NRL receives Navy Acquisition Excellence Award for global weather prediction model

Public release date: 24-Jun-2013
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Contact: Daniel Parry
nrlpao@nrl.navy.mil
202-767-2541
Naval Research Laboratory

WASHINGTON--The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Marine Meteorology Division and Space Science Division have been awarded the Department of the Navy Acquisition Excellence Technology Transition Award presented by Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition, Sean J. Stackley, May 14, 2013.

Recognizing individuals and teams for outstanding contributions in promoting competition and innovation in the Navy and Marine Corps acquisition process, the NRL team receives the award for a new generation atmospheric global prediction system.

The Navy Global Environmental Model (NAVGEM) is a high-resolution global weather prediction system representing a significant milestone in Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) system development introducing a semi-Lagrangian/semi-implicit (SL/SI) dynamical core with advanced moisture and ozone physical parameterization schemes.

"The greatest improvement is in the use of this new SL/SI method that enables the high-resolution needed for modern NWP systems while it still meets the operational scheduling requirement '" said Dr. Melinda Peng, head, Atmospheric Dynamics and Prediction Branch and NAVGEM team lead. "This results in the most significant Navy global numerical weather prediction advancement over the past 20 years."

The SL method is to find the trajectory of the fluid motion that starts at the previous time step and ends up at the NAVGEM grid point location. The SL integration removes the Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy (CFL) limitation, required in the Navy Operational Global Atmospheric Prediction System (NOGAPS), using the conventional Eulerian integration of the dynamical equations. The remaining issue of high-speed gravity waves in the wind divergence is mitigated by incorporating a SI method into the SL integration, where the terms responsible for the gravity waves are identified and treated in an implicit manner and rendering small time steps unnecessary.

Replacing the existing NOGAPS, introduced in 1982, NAVGEM allows for much higher model resolutions and excludes the need for small time steps (Currently, NAVGEM allows for 50 vertical levels in place of the 42 levels in NOGAPS and an increase of horizontal resolution from 42 kilometers to 37 kilometers.) to include cloud liquid water, cloud ice water, and ozone as fully predicted constituents.

NAVGEM contains new moisture, solar radiation and longwave-radiation parameterizations and upgrad1es to the data assimilation component to complete the 180-hour forecast in the allotted operation window.

NAVGEM was delivered to the Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center (FNMOC) on September 30, 2012, and entered official operation in March 2013. NAVGEM is part of the global modeling 'bridging strategy' where the Navy and the National Weather Service (NWS) jointly develop a national global forecasting system named Earth System Prediction Capability (ESPC) that will be fielded in the 2020 timeframe.

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The Office of Naval Research (ONR), Oceanographer of the Navy (OPNAV N2N6E) and Department of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition Program Executive Officer (PEO-C4I/PMW-120) provided funding for NAVGEM development.

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Public release date: 24-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Daniel Parry
nrlpao@nrl.navy.mil
202-767-2541
Naval Research Laboratory

WASHINGTON--The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Marine Meteorology Division and Space Science Division have been awarded the Department of the Navy Acquisition Excellence Technology Transition Award presented by Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition, Sean J. Stackley, May 14, 2013.

Recognizing individuals and teams for outstanding contributions in promoting competition and innovation in the Navy and Marine Corps acquisition process, the NRL team receives the award for a new generation atmospheric global prediction system.

The Navy Global Environmental Model (NAVGEM) is a high-resolution global weather prediction system representing a significant milestone in Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) system development introducing a semi-Lagrangian/semi-implicit (SL/SI) dynamical core with advanced moisture and ozone physical parameterization schemes.

"The greatest improvement is in the use of this new SL/SI method that enables the high-resolution needed for modern NWP systems while it still meets the operational scheduling requirement '" said Dr. Melinda Peng, head, Atmospheric Dynamics and Prediction Branch and NAVGEM team lead. "This results in the most significant Navy global numerical weather prediction advancement over the past 20 years."

The SL method is to find the trajectory of the fluid motion that starts at the previous time step and ends up at the NAVGEM grid point location. The SL integration removes the Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy (CFL) limitation, required in the Navy Operational Global Atmospheric Prediction System (NOGAPS), using the conventional Eulerian integration of the dynamical equations. The remaining issue of high-speed gravity waves in the wind divergence is mitigated by incorporating a SI method into the SL integration, where the terms responsible for the gravity waves are identified and treated in an implicit manner and rendering small time steps unnecessary.

Replacing the existing NOGAPS, introduced in 1982, NAVGEM allows for much higher model resolutions and excludes the need for small time steps (Currently, NAVGEM allows for 50 vertical levels in place of the 42 levels in NOGAPS and an increase of horizontal resolution from 42 kilometers to 37 kilometers.) to include cloud liquid water, cloud ice water, and ozone as fully predicted constituents.

NAVGEM contains new moisture, solar radiation and longwave-radiation parameterizations and upgrad1es to the data assimilation component to complete the 180-hour forecast in the allotted operation window.

NAVGEM was delivered to the Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center (FNMOC) on September 30, 2012, and entered official operation in March 2013. NAVGEM is part of the global modeling 'bridging strategy' where the Navy and the National Weather Service (NWS) jointly develop a national global forecasting system named Earth System Prediction Capability (ESPC) that will be fielded in the 2020 timeframe.

###

The Office of Naval Research (ONR), Oceanographer of the Navy (OPNAV N2N6E) and Department of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition Program Executive Officer (PEO-C4I/PMW-120) provided funding for NAVGEM development.

---

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-06/nrl-nrn062413.php

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Smithfield drops Paula Deen as spokeswoman

NEW YORK (AP) ? Paula Deen lost another part of her empire on Monday: Smithfield Foods said it was dropping her as a spokeswoman.

The announcement came days after the Food Network said it would not renew the celebrity cook's contract in the wake of revelations that she used racial slurs in the past.

Smithfield sold Paula Deen-branded hams in addition to using her as a spokeswoman. In a statement, the company said it "condemns the use of offensive and discriminatory language and behavior of any kind. Therefore, we are terminating our partnership with Paula Deen."

QVC also said it was reviewing its deal with Paula Deen Enterprises to sell the star's cookbooks and cookware.

"QVC shares the concerns being raised around the unfortunate Paula Deen situation," QVC said in a statement. "We are closely monitoring these events and the ongoing litigation. We are reviewing our business relationship with Ms. Deen, and in the meantime, we have no immediate plans to have her appear on QVC."

Sears said the company "is currently exploring next steps as they pertain to Ms. Deen's products." Wal-Mart, which sells Deen's cookware, was expected to have a statement later Monday.

The rapid downfall came after revelations that 66-year-old Food Network star admitted using racial slurs in the past in a deposition in a discrimination lawsuit. Deen was asked under oath if she had ever used the N-word. "Yes, of course," 66-year-old Deen said, though she added, "It's been a very long time."

Deen insisted she and her family do not tolerate prejudice, and in a videotaped apology, she asked fans and critics alike for forgiveness. It had been posted online for about an hour when the Food Network released a terse statement that it "will not renew Paula Deen's contract when it expires at the end of this month." The network refused to comment further.

Las Vegas-based Caesars Entertainment Corporation, which has Deen's restaurants in some of its casinos, said Friday that it "will continue to monitor the situation." Publisher Ballantine, which has a new Deen book scheduled to roll out this fall, used similar words.

Earlier Monday, NBC's Matt Lauer said Deen would appear Wednesday on "Today." Last week she abruptly canceled on the morning show before posting her videotaped apologies.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/smithfield-drops-paula-deen-spokeswoman-184711870.html

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Obama to unveil climate plan in Tuesday speech

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama is preparing to unveil his long-awaited national plan to combat climate change in a major speech, he announced on Saturday.

"There's no single step that can reverse the effects of climate change," Obama said in an online video released by the White House. "But when it comes to the world we leave our children, we owe it to them to do what we can."

People consulting with White House officials on Obama's plan, to be unveiled Tuesday at Georgetown University, say they expect him to put forth regulations on heat-trapping gases emitted by existing coal-fired power plans. They were not authorized to disclose details about the plan ahead of the announcement and requested anonymity.

Environmental groups have been pleading with Obama to take that step, but the administration has said it's focused first on controls on new power plants. The Environmental Protection Agency, using its authority under the Clean Air Act, has already proposed controls on new plants, but the rules have been delayed ? to the chagrin of states and environmental groups threatening to sue over the delays.

An administration official said last week that Obama was still weighing whether to include existing plants in the climate plan. The official wasn't authorized to comment by name and requested anonymity.

The White House wouldn't disclose any details Saturday about what steps Obama may call for. But his senior energy and climate adviser, Heather Zichal, said last week that controls on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants would be a major focus. She also said the plan would boost energy efficiency of appliances and buildings, plus expand renewable energy.

Putting a positive spin on a contentious partisan issue, Obama said the U.S. is uniquely poised to deal with the serious challenges posed by climate change. He said American scientists and engineers would have to design new fuels and energy sources, and workers will have to adapt to a clean energy economy.

"We'll need all of us, as citizens, to do our part to preserve God's creation for future generations," Obama said.

Environmental groups have for months been pushing Obama to make good on a threat he issued to lawmakers in February in his State of the Union address: "If Congress won't act soon to protect future generations, I will." Obama's move to take the matter into his own hands appears to reflect a growing consensus that opposition in Congress is too powerful for any meaningful, sweeping climate legislation to pass anytime soon.

"They shouldn't wait for Congress to act, because they'll be out of office by the time that Congress gets its act together," Rep. Henry Waxman, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said in an interview.

Environmental groups applauded the announcement that Obama was finally releasing a plan for executive action, but made clear they want to see firm proposals ? including controls for existing power plants.

"Combating climate change means curbing carbon pollution ? for the first time ever ? from the biggest single source of such dangerous gases: our coal-fired power plants," said Frances Beinecke, president of the National Resources Defense Council. "We stand ready to help President Obama in every way we can."

Another key issue hanging over the announcement ? but unlikely to be mentioned on Tuesday ? is Keystone XL, a pipeline that would carry oil extracted from tar sands in western Canada to refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast. A concerted campaign by environmental activists to persuade Obama to nix the pipeline appears to be an uphill battle. The White House insists the State Department is making the decision independently.

Obama's speech on Tuesday will come the day before he leaves for a weeklong trip to three African nations.

___

Online:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcL3_zzgWeU

___

Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-06-22-US-Obama-Climate-Change/id-f720b89da85949c8a69abe7bac2e11fd

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Whale of a win: Environmental victory protects whales from noise pollution

Michael Jasny, director of the?NRDC?Marine Mammal Project, contributed this article to LiveScience's?Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

By Michael Jasny,?Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) / June 20, 2013

A gray whale attracts attention by blowing air out of its blowhole as it cruises just off the shore of Washington State, Wednesday, June 19, 2013. A landmark case will protect whales from the painfully loud blasts used in oil exploration.

Alan Berner / The Seattle Times / AP

Enlarge

Here?s a recipe for an environmental train wreck: Take one of the world's most powerful industries, allow it to conduct harmful activities for years without obtaining the basic authorizations required by law, and produce a wealth of science making it plain that those harmful activities are putting endangered and vulnerable species at risk.

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Today (June 20, 2013), a number of conservation groups, including my own,?announced a landmark agreement?that may prevent one such train wreck ? this one in the already scarred Gulf of Mexico.

The underlying problem is airguns.?To search for deep deposits of oil, companies troll the ocean with high-volume airguns that, for weeks or months on end, regularly pound the water?with sound louder than virtually any other man-made source, save explosives. We now know that these surveys can have?a vast environmental footprint, disrupting feeding, breeding and communication for whales and other species over literally thousands of square miles.

It's the sort of activity that ordinarily requires approval under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, Endangered Species Act, and other federal laws. And yet the government has allowed it to proceed without authorization in the Gulf of Mexico, a body of water that may well be the most heavily prospected on the planet.

Industry runs dozens of exploration surveys each year in the northern Gulf, and many of them make use of large airgun arrays. For more than a decade now, the problem has languished, even as the threat posed by airgun exploration has loomed larger and larger.

Our alliance of conservation groups sued over the government's failure. In the end, we reached agreement with both federal officials and industry representatives that will help protect marine mammals while a comprehensive environmental review is underway.?

Among other things, our settlement puts biologically important areas off-limits to high-energy exploration, expands protections to additional at-risk species and requires the use of listening devices to help prevent injury to endangered sperm whales. Our agreement is also forward-looking, requiring industry to develop and field-test an alternative to airguns known as marine vibroseis, which could substantially reduce many of the impacts. Over the long term, the hope is that working together stands a better chance of saving species in the Gulf's biologically compromised, politically heated environment.

Marine conservation in the Gulf isn't like conservation in other places. Among other difficulties, the disruptive activities NRDC is concerned about are affecting the same populations still suffering from the?Deepwater Horizon?disaster.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/8mdPQNNuIAw/Whale-of-a-win-Environmental-victory-protects-whales-from-noise-pollution

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Friend: James Gandolfini died of heart attack

ROME (AP) ? An autopsy on James Gandolfini confirmed the "Sopranos" star died of a heart attack, with no evidence of substance abuse or foul play, a family friend said Friday.

Michael Kobold told reporters that Gandolfini's body has been released to a funeral director and that the family was working with the Italian government to speed up the bureaucratic red tape to get the body back to the United States soon. While the process can take up to 10 days, Kobold said the family was hoping to have the body repatriated by mid-week with a funeral planned in New York by Saturday at the latest.

Gandolfini, 51, died Wednesday night after being discovered in a Rome hotel room by a family member.

He had arrived in Rome on Tuesday and spent his first full day in the Eternal City with his son visiting the Vatican and dining in the hotel, the luxury Boscolo Exedra.

"He had a wonderful day," Kobold said of the father-son vacation.

Asked if Gandolfini had a history of heart problems, Kobold said he was healthy.

"There's nothing out of the ordinary. It was a heart attack. It was a natural cause," he said. "There was no foul play, no substance abuse. None of that."

Morgue officials at Rome's Policlinico Umberto I hospital said the U.S. Embassy had told them not to speak to the media, and that a family representative would provide the results of the autopsy. Gandolfini's sister, Leta, went to the morgue on Friday to formally identify the body.

Gandolfini was to have helped preside over the closing ceremony on Saturday of the Taormina Film Festival in Sicily. The festival instead is organizing a tribute to him.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/friend-james-gandolfini-died-heart-attack-135046174.html

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CSN: Zimmermann, Desmond lead Nats past Rox

Game in a nutshell: After an extra innings win against the Phillies on Wednesday night, the Nationals entered Thursday trying to build off the thrilling victory. Stringing wins together has been a tough task for the Nats this year, but having Jordan Zimmermann on the mound certainly helped their cause. Zimmermann was brilliant and carved up the Rockies all evening, retiring 14 consecutive batters at one point. He threw eight innings with one run allowed (zero earned) and put little pressure on Washington's lineup to hold up their end. But the Nats' offense also carried their weight with five runs to complete an all-around impressive victory for the team.

Hitting highlight: Adam LaRoche gave the Nats a nice cushion in the fifth inning with a two-RBI triple into the gap in right field. Denard Span led off the inning with a double off the scoreboard in right-center and Anthony Rendon followed with a single. Both were then brought home by LaRoche who hit his second triple of the year.

Pitching highlight: Zimmermann put in another masterful performance in a long line of them this season. The Nats' right-hander went eight innings with six hits, nine strikeouts, and one walk. He was efficient with his pitch count and relentless in attacking the strike zone. Zimmermann's threw 15 pitches, for instance, in the first inning, all of them strikes.

Key stat: Anthony Rendon has 25 hits on the season in his first 21 games as a pro. Danny Espinosa had 25 in 44 games before heading to the disabled list.

Up next: The Nats and Rockies continue their four-game series with Stephen Strasburg (3-6, 2.50 ERA) and Tyler Chatwood (4-1, 2.33) facing off. Chatwood drew many comparisons to Oswalt coming up through the minors, so the Nats may see similar stuff in Game 2 as they did on Thursday.

Source: http://www.natsinsider.com/2013/06/instant-analysis-nats-5-rockies-1.html

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Guardian: Documents expose massive UK spying op

LONDON (AP) ? British spies are running an online eavesdropping operation so vast that internal documents say it even outstrips the United States' international Internet surveillance effort, the Guardian newspaper reported Friday.

The paper cited British intelligence memos leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden to claim that U.K. spies were tapping into the world's network of fiber optic cables to deliver the "biggest internet access" of any member of the Five Eyes ? the name given to the espionage alliance composed of the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

That access could in theory expose a huge chunk of the world's everyday communications ? including the content of people's emails, calls, and more ? to scrutiny from British spies and their American allies. How much data the Brits are copying off the fiber optic network isn't clear, but it's likely to be enormous. The Guardian said the information flowing across more than 200 cables was being monitored by more than 500 analysts from the NSA and its U.K. counterpart, GCHQ.

"This is a massive amount of data!" the Guardian quoted a leaked slide as boasting. The paper said other leaked slides, including one labeled "Collect-it-all," gave hints as to the program's ambition.

"Why can't we collect all the signals all the time?" NSA chief Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander was quoted as saying in another slide. "Sounds like a good summer project for Menwith" ? a reference to GCHQ's Menwith Hill eavesdropping site in northern England.

The NSA declined to comment on Friday's report. GCHQ also declined to comment on the report, although in an emailed statement it repeated past assurances about the legality of its actions.

"Our work is carried out in accordance with a strict legal and policy framework which ensures that our activities are authorized, necessary, and proportionate," the statement said.

The Guardian, whose revelations about America and Britain's globe-spanning surveillance programs have reignited an international debate over the ethics of espionage, said GCHQ was using probes to capture and copy data as it crisscrossed the Atlantic between Western Europe and North America.

It said that, by last year, GCHQ was in some way handling 600 million telecommunications every day ? although it did not go into any further detail and it was not clear whether that meant that GCHQ could systematically record or even track all the electronic movement at once.

Fiber optic cables ? thin strands of glass bundled together and strung out underground or across the oceans ? play a critical role in keeping the world connected. A 2010 estimate suggested that such cables are responsible for 95 percent of the world's international voice and data traffic, and the Guardian said Britain's geographic position on Europe's western fringe gave it natural access to many of the trans-Atlantic cables as they emerged from the sea.

The Guardian said GCHQ's probes did more than just monitor the data live; British eavesdroppers can store content for three days and metadata ? information about who was talking to whom, for how long, from where, and through what medium ? for 30 days.

The paper quoted Snowden, the leaker, as saying that the surveillance was "not just a US problem. The U.K. has a huge dog in this fight ... They (GCHQ) are worse than the U.S."

Snowden, whose whereabouts are unknown, faces the prospect of prosecution in the United States over his disclosures, and some there have called on him to be tried for treason. Snowden has expressed interest in seeking asylum in Iceland, where a local businessman said he was prepared to fly the leaker should he request it.

Attempts by The Associated Press to reach Snowden have so far been unsuccessful.

___

Kimberly Dozier in Washington contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/guardian-documents-expose-massive-uk-spying-op-184321219.html

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