Operating Status Summer 2024:

Students will be required to work on-site a minimum of two days every two weeks and must be in commuting distance of the lab for the duration of the internship to enable that. Students may be required to work on-site more often, up to every day of the internship at the discretion of their Mentor’s chain of command and will be based on the proposed work/project. Additionally, NRL also offers supplemental funding to all participating students to help offset housing and/or relocation costs.

Student Requirements:

Students must be U.S. citizens. (Permanent residents are not eligible.)

About the Lab

The US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is one of the largest scientific institutions within the US government. NRL provides the advanced scientific capabilities required to bolster our country’s position of global naval leadership. Here, in an environment where the nation’s best scientists and engineers are inspired to pursue their passion, everyone is focused on research that yields immediate and long-range applications in the defense of the United States. The Marine Meteorology Division, located in Monterey, California (NRL-MRY), is part of NRL's Ocean and Atmospheric Science and Technology Directorate, which contains six divisions performing broadly based scientific research and advanced technology development in the fields of marine geosciences, acoustics, oceanography, marine meteorology, remote sensing, and space science. The Division conducts a basic and applied research and development program designed to improve scientific understanding of atmospheric processes that impact fleet operations, and develop automated systems that analyze, simulate, predict, and interpret the structure and behavior of these processes and their effect on naval weapons systems.

About the Internship

Summer interns are provided with an environment that will foster their creativity, help them develop a problem-solving mindset, and give them the opportunity to participate in meaningful technical research. They will gain experience in a professional workplace that specializes in STEM careers. Additionally, NRL also offers supplemental funding to all participating students to help offset housing and/or relocation costs.

What will I do any given day as an intern at this lab?

Interns participate in lab functions in a number of ways including (but not limited to) assisting mentors with guided research projects; job and project shadowing with professional researchers; networking with STEM professionals and other interns; and attending technical meetings, seminars, and conferences.

What majors and disciplines are a good fit for interning at this lab?

The primary fields of interest are:

• Applied Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Meteorology
• Physics

What kinds of projects do interns at this lab participate in?

Adaptive Observations: This project site contains links to targeted observation and error sensitivity information derived from the adjoint of the Navy global forecast model (NOGAPS) and the adjoint of the NRL 3DVAR data assimilation procedure (NAVDAS). We also use these adjoint tools to diagnose the value provided by all observations (globally) assimilated.

Aerosols: A comprehensive collection of aerosol data, satellite imagery, NRL-developed aerosol model forecasts, and other related information reflects the broad range of aerosol research currently being conducted at NRL Monterey.

Automated Tropical Cyclone Forecasting System: ATCF system is a computer-based graphical display application designed to automate and optimize the forecasting process at operational tropical cyclone warning centers.

COAMPS On-Scene (COAMPS-OS): Provides the same capabilities as COAMPS, but packaged for workstation execution, with a user-friendly GUI and a local database management system to provide a flexible, on-demand, on-scene data assimilation and model forecast capability.

COAMPS Refractivity and EM Propagation Analysis and Prediction: Numerical weather prediction systems that are utilized to analyze and forecast microwave refractive effects on Naval systems and communications.

Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System-Tropical Cyclone (COAMPS-TC): is the Navy high-resolution regional operational prediction system. COAMPS is developed by NRL and consists of data quality control, data assimilation, initialization, a non-hydrostatic atmospheric model and a hydrostatic ocean model. COAMPS-TC uses the Navy Operational Global Atmospheric Prediction System (NOGAPS) forecast output on 1-deg grid at a 6-hr interval.

NAVGEM, Navy Global Environment Model: The NAVGEM system, developed by the Naval Research Laboratory Global Modeling and Data Assimilation sections, is a state-of-the-art global numerical weather prediction model.

NexSat, NRL/NPOESS Next-Generation Weather Satellite Demonstration: This a public-accessible weather satellite website developed and maintained by NRL-MRY.

NOWCAST: Is a data fusion system that combines model and through-the-sensor data sources (satellite, radar, UAV) to provide a continuously updated depiction of the battlespace environment, with products tailored for specific warfighting requirements and delivered directly to the tactical decision makers.

Topographically Forced Flows: TFF modeling studies are used to gain a more complete understanding of topographically-forced flows, particularly in the coastal zone. Specific mesoscale flows of interest include: gravity waves, gravity wave breaking, wake phenomena, undular bores, and orographically-forced precipitation.