Instead of just looking at data sets, what if students could interact with them? Using the Integrated Data Viewer (IDV), a “Hurricane Katrina” module will show what factors contributed to the vast magnitude of societal impacts and resultant catastrophe on the Gulf Coast. IDV is a unique program that allows students to gain a three-dimensional perspective of the atmosphere, and thus atmospheric processes, with the ability to probe the data and take cross sections. Data access via THREDDS (Thematic Realtime Environmental Distributed Data Services) catalogs, OPeNDAP (Open-source Project for a Network Data Access Protocol) and ADDE (Abstract Data Distribution Environment) servers provide data in IDV supported formats, to allow for a variety of disparate data sets to be incorporated into one view using the IDV client. The students are able to use this interchangeable variety of data set overlays to illustrate atmospheric processes of interest. The use of multi-media COMET (Co-operative Program for Operational Meteorology, Education, and Training) modules enhances the educational aspect of these case studies and make for a richer learning experience.

The “Hurricane Katrina” module offers insight into the life cycle of the costliest tropical cyclone to make United States landfall by using IDV overlays detailing the meteorological and oceanic features, performance of numerical weather prediction models, and the damage resulting from Hurricane Katrina's landfall. With this module, the student has the opportunity to explore the connections between specific weather phenomena occurring in a landfalling tropical cyclone and the resulting impact on society. This module also examines how well, or poorly, numerical weather prediction models resolved the changes in track and intensity of Hurricane Katrina. When used as an educational tool, the “Hurricane Katrina” module will lead to a better understanding of how and why a landfalling tropical cyclone can cause such extensive damage at landfall, and why accurate, and precise, forecasting models are vital. The student can then apply the knowledge gained while navigating this module to current landfalling tropical systems. The “Hurricane Katrina” module enables the student to better understand the meteorological and oceanic features that contribute to the formation and maintenance of potentially destructive tropical cyclone, and their societal implications at landfall.