Hurricane WRF: Transition of Research To Operations Facilitated By The Developmental Testbed Center

Abstract

The NCEP/EMC operational HWRF model is an important component of the numerical guidance used at the National Hurricane Center, making it critical that the HWRF model be continuously improved. The Developmental Testbed Center (DTC) has partnered with NOAA NCEP to work with the transfer of new technologies onto HWRF. The DTC's approach follows two strategies. First, the DTC recognizes that the use of a single code base between research and operations facilitates seamless exchange between the two groups. Over the last year, the DTC has worked with NCEP to merge the components of the operational HWRF onto Community codes. This work has culminated with the transfer of a community model for operational implementation for the 2011 hurricane season. Since March 2010, the DTC has been providing code management and user support for the community HWRF. Our presentation will describe the process used to transfer the community model onto operations and the support that DTC provides to its users. The second strategy is to maintain a functionally-similar HWRF testing infrastructure to evaluate new research that has potential for transition to operations. The DTC has access to research computational platforms which make it possible to conduct comprehensive multi-season tests as well as diagnostic case studies. We will present results of the latest tests performed at the DTC and how these activities support operations.