Transitioning Tropical Cyclone Applications to Operations via GeoIPS

The Geolocated Information Processing System (GeoIPS) is a Python API and plugin based application developed primarily by the United States Naval Research Laboratory and the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA). It provides a consistent, configurable set of tools for operational personel and eases the development/delivery of operational products. The tropical cyclone (TC) group at CIRA has ported several algorithms as plugins for use with GeoIPS: SMAP/SMOS surface wind retrieval displays, ProxyVis nighttime visible imagery derived from IR channels, ProxyVis global composites and ocean products for TC forecasting. Additional CIRA products such as Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) products, Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) microwave sounder swaths, geostationary satellite Derived Motion Winds (DMW)-based products, and optical flow TC-centric winds may be ported in the future. Additionally, we are implementing GeoIPS output-formatter plugins to generate files compatible with commonly used AWIPS2 input formats. We will discuss an overview of the algorithms, the benefits of wrapping them as GeoIPS plugins, and some of the challenges of the porting process. We will also discuss the use of some of the new products by the National Hurricane Center (NHC), Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC), and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC).