The things that are particularly exciting about the division, we are busy doing next
generation numerical weather prediction systems, we're building state of the science data simulation
systems, we're using observations that kind of nobody else in the world has access to
and trying to figure out how to use those things.
We 're developing prediction systems for aerosols that nobody else is worried about, we're building
decision tools for warfighters, we're going on submarines and aircraft carriers, we're
going to Japan, Hawaii, we're going to the Caribbean, we're going all over the world
to try and understand phenomenology and try to capture that phenomenology and predict
it and provide it to the warfighter so that they can make better decisions.
We have a special version of the Navy's limited area model which is called COAMPS the coupled
ocean mesoscale prediction system.
This special version we've developed to predict tropical cyclones.
COAMPS is one of the most flexible limited area models in the world.
This model is setup in a way that is extremely flexible to support the Navy and DOD and produce
accurate forecasts of the weather in any part of the planet and it's coupled to an ocean
model and a wave model.
This sort of tight coupling is unique and it's one of the strengths of the Navy in terms
of our science and also our ability to support the warfighter.
I have been doing research since 2013 on atmospheric phenomenon called pyro-cumulonimbus (Pyro-CB),
it's a wild fire driven thunderstorm.
It's actually triggered by the intense heating from large wild fires.
There is no prediction available for these events and some of them even inject smoke
into the lower stratosphere where the smoke particles can exist for weeks or months.
So, you end up with a large smoke plume being transported down wind into regions you otherwise
wouldn't expect.
Our primary goal is to understand the mechanisms driving these events, their impact on atmospheric
composition with the goal of eventually producing a prediction system for Pyro-CB that can be
rolled into the Navy's aerosol forecasting system.
I was funded to study how dust impacts the Caribbean population.
So, the dust actually originates from Africa, the northeast deserts, the Saharan Deserts
and it lifts high into the atmosphere up to about 18,000 feet and then the trade winds,
basically the northeast wind carry that dust across Africa into the Atlantic and it goes
for thousands of kilometers all the way over to the Caribbean, North and South America,
the Gulf of Mexico and southeastern U.S.
The Saharan Air Layer Project spans a variety of disciplines, it's not just meteorology
it combines hydrology, it combines a lot of high level math, which translates to a lot
of modeling possibilities, a lot of instruments and instrumentation.
It basically takes everything that you can think of in meteorology but we also need a
lot of computer savvy.
My work with Triton is developing a tool that our Navy forecaster can use which really speeds
up how fast they can produce forecasts and maximized their impact.
They tool is a online website basically.
So, the user would go to web address, fill in the flight information of where the Triton
is going in the world and basically that tool then goes to our Navy model, NAVGEM, which
is a numerical weather prediction model that forecasters pull from and it will look at
where the Triton is flying through that model in four dimensional space.
A good Navy forecasters will look at the number, and if they disagree with it they will alter
it and then they can hand it off to the pilots.
Weather information is important and it's actually more important than what you think
it is.
A lot of systems that our military uses are highly dependent on the weather so it is a
vital aspect of our national defense.
NRL and FNMOC are unique and serve kind of two different purposes.
NRL is sort of the R&D, the research and development wing of the Navy and FNMOC will take the products
that are developed at NRL and actually put them into operation.
So, that's where COAMPS and the different weather modeling products actually go and
they're run for user, the warfighter and the folks on the ship and they can reach back
out to FNMOC to access these products and be able to know what the weather forecasts
is.
What I do is I'll use the numerical weather prediction products that are developed here
at NRL and use them to drive electromagnetic or EM propagation models so we can forecast
how different EM sensors will perform, like the radar on a Navy ship or electromagnetic
communication.
So Marine Meteorology really is the atmospheric expertise so we build the atmospheric models
for the Navy for Navy prediction.
The Oceanography Division down at (NRL) Stennis builds the ocean and ice models.
The divisions out in DC, both Remote Sensing and Space Science are working on the high
altitude component.
The research with our Earth System Predication Capability which is ESPC is where we are all
working together to build this coupled system where the atmosphere and the ocean and the
ice realms, models all talk together.
This is going to be a completely new capability for the Navy that we have never had before.
It's always a pleasure to be able to see your research go to operations and be used by servicemembers
in this nation.
Hopefully one day hear that the products you developed saved some lives.
I think that for people who work here they really like that.
There is a lot, from all different kinds, there is a lot of people that do a wide variety
of people that do theoretical work but there is also a lot of application work, a lot of
people that work with instruments.
So, basically you can learn from a wide amount of people a little bit of them.
So, I really like that you have a lot of resources in learning.
Because I feel like all the knowledge we collect is actually doing something for somebody and
that's what you want, you want all of your research to be productive for in this case
for the Navy and that's very exciting to see.
It's important to have a diverse workforce because that diversity of backgrounds, that
diversity of culture, that diversity of thought enables the best decisions and if you can
get more people in the room with more background and more ideas and you have an environment
and culture where everybody is comfortable and feels safe putting their ideas onto the
table you are going to end up with a better solution and better decisions and as a division
we are going to be more successful to helping the Navy and helping the country.