Announcing the January 2026 MPAS-A virtual tutorial

[mgduda]

The Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology (MMM) Laboratory of the NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (NSF NCAR) will be hosting a virtual tutorial on the Model for Prediction Across Scales – Atmosphere (MPAS-A), to be held 12 - 14 January 2026.

The tutorial will consist of lectures and practical sessions where participants will gain experience building, configuring, and running the MPAS-Atmosphere model. The primary audience for these tutorials is new or beginning users of MPAS-Atmosphere. Basic knowledge of atmospheric science and numerical modeling is helpful, while experience working in a Unix computing environment is required.

Specific topic will include:

• Uniform and variable-resolution horizontal mesh configuration
• Global and regional configuration
• Real-data and idealized case initialization
• MPAS-A dynamical solver and numerical methods
• MPAS-A physics
• Software framework and MPAS infrastructure
• Post-processing tools

Key dates:

• Application opens: Monday, 1 December 2025
• Last day to apply: Tuesday, 30 December 2025
• Participation fees due: Friday, 2 January 2026

Participation fees:

• Full-time U.S. university students: $50
• All others: $100

Although this is a virtual tutorial, spaces are limited and registration will be handled through an application process. Applications for the tutorials will be assessed on an ongoing basis.

In order to provide more equitable access to the tutorial, a small number of no-cost spaces will be reserved for those unable to pay the participation fee.

For updated information and a link to the application form, please visit MPAS-Atmosphere Tutorial | Mesoscale & Microscale Meteorology .