Operational Model Transitions: Examples in Integrated Systems

Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center (FNMOC), under the direction of the Commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command (CNMOC), has the mission to operate global and regional meteorological and oceanographic models in support of Naval operations. Located in Monterey, California, FNMOC provides around-the-clock operational support to the US Navy, US Marine Corp, other US Government agencies, and elements of the armed forces of allied nations. This support ranges from tactical scale products to tailored climatology for mission planning.

Ongoing improvements of our numerical weather prediction (NWP) models by the research community, combined with rapid changes in military operations and DOD information assurance policies, demand a streamlined transition process under a strict configuration management system. These transitions are often complicated by the necessity to integrate the NWP models into complicated information technology (IT) systems and operational run control schedules.

This paper will detail two recent NWP transitions which illustrate some of the challenges and solutions associated with the systems integration. The 1st example discusses the use of the NOAH Land Surface Model within the Coupled Ocean/Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS) and the analyses surrounding the choice of initial conditions. The 2nd example outlines the addition of radar data assimilation to COAMPS under a new Real-time Environmental Assessment runtime and post-processing system.