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To satisfy the large, complex data management needs of generic 

 ocean and atmospheric models, a software system has been developed by 

 NRL. This system is called the Naval Environmental Operational 

 Nowcasting System (NEONS). It consists of a set of generic database 

 management tools which handle current and anticipated future data sets, 

 unify the data access interface protocols, ingest/export utilities, and 

 permit data browsing. Presently it can handle data received from 

 geostationary and polar orbiting satellites, conventional at-sea field 

 observations, the outputs from numerical models, climatological and 

 geographic data, and terrain and bathymetric data. NEONS is readily 

 portable to a variety of mainframes and workstations. All three sites of 

 NOAA's Global Climate Perspectives program have been provided with 

 NEONS. When new NEONS applications and capabilities are developed by 

 NOAA, they are immediately transferred back to NRL and the Navy. 



In ocean modeling, Navy S&T programs have developed a tremendous 

 capability to provide a wide variety of products required to run a global, 

 eddy-resolving, ocean circulation model. Currently, Navy has and is 

 running operational ocean forecast models for particular regions of the 

 world, such as the Gulf Stream, North Atlantic and North Pacific. 



A key challenge for all ocean models is data assimilatin from a 

 multitude of sources. The Navy's Data Assimilation and Rapid Transition 

 (DART) project at NRL is presently demonstrating a data-assimilative, 

 high-resolution ocean forecasting capability for the North Pacific. Within 

 a few years it is planned to have an on-line, eddy-resolving data 

 assimilation system for the world ocean. CNR programs are leaders in the 

 use of satellite data as input to models. Recently, NRL used winds 

 forecast by the operational version of the NOGAPS model as input to its 

 Pacific ocean model. The resultant prediction forecast an ENSO (El Nino 

 Southern Oscillation) event, which had previously been unanticipated by 

 other coupled ocean-atmosphere models. News of this prediction carried 

 in some South American newspapers caused considerable reaction. 



The Navy's Geosat Follow On (GFO) series of satellite altimeters 

 will provide a wealth of altimetric data for both the Navy and the national 

 S&T ocean modeling community. NRL is responsible for the oceanographic 

 analysis software for GFO and discussions are already underway with 

 NOAA to provide for the civilian distribution of these data. 



