00 pm | Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS)/Citizen Science
1:30 pm | WINGS Fellowship Transition
2:00 pm | "Pair and Share" Action Items Activity
3:30 pm | Debrief: Findings, Recommendations and Closing Statements
4:00 pm | Adjourn – Travel Home!
Training
Training 1 | Compile and Run the UFS Global- Workflow using a Container Image (Singularity) on a variety of Platforms
Monday, September 8, 2025
1:00 pm – 4:00 pm MDT
A Singularity Image File (SIF) or Container Image built with ubuntu (22.04), intel compiler (2021.10.0), and spack-stack (1.6.0) will be used to compile the UFS Global-Workflow (GW) and run on Ursa and AWS, but only use bash, rocoto, and slurm on host machines (Ursa or AWS).
The demo will explain what a container image (SIF) is, its benefits to the UFS community, and its practical applications. It will also walk the participants through how to compile the UFS GW with SIF (on Ursa or AWS, with people’s choice). This demo will compile and run a “hello-world” program both within a container and natively on a host machine, run the UFS GW C48 resolution Atmospheric component (C48-ATM) case, and, if time permits, demonstrate the GW Subseasonal-to-Seasonal (S2S) case.
In the tutorial session, we will guide the participants through compiling and running the UFS GW C48-ATM case on either Ursa or AWS and if time permits, we will also cover the C48-S2SW case.
Objective | Demo: Showcase how to use a container to compile and run the UFS GW on Ursa/AWS. Tutorial: Walk the participants through compiling and running the UFS GW using a container on Ursa/AWS.
Limited to 50 attendees: 20 in person and 30 virtual. Hosted via Google Meet for hybrid and virtual attendees.
Training 2 | Artificial Intelligence in Weather Modeling Training
Monday, September 8, 2025
1:00 pm – 4:00 pm MDT
The Artificial Intelligence (AI) in weather modeling workshop will cover a wide range of use cases in the field of AI for numerical modeling. This workshop will include hands-on training on running Graphcast, FourCastNetv2, and PanguWeather. We will also use the European Centre for Medium-Range Forecasts’ (ECMWF) Anemoi Core (https://github.com/ecmwf/anemoi-core) to explore re-training, training, modeling, and graphing the model.
Objective | Guide the participants through practical applications of AI-driven weather modeling by exploring tools such as Graphcast, FourCastNetv2, PanguWeather, and ECMWF’s Anemoi Core for training, evaluation, and visualization.
Limited to 50 attendees. Hosted via Google Meet for hybrid and virtual attendees.
Training 3 | Introduction to Running Idealized Test Cases via the UFS Hierarchical System Development Framework
Thursday, September 11, 2025
9:30 am – 12:00 pm MDT
The UFS Hierarchical System Development (HSD) framework training will provide participants with an overview of the current state of HSD inside of the UFS, an introduction to running and visualizing currently integrated test cases, and general guidance on how community members can contribute to the UFS HSD framework through addition of new test cases and tools. The training will focus on HSD options in the “tests-dev” component of the UFS Weather Model.
Objective | Provide participants with background information and instructions for running the idealized test cases within the UFS HSD framework and contributing to it, through a series of walkthroughs.
Limited to 50 attendees: 20 in person and 30 virtual. Hosted via Google Meet for hybrid and virtual attendees.
Training 4 | NOAA AI Learning Journeys Tutorial
Thursday, September 11, 2025
9:30 am – 12:00 pm MDT
NOAA Center for Artificial Intelligence (NCAI) collaborates with the NOAA community and partners to publish working examples of AI use cases that are relevant to all NOAA mission areas. These working examples are published as jupyter notebook based Learning Journeys. This training session will provide live demonstration of selected NOAA AI learning journeys that are relevant to the UFS community including use cases like fire weather, tropical cyclones, and rip currents. All participants will be able to run these notebooks in a provided computational environment.
Objective
- Learn how to use NCAI learning journeys to experiment with machine learning models for weather related applications in NOAA.
- Experiment with implementing machine learning applications with AI-ready open datasets on the cloud.
Limited to 50 attendees: 20 in person and 30 virtual. Hosted via Google Meet for hybrid and virtual attendees.
Venue Information
Venue Information
Address: NCAR & UCAR Center Green Campus CG 1, 3080 Center Green Drive, Boulder Colorado, 80301
Parking: Parking is free and available in the Center Green Campus parking lot.
Hotel Information
EPIC has reserved discounted rooms at two nearby Boulder hotels for attendees, with deadlines in early August.
Hotel Information
EPIC has reserved a block of rooms at the Residence Inn Boulder and Hampton Inn & Suites Boulder-North for attendees who need hotel accommodations. Each guest must make their own reservation.
Option 1: Residence Inn Boulder
The per diem rate is available for a few shoulder dates, starting Saturday, September 6th through Saturday, September 13th.
To receive the group rate, reservations for the Residence Inn Boulder must be made before the cutoff date: August 10, 2025. Guarantee and cancellation policy is 48 hours prior to arrival.
Reserve Room at Residence Inn Boulder
Option 2: Hampton Inn & Suites Boulder-North
The per diem rate is available starting Sunday, September 7th through Saturday, September 13th. After clicking the button below, attendees will be taken to a landing page where the UIFCW25 rate is already applied. Dates can be changed at the top of the page – make sure to click “update” or your selected room type will default back to the original set of dates. Guests can also call and ask for the “UIFCW” or “Unifying Innovations” rate. It’s best to contact the front desk directly if someone’s preferred method of booking is via phone call – 303.530.3300 extension 0.
To receive the group rate, reservations for the Hampton Inn & Suites Boulder-North must be made before the cutoff date: August 24, 2025. There is free cancellation before 11:59 PM local hotel time on September 6, 2025.
Abstract Details
Abstract Submissions are due by Monday, June 30, 2025.
Preview abstract sessions with descriptions and submit your abstract to a relevant session for oral or poster presentation.
Abstract Details
Unified Forecast System (UFS) Application – Short Range Weather (SRW) Application, Rapid Refresh Forecast System (RRFS), and Model for Prediction Across Scales (MPAS)
This session will highlight advancements in the UFS Short Range Weather (SRW) Application, the Rapid Refresh Forecast System (RRFS), and the Model for Prediction Across Scales (MPAS) dynamical core. This session should focus on model development, data assimilation, physics enhancements, and verification efforts to improve high-impact, short-range weather forecasts. Contributions on system performance, operational readiness, and emerging research are encouraged.
UFS Application – Coastal, Marine, Oceans and Ecology
This session will showcase developments in the UFS for coastal, marine, ocean, and ecological applications, including advancements in the Hurricane Analysis and Forecast System (HAFS). Topics may include model coupling, data assimilation, physics improvements, and applications for forecasting and ecosystem predictions. Contributions on operational implementation and research advancements are also welcome.
UFS Application – Air Quality, Atmospheric Composition, Aerosols (including smoke, dust and fire capabilities)
This session will highlight advancements in the UFS for air quality, atmospheric composition, and aerosol modeling, including capabilities for smoke, dust, and fire forecasting. Topics may include model development, data assimilation, emissions modeling, chemical processes, and verification efforts. Submissions focusing on new methodologies, improved predictive capabilities, and real-world applications are also welcome.
Cross-Cutting – Data Assimilation
Data Assimilation (DA) is a critical component of Earth System Prediction. In this session, presentations will feature cutting-edge research on DA, DA applications, innovative observing techniques and coupled DA processes. Challenges and opportunities in data assimilation may also be addressed.
UFS Application – Global Applications Across Scales
This session will focus on advancements in the Unified Forecast System (UFS) for global applications across a range of spatial and temporal scales. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, medium-range weather prediction, atmospheric river forecasting, and subseasonal to seasonal outlooks. We welcome contributions on global workflows, model infrastructure, physics and dynamics, Earth system component model development and coupling strategies, as well as verification methodologies. Presenters are encouraged to address forecasting challenges, operational integration, and emerging scientific and technological innovations in Earth system modeling.
Community Engagement/Collaboration
This session will feature discussions about community engagement efforts related to the Unified Forecast System (UFS) and highlight opportunities for collaboration across the large platform of users. Presenters are encouraged to emphasize interdisciplinary partnerships, knowledge sharing, and effective communication of science across various audiences.
Emerging Technologies: Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Machine Learning (ML)
This session invites developers/scientists who are actively working on topics included but not limited to: The development and operationalization of partial/full data-driven models for short-, mid- long-term weather forecasting, AI-based parametrization, novel techniques for accuracy improvement using AI in DA and/or post-processing, software/hardware engineering aspects related to model development, data acquisition, scalability on training and inference, etc.
Student Session (Includes option for an oral or a poster presentation)
Share your Earth system modeling research and goals along with your plans to achieve them through community modeling. The abstracts may include topics on any numerical model and its application. This is open to current undergraduate and graduate students in a related science field.
Poster Session
Share your research, use case, or innovation with other community members during our poster session and networking mixer! Abstract submissions to the poster session are required.
Important Dates for UIFCW25
March 2025
- Registration Opens
April 2025
- Call for Abstracts / Abstract Submission Opens
June 2025
- 30th: Abstract Submission Closes
- Workshop Agenda Announced
August 2025
- 22nd: In-person Registration Closes
September 2025
- Lunch Meal Payment Closes
- 8th: Pre-Event Trainings
- 9th – 12th: UIFCW25
Schedule subject to updates. Additional information will be added as plans for each session evolve.
* All times are in Mountain Daylight Time (MDT).
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