R. Helpful Definitions
From SCOOP Wiki
Contents |
Automated Tropical Cyclone Forecasting System (ATCF)
The Automated Tropical Cyclone Forecasting System (ATCF) is a unique system used in the Tropical Cyclone analysis and forecasting process. It is a collaborative effort by multiple agencies to create and deliver information and products to its customers in a timely manner. The system incorporates data from a variety of Federal sites, including the Naval Research Lab (NRL), the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the National Hurricane Center (NHC). One capability of the system is to use past distributions of storm track and intensity to create forecast realizations which are then used to create cumulative wind probabilities. Some users of this data include the National Maritime Forecast Center / Joint Typhoon Warning Center (NMFC/JTWC), NHC, Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC), and Hydrometeorological Prediction Center (HPC). The use of the system is beneficial for everyone, as it is used to produce forecast advisories, public advisories, International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) aviation warnings, and position estimates. The system has already proved valuable by reducing the required time before issuing an advisory from four hours to three.
CH3D
CH3D is a Curvilinear-grid Hydrodynamics 3D model originally developed by Dr. Y. Peter Sheng. The model uses a non-orthogonal grid, which makes it suitable for coastal and nearshore water applications with complex shoreline and bathymetry. Currently there are several versions, including CH3D-SSMS and CH3D-IMS. CH3D-SSMS is used for storm surge and coastal inundation modeling, and CH3D-IMS is used for a variety of applications such as circulation, wave, sediment transport, water quality, light attenuation, and seagrass modeling.
For more information on CH3D, go here
Condor
Condor is a workload management system developed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It allows users to process large, computationally expensive jobs over a network of CPUS, drastically reducing the amount of time needed to run a job. In the context of SCOOP, Condor can reduce the processing time of storm prediction models for example, potentially reducing the amount of time it takes to warn the public of approaching storms.
For more information on Condor, go here
Cyberinfrastructure
Cyberinfrastructure refers to any environment that supports the andvancement and integration of new, high performance computing. It has become a technological solution to the problem of connecting rapidly evolving data, computers and scientists over the internet.
Graphical User Interface (GUI)
A GUI is an interface between a computer and a user that provides the user with visual indicators and icons to operate a computer or application, as opposed to text based command lines used in operating systems such as DOS. A well known example of a GUI is the Windows operating system, whereas a well known text based interface is LINUX.
Grid Computing
Grid Computing refers to a form of distributed computing, whereby a large, virtual system of networked computers is used to process large, computationally expensive jobs. Jobs are typically submitted to a virtual machine, where a distribution system allocates parts or all of the job to available resources within the grid. Condor is an example of a high power distribution system.
SOAP
Previously known “Simple Object Access Protocol”, the current version, v1.2, of SOAP no longer carries an official acronym. SOAP is a protocol for exchanging information over HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) in XML format. SOAP was created to allow internet communication between applications, and uses HTTP because it is so widely supported. SOAP also facilitates communication between applications running on different operating systems that use different technologies and different programming languages. In the context of SCOOP, SOAP is useful because it provides a means for transferring diverse information between many users. For more information on SOAP, go to http://www.w3schools.com/soap/default.asp
SSMS
SSMS, or Storm Surge Modeling System, refers to a CH3D modeling system used by the University of Florida for storm surge and coastal inundation forecasting and hindcasting. It uses various wind models to generate simulations and can be triggered by NHC advisories. Currently, the domains for the model cover a large portion of the Florida coastline.
For more information on CH3D-SSMS go here
Time Cycles
A time cycle is the time interval between the start of one cycle and the start of the next cycle. This time interval usually remains constant for any given situation. In forecasting, a time cycle refers to the interval of time between the start of each forecast. For instance, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) could make a forecast for the track of a particular storm. As more data comes in about the development of the storm, they continue to make forecasts, putting out an updated storm track every six hours. In this case, the time cycle would be six hours.
R1. Below is a hypothetical situation. The NHC puts out three forecasts, at initial time 0,
then at hour 6, then at hour 12. What is the time cycle of this forecast model?
|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|
0 6 12 18 0 6 12 18 0
|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|----|
6 9 12 15 18 21 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24
|-------------------|-------------------|-------------------|
12 0 12 0
Web Mapping Service (WMS)
A WMS is an Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) specification that allows data to be shared in a digital image format, such as jpeg, gif or png. To acquire data using a WMS, a client submits a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) request to a WMS server. The URL request contains certain parameters such as what information should be shown on the map, where the image should be referenced from, image output size and image format. If using a format that supports transparent backgrounds such as gif or png, maps with the same geographical parameters and output size can be overlayed. This ability, along with WMS’s interoperability between multiple servers gives the user the potential to create a highly customized map based on many different sources. For more information on WMS, go to http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/wms
XML
Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a customizable markup language that provides a standardized structure for the transmission and storage of data. It is used along with HyperText Markup Language (HTML), which focuses on the display and format of the same data. Just like SOAP, XML is just another contributor to the standardization of data transfer in the SCOOP program. An example of a note written in XML from the interns to Justin is:
<note> <to>Justin</to> <from>Interns</from> <heading>Question</heading> <body>What does this all mean?</body> </note>
For more information on XML and HTML, go to http://www.w3schools.com/xml/default.asp
- Forward to S. List of Acronyms
- Return to SCOOP Tutorial Main Story
- Return to SCOOP Tutorial Quick Links
