# Presentation: 915785

## Panel 3: Technical Risks and ChallengesSymposium on Weather Information for Surface Transportation

- Professor Leon F. Osborne, Jr.
- Director, Regional Weather Information Center
- Department of Atmospheric Sciences
- University of North Dakota
- Grand Forks, North Dakota
- 5 December 2000

## Decision Support  Systems

## Decision Support System Design Goals

- Efficient

- Effective

- Appropriate

- Affordable

## System Interfaces: Risks & Challenges

** ****Weather **
**Services**

**(Information **
**Infrastructure)**

**Environmental**
**Sensor**
**Stations**

**The**
**Surface**
**Transportation**
**System**

**Outcomes**

**Actions**

**Tailored**
**Decision Support**
**-----------------**
**filtering, fusion, **
**presentation**

**Communications**

_**WIST-DSS**_

**Other**
**ITS**

- *Adapted from FHWA STWDSR Overview

## Risks and Challenges

**Services**

- _Risk: Overstating Forecast Capability_

- Over dependence on models for final forecast product
- Understanding limits to (mesoscale) model resolution
-      and accuracy as controlled by:
- Model Physics
- Initialization

- _Challenge: Improve the science through R & D_

- Example 1: Better models of land surface
-                    and atmosphere interactions

- Example 2: Improved model use in forecasting by use of
-                    expert-system methods

## Risks and Challenges

**Sensor**
**Stations**

- _Challenge: Effecient Use in Weather Forecasting_
- Requires site-by-site understanding of a station’s purpose
- Siting should involve both maintenance and meteorology
-   personnel
- Sensor selection should be mission dependent
- Routine quality control measures must be applied
- Data should be in a consistent, published (open) format
- Should not be limited to R/WIS sites, but inclusive of all
-   available mesonet data when possible

## Selected U.S. Mesonetworks

## Risks and Challenges

- _Risk: Temptation for a ‘one-size fits all’ solution_

**Tailored**
**Decision Support**
**-----------------**
**filtering, fusion, **
**presentation**

- Diverse state maintenance methods and issues may
- require special focus and tailoring of decision support

- _Challenge: _
- _To create an appropriate framework that is customizable _
- _without compromising the core capabilities of the DSS_

## Risks and Challenges

- _Challenge: _
- _      __Effective Exchange of Data & Coordination Information_

**Communications**

- Availability of current road condition / status information
- Data sharing across communications firewalls
- Establishment and adoption of data communication
-   standards (e.g. NTCIP, Data Dictionaries)

## Risks and Challenges

- _Challenge: Sustaining an innovative approach to ITS_

**Other**
**ITS**

- National Labs

- State DOTs

- Universities

- VAMS

- Innovation

- Tomorrow’s
- ITS

## Risks and Challenges

- _Risk: A research program disguised as operations _

- It is risky to attempt to support the needs of an operational
- environment with a program designed to conduct research.

- _Challenge: Provide support for the important interests to _
- _both operations and research_

- Clearly identify and communicate the intent of WIST-DSS
- activities during the development and implementation process

## Risks and Challenges

- _Challenge: Increase the awareness of surface transportation_
- _weather within the atmospheric sciences community_

- FHWA and OFCM involvement is important

- Need for educational emphasis within undergraduate and
-   graduate programs

- Interest is related to the level of research conducted (funding)

- Growth in awareness will take time

## Risks and Challenges

- _Challenge: Increase the awareness of surface transportation_
- _weather within the DOTs_

- FHWA and OFCM involvement is important

- Need for outreach and training programs at all levels within
-   the DOTs

- Interest is related to the level of weather services utilized

- Growth in awareness will take time

## Recommendations

- Facilitate a national R/WIS and Road Condition collection / reporting system
- Establish / Expand educational and outreach programs to promote surface transportation weather
- Maintain parallel efforts in research and operations of WIST-DSS technologies
- Increase competitive funding for surface transportation weather research
- Private Sector . . . Increase SBIR for weather
- University . . . Continue COMET activities
- Promote Public-Private partnering on competitive research funding

## Summary

- Surface transportation weather has expanded rapidly
- in the past half decade by building on recent weather
- technologies not associated with surface transportation.
- Further growth will require a focus and commitment
- on solving problems of specific interest
- to surface transportation.