# Presentation: 536906

## Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology

***Lt Col Mark Fitzgerald***
***Assistant Federal Coordinator for***
***US Air Force and Army Affairs***

**DOE Meteorological Coordination Council**
**Emergency Management Issues, Special Interest Group Meeting**
**5 May 2008**

## OFCM Mission
Coordinating Infrastructure
OFCM Partners
OFCM Affiliations
Focus: Improving Services
Key Activities

**Coordinating Infrastructure**
**OFCM Partners**
**OFCM Affiliations**
**Focus: Improving Services**
**Key Activities**

**Overview**

## OFCM Mission

**Mission**

**To ensure the **_**effective use**_** of federal meteorological resources by leading the **_**systematic coordination**_** of *****operational weather requirements, services, and supporting research,***** **_**among the federal agencies**_

**High-level focus on:**
**  ****Needs and requirements**
**  ****Issues and problems **
**  ****Studies, reports, plans, and handbooks**
**  ****Crosscut reviews, assessments, and analyses**

**Notes:**
Jan 1964: OFCM formed in response to Public Law 87-843
Accountable to Congress and OMB
1980: Dep Sec Memo

## Coordinating Infrastructure

**Federal Committee for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research (FCMSSR)**

**Interdepartmental Committee for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research (ICMSSR)**

**National Space Weather Program Council*****Committee for Space Weather***

**National Aviation Weather Program Council**
***Committee for Aviation Services and Research***

**Environmental Services, Operations, and Research Needs**

**Environmental Information Systems and Communications**

**Integrated Observing Systems**

**Climate Analysis, Monitoring , and Services**

- Cooperative Research

- Working Group for Urban Meteorology

**Federal Coordinator for Meteorology**

**National Operational Processing Centers Program Council**
***Committee for Operational Processing Centers***

**Coordinating Infrastructure**

**Notes:**
18 Member FCMSSR: VADM Lautenbacher (NOAA), Dr. Hayes (NWS), Mr. Shaffer (DoD), Mr. Kirsch (DHS/Sci-Tech), Mr. Maurstad (DHS/FEMA), Mr. Williamson (OFCM) and others formulate the policy that guides the work done at OFCM.  

19 Member ICMSSR: RADM Gove (Navy), Dr. Lewis (USAF),  and others meet to develop the plans to carry out the FCMSSR policy.  Note that these members as well as FCMSSR members have the authority to direct funding.

The Program Councils have been active and successful in developing plans, directing research, and performing studies that have improved services and public safety for years.  For example: 
	Aviation Wx has been a key part of OFCM activities since the office’s inception in 1964.  The current National Aviation 	Weather Program has provided the interagency framework to make significant progress on the 10-year goal of reducing 	fatal weather-related aviation accidents by 80 percent.  We are now at the end of this 10-year period and preliminary 	analysis of the accident statistics shows we have been largely successful.

The standing committees attack numerous interagency challenges in operations and research including the national lightning detection system, severe local storms, hurricanes, and wildland fires to name just a few.

## OFCM Partners

**Environmental Protection Agency**
**National Aeronautics and Space Administration**
**National Science Foundation**
**National Transportation Safety Board**
**Nuclear Regulatory Commission**

_***Independent agencies:***_

_***Executive Office of the President:***_

**Office of Management and Budget**
**Office of Science and Technology Policy**

**OFCM Partners**

**Notes:**
OFCM PARTNERS THROUGH “INTERAGENCY COORDINATION” WITH ALL THE OFFICES AND AGENCIES SHOWN HERE

## OFCM Affiliations

**OFCM Affiliations**

**US Climate Change Science Program (USCCSP)**

**National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)**

**American Meteorological Society (AMS)**

**National Science Foundation’s National Science Board**

**University Corp. for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)**

**American Geophysical Union (AGU)**

**Western Governor’s Association (WGA)**

**Notes:**
IN ADDITION TO THE PARTNERS ON THE PREVIOUS SLIDE, OFCM’S WORK WITH THESE GOVERNMENT, PRIVATE, AND SEMI-PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS IS ALSO VERY IMPORTANT IN SUPPORTING FEDERAL AGENCIES’ METEOROLOGICAL ACTIVITIES

## Focus: Improving Services

**ATD modeling/services – response to accidents/terrorism, dispersion forecasts**
**Urban Meteorology – Joint Urban Testbed**
**Wildland Fire Weather – needs and issues assessment, framework to move ahead**
**Multifunction Phased Array Radar – risk reduction**
**5D Environmental Database – network-centric, data-centric future ops**
**Trop Cyclone research and operations – IHC, TC R&D Strategy**
**National Post-Storm Data Acquisition Plan – update in progress**
**Operational Processing Centers – cooperative support & backup, data assim**
**Severe Local Storms Ops Plan – update in progress**
**Aviation Weather – NextGen, Volcanic Ash, wx-related mishap reduction**
**Space Wx – NPOESS SESS, SWx Assessment Follow-up, SDR**
**Wx for Surface Transportation – research priorities, transition research to ops**
**Hydrometeorological assessment – needs, capabilities, way ahead**
**Climate Analysis, Monitoring and Services – extreme/high-impact events**
**Communications and Data Exchange – standards, JMBL, XML, cooperation**
**Forecast Uncertainty – future approach to probabilistic forecasting**
**Lightning Detection – requirements collection**
**More....**

## Atmospheric Transport and Diffusion, Research and Development Needs and Priorities
R&D Recommended Improvements
Quantify model uncertainties
Capture and use existing data sets
Implement ATD test beds
Develop standards for model V&V
Improve spatial and temporal scale interactions between meteorological and ATD models
Improve measurement technology 
Conduct special studies and experiments

**R&D Recommended Improvements**
**Quantify model uncertainties**
**Capture and use existing data sets**
**Implement ATD test beds**
**Develop standards for model V&V**
**Improve spatial and temporal scale interactions between meteorological and ATD models**
**Improve measurement technology **
**Conduct special studies and experiments**

**Key Activities**

## Atmospheric Transport and Diffusion
Facilitating working relationship between NOAA, DTRA, and the DHS Interagency Modeling and Atmospheric Assessment Center (IMAAC)
4 Dec 07 Model Development/Collaboration NOAA, IMAAC, NARAC, DTRA, EPA, NRC 
Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory Model (HYSPLIT)  (NOAA Model)
National Atmospheric Release Advisory Center (NARAC) (IMAAC modeling center of choice)

**Facilitating working relationship between NOAA, DTRA, and the DHS Interagency Modeling and Atmospheric Assessment Center (IMAAC)**
**4 Dec 07 Model Development/Collaboration NOAA, IMAAC, NARAC, DTRA, EPA, NRC **
**Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory Model (HYSPLIT)  (NOAA Model)**
**National Atmospheric Release Advisory Center (NARAC) (IMAAC modeling center of choice)**

**Key Activities**

## Joint Urban Test bed Effort
Multi-Agency effort to document:
Method for test bed selection
Refine best combination of sensors, how many, installation location
Provides services and data to model developers, test and evaluation personnel, and users
Improve initial conditions
Model V&V
Source term improvements
Functional areas:  
Severe weather
Homeland security
Climate
Air and water quality

**Multi-Agency effort to document:**
**Method for test bed selection**
**Refine best combination of sensors, how many, installation location**
**Provides services and data to model developers, test and evaluation personnel, and users**
**Improve initial conditions**
**Model V&V**
**Source term improvements**
**Functional areas:  **
**Severe weather**
**Homeland security**
**Climate**
**Air and water quality**

**Key Activities**

## Sponsored BASC Report (complete Jul 08)
	Developing Mesoscale Meteorological Observational Capabilities to Meet Multiple National Needs
Goal 1. Characterize current mesoscale capability
Goal 2. Compare US system to other benchmarksGoal 3. Describe desirable attributes of an integrated national mesoscale observing system
Goal 4. Identify steps to meet multiple national needs
Goal 5. Recommend practical steps to transform and modernize current, limited mesoscale meteorological observing capabilities

***	******Developing Mesoscale Meteorological Observational Capabilities to Meet Multiple National Needs***
**Goal 1. Characterize current mesoscale capability**
**Goal 2. Compare US system to other benchmarks****Goal 3. Describe desirable attributes of an integrated national mesoscale observing system**
**Goal 4. Identify steps to meet multiple national needs**
**Goal 5. Recommend practical steps to transform and modernize current, limited mesoscale meteorological observing capabilities**

**Key Activities**

**Notes:**
Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate

## Wildland Fire Weather
Western Governors’ Association request
National needs assessment
Research and development
User response, decision support, resulting user impacts
Products, services
Data collections
Modeling, prediction, data assimilation
Info dissemination technologies
Education, training, outreach, partnering
Funding and human resources
Socioeconomic factors
Capabilities review and gap analysis
Establish framework to meet needs

**Western Governors’ Association request**
**National needs assessment**
**Research and development**
**User response, decision support, resulting user impacts**
**Products, services**
**Data collections**
**Modeling, prediction, data assimilation**
**Info dissemination technologies**
**Education, training, outreach, partnering**
**Funding and human resources**
**Socioeconomic factors**
**Capabilities review and gap analysis**
**Establish framework to meet needs**

**Key Activities**

## Multifunction Phased Array Radar
WG/MPAR (FAA, DOD, DHS, DOC)
Risk reduction, requirements, ops concepts
Symposium, Oct 07 – consensus to move forward with risk reduction/ implementation strategy
5-D Environmental Data Cloud
Emergency Management 
Wildland fire weather
ATD inputs
Surface transportation weather
Aviation weather and more...

**WG/MPAR (FAA, DOD, DHS, DOC)**
**Risk reduction, requirements, ops concepts**
**Symposium, Oct 07 – consensus to move forward with risk reduction/ implementation strategy**
**5-D Environmental Data Cloud**
**Emergency Management **
**Wildland fire weather**
**ATD inputs**
**Surface transportation weather**
**Aviation weather and more...**

**Key Activities**

**Focus on Improving Services**

**OFCM**

**Lt Col Mark Fitzgerald**
**Mark.Fitzgerald@noaa.gov**
**Website: ****http://www.ofcm.gov**
**(301) 427-2002**