“Hurricanes, NWS and GCOOS”
*recorded June 25, 2024
GCOOS and the National Weather Service (NWS) joined forces to talk about the 2024 hurricane season outlook and preparedness measures, as well as changes to “the cone” and how data gained by gliders and shared via GCOOS helps to improve hurricane activity forecasts. The webinar covered GANDALF, the GCOOS glider piloting dashboard.
Speakers
- Brian LaMarre is NWS NOAA Gulf regional team lead and the meteorologist-in-charge of the NWS office for the Tampa Bay Area/Ruskin, Florida. Brian’s early career included a permanent meteorologist position with the NWS office in Corpus Christi and later served as the national marine and coastal weather services program manager at NWS Headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland. He was the warning coordination meteorologist at NWS Lubbock, Texas, before becoming lead for the Tampa Bay office in 2007. Brian earned a bachelor’s degree in meteorology in 1994 and a master’s degree in management specializing in leadership and organizational change in 2014. Brian has been the NOAA Gulf regional team lead since 2015.
- Bob Currier is a Research Specialist in the Department of Oceanography, Texas A&M University and Product Developer and Co-Data Manager at GCOOS. His primary area of expertise is ocean observation data management and visualization using a variety of developmental tools, including Python, Flask, Keras and TensorFlow. His current research involves automated classification of phytoplankton using deep learning (AI). Currier spent nine years with Mote Marine Laboratory as a Senior Data Engineer and 20 years with Duke University where he served as Director of Data and Telecommunications. Currier was the chief architect of a two-time national award-winning 30,000 node network, served as Duke’s Technical Representative to the Internet2 consortium and was a Senior Technical Staff Member of the North Carolina Networking Initiative. He holds a patent relating to the IT infrastructure of the Beach Conditions Reporting System and has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed journal publications.
