9351532 Mullen This project is completing the modernization of a computerized weather laboratory. We are patterning our laboratory after the successful "Networked Desktop Synoptic Laboratory" that was developed by the Department of Atmospheric Science at the University of Illinois, but our laboratory is being tailored to fit the specific needs of our undergraduate program. We are initially relying upon analysis and display software supported and distributed by the NSF-sponsored UNIDATA Program which will minimize the project's "spin-up" time. Once the proposed laboratory facilities are in place, new analysis software and laboratory exercises will be developed by the PI that, once thoroughly tested, will be donated to the UNIDATA Program Center Office for distribution to other interested atmospheric science departments. The modernized laboratory fulfills the department's projected hardware needs in the area of undergraduate laboratory instruction in synoptic meteorology (both for upper-division majors and survey-level non-science majors) for the next 5 years. It allows us to take full advantage of the ongoing modernization of the National Weather Service (NWS) which includes the eventual co-location of our department with the NWS Tucson Forecast Office. ***
