BACKGROUND PAPER ON NOAA\'s OBSERVING REQUIREMENTS

July 2, 2004

**[Background:]{.underline}** In response to the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 2002 Program Review Team (PRT)
recommendation #32, which addressed centrally planning and integrating
NOAA observing systems and indicated a clear need for a NOAA-wide
observing system architecture, NOAA established the NOAA Observing
System Architecture (NOSA) Office and the NOAA Observing Systems Council
(NOSC). The NOSA Office is responsible for developing an observational
architecture that helps NOAA design observing systems that support
NOAA\'s mission through fulfilling observing requirements, providing
maximum value, avoiding unnecessary duplication of existing systems, and
operating efficiently and in a cost-effective manner. The NOSC provides
policy guidance for observing systems as well as providing oversight of
the NOSA Office

The NOSA office, using analytical tools and conducting trade studies,
will help in providing recommendations to the NOSC to determine how and
where to best collect observations. Requirements for environmental
observations will then be allocated to programs and then to systems.
Included within the solutions space will be NOAA internal programs,
other Federal government programs, international programs, and
commercial programs. The intent is to optimize the entire mix of
observing systems against the total set of prioritized user
requirements. This process should also help focus NOAA\'s research and
technology initiatives on high-priority user requirements and aid the
transition of these initiatives into NOAA operations.

**[Observing Requirements Process]{.underline}** The purpose of this
process is to help ensure future observing systems effectively support
the NOAA mission and, where appropriate, the needs of other users.
TNumber range CHAPTERhe requirements process identifies, collects,
standardizes, prioritizes, validates, consolidates, and updates NOAA\'s
environmental observing requirements (and, as needed, other users\'
requirements).

***Identification and Collection*** -- An organization having
environmental observing requirements designates a Requirements Point of
Contact (ReqPOC) to the NOAA Requirements Integrated Product Team
(ReqIPT). Working through the ReqPOC, the ReqIPT reviews all the
organization\'s source documents concerning its observing requirements.
Source documents include previously documented and validated
platform-independent observing requirements, scientific discipline
workshops, mission statements, and science and technology infusion
programs, as well as system-oriented specification documents. This
review identifies the environmental parameters needed from observing
systems along with derived products produced by data processing
components. For each parameter required general characteristics are
identified related to the associated environmental domain (Atmosphere,
Crysophere, Ocean, Land, Space etc), geographic coverage (Global to
Local scales), temporal needs (near real-time to decadal) and
application (operational analysis and forecasting to climate and
research). The output of the *Identification and Collection* phase is a
consolidated first order listing of the organization\'s environmental
parameters and their fundamental characteristics.

*Status*: The ReqIPT has completed the *Identification and Collection*
phase for 10 organizations: all six NOAA Line Offices (National Weather
Service (NWS), National Ocean Service (NOS), National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR),
NESDIS, NOAA Marine and Aviation Operations (NMAO)); the Air Force (AF),
Navy/Marine and Army components of the Department of Defense (DoD); and
the European Global Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) Application
Expert Group (AEG). The ReqIPT is also mapping all NOAA Line Office
requirements to the four NOAA Mission Goals and the 20-plus NOAA
Programs having observing requirements. In addition, the ReqIPT has
begun coordinating with other Federal agencies (United States Department
of Agriculture (USDA), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA)) and plans to open discussions with the Department of the
Interior (DOI), Department of Energy (DOE) and the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA).

***Translation and Standardization*** -- The next step is to translate
each organization's first order observing requirements into the
standardized NOAA Observation Requirements template. Standardization is
critical to referencing and consolidating all the collected
requirements, allowing NOSA to assess the capabilities of current and
planned observing systems against each user's requirements to identify
gaps or redundancies. Three levels of standardization are applied: 1) a
parameter naming convention, based on the NASA Global Change Master
Directory (GCMD), with modifications for NOAA and DoD unique
applications; 2) specific attribute usage and definitions; and 3) common
quantification units for each attribute value. The culmination of the
*Translation and Standardization* phase is a draft Mission Observation
Requirements List (MORL) that maps back to the original requirements
input and sources

*Status:* The ReqIPT has translated and standardized over 1500
individual observing parameters gathered from all first order
organization requirements listings and over 100 observing systems in the
NOSA inventory. An Environmental Parameter (EP) Master List of nearly
300 unique requirement selections has been developed. The NOSA inventory
of observing system capabilities has been standardized and ten draft
MORLs produced. MORLs are currently being generated for twenty NOAA
Programs.

***Revision and Prioritization*** - Once a draft MORL is produced, the
ReqPOC conducts an organization-wide update with categorization of each
parameter\'s priority. This approach allows an organization to review
what has been documented and *revise* a comprehensive listing versus
starting from scratch. Standardized naming conventions, associated
definitions, attribute quantifications are all clarified and any new
observation requirements are added. Other requirements can be modified
and any inappropriate parameters deleted at this time. Parameter
attributes are confirmed to ensure they are applicable and
representative at both Threshold (minimally acceptable) and Objective
(goal) levels. Each observational requirement is then *prioritized* into
the following categories: 1) Mission Critical (operational), 2) Mission
Optimal (operational), and 3) Mission Enhancing (research) needs. An
updated draft MORL is produced for/with each organization in preparation
for the Validation Phase.

*Status:* Ten individual standardized, revised and prioritized MORLs
have been generated.

***Validation*** -- Efforts are underway to implement a requirements
validation process to be applied across all NOAA Programs. To date, in
collecting NOAA Line Office requirements leading to the National
Polar-orbiting Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) and Geostationary
Operational Environmental Satellite Series R (GOES R) satellite systems,
validation has consisted of organization-wide reviews of system specific
requirements documents culminating with NOAA Assistant Administrator
(AA).

*Status*: The charter for a NOSC Requirements Team (NRT) has been
drafted; the NRT would develop and implement a comprehensive observing
requirements validation process.

***Consolidation --*** Upon validation, an organization's MORL is
included in the Consolidated Observation Requirements List (CORL); this
represents the initial National Integrated Environmental Observation
Requirements Repository.

*Status:* All ten MORLs have been integrated into the CORL.

***Interfacing -*** Each MORL, integrated into the CORL, is managed via
the CasaNOSA tool. CasaNOSA also houses information on all NOAA current
and planned observing systems allowing the interface between
requirements and systems needed to build the NOSA. CasaNOSA will also
incorporate all NOAA Program Baseline Assessments (PBA) that will use
the Program MORLs for the "Monitor and Observe - 100% Capabilities"
input.

*Status:* All environmental parameters have been standardized between
the Observing Systems and the CORL requirements database. Also, a
listing of each NOAA Program's "Category 1 -- Mission Critical"
observing requirements have been linked to the PBA templates on CasaNOSA
for Critical" observing requirements have been linked to the PBA
templates on CasaNOSA for Program (PR07).

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###### Updating -- Each organization's MORL will be reviewed, revised and re-validated in January, as needed. This will provide annual updates for NOSA and for the NOAA Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution System (PPBES).