Cloud Computing Efforts for the Weather Research and Forecasting Model

The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model is a numerical weather prediction model supported by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) to a worldwide community of users. In recognition of the growing use of cloud computing, NCAR is now supporting the model in cloud environments. Specifically, NCAR has established WRF setups with select cloud service providers and produced documentation and tutorials on running WRF in the cloud. Described here are considerations in WRF cloud use and the supported resources, which include cloud setups for the WRF system and a cloud-based tool for model code testing.