Orographic and non-orographic resolved and sub-grid scale gravity waves (GW) and their associated generation of turbulence represent one of the major uncertainties of global atmosphere models extended across the stratopause into the mesosphere and thermosphere. The weather service Global Forecast System (GFS), planning predictions into the upper atmosphere with 128 levels from the current 64 in Operations. It is the intention to converge the GFS and Whole Atmosphere Model (WAM) into the unified system model framework called the NOAA Environmental Modeling System (NEMS). Unification of models is in development to streamline the interaction of analysis, forecast, and post-processing within NOAA modeling climate and weather prediction systems. The NEMS architecture will be a foundation of the Next Generation Global Prediction System. We will discuss design and first results toward implementation of a unified GW physics for both orographic and non-orographic waves to develop the physically-based efficient, adaptable and portable parameterizations for operational architectures. This paper presents the WAM simulations with developed suite of GW schemes that improve predictions across the stratopause as evaluated by meteorological analyses, space-borne and ground-based observations.

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*email: valery.yudin@noaa.gov
*Preference: Poster