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Global Systems Laboratory
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Supporting atmospheric observing networks and weather modeling across the globe
As part of its commitment to advancing meteorological observations and modeling systems, GSL has developed a new tool to process measurements taken at field sites worldwide, and delivered it to two major partners. The new algorithm, called the Tropospheric Remotely Observed Profiling via Optimal Estimation (TROPoe), derives vertical profiles of...
Experimental smoke model provides early warning of wide-reaching impacts
Experimental RRFS-Smoke model forecast for vertically-integrated smoke concentration on June 3, 2025. Days before the Midwest and Eastern regions of the U.S. were impacted by dense smoke, haze, and poor air quality, GSL’s Rapid Refresh Forecast System (RRFS) Smoke model drew forecaster attention to the potential spread of the smoke...
Latest DESI upgrade includes next-generation model data
DESI display of RRFS forecast wind speeds over North America. RRFS’s North America domain allows for high-resolution weather prediction across the entire continent and surrounding oceans. Image credit: NOAA GSL. GSL has released its latest update to the powerful Dynamic Ensemble Scenarios for Impact-Based Decision Support (DESI) tool on both...
More From GSL
Community Spotlight: Reaching underserved communities with GSL’s Science On a Sphere Explorer
Welcome to Women History Month! Learning about the contributions and stories of female scientists is important to highlight not only during this month but during the year. So often, we allow the commitments of the day to supersede our want and desire to share GSL science with the broader community....
The Marshall Fire: A NOAA story map
The historic Marshall firestorm destroyed the homes of several GSL staff. This story map by NOAA Boulder illustrates some of the ways NOAA responds when disaster strikes. The story shows how the GSL- developed HRRR model accurately predicted extreme winds and was critical in the decision-making of the NOAA National...
GSL experimental model simulates Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha‘apai eruption
On January 15, 2022 a powerful underwater volcanic eruption blanketed the island nation of Tonga with ash, but not before it also rocketed ash, dust, and other particles high into the atmosphere. Volcanic eruptions inject sulfur gases and ash into the troposphere and sometimes the stratosphere, and are one of...
GSL releases Hydrology Hazard Simplification Phase I to NWS operations
The GSL-developed Hazard Services “Hazard Simplification” Phase I messaging and consolidation process for hydrology hazards was activated at all NWS sites nationwide in November 2021 in collaboration with the NWS. Phase I includes updated messaging for river flooding, flash flooding, and area flooding. The changes include: “What/Where/When” format for all...
Evaluating the Economic Impacts of Improvements to Weather Models
You can only have an economic impact if the new version results in a different decision. Weather forecasts play an essential role in how different sectors plan and make decisions. The energy community benefits from good wind forecasts. A worker saves the company time by planning their commute around weather...
Blog Post: Untangling Positional and Structural Forecast Errors
Fig. 1. Schematic for total forecast error decomposition: (1) Spatially align a forecast with the verifying analysis field; (2) Smooth original and aligned forecast and analysis to remove unpredictable smaller scales; (3) Decompose total error into orthogonal (right angle) components of (i) large scale positional error, (ii) large scale...
Air pollution from wildfires, rising heat affected two-thirds of U.S. West
On a single day in 2020, 43 million people in the region experienced harmful levels of air pollution. Large wildfires and severe heat events are happening more often at the same time, worsening air pollution across the western United States, according to a new study led by Washington State University,...
GSL’s Michael Kraus retires after more than 50 years of federal service
Dr. Michael Kraus is retiring after more than 50 years of federal service and leadership at the Air Force Geophysics Laboratory and NOAA to support tactical and strategic weather decisions. Dr. Kraus began his career in 1967 as a civilian at the Air Force Geophysics Laboratory (AFGL). He developed techniques...
John Brown: GSL Scientist Emeritus
Dr. John Brown is retiring after an extraordinary, multi-faceted four-decade career of contributions to the NOAA weather community that has served the nation. He will return as GSL’s first Scientist Emeritus. Dr. Brown’s exceptional command of meteorology at convective, meso-, and synoptic scales, and mastery of modeling techniques and physics...
GSL presents at American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting 2021
GSL at the 2021 Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union GSL, CIRES, and CIRA researchers are presenting some interesting talks at the 2021 Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union. Highlights are listed below! Air Quality Experimental air quality forecasting with the Rapid-Refresh model coupled to chemistry (RAP-Chem) –...
GSL presents: “NOAA-CDC Ventures in Public Health and Weather”
Dr. Karen Holcomb presented “NOAA-CDC Ventures in Public Health and Weather: Impacts of vector control and weather on mosquito populations and West Nile virus transmission dynamics.” Dr. Holcomb has a Ph.D. in Epidemiology from the University of California-Davis and is with the NOAA Global Systems Laboratory in Boulder, CO, and...
GSL Seminar: “NOAA-CDC Ventures in Public Health and Weather”
On Friday, December 3, Dr. Karen Holcomb will present “NOAA-CDC Ventures in Public Health and Weather: Impacts of vector control and weather on mosquito populations and West Nile virus transmission dynamics.” Holcomb is a Post-Doc with NOAA Global Systems Laboratory (GSL), Boulder, CO, and CDC National Center for Emerging and...
GSL’s Science On a Sphere® transitions to operations
Global Systems Laboratory’s (GSL) Science On a Sphere ® operations began the transition From GSL to the NOAA Office of Education on October 1, becoming the first official research-to-education operations transfer at NOAA. This flagship education and technology program has long been a shining star for NOAA and our efforts...
GSL’s modeling team wins the 2021 NOAA Administrator’s Award
GSL’s modeling team has been honored with the 2021 NOAA Administrator’s Award for developing and delivering final upgrades to the first hourly-updated weather model that predicts high-impact weather on an urban scale to help save lives and property. The High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) now includes the first ensemble-based convective scale...
New study: Better forecasts lead to smaller losses in work time
New research has shown that adverse weather conditions such as rain, sleet, and snow lead to significant increases in both commute time and driver risk. This imposes significant costs on both individuals and the economy. A recent study by Colorado State University (CSU) and NOAA’s Global Systems Laboratory (GSL) scientists...
GSL and CSL paper identified as a top ten paper that has influenced the field of tropospheric chemistry
A 2005 paper published in Elsevier’s Atmospheric Environment was identified as one of the top ten papers that has influenced the field of tropospheric chemistry. The paper, “A fully coupled “online” Weather Research and Forecasting/Chemistry model” was authored by Georg Grell (GSL), Steven Peckham (CIRES), CSL’s Stuart McKeen and Greg...
GSL staff awards from Commerce and NOAA!
Congratulations to the GSL team for these Department of Commerce and NOAA Awards! NOAA Distinguished Career Award: John Brown “For a career devoted to scientific excellence and exemplary service by advancing numerical weather prediction and mentoring a generation of scientists.” Department of Commerce Bronze Medal: Forrest Hobbs “For successful transition...
Outcomes from the Hazard Services Summer 2021 Functional Assessment Test
GSL researchers hosted their fourth virtual Functional Assessment Test (FAT), evaluating next-generation Hazard Services capabilities. Hazard Services will modernize how the National Weather Service’s WFOs and National Centers create forecasts, watches, and warnings and consolidate these efforts into a single highly customizable software system. Over 25,000 short-fuse convective weather products...
GSL projects in the HFIP Real-Time Experiment – 2021
Each hurricane season brings the opportunity to demonstrate advances that improve weather model accuracy. The Hurricane Forecast Improvement Project (HFIP) real-time Experiments (HREx) starts officially on August 1 and ends on October 31. Real-time model products are evaluated after each season to identify techniques that appear particularly promising to operational...
Our Mission
Lead research and directed development through the transition of environmental data, models, products, tools, and services to support commerce, protect life and property, and promote a scientifically literate public.
Research Areas
Organizational Excellence, Earth System Prediction, Advanced Technologies, and Decision Support are the foundation to achieving the GSL Grand Challenge: Deliver actionable global storm-scale prediction and environmental information through advanced technologies to serve society.
Global Systems Laboratory
