IU researchers creating software to track storms

The devastation of the Gulf Coast region has shocked the nation, but for two IU researchers, the destructive power of weather is nothing new.

For the past two years, IU computer science professors Dennis Gannon and Beth Plale have been working to create a computer system to better predict the paths of hurricanes and tornadoes. The new software would allow government officials to make more informed decisions regarding city evacuations that could save lives.

The Linked Environments for Atmospheric Discovery project is a collaborative effort between researchers at nine universities. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the project is a large-scale researcher's marathon with dozens of scientists across the nation designing a supercomputer database to launch a generation of new technology into the world of weather forecasting.

This technology will make it possible to not only track threatening storms like Hurricane Katrina, but also provide knowledge and predict their paths. Gannon and Plale were called upon to head a section of the project responsible for designing software needed to make more accurate storm predictions.

Oklahoma University heads the nationwide LEAD project.

"LEAD is important because at the present time, scientists base their research on what has happened in the past. With LEAD, scientists will be able to do their research in real time as the weather is happening. That would allow for much better forecasts for severe weather and ultimately save lives and money," OU Project Manager Terri Leyton said.

Two faculty and 12 students -- both undergraduate and graduate -- form a team that could be responsible for saving lives of those in the paths of future deadly storms.

"Evacuations are expensive; this will make the decisions to initiate the evacuations more accurate," Plale said.

Better predictions for meteorologists mean more time for citizens residing in storm paths to evacuate if needed. Many of the stranded and dead victims of Hurricane Katrina believed they could ride out the storm, or they were alerted of the evacuation order too late, according to The Associated Press.

IU, specifically, is making the software more user-friendly. With the contributions from the Gannon and Plale team, nearly anyone will be able to use the database.

"Meteorologists, researchers and even students interested in learning more about meteorology will be able to access the system with ease," LEAD team portal developer and graduate student Suresh Marru said.

IU's contribution to the LEAD project is vital to its completion. The University's job is to sift through the mountains of data and simplify the research process, said Dan Weber, an OU researcher.

Though the project has only finished its second year at IU, results look promising. However, it will take one to two more years of research and development before the IU LEAD team will be able to hand over a product to researchers.

The researchers are working as quickly as they can, and the project is on schedule. But the nation still waits for changes in storm preventing and policy.

"We have to become much more accurate and pervasive to understand nature and the people's reaction to it. Evacuation processes will need to be re-evaluated," Gannon said. "We definitely expect that the country will pay more attention to underlying storm modeling and forecasting technologies in the future. Due to Katrina, there will be a lot of calls to improve the scientific process."