THIS RESEARCH PROJECT IS TRANSFERRED FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI TO UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON WITH THE PI SHUYI CHEN. SHE STARTED HER NEW POSITION AT UW ON 1 JULY 2017. THE GOAL AND RESEARCH TASKS WILL REMAIN THE SAME AS IN ORIGINAL PROPOSAL. THE OVERALL GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO BETTER OBSERVE AND PREDICT HIGH-IMPACT TROPICAL WEATHER SYSTEMS SUCH AS THE MADDEN-JULIAN OSCILLATION (MJO) AND TROPICAL CYCLONES (TCS). THIS RESEARCH HAS BEEN FOCUSED TO 1) BETTER UNDERSTAND THE MULTI-SCALE INTERACTION OF MCSS AND THE LARGE-SCALE DYNAMIC SYSTEM DURING MJO INITIATION AND 2) IMPROVE PREDICTION OF HIGH IMPACT TROPICAL WEATHER SYSTEMS USING OCEAN VECTOR WINDS AND AIR-SEA FLUX DATA AND A HIGH-RESOLUTION FULLY COUPLED ATMOSPHERE-WAVE-OCEAN MODEL.