- Shelley submitted the following abstract to the Symposium on Education at the 2007 AMS
Instead of just looking at data sets, what if students could interact with them? Three such interactive, educational
modules are being built using the Integrated Data Viewer (IDV): (1) the "2005 Atlantic Tropical Cyclone Season" module
- the most active in history; (2) Hurricane Katrina - the costliest storm in US History; and (3) Hurricane Wilma - the
most intense Hurricane in Atlantic history. Each module offers a unique perspective into the broad spectrum of
unprecedented features of the season. Through IDV, the "2005 Atlantic Tropical Cyclone Season" module illustrates which
climatological processes were present to force the unusually active and violent season. The Hurricane Katrina module
will show what factors contributed to the vast magnitude of societal impacts and resultant catastrophe on the Gulf
Coast. The final module of Hurricane Wilma utilizes the predominant, and relevant, meteorological and oceanographic
features to illustrate the formation of the most intense hurricane on record. IDV is a unique program that allows
students to gain a three-dimensional perspective of the atmosphere, and thus processes, with the ability to probe the
data and take cross sections. Data access via THREDDS (Thematic Realtime Environmental Distributed Data Services)
catalogs, OPeNDAP (Open-source Project for a Network Data Access Protocol) and ADDE (Abstract Data Distribution Environment)
servers provide data in IDV supported formats, to allow for a variety of disparate data sets to
be incorporated into one view using the IDV client. The students are able to use this interchangeable variety of data
set overlays to illustrate atmospheric processes of interest. The use of multi-media COMET (Co-operative Program for
Operational Meteorology, Education, and Training) modules enhances the educational aspect of these case studies and make
for a richer learning experience. These module capabilities enable educators to reach a wide range of students with the
unprecedented "2005 Atlantic Tropical Cyclone Season", Hurricane Katrina, and Hurricane Wilma modules.
The "2005 Atlantic Tropical Cyclone Season" module offers a climatic perspective on the extremely active season by
using IDV overlays of certain climatological parameters and synoptic features. With this module, the student has an
opportunity to explore, and determine, the amount of forcing exerted by the anomalous environment on the frequency and
severity of Atlantic tropical cyclones in 2005. When used as an educational tool, the "2005 Atlantic Tropical Cyclone
Season" module will lead to a better understanding of the climate forcing mechanisms present in that unprecedented
season, especially the Atlantic Multi-Decadal Oscillation. The student can then apply the knowledge gained while
navigating this module to current tropical systems. The "2005 Atlantic Tropical Cyclone Season" enables the student to
understand and recognize climate patterns (similar to those present in 2005), and their implications in tropical
cyclogenesis and maintenance.
