A THREE DIMENSIONAL MESOSCALE ATMOSPHERIC SIMULATION SYSTEM FOR USE IN VARIOUS MOBILE BATTLEFIELD ENVIRONMENTS

A PORTABLE, AUTONOMOUS NUMERICAL WEATHER PREDICTION SYSTEM DESIGNED TO OPERATE ON A MINICOMPUTER WILL BE DEVELOPED FOR USE AS A TACTICAL DECISION AID UNDER BATTLEFIELD CONDITIONS. IT WILL BE ABLE TO PREDICT THE EVOLUTION OF NATURAL OBSCURANTS SUCH AS RAIN, FOG, AND DUST AND WILL BE CAPABLE OF FORECASTING TRAJECTORIES OF PLUMES OF COMBATGENERATED OBSCURANTS LIKE DUST, BLAST SMOKE, AND TOXIC CLOUDS PRODUCED THROUGH CHEMICAL WARFARE. OPERATIONAL WEATHER FORECASTS WILL BE GENERATED USING A REGIONAL VERSION OF THE SOPHISTICATED MESOSCALE ATMOSPHERIC SIMULATION SYSTEM (MASS), A FULLY THREE-DIMENSIONAL PRIMITIVE EQUATION MODEL CAPABLE OF PREDICTING PRECIPITATION IN REGIONS OF COMPLEX TERRAIN AND IN REGIONS CHARACTERIZED BY INTRICATE LAND/WATER DISTRIBUTIONS. THUS, ESTIMATES OF GROUND TRAFFICABILITY CAN ALSO BE EXTRACTED FROM ITS DETAILED FORECAST PRODUCTS. BASED ON MINI-SUPERCOMPUTER BENCHMARK TIMING FIGURES, IT IS ANTICIPATED THAT A 9 HOUR FORECAST WILL BE PRODUCED IN LESS THAN 2 HOURS, GIVING THE TACTICAL COMMAND STAFF AT LEAST 7 HOURS OF FORECAST UTILITY. INITIAL TESTS OF THE OPERATIONAL NUMERICAL WEATHER PREDICTION SYSTEM WILL BE CONDUCTED USING CLIMATOLOGICAL WEATHER DATA FOR 120 KM BY 120 KM AREA IN THE HONDURAS/NICARAGUA BORDER REGION OF CENTRAL AMERICA.