COAMPS-OS is an on-scene weather prediction system that incorporates database and visualization components to support the operational deployment of the Navy’s Coupled Ocean / Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS^TM). COAMPS is a globally relocatable, nonhydrostatic NWP model capable of weather prediction at spatial and temporal scales of 1-100 km and 0-72 hours. COAMPS-OS has recently been enhanced to better support the operational forecasters, government agencies, and research institutions that use the system. The enhancements include support for LINUX PC-based computational clusters using MPI and web-based Java applets to configure COAMPS, set meteogram locations, and extract/format COAMPS output for use in atmospheric dispersion models such as HPAC and VLSTrack. The applets allow for the operation of COAMPS-OS from platforms that support an Internet browser and the Java plugin. The automated visualization capabilities of COAMPS-OS have been enhanced to include new products and animations, processed in parallel to the model runs.

Development of COAMPS-OS will continue during the next year. Improvements to the system will include new 3D atmospheric and oceanographic variational analyses with a real-time verification system, access to real-time satellite data, a 3D cloud analysis, a radar wind analysis, and new products and product suites to address specific forecast requirements of the operators. Future improvements include the merging of the forecast system with a real-time nowcast system, interfacing to a wave model, and possibly transitioning to WRF.