NSF Unidata Update: January 2026

In case you missed it — here's a recap of news from the NSF Unidata Program Center for the month of January 2026.

We enjoyed visiting with many of you at the AMS meeting in Houston! Stay tuned for some conference highlights from the Program Center staff.

Highlights from January:

NSF Unidata Staff at AMS 2026 Meeting

Members of the NSF Unidata Program Center staff attended the 106th annual American Meteorology Society meeting, held 25-29 January 2026 in Houston, TX.

2026 DeSouza Award Nominations

The NSF Unidata Users Committee invites you to submit nominations for the Russell L. DeSouza Award for Outstanding Community Service. This Community Service Award honors individuals whose energy, expertise, and active involvement enable the NSF Unidata Program to better serve the Earth Systems Sciences community. Honorees personify NSF Unidata's ideal of a community that shares ideas, data, and software through computing and networking technologies.

Unidata artifacts server changes

NFS Unidata updated the underlying server technology for our Maven artifacts server (artifacts.unidata.ucar.edu) on Tuesday, January 20th. While internal testing using both Maven and Gradle indicates that the transition should be transparent, users are encouraged to reach out to support if they encounter any issues.

AI-driven Global Model Output Availability

In partnership with the NOAA/NWS National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) through the Cooperative Opportunity for NCEP Data Using IDD Technology (CONDUIT) program, the NSF Unidata Program Center is pleased to announce the availability of artificial intelligence (AI)-driven global weather prediction model output in NSF Unidata datastreams.