Numerical weather prediction

Quantum mechanics

Climatology

Global Forecast System

Computer science

Physics

Geology

Meteorology

Geography

Scientific progress

QUIET

Philosophy

Environmental science

Epistemology

Weather prediction

Nature

Advances in numerical weather prediction represent a quiet revolution because they have resulted from a steady accumulation of scientific knowledge and technological advances over many years that, with only a few exceptions, have not been associated with the aura of fundamental physics breakthroughs. Nonetheless, the impact of numerical weather prediction is among the greatest of any area of physical science. As a computational problem, global weather prediction is comparable to the simulation of the human brain and of the evolution of the early Universe, and it is performed every day at major operational centres across the world. The cumulative progress of numerical weather prediction represents one of the most remarkable successes of modern science; here the many technological and scientific advances that have brought NWP to its present level are reviewed, as are the considerable challenges for the future. The outputs from numerical weather prediction (NWP) models are pervasive throughout society, and now p...

The quiet revolution of numerical weather prediction