Data Visualization to Evaluate and Facilitate Targeted Data Acquisitions in Support of a Real-time Ocean Forecasting System

Abstract: A robust evaluation toolset has been designed for Naval Research Laboratory's Real-Time Ocean Forecasting System RELO with the purpose of facilitating an adaptive sampling strategy and providing more educated guidance for routing underwater gliders. The major challenges are to integrate into the existing operational system and provide a bridge between the modeling and operative environments. Visualization is the selected approach, and the developed software is divided into 3 packages. The first package verifies that the glider is actually following the waypoints and predicts the position of the glider for the next cycle's instructions. The second package ensures that the delivered waypoints are both useful and feasible. The third package provides the confidence levels for the suggested path. This software's implementation is in Python for portability and modularity to allow for easy expansion of new visuals.