Abstract:Numerical weather prediction (NWP) is the core technology for weather forecasting services and disaster prevention and mitigation, and it is also a key indicator for measuring the level of a nation’s meteorological modernization. In the course of independent innovation of China’s NWP, the establishment of a comprehensive operational system centered on the Global/Regional Assimilation and Prediction System (GRAPES) is a milestone event, marking a major leap from technology introduction to independent innovation. This article provides a comprehensive review of the original achievements in the core technologies during the development of the GRAPES since the 21st century. The key innovations include a prediction-correction semi-implicit semi-Lagrangian time integration scheme, the multi-moment constrained finite volume (MCV) method, a high-precision positive-definite shape-preserving scalar advection scheme, a double-moment microphysical cloud scheme, a scale-adaptive 3D turbulence parameterization scheme, the self-developed ARMS (advanced radiative transfer modeling system) model, the tangent linear and ADjoint models for non-hydrostatic global models, the constrained satellite data bias correction techniques, and the assimilation algorithms for FY-4 infrared hyperspectral data. These breakthroughs are the results from the close integration of fundamental researches and operational practices, and have comprehensively enhanced the forecast performance of China’s independently developed numerical weather prediction model.