Providing accurate guidance and life-saving capabilities

The National Security Applications Program at RAL has grown to include a combination of DOD, foreign, and private–industry projects. RAL’s objective is to improve meteorological support of homeland security needs through the use of new capabilities in high–resolution mesoscale modeling, short–term thunderstorm prediction, multi–dimensional integrated displays, numerical weather prediction and fine–scale regional and global climatology prediction. New technologies are in operational use at Army ranges (ATEC) and are being implemented in Washington, DC at the Pentagon, originally sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and later adopted by the Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA).

While protecting the nation from deliberate acts is the goal of this work, an added benefit is improved ability to protect citizens from a toxic release caused by a natural disaster or an industrial or transportation accident. Lessons learned on these projects will also increase both our understanding and our ability to predict fine–scale urban weather.

Benefits and Impacts

Read how we have met meteorological challenges with creative, practical solutions, and measurable benefits.

With support from USAID, UCAR launched an initiative to print 3D weather stations that can fill observational gaps in developing countries. A single station takes about a week to print at a cost of $… more
CRMe is being used within the Climate Science Applications Program’s Regional Climate Science for Adaptation group to link into other national laboratory-level projects, such as the Department of… more
WHATCH’EM is now being leveraged for use in other model-based studies funded by NASA, NIH, and DTRA to develop an early warning system for dengue risk.
Public health officials are now using this framework to reduce vulnerabilities.
Saving money, power and time with this LES modeling method. A viable tool for microscale operational, educational, and more comprehensive research applications.
The system helps decision-makers mitigate the risk of air pollution in Delhi and surrounding regions. The technology may be adapted to provide air quality forecasts for other polluted areas in… more
This technology was successfully integrated into the US Department of Defense (DoD) emergency response modeling systems—HPAC (Hazard Prediction and Assessment Capability) and JEM (Joint Effects Model… more
The AnEn outperform a power prediction based on the European Center for Medium range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF) ensemble wind predictions, a leading in operational forecasting at a fraction of the… more
The ability to predict when and where outbreaks will occur would help allocate limited public health resources. This research is leading to better placement of care givers and medicines to reduce… more
This data assimilation system was designed to take advantage of local weather observations and has been used to improve weather forecasts and historical climate analyses for the US Army Test Ranges,… more
Knowledge of detailed predicted and actual weather conditions saves the Army millions of dollars annually. NCAR has since adapted the system and created derivative technologies for use by other… more