Under this Major Research Instrumentation award, the Synoptic-Dynamic program of the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the State University of New York at Albany will procure a computer system for storage, analysis, and display of meteorological and climate data. The system will consist of a large, fast, expandable storage array, a server, and display facilities. A large storage array is needed to keep the ever-expanding meteorological datasets available for research and educational purposes. The server will be used to generate a variety of diagnostic calculations. The new display facility will help establish a state of the art "map room" and will provide the flexibility and sense of community required to foster interactive research and education. The new facility will allow improved display and visualization of raw observations, model grid fields, and derived diagnostic quantities. The system will facilitate ongoing and future research, and will allow the Principal Investigators to better train the next generation of researchers. Exposure to state of the art research tools not only aids in the posing of new research ideas and the completion of research, but also prepares the students for further work after they graduate.
Broader impacts fall into three categories: education, training, and dissemination of results to the broader community. Material from the PIs' research has been and will continue to be used in both undergraduate and graduate classes. Software developed for research and educational purposes will be freely shared with others in the community. Finally, the studies supported by the new facilities have the potential to improve weather forecasting.
