The Chesapeake Interactive Modeling Project Jay Austin Large Lakes Observatory, U. Minnesota Duluth Jessica Crouch*, Mike Dinniman §, Yuzhong Shen*, John Klinck §, Elizabeth Smith §, Lee Belfore* Old Dominion University ( § Center for Coastal Physical Oceanography; * Virginia Modeling and Simulation Center) Funded by the State of Virginia

Motivation Numerical models play an ever increasing role in Oceanographic research Most models are of such complexity that they are out of reach as teaching tools At the same time, the basic concept of numerical modeling is an ideal paradigm for teaching

Target audiences Formal education: K-12, undergraduate, and graduate education Informal Education: Science museums Resource managers

Method Take a standard, open source numerical model and apply it to a particular system Allow user to control forcing of model and data display through a Graphical Front End Pare down model so that speed of execution is fast enough that casual user find it interesting, but still retains physical fidelity

Technical details Numerical model: the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS), available from the IMCS at Rutgers University. F90 code –50x20 curvilinear masked grid, 10 vertical levels –Salt, no temperature –Tides imposed at offshore boundary –Allows user to modify wind field, freshwater flux –Allows user to choose V, S, sfc height, drifters Front End: C++, using the Fast Light Toolkit

Why use a “real” model? While this is a kludgy approach to the problem, it allows us greatest flexibility in the long run Allows for porting of model to other geographic domains Incorporation of submodels (biology, chemistry, sediments, etc) Large user community

Let’s see it!

Future improvements To Forcing: –Incorporate basic biological model –Incorporate land-use models –Port to different geographic regions To output: –Allow user to place “moorings”, developing time series Currently have proposal to SeaGrant to build “Modular” system