Marine Meteorology and Space Weather

The Marine Meteorology and Space Weather program sponsors innovative Basic (6.1) and Applied (6.2) Research in the broad thrust areas of atmospheric prediction and processes, atmospheric effects, air-sea interaction, atmospheric boundary layer processes, satellite remote sensing, and ionospheric analysis and prediction. Emphasis is placed on basic research to improve the fundamental understanding of atmospheric and lower ionospheric processes, and applied research on data, analysis, and prediction systems for forecasting environmental parameters critical to Navy and Marine Corps operations in maritime and littoral regions. Additionally, Advanced Technology Development (6.3) projects supporting promising applied research from proof-of-concept through operational demonstration are periodically managed through this program. Planning letters should follow these guidelines and are welcome in any of these phases of scientific maturity and topic interest. While planning letters may be submitted at any time, a deadline of June 1st of the calendar year preceding the Fiscal Year that starts on Oct. 1st is highly recommended.

Enduring Research Concentration Areas

1. Atmospheric prediction addresses topics in global, mesoscale, and on-scene modeling and forecasting focused on the maritime atmosphere and coastal zone. Topics of interest include:
   • Enhancing the skill of current regional and global prediction systems through novel use of improved physics and numerics, machine learning, observations and data assimilation
   • Development of physical parameterizations suitable for near-real-time, high spatial and temporal resolution environmental prediction
   • Improving the understanding of processes in the marine atmosphere that will enable the next generation of coupled (land/ocean/ice/atmosphere and stratosphere/thermosphere) prediction systems
   • Novel application of machine learning prediction technologies to improve observations, data assimilation, analysis, forecasting and applications of atmospheric structures.
2. Atmospheric processes focuses on detailed studies on phenomenology of meteorological features, including their changes, sub-seasonal variability and impacts on the atmospheric system. Topics of interest include:
   • Tropical cyclone behavior and evolution, especially genesis, intensity (including rapid intensification) and structure issues in the Western Pacific
   • Improved global and mesoscale prediction and predictability in the Arctic
   • Improved prediction at synoptic to sub-seasonal timescales and improved decision support to Naval operations.
3. Satellite remote sensing efforts broadly include topics that range the spectrum of end-to-end formulation, production and analysis of satellite based environmental monitoring (SBEM) of the Earth system. Topics of interest include:
   • Development and transition of algorithms to better characterize atmospheric processes; Recent efforts include tropical cyclone diagnostics, aerosols and tropospheric chemistry, clouds and hydrometeors
   • Software engineering and product fusion/integration into a real-time, open-source satellite data processing suite, such as the Naval Research Laboratory’s Geolocated Information Processing System (GeoIPS)
   • Demonstration, calibration and validation of new satellite data sources for Earth system observing, including optical, infrared and passive/active microwave sensors.
4. Air-sea interaction and marine boundary layer processes, closely coordinated with the Physical Oceanography and Coastal Geosciences programs, encompassing process studies and coupled-model development extending from the top of the atmospheric boundary layer to the bottom of the ocean mixed layer. Topics of interest include:
   • Marine boundary layer dynamics, especially in non-equilibrium conditions that diverge from Monin-Obukhov Similarity Theory constraints such as coastal and frontal regions, internal boundary layers and diurnal transition periods
   • Physics of energy exchange and diurnal to synoptic exchange between ocean and atmosphere
   • Impact of turbulence and advective regimes on marine boundary layer structure
   • Cloud-topped boundary layer processes and microphysics.
5. Atmospheric effects emphasizing improvements to the modeling and prediction of environmental and propagation channel effects on electromagnetic and electro-optic communication and sensors critical to Navy and Marine Corps operations. Topics of interest include:
   • Marine boundary layer aerosols, optical turbulence and visibility
   • Aerosol-cloud-radiation interaction
   • Atmospheric electromagnetic refractivity, particularly near the surface and at low grazing angles that impact beyond-line-of-sight propagation.
6. Space Weather research on topics specifically important to Naval operations in expeditionary and austere locations such as low latitude and high latitude maritime regions and skywave propagation. Topics include:
   • Improved observation, specification and numerical representation of the global and regional ionosphere especially in terms of the bottom-side ionosphere and in Equatorial and Arctic regions where scarce and limited ground-based observations are available to constrain the analysis
   • Studies of ionospheric irregularities which impact radio frequency propagation at all frequencies from VLF up to and including those used by GNSS.

Current Research Priorities and Opportunities

While scientific quality is always the most important factor of the review process, an additional significant criterion is the priority of the research topic, which is based on several factors including the current and projected funding availability and thrust areas of the overall program. If we have funded or are currently funding multiple efforts in a particular research area, the addition of more work on that topic may be of lower priority than supporting new research efforts on a topic in which we have few funded projects.

In addition to the Research Concentration Areas described above, the following special focus areas are currently accepting planning letters:

Tropical Cyclone Rapid Intensification (TCRI)

Satellite-based Cloud and Aerosol Analysis, Vertical structure, and Ground processing/ Exploitation

Moisture and Aerosol Gradients/Physics of Inversion Evolution (MAGPIE)

Study of Air-sea Fluxes and Atmospheric River Intensity (SAFARI)

New Investigator, HBCU/MSI, Early Career and Student Opportunities

For More Information

Please contact the Marine Meteorology team below to begin a dialog on potential interest in work in the areas of atmospheric science research. We encourage—but do not require—the submission of a planning letter (a brief description of your scientific idea and budget estimate) so that we can provide programmatic and technical feedback prior to writing a full proposal. This allows a discussion on topical relevance and some indication of the likely success of a full proposal based on program interests and priorities.

In addition to the ONR "How to Submit” ONR Submission Portal, please e-mail a copy of all planning letters to the appropriate program officer listed below, with copy to Mr. Young (walter.r.young.ctr@us.navy.mil) following these guidelines, preferably by June 1st for the upcoming fiscal year which starts on Oct. 1st.