The Navy's Earth System Prediction Capability: A New Global Coupled Atmosphere‐Ocean‐Sea Ice Prediction System Designed for Daily to Subseasonal Forecasting

This paper describes the new global Navy Earth System Prediction Capability (Navy‐ESPC) coupled atmosphere‐ocean‐sea ice prediction system developed at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) for operational forecasting for timescales of days to the subseasonal. Two configurations of the system are validated: (1) a low‐resolution 16‐member ensemble system and (2) a high‐resolution deterministic system. The Navy‐ESPC ensemble system became operational in August 2020, and this is the first time the NRL operational partner, Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center, will provide global coupled atmosphere‐ocean‐sea ice forecasts, with atmospheric forecasts extending past 16 days, and ocean and sea ice ensemble forecasts. A unique aspect of the Navy‐ESPC is that the global ocean model is eddy resolving at 1/12° in the ensemble and at 1/25° in the deterministic configurations. The component models are current Navy operational systems: NAVy Global Environmental Model (NAVGEM) for the atmosphere, HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) for the ocean, and Community Ice CodE (CICE) for the sea ice. Physics updates to improve the simulation of equatorial phenomena, particularly the Madden‐Julian Oscillation (MJO), were introduced into NAVGEM. The low‐resolution ensemble configuration and high‐resolution deterministic configuration are evaluated based on analyses and forecasts from January 2017 to January 2018. Navy‐ESPC ensemble forecast skill for large‐scale atmospheric phenomena, such as the MJO, North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), Antarctic Oscillation (AAO), and other indices, is comparable to that of other numerical weather prediction (NWP) centers. Ensemble forecasts of ocean sea surface temperatures perform better than climatology in the tropics and midlatitudes out to 60 days. In addition, the Navy‐ESPC Pan‐Arctic and Pan‐Antarctic sea ice extent predictions perform better than climatology out to about 45 days, although the skill is dependent on season. Key Points Navy‐ESPC was run for a full year of weekly 60 day forecasts and compared to other models, observations, and climatology Navy‐ESPC ensemble forecast skill for the MJO, NAO, AO, and AAO, and other indices, is comparable to that of other centers Ensemble forecasts of ocean sea surface temperatures perform better than climatology in the tropics and mid‐latitudes out to 60 days