News Article Release
Midshipmen Participate in Severe Weather in-Field Training
May 9, 2012
From the USNA Oceanography Department
The Naval Academy Oceanography Department is sponsoring the third-annual Severe Weather in-Field Training (SWIFT) to the U.S. Great Plains from May 11-29 2012.
Ten midshipmen, led by Assistant Professor Bradford S. Barrett and Lt. Cmdr. Shawn Gallaher, will head first to the 15th Operational Weather Squadron in Scott Air Force Base to learn the role of weather duty forecasters in aviation operations.
The group will then head to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., to learn the process of severe weather forecasting. The group will start each day with a midshipman-led weather discussion where they note the likelihood, timing and location of severe convective storms. If storms are expected, the students will have the chance to verify their forecasts in person.
This year the team is adding a new level to real-time storm tracking with the help of a Washington, D.C.-based business led by Naval Academy graduates that has donated a mobile phone technology "GridMeNow" currently being used globally to geo-locate events as they happen. This will add a new dimension to the project, as the team will be able to share imagery and video of storm activity in real-time, along with location information. At the conclusion of the day, students will describe the events in their personal weather journals and post a summary to an online science blog.
SWIFT is funded, in part, by the USNA STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) Office and the Odgers Fund, Naval Academy Foundation. As a summer training activity, the mission of SWIFT is to engage midshipmen in forecasting, observing, and verifying severe convective storms and develop them professionally with visits to and briefings at NOAA and military operational and research facilities.
In addition to the NOAA and Air Force visits, midshipmen will also visit a science classroom at the Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics to share their excitement of meteorology with high school students in central Oklahoma. Since the inaugural SWIFT in 2010, it has grown to become a partnership between USNA Oceanography and Engineering faculty as well as USNA alumni. The position of the van is being tracked using an APRS Ham radio communication system, supported by the USNA Small Satellite Laboratory.
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