The long-term goal is to understand the physical processes that critically regulate the coupling between the oceanic and atmospheric boundary layers and develop advanced parameterizations of this interaction for a new generation of coupled ocean-atmosphere models.

The Coupled Ocean/Atmospheric Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS) Version 5.0 is a fully coupled, data assimilative model which consists of both COAMPS Version 3 and the Navy Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM) Version 4. Coupling of the two models is accomplished via the Earth System Modeling Framework (ESMF) in which surface fluxes of momentum and moisture are exchanged across the air-sea interface. This version of the user's manual (1.0) includes instructions to upload and setup COAMPS Version 5.0 on a user's workstation or on the High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP) DoD Supercomputing Resource Center (DSRC) platforms. Step-by-step instructions include using subversion control to upload COAMPS Version 5.0 code and name lists, setup of COAMPS and NCOM input/output directories and name lists input data acquisition, creation of high-resolution grid setup name lists using both COAMPS-OS (On-Scene) and RELO NCOM, and execution of COAMPS Version 5.0.

The U.S Navy has a strong interest in conducting atmospheric research in support of operational mesoscale forecasts used to derive atmospheric conditions deemed of strategic interest within the littoral. This effort will require relatively fine horizontal resolution (generally less than 10 km) to accurately represent the complex flow and thermodynamic conditions which typically reside near the coastal regions of the globe. The task is made even more difficult by the need to produce the required high resolution products within an operationally viable time frame. It is toward this end that the Naval Research Laboratory, in collaboration with the High Performance Computing Section of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Forecasts Systems Laboratory (NOAA FSL), has embarked on developing a parallel version of the Coupled Oceanic Atmospheric Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS, Hodur 1997). The COAMPS is a nonhydrostatic fully compressible finite difference model which uses the Arakawa-C grid stagger. The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief overview of the effort to parallelize COAMPS together with two examples illustrating the naval need for parallel computational capability.

This project aims to improve long term global climate simulations by resolving ocean mesoscale activity and the corresponding response in the atmosphere. The main computational objectives are; i) to perform and assess Community Earth System Model (CESM) simulations with the new Community Atmospheric Model (CAM) spectral element dynamical core; ii) use static mesh refinement to focus on oceanic fronts; iii) develop a new Earth System Modeling tool to investigate the atmospheric response to fronts by selectively filtering surface flux fields in the CESM coupler. The climate research objectives are 1) to improve the coupling of ocean fronts and the atmospheric boundary layer via investigations of dependency on model resolution and stability functions: 2) to understand and simulate the ensuing tropospheric response that has recently been documented in observations: and 3) to investigate the relationship of ocean frontal variability to low frequency climate variability and the accompanying storm tracks and extremes in high resolution simulations. This is a collaborative multi-institution project consisting of computational scientists, climate scientists and climate model developers. It specifically aims at DOE objectives of advancing simulation and predictive capability of climate models through improvements in resolution and physical process representation.

The Coupled Ocean/Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS) is coupled utilizing the Earth System Modeling Framework and validated for five test cases: 1) Adriatic Sea, 2) Ligurian Sea, 3) Monterey Bay, CA, 4) Kuroshio Extension System Study and 5) Coastal Peru. The COAMPS system makes use of meteorological observations including radiosondes, satellite data, ship reports, and ocean observations with time-dependent global atmospheric lateral boundary conditions from the Navy Operational Global Atmospheric Prediction System (NOGAPS). Time-dependent ocean boundary conditions are derived from global the Navy Coastal Ocean Model. Atmospheric and oceanographic forecast model output includes surface and upper-air meteorological fields, sea surface temperature (SST), three-dimensional (3D) ocean temperature (T), and salinity (S), velocity, two-dimensional (2D) mixed layer depth (MLD) and ocean acoustic products. The validation efforts contained in this report focus on the upper ocean (mixed layer), heat fluxes, near surface winds, temperature, moisture, the air-sea interaction, and marine boundary layer characteristics.

As the nation's economic activities, security concerns, and stewardship of natural resources become increasingly complex and globally interrelated, they become ever more sensitive to adverse impacts from weather, climate, and other natural phenomena. For several decades, forecasts with lead times of a few days for weather and other environmental phenomena have yielded valuable information to improve decision-making across all sectors of society. Developing the capability to forecast environmental conditions and disruptive events several weeks and months in advance could dramatically increase the value and benefit of environmental predictions, saving lives, protecting property, increasing economic vitality, protecting the environment, and informing policy choices. Over the past decade, the ability to forecast weather and climate conditions on subseasonal to seasonal (S2S) timescales, i.e., two to fifty-two weeks in advance, has improved substantially. Although significant progress has been made, much work remains to make S2S predictions skillful enough, as well as optimally tailored and communicated, to enable widespread use. Next Generation Earth System Predictions presents a ten-year U.S. research agenda that increases the nation's S2S research and modeling capability, advances S2S forecasting, and aids in decision making at medium and extended lead times.

The atmospheric forecast model of the Naval Research Laboratory's (NRL) Coupled Ocean/Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS) has been developed into a parallel, scalable model in a joint collaborative effort with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The new version of COAMPS has become the standard model of use at NRL and in LLNL's Atmospheric Science Division. The main purpose of this enterprise has been to take advantage of emerging scalable technology, to treat finer spatial and temporal resolutions needed in complex topographical or atmospheric conditions, as well as to allow the utilization of improved but computationally expensive physics packages. The parallel implementation facilitates the ability to provide real-time, high-resolution, multi-day numerical weather predictions for forecaster guidance, input to atmospheric dispersion simulations, and forecast ensembles.