1. Airborne Science Technology Institute (ASTI) The Airborne Science and Technology Institute (ASTI) concept development project is underway with the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES). Classroom and field activities are enabled by NASA GSFC Director’s Discretionary Fund (DDF) support (G. Bland/614.6, and T. Miles/569). Students and faculty from aviation, science, and engineering disciplines are learning to plan, prepare, and fly training and remote sensing missions using small, ultra-low-cost unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). An important objective is to support the university’s precision agriculture research efforts in the near-term, and observations related to coastal biology studies in the future. The project is proceeding well. Students and faculty are routinely flying trainers, and remote sensing research missions have begun. Interest is growing and the team is expanding. University cooperation is excellent. A “UAV Concentration” option within the Aviation Sciences curriculum is under consideration. Techniques and practices are being developed that are showing significant value to other academic and research institutions. Activities will soon engage local commercial UAV providers and operators to formulate internship and career opportunities. Aim is to develop this new capability to support Earth science research.

2. Airborne Science & Technology Institute (ASTI) Geoff Bland/614.6 Ultra-Low-Cost Training and Remote Sensing UAVs UMES Aviation, Science, & Engineering Students & Faculty

3. Coupling High-Resolution Earth System Models Using Advanced Computational Technologies Description and Objectives Apply advanced computational technologies to the problem of coupling high-resolution Earth system models for more accurate and comprehensive data & analysis Combine the emerging technologies: Earth System Modeling Framework (ESMF) Land Information System (LIS) Grid Analysis and Display System (GrADS)/Distributed Oceanographic Data System (DODS) AND couple them with: Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model Goddard Cumulus Ensemble (GCE) Approach Phase 1: Couple the LIS to the WRF & GCE using parallel techniques with the ESMF for timing, gridding & control and the GrADS/DODS server for distributed data access & mining Phase 2: Evaluate coupled system for the International H 2 O Project (IHOP) field campaign case study, including performance tuning Phase 3: Expand application to regional & continental scales Christa D. Peters-Lidard, GSFC/614.3 Co-Is/Partners Wei-Kuo, Tao, GSFC, Paul Houser, GMU/CREW LIS ESMF GrADS/DODS Server WRF GCE Coupling Science Application Water & energy cycle Accomplishments Delivered design document for coupling LIS to GCE and WRF with ESMF. Populated GrADS/DODS Server (GDS) with data for the 2002 International H2O Project (IHOP) experiment. Completed fully ESMF-compliant coupling of LIS and WRF Completed fully ESMF-compliant coupling of LIS and GCE Completed IHOP synthetic and real cases with WRF, synthetic cases with GCE

4. LIS Impact on WRF Precipitation Forecast WRF Default WRF+LIS Observed: Radar+Gauge WRF/LIS Modeled using Radar+Gauge precipitation for LIS uncoupled Spinup WRF/LIS Modeled using NOAA Model precipitation (GDAS) for LIS uncoupled Spinup WRF/LIS Modeled using WRF Standard Initialiation (WRFSI) w/o LIS spinup Observed

5. Impact of ESMF on Coupled Performance Key conclusion: ESMF-compliant coupling adds minimal computational overhead relative to native (traditional/time- tested) models Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF) Goddard Cumulus Ensemble Model (GCE)