The Software There are ten          *  IBM Visualization Data

 major software components             Explorer™

 integrated into the Olympic         * WordPerfect® for UNIX.

 Weather Support System. Except      * GramR®

 for WordPerfect, which is a

 general high-end word            This tongue-twisting array of

 processing program, all of       titles and acronyms comprises

 these software packages have     some of the latest computer

 been designed specifically to    software currently available

 assist meteorologists in the     in the field of meteorological

 analysis and prediction of the   analysis and prediction. A

 weather. They include:           simplified description of the

                                  capabilities of each of these

    *  the National Centers       programs follows.

      Advanced Weather

      Interactive Processing      N-AWIPS

      System (N-AWIPS)

    * the GEneral                 The National Centers Advanced

      Meteorological PAcKage      Weather Interactive Processing

      (GEMPAK)                    System, developed by the

    * the Eta-8                   National Weather Service¹s

    *  the Local Analysis and     National Centers for

      Prediction System (LAPS)    Environmental Prediction at

    *  the Interactive Computer   Camp Springs, Maryland, takes

      Worded Forecast program     data generated by atmospheric

      (ICWF)                      models, reformats the data,

    * the Warning Decision        and then displays them in the

      Support System (WDSS)       form of weather maps and

    *  the RAMM Advanced          graphs with which

      Meteorological Satellite    meteorologists are familiar.

      Demonstration and           The N-AWIPS also has the

      Interpretation System       capability of storing and

      (RAMSDIS)                   displaying other types of data

                                  important to meteorologists,

                                  such as radar images,

            [Image]               satellite pictures, plain

                                  language weather forecasts,

 The capabilities of the          discussions, and tables of

 N-AWIPS enables forecasters to   weather data.

 look at the output of

 atmospheric simulations in       GEMPAK

 various formats. Here, the

 N-AWIPS display shows the        The GEMPAK software, which is

 forecast atmospheric pressure    the foundation upon which the

 pattern three hours hence and    N-AWIPS operates, enables the

 the precipitation accumulation   meteorologist to create

 for that three hour period       displays of meteorological

 over the southeast United        data that the Processing

 States.                          System itself does not

                                  routinely produce, e.g.,

            [Image]               different visual perspectives

                                  of weather data, etc. In

                                  short, the GEMPAK program is

 The Eta-8 numerical simulation   what gives the N-AWIPS its

 of the atmosphere produces a     interactive capability,

 wealth of information that       allowing meteorologists to

 assists meteorologists in        interact with the computer and

 preparing forecasts. Here,       to have it either generate

 using the N-AWIPS display        specialized displays of

 capabilities, three              weather data or make

 meteorological fields            alterations to data displays

 generated by the Eta-8 are       previously generated.

 depicted: boundary layer

 moisture flux (i.e., the rate    ETA-8

 at which atmospheric moisture

 is changing on the gird          The Eta-8, developed by the

 field), wind direction and       NWS¹s National Centers for

 speed, and the temperature of    Environmental Prediction, is a

 the dew point.                   sophisticated analysis and

                                  prediction model of the

                                  atmosphere. It provides

                                  twice-daily high quality

                                  guidance for weather

                                  conditions out to 48 hours,

                                  and the output of the model

                                  can be used directly by the

                                  ICWF program, which will be

                                  described later. The Eta-8 is

                                  such a complex model of the

                                  atmosphere that, if it is to

                                  be run in a timely fashion, it

                                  needs the services of a

                                  ³super² computer. In support

                                  of the Olympic Games, the

                                  Eta-8 will be run under the

                                  auspices of the National

                                  Centers for Environmental

                                  Prediction in Camp Springs,

                                  Maryland, in cooperation with

                                  Cray Research Inc., using

                                  their C90 Class 7 super

                                  computer facilities in

                                  Minnesota and Wisconsin.



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        THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE: WEATHER AND THE XXVI OLYMPIAD