The Federal Plan

for Meteorological Services

and Supporting Research

Fiscal Year 2003

OFCM

The Federal Plan

for Meteorological Services

and Supporting Research

Fiscal Year 2003

OFFICE OF THE FEDERAL

COORDINATOR

FOR METEOROLOGY

OFFICE OF THE FEDERAL

COORDINATOR

FOR METEOROLOGY

FCM P1-2002 FCM P1-2002

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
THE FEDERAL COMMITTEE FOR

METEOROLOGICAL SERVICES AND SUPPORTING RESEARCH (FCMSSR)

VADM CONRAD C. LAUTENBACHER, JR., USN (RET)

Chairman

Department of Commerce

VACANT

Office of Science and Technology Policy

DR. RAYMOND MOTHA

Department of Agriculture

BGEN JOHN J. KELLY, JR., USAF (RET)

Department of Commerce

CAPT FRANK GARCIA, USN

Department of Defense

DR. ARISTIDES PATRINOS

Department of Energy

DR. ROBERT M. HIRSCH

Department of the Interior

MR. RALPH BRAIBANTI

Department of State

MR. RANDOLPH LYON

Office of Management and Budget

MR. JAMES H. WASHINGTON

Department of Transportation

MR. ANTHONY LOWE

Federal Emergency Management Agency

DR. GHASSEM R. ASRAR

National Aeronautics and Space

Administration

DR. MARGARET S. LEINEN

National Science Foundation

MR. PAUL MISENCIK

National Transportation Safety Board

MR. JACK R. STROSNIDER

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

MR. HENRY L. LONGEST (Acting)

Environmental Protection Agency

MR. SAMUEL P. WILLIAMSON

Federal Coordinator 

MR. JAMES B. HARRISON, Executive Secretary

Office of the Federal Coordinator for

Meteorological Services and Supporting Research

THE INTERDEPARTMENTAL COMMITTEE FOR

METEOROLOGICAL SERVICES AND SUPPORTING RESEARCH (ICMSSR)

MR. SAMUEL P. WILLIAMSON, Chairman

Federal Coordinator

MR. THOMAS PUTERBAUGH

Department of Agriculture

MR. JOHN E. JONES, JR.

Department of Commerce

CAPT FRANK GARCIA, USN

Department of Defense

MR. RICKEY PETTY

Department of Energy

MR. LEWIS T. MOORE

Department of the Interior

MR. JEFFREY MACLURE

Department of State

MR. DAVID WHATLEY

Federal Aviation Administration

Department of Transportation

DR. JONATHAN M. BERKSON

United States Coast Guard

Department of Transportation

DR. S. T. RAO

Environmental Protection Agency

MR. JOHN GAMBEL

Federal Emergency Management Agency

DR. RAMESH KAKAR

National Aeronautics and Space

Administration

DR. JARVIS MOYERS

National Science Foundation

MR. DONALD E. EICK

National Transportation Safety Board

MS. LETA A. BROWN

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

MS. ERIN WUCHTE

Office of Management and Budget

MR. JAMES B. HARRISON, Executive Secretary

Office of the Federal Coordinator for

Meteorological Services and Supporting Research

Pictures displayed on the cover. (Clockwise from top)

Rail kink induced by high heat can lead to train derailments; United States Postal Service employee makes home delivery in snowy Northeastern United States; As Hurricane Floyd approaches, evacuees creep along congested highway in

South Carolina; Aircraft is de-iced at Stapleton International Airport prior to take-off; Maryland school bus reduces

speed due to visibility restrictions caused by fog; Crowded Washington State Ferry approaches docks; Bay Area Rapid

Transit train departs station in Northern California; Oil pipeline winds across the wilderness in State of Alaska.
The Federal Plan

for Meteorological Services

and Supporting Research

FISCAL YEAR 2003

FEDERAL COORDINATOR

FOR

METEOROLOGICAL SERVICES AND SUPPORTING RESEARCH

8455 Colesville Road, Suite 1500

Silver Spring, MD 20910

FCM-P1-2002

JUNE 2002

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Editor: Blaine Tsugawa

Assistant Editor: Kenneth Barnett

PREFACE iii

PREFACE

Since 1965, the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorological Services and Supporting

Research (OFCM) has developed a federal plan that articulates the provision of meteorological services

and supporting research by agencies of the federal government. OFCM’s Federal Plan provides Congress

and the Executive Branch with a comprehensive publication that documents proposed programs for Fiscal

Year (FY) 2003 and reviews agency programs in FY 2002. Narratives, timelines, and schedules are current as of June 2002.

The Federal Plan consists of an Executive Summary, three sections, and Appendices. The Executive

Summary provides a high-level view of the federal resources dedicated to meteorological programs and

contains information which also serves as a concise, stand-alone report. This year, the feature article

(Section 1) is titled The Need For Weather Information For Surface Transportation: Keeping The

Country Safe And On The Move. The article describes interagency activities underway within the federal transportation and meteorology communities. Section 2 summarizes the resources requested in the

President's FY 2003 Budget and includes a comparison of the resources that Congress appropriated for

FY 2002. Section 3 contains departmental and agency narratives on meteorological services and supporting research programs. This section also includes information on programs funded by the National

Science Foundation. Appendices A through D describe the OFCM's coordination, program, and planning

activities (Appendix A); summarizes the World Meteorological Organization’s World Weather Program

(Appendix B); provides a listing of previous feature articles (Appendix C); and defines acronyms and

abbreviations (Appendix D). The inside front cover lists the current members of the Federal and

Interdepartmental Committees for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research. The inside back

cover displays a schematic of OFCM’s coordinating infrastructure.

Samuel P. Williamson

Federal Coordinator for Meteorological

Services and Supporting Research

v

THE FEDERAL PLAN FOR METEOROLOGICAL SERVICES

AND SUPPORTING RESEARCH, FISCAL YEAR 2003

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .iii

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vii

Section 1. THE NEED FOR WEATHER INFORMATION FOR SURFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

TRANSPORTATION: KEEPING THE COUNTRY SAFE AND

ON THE MOVE

Section 2. RESOURCE INFORMATION AND AGENCY PROGRAM UPDATES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Agency Obligations for Meteorological Operations

and Supporting Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Department of Agriculture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Department of Commerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Department of Defense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

Department of the Interior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

Department of Transportation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

Environmental Protection Agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

National Aeronautics and Space Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

Nuclear Regulatory Commission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

Agency Funding by Budget Category . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

Agency Funding by Service Category . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

Personnel Engaged in Meteorological Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

Interagency Fund Transfers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

Facilities/Locations for Taking Meteorological Observations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

Section 3. AGENCY METEOROLOGICAL SERVICES AND SUPPORTING 

RESEARCH PROGRAMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

Department of Commerce Weather Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

National Weather Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39

Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61

National Ocean Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75

Office of NOAA Corps Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77

Department of Defense Weather Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79

United States Air Force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79

United States Navy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93

United States Army . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103

Department of Transportation Weather Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .117

Federal Aviation Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .117

Federal Highway Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127

Federal Railroad Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135
Federal Transit Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137

United States Coast Guard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .139

Department of Agriculture Weather Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141

Department of Energy Operational and Research Weather Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145

Department of the Interior Weather Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .163

Department of State Climate and Atmospheric Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .171

Environmental Protection Agency Weather Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .173

Federal Emergency Management Agency Weather Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .177

National Aeronautics and Space Administration Weather Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .179

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Weather Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .193

National Science Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .195

APPENDICES

A. FEDERAL COORDINATION AND PLANNING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .197

B. WORLD WEATHER PROGRAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .207

C. LISTING OF PREVIOUS FEATURE ARTICLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .213

D. ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .215

LIST OF TABLES 

ES-1 Federal Budget for Meteorological Operations and Supporting

Research, FY 2003 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vii

1.1 Weather Conditions During Vehicle Crashes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

1.2 List of federal and private entities within each transportation sectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

1.3 Sample of weather information needs templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

1.4 Recap of FY 2003 Federal Budget for Meteorology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

2.1 Meteorological Operations and Supporting Research 

Costs, by Agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

2.2 Agency Operational Costs, by Budget Category . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

2.3 Agency Supporting Research Costs, by Budget Category . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

2.4 Agency Operational Costs, by Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

2.5 Agency Supporting Research Costs, by Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

2.6 Personnel Engaged in Meteorological Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

2.7 Interagency Fund Transfers for Meteorological 

Operations and Supporting Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29

2.8 Facilities/Locations for Taking Meteorological Observations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30

3.1 Projected Satellite Launch Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45

3.2 Planned outsourcing of weather positions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .110

A.1 Current OFCM Publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .205

vi
For Fiscal Year (FY) 2003, the

President's budget requests a total of

$2.84 billion for meteorological services and supporting research. Of the

requested total, $2.46 billion is designated for operations and $384 million

for supporting research. Table ES-1

lists a breakout of the FY 2003 budget

proposal.

For FY 2003, 93.1 percent of the

total funds requested will go to the

Departments of Commerce (DOC),

Defense (DOD), and Transportation

(DOT). The distribution among these

three departments is DOC 60.4 percent, DOD 15.6 percent, and DOT

17.1 percent. The other federal agencies will share the remaining 6.9 percent.

By comparison, the FY 2003 request

represents an increase of 5.4 percent

above the $2.7 billion appropriated in

FY 2002. Within the three major

departments, DOC and DOD request

increases of 8.5 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively; DOT requests a

decrease of 1.9 percent. The DOC

increase is attributable to requests for

increases by NWS, NESDIS, NOS,

OAR, and NOAA Corps. The overall

DOD increase offsets supporting

research decreases in DMSP (69 percent), Air Force (20.4), and Army

(23.3 percent). DOT's 1.9 percent

decrease is largely attributable to

reductions in FAAs operations

request.

The budget requests for the other

departments are as follows:

Department of Agriculture (USDA) an

increase of 2.1 percent, Department of

the Interior (DOI) no change,

Environmental Protection Agency

(EPA) an increase of 17.2 percent;

National Aeronautics and Space

Administration (NASA) a decrease of

0.4 percent; and Nuclear Regulatory

Commission (NRC) an increase of

90 percent.

Figure ES-1 depicts each agency's

proportion of the requested FY 2003

federal budget for meteorological

operations and supporting research.

Each agency's portion of the requested

funding for meteorological operations

is shown in Figure ES-2. Of the

$2.46 billion requested for meteorological operations, DOC, DOD, and

DOT account for slightly over

99.4 percent of the funds. Overall,

operational costs increased by 6.3 percent. Figure ES-3 depicts each

agency's portion of the proposed federal supporting research budget. Unlike

operations, DOC, DOD, and NASA

account for the major share (86 percent) of the supporting research budget. Other requests for supporting

research funds are: increases in DOC

(9.9 percent), DOT (16.8 percent), and

EPA (17.2 percent); decreases DOD

(23.1 percent); and no change in

NASA.

All agencies project a personnel total

of 14,462 full-time equivalent (FTE) to

be employed in federal meteorological

operations in FY 2003. This figure

represents an increase of 0.1 percent

from the 14,449 FTE employed in

FY 2002.

EXEC SUM vii

THE FEDERAL PLAN FOR METEOROLOGICAL SERVICES

AND SUPPORTING RESEARCH

FISCAL YEAR 2003

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Table ES-1. Federal Budget for Meteorological Operations and Supporting

Research, FY 2003 (in thousands of dollars)

% of Supporting % of % of

Agency Operations TOTAL Research TOTAL TOTAL TOTAL

Agriculture $13,300 0.5 $15,500 4.0 $28,800 1.0

Commerce 1,598,118 65.0 120,037 31.3 1,718,155 60.4

Defense 387,783 15.8 55,610 14.5 443,393 15.6

Interior 1,100 0.0 0 0.0 1,100 0.0

Transportation 456,386 18.6 30,862 8.0 487,248 17.1

EPA 0 0.0 7,500 2.0 7,500 0.3

NASA 2,342 0.1 154,256 40.2 156,598 5.6

NRC 95 0.0 0 0.0 95 0.0

TOTAL 2,459,124 100.0 383,765 100.0 2,842,889 100.0
viii EXEC SUM

DOD

15.6%

NASA

5.5%

DOC

60.5%

USDA

1.0%

EPA

0.3%

DOT

17.1%

Figure ES-1. Agency Percent of Total Federal Budget for Meteorological Operations

and Supporting Research, FY 2003.

Figure ES-2. Agency Percent of Federal Budget

for Meteorological Operations, FY 2003.

Figure ES-3. Agency Percent of Federal Budget

for Supporting Research, FY 2003.

Total = $2.84 Billion

Total = $2.46 Billion Total = $384 Million

15.6%

1.0%

17.1%

0.3%

5.6%

60.4%

65.0%

DOC DOD

DOT

NASA

0.1%

0.5%

18.6%

15.8% 40.2%

4.0% 14.5%

31.3%

2.0%

8.0% DOC

NASA DOT

USDA DOD

EPA

NASA

DOD

DOT

DOC

USDA

EPA

USDA
EXEC SUM ix

MAJOR PROGRAMS--DOC, DOD,

and DOT

Next Generation Weather Radar

(NEXRAD). The NEXRAD Program

which began in FY 1981 was responsible for procurement, installation, and

operation of the Weather Surveillance

Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D). The

first limited production WSR-88D system was installed at Oklahoma City,

Oklahoma in May 1990 and commissioned 4 years later in February 1994.

The original program plan called for a

total of 161 radars. In response to a

National Research Council report,

three additional radars were added and

raised the total to 164 radar sites. The

last system in the basic procurement

schedule was installed in June 1996.

By agency, as of June 2001, the

DOC/National Weather Service had

commissioned 123 sites, the DOD

(USAF and Army) had commissioned

32 sites (within the states and overseas), and the DOT/FAA had commissioned 12 sites. DOD has three systems at Keesler AFB, Mississippi, for

training; DOC/NWS has one each at

the National Reconditioning Center,

and NWS Training Center in Kansas

City, Missouri and at the Operational

Support Facility, Oklahoma City,

Oklahoma.

Automated Surface Observing

System (ASOS). The ASOS program,

began in 1983, as a joint development

effort between the DOC, DOD, and

DOT/FAA. Installation of ASOS units

started in 1992. As of June 2002, a

total of 996 units have been purchased.

The NWS has purchased, accepted,

and commissioned 313 sites. The FAA

has purchased 572 units, all of which

have been accepted and commissioned

by the NWS. The Navy has purchased,

accepted, and commissioned 77 sites.

The Air Force has purchased, accepted,

and commissioned 34 sites.

Collectively, a total of 996 ASOS sites

have been commissioned.

Automated Weather Information

Systems (AWIS). The DOC, DOD,

and DOT require AWISs to facilitate

the collection, processing, and interpretation of meteorological data.

AWISs are being procured to provide

an automated, high-speed, user-friendly man/machine interface to access and

process large volumes of sophisticated

meteorological data. AWIS supports

the timely production of accurate and

geographically precise warnings, forecasts, and special tailored products.

They also provide the communications

capability for expeditious product dissemination.

Major agency systems classified as

AWISs are: NOAA's Advanced

Weather Interactive Processing System

(AWIPS), FAA's Weather and Radar

Processor (WARP); Air Force's NewTactical Forecast System (N-TFS) and

Operational Weather Squadron

Production System, Phase 2 (OPS-II);

and Navy's Naval Integrated Tactical

Environmental Subsystem (NITES).

AWIPS: In February 1997, the

Secretary of Commerce approved the

limited deployment of AWIPS at over

forty sites. On April 9, 1998, the

Secretary authorized full scale production and deployment of AWIPS,

through Build 4.2, for the remaining

95 systems. Installation of these

95 systems began in September 1998

and was completed in June 1999. An

Operational Test and Evaluation of the

commissioning software load

(Release 4.2) was successfully conducted from mid-May through June

1999. AWIPS commissioning began in

January 2000 and, by August 2001,

NWS had commissioned all 139 operational AWIPS systems located at 121

Weather Forecast Offices (WFOs), 13

River Forecast Centers (RFCs), the

Spaceflight Meteorology Group

(SMG), and 4 National Centers for

Environmental Prediction (NCEP).

By early September 2002, the NWS

will be well on the way to migrating

AWIPS to the Linux open source operating system environment, and have

completed the development, integration, and test of the Build 5 software

with the successful completion of the

release 5.2.2 System Verification

Review (SVR). Release 5.2.2 will be

fully deployed to all AWIPS sites in

early calendar year 2003.

WARP: The FAA's WARP will

greatly enhance the dissemination of

aviation weather information throughout the National Airspace System

(NAS). WARP will automatically create unique regional, WSR-88D-based,

mosaic products and send these products, along with other time-critical

weather information, to controllers

through the Advanced Automation

System (AAS) as well as to pilots via

the aeronautical data link.

N-TFS/OPS-II: The Air Force is

modernizing and improving strategic,

operational, and combat level systems.

Modernization programs include the

Observing System 21st Century

(OS-21), N-TFS, OPS-II, Tactical

Weather Radar, and Small Tactical

Terminal which provides a single system for both garrison and deployed

operations. These systems will replace

the Automated Weather Distribution

System (AWDS) and serve as an ingarrison system as well as a deployable

"first-in" combat weather forecast

capability. OS-21 will provide a much

needed state-of-the-art life-cycle

replacement for Air Force observing

equipment. OS-21 includes five different configurations: fixed, deployable,

remote, manual, and upper air. The

manual section is intended for tactical

operations and will continue upgrades

begun under the Manual Observing

System and Tactical Meteorological

Observing System modification programs. The Air Force purchased commercial off-the-shelf remote miniature

weather sensors to provide accurate

real-time weather information from

forward unmanned locations to support

Kosovo operations. OS-21 will continue to expand this capability.

NITES: The Navy is presently

undergoing migration towards a modu-
x EXEC SUM

lar, interoperable suite of systems to

ingest, process, fuse, display, and disseminate METOC data. The program

consists of five seamless versions

known as the NITES versions I-V.

NITES systems will be fielded in

FY 2000 through FY 2004.

NATIONAL POLAR-ORBITING

OPERA TIONAL

ENVIRONMENTAL SATELLITE

SYSTEM (NPOESS)

The NPOESS Program began when

Presidential Decision Directive (PDD)

NSTC-2 established the Integrated

Program Office (IPO) in October 1994.

Under the terms of this PDD, the IPO's

function is to "...reduce the cost of

acquiring and operating polar-orbiting

environmental satellite systems, while

continuing to satisfy United States

DOD (Department of Defense) and

DOC (Department of Commerce)

operational requirements for data from

these systems." Effectively, the directive combines the current operations

and future follow-on activities of the

DOD Defense Meteorological Satellite

Program (DMSP) with the DOC

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration (NOAA) Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental

Satellite (POES) program. The new

follow-on system will be called

NPOESS. The system will be available to launch after the failure of the

last operational DMSP or POES satellite. Cooperation with foreign governments and international organizations

are to be encouraged, as well.

NPOESS is an integrated DOC,

DOD, and National Aeronautics and

Space Administration (NASA) program. Through the IPO, DOC is

responsible for operations and overall

program management; DOD is responsible for the acquisition of the satellites, launch vehicles, and associated

ground systems; and NASA is responsible for insertion of new and innovative technology.

The space segment of NPOESS will

include space platforms and sensors

that will collect and store environmental and other data until they can be

downlinked directly to Operational

Weather Processing Centers (i.e.

AFWA, FNMOC, NAVO, and NESDIS) and Field Terminals (receivers

used by deployed/remote military units

and civilian users to obtain environmental data). The space segment will

consist of meteorological, oceanographic, terrestrial, space environmental monitoring, and climatic sensors, in

addition to other systems such as surface data collection/location and

search and rescue. The satellite will

store and download all data to ground

stations with a latency of less than

90 minutes and will also provide continuous down-link of data for receipt

by worldwide civilian and DOD field

users.

The NPOESS constellation will

notionally consist of at least three

United States satellites and will receive

data from one EUMETSAT (European

Organization for the Exploitation of

Meteorological Satellites) satellite via

European ground sites. The United

States satellites will fly at 833 ± 17 km

altitude with an inclination of 98.7 ±

0.05 degrees in three distinct sun-synchronous orbits; early morning, midmorning, and early afternoon. A wide

variety of sensors will be carried

aboard these platforms to acquire

imagery and other meteorological and

environmental data.

Each satellite will carry several types

of sensors to accomplish its mission:

electrical/optical (E/O), microwave

(MW), space environmental, and other

specialized sensors. The E/O instruments include a Visible/Infrared

Imager/Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) to

provide imagery in the VIS and IR

spectra, a Cross-track Infrared Sounder

(CrIS), a passive IR sounder to provide

high-resolution vertical profiles of

atmospheric properties in conjunction

with MW soundings, and an Ozone

Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) to

measure ozone in the Earth's atmosphere. The microwave instruments

include a NASA developed Advanced

Technology Microwave Sounder

(ATMS) to measure atmospheric temperature and water vapor profiles and a

separate Conical Scanning Microwave

Imager Sounder (CMIS), consisting of

an imager and a supporting sounder, to

measure the critical surface and atmospheric phenomena in the MW spectrum under "all weather" conditions.

The space environmental sensor suite

(SESS) will measure parameters such

as electron density profiles, neutral

density profiles, magnetic fields, and

charged particle energies. Other

NPOESS instruments include the

Global Positioning System Occultation

Sensor (GPSOS) that will monitor and

measure signal variations from 24 GPS

satellites to help characterize atmospheric pressure, temperature, and

humidity profiles with greater accuracy, NASA's Total Solar Irradiance

Sensor (TSIS) to measure solar energy

per unit time per unit area, and the

Aerosol Polarimetry Sensor (APS) to

retrieve specified aerosol and cloud

parameters using multispectral photopolarimetry.

NPOESS will carry other payloads that

are similar to existing instruments, such

as NOAA's managed Data Collection

System (DCS), which collects and

processes measurements from buoys,

free-floating balloons, and remote

weather stations, for on-board storage

and subsequent transmission from the

satellite, and the Search and Rescue

Satellite Aided Tracking (SARSAT) system that uses NOAA satellites in lowEarth and geostationary orbits to detect

and locate aviators, mariners, and landbased users in distress. The satellites

relay distress signals from emergency

beacons to a network of ground stations

and ultimately to the United States

Mission Control Center (USMCC) in

Suitland, Maryland. The USMCC

processes the data and alerts the appropriate search and rescue authorities.
EXEC SUM xi

Additionally, NPOESS will share

data from other agencies such as

NASA's Radar Altimeter Satellite and

the NASA managed Earth Radiation

Budget Sensor (ERBS), the Advanced

Scatterometer (ASCAT) being flown

on METOP for ocean measurements

(i.e. surface stress, surface wind, sea

ice coverage), and the Clouds and the

Earth's Radiant Energy System

(CERES) experiment.

FY 2002 has been a very full year for

NPOESS. Probably the most significant

activity of the year has been the IPO's

conduction of a Source Selection to

choose the contractor that will be developing and building the next generation

weather satellite system.

With DOD's acceptance to participate

in NOAA/NASA's Joint Center for

Satellite Data Assimilation (JCSDA), a

virtual center comprised of NASA

DAO, NCEP EMC, NESDIS ORA, and

OAR Labs scientists, established to

facilitate the use of satellite environmental data by developing new and powerful

mathematical techniques to assimilate

the data into numerical weather prediction (NWP) models, the IPO is now set

to augment this effort with additional

funding to ensure NPOESS data is

quickly accelerated into weather operations once it begins flowing.

NPOESS also recently sponsored

UCAR's (University Consortium for

Atmospheric Research) Cooperative

Program for Operational Meteorology,

Education and Training (COMET) in

branching into high-latitude territory.

Since the usefulness of geostationary

satellites declines rapidly at latitudes

above 60° north and south, NPOESS

data are especially important toward the

poles. COMET is developing a series of

modules that orient forecasters to the

products available from the polar

orbiters. COMET is also developing

modules to help prepare forecasters for

the data provided by the NPOESS series

satellites.

The IPO is looking forward to working with the NPOESS contractor in

FY 2003 to begin laying the groundwork to ensure ground systems are in

place and operating in time to use

NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP)

data in the 2005 timeframe and that all

systems are ready for an expected 2008

NPOESS launch. Other FY 2003

activities will see the launch of DMSP

F16, which the IPO has Satellite

Control Authority (SCA) for as well as

responsibility for the command, control, and communications functions of

current on orbit DMSP constellation

flown out of NOAA's Satellite

Operations Control Center (SOCC) in

Suitland, Maryland where control of

NOAA's Polar Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) also resides.

The operational side of the IPO will

only get busier with the additional

responsibilities of WindSat Coriolis,

NPP, and NPOESS being added to the

operational control of NPOESS IPO's

operational control over the next several years.

More information regarding the

NPOESS program can be found at

npoess.noaa.gov/ or npoesslib.ipo.

noaa.gov/

OTHER AGENCY PROGRAMS

For FY 2003, the Department of

Agriculture (USDA) requested

$28.8 million for meteorological operations ($13.3 million) and supporting

research ($15.5 million). Operationally, the USDA supports specialized

weather observation networks and also

conducts an active supporting research

program to ensure an abundance of

high-quality agricultural commodities

while minimizing the adverse effects

of agriculture on the environment.

Under supporting research, USDA

focuses on the interactions of weather

and climate with plant and animal production and water resources management.

The Department of the Interior's

(DOI) FY 2003 request is $1.1 million

primarily to support the Bureau of

Land Management's remote automatic

weather station (RAWS) program.

The budget request for the

Environmental Protection Agency

(EPA) remains level at $7.5 million to

provide user-appropriate and scientifically credible air-quality meteorological programs to support regulatory

applications.

NASA requests a total of $156.6 million--$2.3 million for operations and

$154.3 million for supporting research.

These funding levels are composed of

the estimated meteorology share of the

supporting research and analysis programs as well as Earth Observing

System (EOS) and Earth Probe instruments, EOS science, and the EOS Data

Information System elements of the

NASA Office of Earth Science budget.

Included in NASA's request is

$55.7 million for special programs

under the category of aviation weather

supporting research.

The Nuclear Regulatory

Commission's (NRC's) request for

$95,000 in FY 2003 is mainly to continue technical assistance for the analysis of atmospheric dispersion for routine and accident releases from nuclear

facilities. The NRC will dedicate these

funds to obtain and analyze meteorological data and information related to

siting new nuclear power plants and

related to the safe operation of nuclear

facilities, to the protection of public

health and safety, and protection of the

environment.

FEDERAL COORDINATION

56th Interdepartmental Hurricane

Conference (IHC) (March 11-15,

2002). OFCM annually hosts the

Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference to provide a forum for the responsible federal agencies, together with

representatives of the user communities such as emergency management,

to review the nation's hurricane forecast and warning program and to make

recommendations on how to improve

the program in the future. The

56th IHC was held in New Orleans,

Louisiana. The theme for the confer-
xii EXEC SUM

ence was Hurricane Season 2002: 10

years after Hurricane Andrew. Vice

Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr.,

USN (Ret.), Under Secretary of

Commerce for Oceans and

Atmosphere, provided the Keynote

Address for the Conference. The conference reviewed the 2001 tropical

cyclone season in the Atlantic Ocean,

Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, and

the Pacific Ocean. The Working

Group for Hurricane and Winter

Storms Operations and Research met

to work on IHC action items and

changes to the National Hurricane

Operations Plan. In May, OFCM published the 40th edition of the National

Hurricane Operations Plan which provides the basis for hurricane reconnaissance for the 2002 season and details

responsibilities of federal agencies;

operations and procedures; products;

aircraft, satellite, radar, and buoy data

collection; and marine weather broadcasts.

Conference results included the need

to: (1) continue research in forecasting

the intensity and structure of hurricanes and tropical cyclones, (2) fully

exploit coupled model technology,

which integrates the atmosphere,

ocean, and land as one fully coupled

system, (3) investigate methods to

effectively communicate forecast

uncertainty to the public, (4) facilitate

and expand collaborations and partnerships at the National Hurricane

Center's Joint Hurricane Testbed,

which was established to improve the

transition of successful hurricane

research results into operations, and

(5) place increased priority on transitioning proven remote-sensing observational capability to the operational

weather reconnaissance aircraft. To

that end, the OFCM has provided

$200,000 to support the acquisition of

the next-generation Stepped Frequency

Microwave Radiometer by the NOAA

Aircraft Operations Center.

National Hurricane Conference

(April 1-4, 2002). OFCM participated

in the 2002 National Hurricane

Conference in Orlando, Florida. The

theme of this 24th NHC was Preparing

for Catastrophic Events: 10 Years after

Hurricane Andrew. There were over

1,100 attendees representing a large

cross section of the hurricane emergency planning, response, and recovery communities, including emergency

managers, fire and law enforcement

officials, public works and transportation officials, news media, hospital and

health care officials, engineers, meteorologists and geographers, volunteer

agency representatives, and city and

county commissioners, managers, and

planners. Personnel staffed an OFCM

exhibit and distributed copies of The

Federal Plan for Meteorological

Services and Supporting Research --

Fiscal Year 2002, National Hurricane

Operations Plan, and proceedings

from forums on Risk Management and

Assessments of Natural Hazards and

Weather Information for Surface

Transportation. OFCM also made

arrangements for an opening session

speech by Dr. James R. Mahoney,

Assistant Secretary of Commerce for

Oceans and Atmosphere, and arranged

for a reception for Dr. Mahoney to

meet all NOAA employees who

attended the National Hurricane

Conference. Dr. Mahoney met with

David and Stan Tait, the organizers of

the National Hurricane Conference,

during which he expressed NOAA's

continuing support for the NHC.

Dr. Mahoney also met with Mr. Joe

Allbaugh, Director of the Federal

Emergency Management Agency,

where he highlighted the need for a

strong interagency working relationship between FEMA, NOAA, and the

other federal agencies. During his

presentation, Dr. Mahoney emphasized

that NOAA is focused on three themes:

commitment, partnership, and technological progress. Dr. Mahoney was

also interviewed by the news media.

Post-Storm Data Acquisition. The

OFCM-sponsored Working Group for

Natural Disaster Reduction/Post-Storm

Data Acquisition coordinated efforts to

examine flood damage which occurred

in Arkansas at the end of March 2002

and in Southwest Nebraska during July

2002, and to examine the devastation

that resulted from the F4 tornado

which impacted the La Plata area of

southern Maryland at the end of April

2002. Aerial photography support was

provided by the Air Force's Civil Air

Patrol. The support provided by the

Civil Air Patrol, which was negotiated

by the working group and documented

in a memorandum of understanding,

has proven to be both timely and very

cost effective.

Fire Weather. OFCM staff participated in the August 13-15, 2002,

USDA Forest Service Research and

Development/Atmospheric Science

Research Program Meeting held at

George Mason University, Fairfax,

Virginia. Topics addressed include

National Fire Plan status, smoke management issues, climate change, air

quality, and fire emissions. Work is

ongoing between the National Weather

Service and the USDA Forest Service

in connection with the Fire Consortia

for Advanced Modeling of

Meteorology and Smoke (FCAMMS),

a national initiative under the National

Fire Plan to provide mesoscale meteorological products to fire managers.

There is also ongoing work between

NOAA's Air Resources Laboratory

and the USDA Forest Service in connection with air quality.

Environmental Support to Homeland

Security. Since September 11, 2001,

OFCM has undertaken an important

role in the meteorological community

in relation to environmental support to

homeland security. OFCM formed the

Working Group for Environmental

Support to Homeland Security

(WG/ESHS) to serve as the executive

agent to the Federal Committee for

Meteorological Services and

Supporting Research (FCMSSR) for

homeland security issues. Key players
EXEC SUM xiii

include NOAA (NWS, OAR, NESDIS,

NOS), Navy, Air Force, Army, DOE,

EPA, FEMA, NRC, FAA, USCG,

FHWA, and DTRA. WG/ESHS meets

frequently to inventory each federal

agency's capabilities to support the

requirements of the Office of

Homeland Security; document and prioritize unmet needs and requirements

for environmental support during crisis

and consequence management; and

develop a coordinated, interagency

concept of operations for providing

environmental support to homeland

security. Areas of leveraging, areas

where we can bring about improvements, and any new requirements are

also explored.

FCMSSR Meeting. The Federal

Committee for Meteorological

Services and Supporting Research met

on November 16, 2001, in the White

House Conference Center. The meeting was specially called to discuss

environmental support to homeland

security and was attended by RADM

Richard West, USN; Brig Gen David

L. Johnson, USAF; and Brig Gen John

J. Kelly, Jr., USAF (Ret.), together

with other high level agency representatives to the federal committee. The

purpose of the meeting was to help

increase awareness of capabilities,

cooperation, and leveraging opportunities among the federal agencies and to

agree on some next steps for specific

accomplishments to improve environmental support to homeland security.

OFCM action items from the meeting

included arranging for representation

from the Justice Department and the

Office of Homeland Security to work

with us on homeland security issues

and to attend future meetings related to

environmental support to homeland

security, establishing an interagency

process for identifying requirements

and establishing priorities for meteorological support to homeland security,

identifying areas for increased leveraging and backup between agencies,

hosting a meeting in a classified environment to discuss single points of

failure within relevant agencies, establishing a working relationship with the

Office of Homeland Security so that

the meteorological community can

make appropriate contributions, and

proceeding with the Workshop on

Effective Emergency Response:

Selecting a Suitable Dispersion Model

for a Given Application.

Effective Emergency Response.

OFCM conducted a Workshop on

Effective Emergency Response:

Selecting a Suitable Dispersion Model

for a Given Application on December

5-6, 2001, in Crystal City, Virginia.

The purpose of the workshop was to

address issues associated with the

number and variety of atmospheric

transport and diffusion (ATD) models

existing today in the federal government. In particular, participants considered what models should be used in

specific situations and how those models are evaluated. The workshop was

attended by approximately 90 individuals including representatives of the

government, private, academic, and

other sectors. Breakout sessions considered planning, response, and recovery applications for four scenarios

(sarin release, explosion of a dirty

nuclear device, plane crash into a

nuclear power plant, and crop duster

release of anthrax). Criteria were identified, together with their relative

importance, for selecting models for

the scenarios. OFCM published the

proceedings of the workshop in March

2002. OFCM formed a Joint Action

Group for Selection and Evaluation of

Atmospheric Transport and Diffusion

Models (JAG/SEATD) to take action

on initiatives resulting from the workshop on effective emergency response.

JAG/SEATD reviewed eight scenarios

which covered a wide range of potential threats and exercised a variety of

model capabilities. JAG/SEATD has

identified 29 operationally relevant

models. The Joint Action Group is

continuing to identify common evaluation procedures; identify gaps and deficiencies in operational capability that

need to be addressed through research

and development; and consider ways

to leverage agency participation in

field experiments (e.g., the Oklahoma

City full-scale field experiment).

JAG/SEATD has published a report on

its findings. The results of this work

contributed to NOAA's FY 2004 initiative regarding Urban Weapons of Mass

Destruction (WMD) Dispersion

Forecasting.

Cooperative Support and Backup.

The Working Group for Cooperative

Support and Backup (WG/CSAB),

which serves as the executive agent

for the Committee for Operational

Processing Centers, completed an

update of the Federal Plan for

Cooperative Support and Backup

Among the Operational Processing

Centers. WG/CSAB is also developing a Catastrophic Backup Action

Plan to identify catastrophic backup

shortfalls that exist at the nation's

military and civilian meteorological,

oceanographic, and satellite operational processing centers (OPC) that

can be addressed in the short term.

The document defines the plans,

actions, and implementation steps

required to minimize the impact of a

catastrophic failure at one or more of

the nation's OPCs. Eight shortfalls

were initially identified, but the plan

is intended to be a living document

that will be reviewed and updated as

required.

Meeting with the Office of

Homeland Security (March 1, 2002).

The Federal Coordinator arranged a

meeting with the Office of Homeland

Security to highlight the federal

meteorological community's capabilities and responsibilities, and the

interagency coordination infrastructure to provide environmental support

to the nation's homeland security

efforts. NOAA's capabilities in support of Homeland Security were also

briefed.
xiv EXEC SUM

Meeting with the Office of

Homeland Security (August 22, 2002).

The Federal Coordinator, key OFCM

staff, and members of the JAG/SEATD

met with the Office of Homeland

Security to present the results of the

report of the Joint Action Group for the

Selection and Evaluation of

Atmospheric Transport and Diffusion

Models (JAG/SEATD). The report

was the culmination of seven months

of effort by top-notch agency experts

to evaluate the modeling systems

available to address the potential

threats to homeland security. The

report's recommendations included:

need for research and development to

bridge gaps in understanding and capability (13 research needs are identified

in the report); need for more field tests

to support both R&D and model evaluation; improved observations and

model inputs; need for standard, consensus-based model evaluation procedures; and improved interagency coordination and information exchange.

Annual Federal Plan. OFCM prepared The Federal Plan for

Meteorological Services and

Supporting Research -- Fiscal Year

2003. The Federal Plan is

Congressionally mandated and is a

one-of-a-kind document which articulates the meteorological services provided and supporting research conducted by agencies of the federal government. The Federal Plan helps to

reduce duplication among the agencies. It is a comprehensive publication

that documents proposed programs for

Fiscal Year 2003 and reviews agency

programs in Fiscal Year 2002. The

plan demonstrates to the Congress and

to the Executive Branch how the federal agencies work together to accomplish their missions in an effective and

efficient manner.

Weather Information for Surface

Transportation. OFCM continued its

extensive involvement in the area of

Weather Information for Surface

Transportation (WIST). The bottom

line is that improvements in surface

transportation weather support will

result in safer and more efficient operations by all users. OFCM has prepared a report addressing meteorological needs/requirements for the six core

modes of surface transportation: roadway, railway, transit, marine transportation/operations, pipeline, and airport ground operations. This activity

has included formation of a joint action

group to address meteorological

requirements for surface transportation; questionnaires; surveys; WIST

symposia conducted jointly with the

Federal Highway Administration

(FHWA); meetings with railroad,

pipeline, and emergency managers;

and participation on panels concerning

public-private partnerships in transportation and Intelligent Transportation Systems. The national needs

assessment report is a culmination of

intensive OFCM efforts in this area.

OFCM personnel participated in the

12th Annual Meeting and Exposition of

the Intelligent Transportation Society

of America, with special attention

given to the road weather management

and traveler information/511 areas.

There was overwhelming positive

response to OFCM at the ITS-A meeting and exposition. A survey performed at the meeting showed that

40 percent of those surveyed believed

that weather was their highest priority.

OFCM personnel also participated in

the Cooperative Program for

Operational Meteorology, Education

and Training (COMET) Review of the

Progress of Surface Transportation/

Weather Research Projects sponsored

by FHWA on September 17, 2002.

Participants included FHWA, COMET,

Desert Research Institute, Iowa State

University, Pennsylvania State

University, State University of New

York, and University of Utah.

Aviation Weather. OFCM has also

continued its extensive involvement in

the area of Aviation Weather Services.

OFCM has undertaken a leadership

role in coordinating the establishment

of a National Training Program to

improve aviation weather training for

users and providers of aviation weather information. Our primary objectives are to coordinate development

and implementation of comprehensive

aviation weather training programs, to

improve awareness of and access to

aviation weather training, and, ultimately, to improve the practical skills

of users and providers of aviation

weather services. In that regard,

OFCM has published the document

Aviation Weather Training: A Report

on Training for Emerging and Recently

Implemented Aviation Weather

Programs. The purpose of the report is

to evaluate how well training is being

addressed for the aviation weather programs/projects in the April 2001

OFCM publication National Aviation

Weather Initiatives Final Baseline

Report. The transition from research

and development to operations is not

complete without training and the

combined efforts of all concerned are

needed to ensure that training is an

integral part of the development

process. OFCM's Joint Action Group

for Aviation Weather also continues to

establish, validate, and prioritize

requirements for aviation weather

services. OFCM is also continuing

efforts concerning volcanic ash and

expects to publish A National

Framework for Volcanic Ash Hazards

to Aviation during FY 2003.

Wind Chill Temperature Index.

Under the leadership of OFCM's federal coordinating infrastructure, United

States federal agencies, Canadian participants, and the academic research

community have taken an important

step towards improving the Wind Chill

Temperature (WCT) Index, which will

provide the citizens of the United

States and Canada better protection of

life and property. The previous wind

chill index attempted to measure the

rate of heat loss by the human body as

wind blows across it at different tem-
EXEC SUM xv

peratures and speeds. The index was

developed in the 1940s during an

Antarctic expedition and was known to

overestimate the effect of wind by at

least ten degrees. This fact provided a

false sense of security, and people were

sometimes not aware or prepared for

the danger of severe winter weather.

OFCM led the improvement effort by

creating a Joint Action Group for

Temperature Indices within its federal

coordinating infrastructure, and this

Joint Action Group pulled together the

various United States, Canadian, and

academic entities to develop the new

WCT Index based on 21st Century science. NOAA's National Weather

Service, the United States Air Force,

and the Meteorological Service of

Canada implemented the new WCT

Index during the winter season of

2001-2002. This new WCT Index is a

substantial improvement over the previous practice and is based on a human

face model. The index uses wind

speed calculated at the average height

of the human body's face, incorporates

modern heat transfer theory, lowers the

walking speed threshold used in calm

wind situations, and uses a consistent

standard for skin tissue resistance.

Further refinements will include

adjustments for solar radiation for a

variety of conditions.

Strategy for Providing Atmospheric

Information. OFCM conducted a

forum to respond to agency priorities

and to address Leadership and

Management Recommendation 1 of

the National Research

Council/National Academy of

Sciences Board on Atmospheric

Sciences and Climate (BASC) report

The Atmospheric Sciences Entering the

Twenty-First Century, which states:

The Federal Coordinator for

Meteorological Services and

Supporting Research should lead a

thorough examination of the issues that

arise as the national system for providing atmospheric information becomes

more distributed. Key federal organizations, the private sector, academe,

and professional organizations should

all be represented in such a study and

should help develop a strategic plan.

The Workshop on Strategy for

Providing Atmospheric Information:

Planning to Exploit our National

Investment in Weather Technology was

conducted December 3-5, 2001, in

Crystal City, Virginia, and included

sessions on handling atmospheric

information in some key meteorological disciplines (climate, urban meteorology, and technological hazards) and

interoperability, compatibility, and

accessibility (observation/instrumentation standards, formatting the information, and communications issues).

Proceedings from the workshop have

been published. OFCM will use the

results of the workshop to form the

basis for strategic guidance as the

United States system for providing

atmospheric information continues to

rapidly evolve. In his concluding

remarks for the workshop, the Federal

Coordinator noted that the highest priority near-term challenge must be to

determine how to effectively acquire

data in support of homeland security.

Collaboration with the United States

Weather Research Program. The mission of the United States Weather

Research Program (USWRP) is to

accelerate forecast improvements of

high impact weather and facilitate full

use of advanced weather information.

The program's vision is to mitigate the

effects of weather-induced disasters;

reduce the costs associated with routinely disruptive weather; create

opportunities for increased productivity through better weather information;

and assist the military in the accomplishment of its mission. The current

USWRP team includes NOAA as the

lead agency, National Science

Foundation, National Aeronautics and

Space Administration, and the United

States Navy. The Federal Coordinator

has contacted additional agencies to

broaden federal participation in the

USWRP in accordance with an action

from the Interdepartmental Committee

for Meteorological Services and

Supporting Research, direction from

the Chairman of the Federal

Committee for Meteorological

Services and Supporting Research, and

a recommendation from the National

Academy of Sciences/National

Research Council Board on

Atmospheric Sciences and Climate

(BASC). The additional agencies

included Federal Aviation

Administration, Federal Highway

Administration, United States Air

Force, Department of Energy, United

States Department of Agriculture, and

Federal Emergency Management

Agency. This has led to more interaction directly between the leadership of

the USWRP and interested agencies to

discuss in more detail agency specific

needs which may be benefited by the

program. It is expected that several

additional federal participants will join

the USWRP and that the USWRP priorities will be expanded to address

their needs. An OFCM representative

also attends all meetings of the

Interagency Working Group of the

United States Weather Research

Program.

Collaboration with NAS/Board on

Atmospheric Sciences and Climate.

OFCM continued its mutually beneficial interactions with the National

Research Council/National Academy

of Sciences. OFCM conducted a

forum to respond to agency priorities

and to address Leadership and

Management Recommendation 1 of

the National Research Council/

National Academy of Sciences Board

on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate

(BASC) report The Atmospheric

Sciences Entering the Twenty-First

Century. In the June 2000 BASC

Letter Report on the United States

Weather Research Program, BASC

recommended that the FCMSSR

Chairman use that role to bring other

agencies into the program. The
xvi EXEC SUM

August 8-11, 2000, BASC Summer

Study on Climate Services at Woods

Hole, Massachusetts, was a result of an

earlier FCMSSR/BASC joint meeting,

and resulted in the 2001 publication A

Climate Services Vision: First Steps

Toward The Future. OFCM's

Committee for Climate Analysis,

Monitoring and Services (CCAMS)

has adopted the BASC definition of

climate services to be "The timely production and delivery of useful climate

data, information, and knowledge to

decision makers." The committee is

also following up on recommendations

from the BASC Climate Services

report to "inventory existing observing

systems and data holdings," and to

"promote efficiency by seeking out

opportunities to combine the efforts of

existing observation networks to serve

multiple purposes in a more cost-effective manner." Subsequent to the

November 14, 2000, FCMSSR meeting which was attended by BASC representatives, FCMSSR recommended

communication of weather and climate

information for the BASC 2001

Summer Study, and the report of this

activity is pending. The Federal

Coordinator also participated in the

BASC 2002 Summer Study on Tools

for Tracking Chemical/Biological/

Nuclear Releases in the Atmosphere:

Implications for Homeland Security,

and participated in the weather modification study conducted by BASC.

Collaboration with CENR/

Subcommittee on Natural Disaster

Reduction. OFCM has been an active

participant in the work of the

Committee on Environment and

Natural Resources (CENR)

Subcommittee on Natural Disaster

Reduction (SNDR). Over the past several months, the focus of this group has

been to define its strategic vision in

coordination with the White House

Office of Science and Technology

Policy and the Office of Homeland

Security. Through OFCM representation on the SNDR, OFCM has helped

craft the subcommittee's charter and

annual operating plan. The major

thrust of these documents is to: (1)

promote effective strategies for reducing national vulnerability to disaster

risks and losses by leveraging expertise and information across the federal

government and (2) establish focused

outreach to the academic and private

communities. To achieve these goals,

the OFCM is committed to working

with SNDR to provide a forum for

information sharing, development of

collaborative opportunities, and interactive dialogue with the United States

policy community to advance

informed strategies for managing risks

associated with natural and technological disasters.

COOP Modernization Partners'

Forum. The National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

conducted a COOP Modernization

Partners' Forum: Building a National

Observing Capability for the Future in

Rockville, Maryland, on September

18, 2002. NOAA's goal is to upgrade

approximately 8,000 volunteer

Cooperative Observer Network

(COOP) stations nationwide to provide

accurate, secure, hourly temperature

and precipitation data in addition to

daily snowfall and snow depth observations. For the first time, data will be

available in real-time from this network. The forum was cosponsored by

the National Weather Service Office of

Climate, Water, and Weather Services;

National Climatic Data Center; NOAA

Climate Observations and Services

Program; and Office of the Federal

Coordinator for Meteorology. NOAA

provided customers of the COOP data

with detailed information on the technical proposal for modernizing the

COOP network system architecture,

including observation instrumentation,

data communications, archiving, and

quality control. The forum allowed

customers direct exchange with

NOAA COOP management personnel

to provide their input. The Federal

Coordinator chaired a session on the

NOAA COOP Modernization Proposal

and Benefits.

Interagency Task Force on Risk

Management. The purpose of the

Interagency Task Force on Risk

Management is to examine and report

on the role of precaution in risk management decisions by managers or

decision makers in both the public and

private sectors, especially regarding

risks to human welfare, quality of life,

and environmental protection. The

Federal Coordinator represented

NOAA at the June 24, July 19, and

August 7, 2002, meetings of the

Interagency Task Force on Risk

Management. At these meetings,

agencies discussed and are providing

the following relevant information:

precautionary/regulatory risk management standards and guidelines; risk

assessment and management requirements/practices; decision criteria

regarding different risks; and historical

examples where risk management

decisions incorporated too much, too

little, or the appropriate amount of precaution.

Lightning Data User Requirements.

OFCM's Joint Action Group for

Lightning Detection Systems

(JAG/LDS) met several times to obtain

federal agency requirements for lightning data. The requirements will serve

as input to the National Weather

Service contract solicitation to acquire

lightning data on behalf of all federal

agencies.

GOES Users Conference II. The

Federal Coordinator participated in the

GOES Users Conference II,

October 1-3, 2002, Boulder, Colorado.

Goals of the Conference were to

(1) inform users of future capabilities

and potential applications of the

GOES-R Series; (2) determine user

needs for new products, distribution of

GOES data and products, instruments

of opportunity, access to sample data

prior to launch of next series, and education, training and outreach;
EXEC SUM xvii

(3) assess user and societal benefits of

future systems; and (4) develop methods to improve communication

between NESDIS and the GOES user

community (develop, present, and

refine a process for determining and

updating requirements). The Federal

Coordinator made a presentation on

the role of OFCM in interagency coordination.

American Meteorological Society.

During FY 2002, OFCM joined leading environmental science and service

corporations in supporting undergraduate scholarships in the atmospheric and

related oceanic and hydrologic sciences. The scholarships, awarded for

the junior and senior years, are

designed to encourage outstanding

undergraduates to pursue careers in the

fields covered by the awards. OFCM

plans to continue this support. OFCM

also supports American Meteorological Society endeavors by participating in AMS conferences and workshops and other environmental science

education and outreach programs.

PUBLICATIONS AND OFCM'S

WEBSITE

The following plans and publications

were prepared in hardcopy form and

most have been placed on OFCM's

website (www.ofcm.gov):

 The Federal Plan for

Meteorological Services and

Supporting Research -- Fiscal Year

2002

 National Hurricane Operations

Plan

 55th Interdepartmental Hurricane

Conference (Minutes)

 Proceedings of the Workshop on

Strategy for Providing Atmospheric

Information: Planning to Exploit our

National Investment in Weather

Technology

 Proceedings of the Workshop on

Effective Emergency Response:

Selecting a Suitable Dispersion

Model for a Given Application

 Aviation Weather Training: A

Report on Training for Emerging

and Recently Implemented Aviation

Weather Programs

 Selection and Evaluation of

Atmospheric Transport and

Diffusion Models

 Weather Information for Surface

Transportation

The following documents are

planned for publication during

FY 2003:

 The Federal Plan for

Meteorological Services and

Supporting Research -- Fiscal Year

2003

 National Hurricane Operations

Plan

 56th Interdepartmental Hurricane

Conference (Minutes)

 Proceedings of the Risk

Assessment/Risk Management

Workshop

 Proceedings of the Workshop on

Weather Support for the United

States Marine Transportation

Service

 National Plan for Post-Storm Data

Acquisition

 A National Framework for

Volcanic Ash Hazards to Aviation

During FY 2002, OFCM continued

to make substantial progress on its use

of the Internet. In addition to information about the office, OFCM has

placed its current publications on its

website, and keeps the website current

with information regarding workshops

and symposia being conducted by the

office. OFCM will continue to make

information available on the Internet

during FY 2003.
SECTION 1

The Nation's need for weather information regarding surface transportation reads like a fictional novel.

• Mary and Joe are driving to their inlaws for Thanksgiving, and a major

winter snowstorm is forecast...will

they get there in time for dinner?

• Vacationers in Florida have heard of

a hurricane heading their way...do

they evacuate, and if so, what is the

best route away from the ocean?

• A college student is planning a road

trip for spring break from the northern interior states to southern

Texas...he surfs the internet to find

the quickest routes which will avoid

an ice storm in Iowa and the convective weather in Oklahoma.

• Local businessmen take the ferry to

work in the Seattle area, and can't be

late for an important meeting...a

strong winter storm is approaching...will the winds and waves delay

the ferry service today?

• A rural carrier for the United States

Postal Service (USPS) is worried

about the rain/snow line on his

route...will he/she be able to deliver

the mail today, as the USPS is known

for delivering "in rain or snow"?

• A local television weathercaster in

the San Francisco Bay Area gathers

information for his Friday night segment to highlight the road conditions

over the Sierra Nevada...this will

provide the skiers information as they

get ready to drive up to the snow for

the weekend.

• A truck driver is concerned about

his shipment of food perishables

which must get to the grocery store in

a timely manner...how much additional time will the headwinds add to

his trip?

These are just a few examples of how

weather affects transportation systems

and our lives every day. Weather

affects the safety, efficiency, and economic productivity of our transportation systems and facilities.

The number one reason is safety.

Nearly every citizen uses some mode of

surface transportation daily, whether it

be the 3.9 million miles of public roads;

6,200 miles of public transit;

3,750 waterport terminals; 120 thousand miles of major railroads; or the

25 thousand miles of commercially

navigable waterways. Many of these

transit systems have reached capacity,

and inclement weather increases delays,

congestion, and system capacity constraints. Directly or indirectly, weather

plays a role in 7,000 fatalities resulting

from vehicular crashes; the annual estimated economic cost from weatherrelated crashes (deaths, injuries, and

property) amounts to nearly $42 billion.

Table 1.1 shows the weather conditions

present when vehicle crashes caused

injuries or death. Other transportation

sectors such as railroads, aircraft, water

vessels, and pipelines have far fewer

injuries and deaths than occur on roads

and highways.

The second reason is economics.

Weather can affect a broad range of

transportation systems. The freight

industry is an example of a weatherchallenged business. Each year, about

30 billion tons of domestic and international freight is moved. As an endto-end system, the freight can begin as

a shipment arriving at a port on a ship,

transferred to truck, rail, or plane, and

moved to your local community store.

National roadway systems are affected

every day. During the winter months

in particular, various state and local

agencies spend about $2 billion annually for snow and ice control and

another $5 billion for infrastructure

repair due to ice and snow. The cost of

a one-day highway shutdown due to

snow has been estimated at between

$15 million and $76 billion in lost time

and productivity. In the Sierra Nevada,

one overtime shift for the Nevada

THE NEED FOR WEATHER INFORMATION

FOR SURFACE TRANSPORTATION:

KEEPING THE COUNTRY SAFE AND ON THE MOVE

SECTION 1 1

Why do we need

Weather Information for

Surface Transportation

(WIST)?

Safety

Economics

Human and natural 

environmental impacts

Article prepared by Ms. Mary M. Cairns, Senior Staff Physical Scientist, OFCM.

Weather Conditions During Vehicle Crashes

Number of Crashes (percent total)

5,281,000 84%

679,000 11%

199,000 3%

47,000 <1%

72,000 1%

6,279,000 100%

Weather

Normal

Rain

Snow/Sleet

Fog

Other

All Conditions

Deaths

37,107 (89%)

3,086 (7%)

680 (2%)

569 (1%)

275 (<1%)

41,717 (100%)

Injuries

2,757,000 (85%)

364,000 (11%)

63,000 (2%)

18,000 (<1%)

34,000 (1%)

3,236,000 (100%)

INTRODUCTION

Table 1.1. Statistics comparing crashes, weather conditions, injuries, and deaths.

(Source: NHTSA, 1999)
2 SECTION 1

Department of Transportation snow

removal crews can cost upwards of

$12,000.

A third reason is not as obvious but

nonetheless important - the human and

natural environment. It is important

that the natural environment and communities affected by highway transportation are protected and enhanced.

Examples include leveraging the use of

weather information to reduce the

impact of salting or use of other chemicals for ice treatment on watershed

pollution problems, and reducing the

impact of highway transportation on

the Nation's air pollution problem.

Other areas impacted by weather information are the management of roadways on public lands in national forests

and national grasslands by the United

States Forest Service, and the transportation of nuclear waste.

Clearly the need has been demonstrated for weather information for surface transportation. The question then

arose, what steps should be taken to

provide this information to the user

communities?

In 1999 the Office of the Federal

Coordinator for Meteorology (OFCM)

and the United States Department of

Transportation (DOT) - Federal

Highway Administration (FHWA)

brought together leaders of the weather and surface transportation communities. A symposium was held to establish the national needs and requirements for weather information associated with decision-making actions

involving surface transportation

(OFCM 2000). This was the first time

these communities were brought

together to address this topic; an

unprecedented cross section of more

than 120 transportation and weather

professionals attended representing

federal, state and city governments,

urban and rural transportation agencies, professional and trade organizations, and weather service providers

(both government and commercial).

The goal of the symposium was consistent with the major theme of the

Transportation Equity Act for the

21st Century. Then Secretary of

Transportation Rodney E. Slater, in his

summary message describing this

important legislation, stated that

"...transportation is about more than

concrete, asphalt, and steel...it is

about people, and about providing

them with the opportunity to lead safer,

healthier, and more fulfilling lives."

The resulting conclusion supported

by all attendees was a proposal to

establish a nationwide baseline of

weather needs and requirements for

surface transportation. The attendees

also endorsed the pursuit of solutions

that would meet their specific mission

needs.

This symposium was an action from

the OFCM's Committee for Environmental Services, Operations, and

Research Needs (C/ESORN) Joint

Action Group for Weather Information

for Surface Transportation

(JAG/WIST). This interagency group

formed under the direction of the

Interdepartmental Committee for

Meteorological Services and

Supporting Research to address misFigure 1-1. Images of transportation sectors impacted by weather

conditions.

In the Beginning
SECTION 1 3

sion needs and meteorological requirements for surface transportation. The

JAG/WIST, with participation by

15 agencies, proceeded with (1) the

identification of the agencies and

activities that had a stake in this information resource; and (2) the implementation of a survey process to collect data. This process consisted of

numerous surveys, questionnaires and

interviews. Table 1.2 presents the

agencies and entities involved in this

process by transportation sector.

An aspect of this process was education. Many of the transportation user

community were not as familiar with,

or were unaware of, the current

advances in weather information that

could be applied to operations.

Conversely, the meteorological community was awakened to the wide area

of needs of various transportation

operations. One example of this is

weather information for the transport

of food by the United States

Department of Agriculture (USDA) for

school meal plans. The USDA is now

cognizant of the various opportunities

for accessing weather information, as

well as the meteorological community

realizing how important weather is for

feeding the school children on a daily

or weekly basis.

During the needs assessment collection process, a second symposium was

held in 2000 (OFCM 2001). The symposium provided the platform for an

update on the JAG/WIST activities, the

identification of initiatives and programs underway or being planned, and

identification of next steps/actions

toward improving weather information

for decision-makers. The major action

items from the symposium included

completion and publication of the

WIST requirements document; the

identification of the need to enhance

technology transfer processes; and the

identification of the need for a dedicated and focused research and development program.

These activities are summarized

below.

WIST Report

The C/ESORN's JAG/WIST is nearing completion of the WIST report

(OFCM 2002). This is a comprehensive overview of all the activities to

date relating to the needs and requirements for weather information for surSectors Agencies/Entities

Table 1.2. Listing of federal departments/agencies and

private entities that conduct activities in each of the six

transportation sectors.

Sectors Agencies/Entities

Department of Agriculture

Department of Commerce

Department of Defense

Airport Ground Department of Energy

Operations Department of the Interior

Department of Transportation

Commercial Airlines

Regional Airports

Department of Agriculture

Department of Commerce

Department of Defense

Department of Energy

United States Department of the Interior

Marine Transportation Department of Transportation

System Federal Emergency Management Agency

National Aeronautics and Space

Administration

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

United States Postal Service

Trade Associations

Department of Agriculture

Department of Commerce

Department of Defense

Pipeline Systems Department of the Interior

Department of Transportation

Trade Associaitons

Energy Industry

Department of Agriculture

Department of Commerce

Department of Defense

Department of Energy

Department of the Interior

Department of Transportation

Long Haul Federal Emergency Management Agency

Railways National Aeronautics and Space

Administration

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

United States Postal Service

Rail Industry

Trade Associations

Department of Agriculture

Department of Commerce

Department of Defense

Department of Energy

Department of the Interior

Department of Transportation

Roadways Environmental Protection Agency

Federal Emergency Management Agency

National Aeronautics and Space

Administration

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

United States Postal Service

State Departments of Transportation

Trade Associations

Department of Agriculture

Department of Commerce

Department of Defense

Rural and Urban Department of the Interior

Transit Department of Transportation

State and Local Transit Authorities

Local School Districts

Trade Associaitons
4 SECTION 1

face transportation. Forefront in this

report are the actual users' needs and

requirements sections, which were

gathered from participating agencies,

groups, and the private sector. In the

identification and validation of the

WIST users' needs, several questions

were asked:

• Which specific weather elements (a

weather event or a condition affected by the weather or related environmental factors) can affect their

activities?

• What information about those

weather elements (spatial scale,

thresholds of severity or proximity,

timing of onset and duration) would

help the operators and users of

those transportation systems to

ameliorate negative consequences

and take advantage of positive consequences?

• When is the information needed

(the lead time of forecasts or the

currency of observations) to be

most effective in supporting the

decision processes of transportation

system managers, travelers, and

others who decide on transportation

activities?

Table 1.3 illustrates a small sample of

this information obtained from the railway, waterway, and roadway agencies.

Four major conclusions (briefly summarized here) resulted from the compiled needs:

1. The data gathered provide a validated baseline of user-defined weather information needs for a cross-cut

of federal, state, and local governmental agencies along with their

associated commercial interest

groups;

2. The nation can benefit significantly from improved weather informaWeather Requirements for Roadway Transportation

Weather Element Threshold Activity Impacts Action Lead-Time

Freezing precipitation

(ice)

Any Fleet utility and

transport vehicle

Safety risk to operators, damage risk,

schedule delays

Advise operators, reschedule, reroute 12 hours

Bus operations Increased safety risk; passenger injuries and

resulting claims, traffic congestion, routes

may require detour; delays of scheduled

operations, traffic accidents, increased risk

of damage to busses/property

Implement preparation procedures, reschedule, reroute, advise operators to drive with

extreme caution, modify or restrict operations (especially on hills), suspend operations as appropriate, advise passengers via

bus radio system, clear station parking lots

and platforms

12-24 hours

Weather Requirements for Waterway Transportation, Inland (rivers, bays, lakes, intercoastal) Open Water

Weather Element Threshold Activity Impacts Action Lead-Time

Wind Wave Height (feet) 2 to 4 Inland Recreational

Boating

Passenger comfort and risk to small boats Small boats exercise caution. 12 hours/current

Open Water Rec

Boating

Passenger comfort and risk to small boats Small boats exercise caution. 12 hours/current

4 to 6 Inland Recreational

Boating, Ferries,

and Commerce

Potential risk to crew and passenger safety.

Potential for hull damage to small boats.

Depending on loading, open barges may

take on water.

Exercise extreme caution/stop small boat

activities. Advise passengers/modify ferry

operations. Reduce speed/suspend operations

12 hours/current

Open Water Rec 12 hours

Boating, Open

Water Cruise Lines

Risk to personnel/possible hull damage.

Affects passenger comfort

Boats reduce speed/exercise caution.

Advise passengers.

Port Operations Possible damage to port facilities Implement Emergency Procedures 12 hours

Weather Requirements for Long Haul Rail Transportation

Weather Element Threshold Activity Impacts Action Lead-Time

Air Temperature (oF)

(1st occurrence of season)

>70-75 Railway/Control

Center Operations

Station/Depot

Operations

Hump Yard

Operations

Construction

Hazardous

Materials

Surveillance

Personnel Safety

First occurrence of season, when air temperature rises to or above 70-75o

F, rail expansion causes the maximum number of track

warning signals and potential for derailment;

possible track sensor/signal sensor malfunction; possible track and/or signal damage;

rail inspection crews may be required; signal

maintenance crew may be required. Crew,

personnel, and passenger safety.

Advise, warn and update dispatch centers,

crews, and stations. Predict affected areas,

pre-stage resources (equipment and crews).

Modify operations to conditions present or

forecast; slow or stop train; reroute if feasible; delay departure from station. Review

maintenance records to determine areas

susceptible to track motion. Inspect/repair

tracks, track sensors and signals, as needed. Distribute advisories, warnings, and

updates regarding weather situation and

track conditions.

3 days

First occurrence of season, when air temperature rises to or above 70-75o

F, rail expansion causes the maximum number of track

warning signals and potential for derailment;

possible track sensor/signal sensor malfunction; possible track and/or signal damage;

rail inspection crews may be required; signal

maintenance crew may be required. Crew,

personnel, and passenger safety.

Hazardous material; monitoring, mitigation;

reclamation, reporting.

Table 1.3. Sample templates of weather information needs for roadway, waterway, and rail operators.
SECTION 1 5

tion for surface transportation in the

areas of personal safety and economic benefits;

3. Benefits can be obtained now by

increasing the utility of current data

and products to existing and potential

weather information users; and

4. Substantial benefits to the nation

are possible with (a) better spatial

and temporal resolutions of both

forecasts and observations and

(b) improved forecast accuracy.

This report is available from OFCM.

Both the public and private sectors can

use the information captured in this

report to further the efforts for WIST.

Research and Technology

The two symposiums, survey results

and interviews provided insight into

the current state of research and technology. The WIST report lists research

necessary to fill gaps in the knowledge

base that supports development of the

technology to meet WIST user needs.

Examples include the detection and

prediction of road/rail conditions in

complex terrain; the prediction of precipitation type; land surface modeling;

thermal mapping and remote sensing

of road contaminants to name a few.

Technological development and

applied research could help to meet

WIST user needs. For example, the

development of better computer-based

systems for communicating and processing WIST, including the capabilities to integrate total environmental

information from air, sea, and land sensors and other sources; the development of "intelligent" decision support

systems; and the conduct of humanfactors research to improve the humanmachine interface, the impact of information, and the standardization of

graphical displays in decision support

applications are all viable goals.

To date, there has been a limited

amount of funding and resources available for WIST (Table 1.4). Of the total

amount requested for weather support

to operations and supporting research

in DOT for Fiscal Year 2003, only

6.3 percent is directed to research related to weather impacts on surface transportation.

However, there are programs currently underway to address some of the

needs and requirements targeted in the

WIST report. A brief summary of a

few of these are provided as examples

of how WIST needs can be met.

Intelligent Transportation System

(ITS)

The Department of Transportation

brings together the concepts of integration, interoperability and intermodalism in this interagency program. The

Intelligent Transportation System

(ITS) was formulated in the

Intermodal Surface Transportation

Equity Act of 1992. In the last decade,

research, operational testing, and

demonstrations of benefits were performed to validate the need and use of

ITS. ITS is looked at as one of the

main mechanisms to be used to bring

weather information systems into the

transportation community (Figure 1-2)

(www.its.dot.gov/).

Maintenance Decision Support System

(MDSS)

The Maintenance Decision Support

System (MDSS) is part of the FHWA

Office of Transportation Operations

Surface Transportation Weather

Decision Support Requirements initiative. The objective of the MDSS is to

produce a prototype tool for decision

support to winter road maintenance

managers. Six national research centers are participating in the development of the prototype MDSS. They

include the Cold Regions Research and

Engineering Laboratory, the

Environmental Technology

Laboratory, the Forecast Systems

Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of

Technology - Lincoln Laboratory,

National Center for Atmospheric

Research, and the National Severe

Storms Laboratory. The goal is to

develop a prototype system whose

components will be deployed to road

operating agencies, and generally supplied by private vendors (Figure 1-3)

(www.rap.ucar.edu/projects/rdwx_mdss).

Total DOT: $487 million $456 million $30.8 million

Aviation $443 million $28.8 million

FHWA $0 $2.0 million

All Federal Entities:

$2.84 billion for meteorology $2.48 billion $384 million

Table 1.4. Recap of FY 2003 Federal Budget for Meteorology.

Annual Budget

Weather

Operations

Supporting

Research

Figure 1-2. Intelligent Transportation Systems will incorporate advances in

communications and in-vehicle computing to provide drivers with traveler information on highway construction, road closures, traffic congestion, accidents, and

weather that may be ocurring along their route of travel. (Source: ITS-America)
6 SECTION 1

FORETELL

FORETELL is an initiative covering

the Upper Mississippi Valley region

funded in part by FHWA, with partners

in the state DOTs of Iowa, Wisconsin

and Missouri, and the private sector

partner Castle Rock Consulting. The

goal of the FORETELL field operational test is to create a road weather

information system (RWIS) fully integrated within a wider set of ITS services to enhance safety and facilitate travel throughout North America

(Figure 1-4). FORETELL collects,

forecasts, and distributes highly specific road weather information that is pertinent to highway and trucking professionals, transit operators, everyday

commuters, long-distance travelers,

and all other road users

(ops.fhwa.dot.gov/Weather/FORETELL/foretell.htm).

Other Agencies

Other agency programs can provide a

model for a national weather information system (NWIS). The Aviation

Weather Research Program, sponsored

by the Federal Aviation Administration

(FAA) and in coordination with over

50 other FAA offices, federal agencies

and organizations, is a good example

of an end-to-end program. For surface

transportation, the Winter Weather

Research Product Development Team

focuses on the Weather Support to

Deicing Decision Making (WSDDM)

system. The objective of WSDDM is

to produce real-time, short-term forecasts in the terminal area to support

ground deicing and terminal management during winter storm conditions

(www.faa.gov/aua/awr/index.htm)

The United States Transportation

Command has several areas of surface

transportation research and concerns.

Through the Army's Military Traffic

Management Command Transportation

Engineering Agency, the Intelligent

Road/Rail Information Server is used

to provide surface transportation and

traffic management services for information used in the mobility of military

resources (www.mtmc.army.mil).

The Department of Energy's (DOE)

National Transportation Program

(NTP) is responsible for ensuring the

availability of safe, secure, and economical transport services, consistency

in regulatory implementation, coordinated outreach, and emergency preparedness assistance for DOE programs. The NTP includes managing a

science-based transportation technology program and developing an integrated transportation tool for field applications among a long list of NTP activities (www.ntp.doe.gov/index.html).

The National Weather Service

(NWS), in partnership with the

FHWA and the Cooperative Program

for Operational Meteorology,

Education and Training, has several

cooperative projects targeting a

research to operations approach to

WIST. One example is a project in

Reno, Nevada between the NWS, the

Nevada DOT, and the University of

Nevada Desert Research Institute.

The project is focusing on using the

RWIS as input to a data assimilation

scheme for a high-resolution

mesoscale forecast model. The

improved output will be used in several ways: (1) to feed input into a surface temperature forecast model for

use in icing and snow removal operations; (2) for initialization of forecast

fields in the NWS' Interactive

Forecast Preparation System; and (3)

to develop a travelers forecast for the

public for wintertime road conditions

in and around the Sierra Nevada

(www.dri.edu/Projects/Modeling/).

This is one example of several

research and development projects

currently taking place across the

country.

Figure 1-3. Sample display of FHWA’s Maintenance Decision Support System

(MDSS) (Source: NCAR RAP website).
SECTION 1 7

Our novel is unfinished - the last

chapter waiting for the future. Using

our imagination, we can revisit our

characters.

• Mary and Joe made it to

Thanksgiving dinner after consulting

their automobile transportation system mapping the timing of the snow

on their route to their in-laws.

• The Florida vacationers tuned in to

a dedicated television channel showing the county road evacuation procedures, and how long it would take.

• The college student, with an additional 2 hours to his travel time,

arrived at the coast of Texas in time to

go surfing on his first day of vacation.

• Our local Seattle businessmen were

not late for their meeting, thanks to

ferry information they received on

their cell phone, advising customers

to allow extra time for crossing due to

rough seas.

• The USPS rural carrier, after consulting the road pavement forecast for

the day, delivered the mail in snow,

which was not sticking to the pavement.

• The ski areas in the Sierra Nevada

were happy with the crowds on the

slopes.

• Our truck driver was able to contact

his company for the headwind forecast, which allowed a two-hour layover until the strongest winds subsided, and the deliverables arrived

"just-in-time."

The possibilities for improving surface

transportation for safety and economic

value are endless if we continue on this

path.

The activities which have taken place

over the last several years -- the two

symposiums, discussions, and user

needs and requirements gathering --

provides an overall framework and

general direction for both public and

private surface transportation stakeholders. Continued cooperation and

coordination will be necessary to

achieve the goals of providing weather

information for surface transportation.

This includes the advocacy of federal

research programs, the continuing education of WIST needs for all parties

involved, a sharing of technological

developments relevant to surface transportation systems, and other interactions between federal, state, and local

entities and the private sector to

address weather information for surface transportation.

With our Nation's safety at the forefront, and with the advancements in

science and technology now is the time

to invest efforts for the safety, efficiency, and economic productivity of our

transportation systems and facilities.

REFERENCES:

1. OFCM, 2000: Proceedings for the Weather Information for Surface Transportation Symposium, "Delivering Improved Safety and Efficiency

for Tomorrow." November 30-December 2, 1999, Silver Spring, MD. Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology, U.S. Department of

Commerce, Washington, DC.

2. OFCM, 2001: Proceedings of the Symposium on Weather Information for Surface Transportation, "Preparing for the Future: Improved

Weather Information for Decision-Makers." December 4-6, 2000, Rockville, MD. Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology, U.S.

Department of Commerce, Washington, DC.

3. OFCM, 2002: Weather Information for Surface Transportation. Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology, U.S. Department of

Commerce, Washington, DC.

Figure 1-4. FORETELL User Interface.

And Now for the Rest

of the Story
SECTION 2

Table 2.1 contains fiscal information,

by agency, for meteorological operations and supporting research. The

table shows the funding level for Fiscal

Year (FY) 2002 based on

Congressional appropriations, the

budget request for FY 2003, the percent change, and the individual agencies' percent of the total federal funding for FY 2002 and FY 2003.

DEPARTMENT OFAGRICULTURE

(USDA)

The USDA budget request for

FY 2003 is $28.8 million for operations and supporting research and representing a minor increase from

FY 2002. One additional staff meteorologist was requested for the USDA's

World Agricultural Outlook Board.

The USDA assists the Department of

Commerce in determining farmers'

needs for weather information and in

disseminating the information to them.

Major USDA activities related to

weather observations include incremental modernization of the snow

telemetry (SNOTEL) system operated

by the Natural Resources Conservation

Service (NRCS) and the replacement

of manual fire rating stations with

remote automated weather stations

(RAWS) by the Forest Service. The

SNOTEL and RAWS networks provide cooperative data for NOAA's

river forecast activities, the irrigation

water supply estimates, and Bureau of

Land Management operations. USDA

is also actively involved in drought

monitoring efforts in concert with the

National Drought Mitigation Center.

For supporting research, USDA

maintained a $15.5 million level to

focus on the interactions of weather

and climate with plant and animal production and water resources management. The goal of supporting research

is to develop and disseminate information and techniques to ensure an abundance of high-quality agricultural commodities and products while minimizing the adverse effects of agriculture

on the environment. The research

budget does not include the coordinated effort with EPA on ultraviolet radiation. The Forest Service supports a

research program, initiated in 1988, for

a long-term monitoring network to

assess potential effects of global climate change and variability on forest

health and productivity. Work also

continues in forestry ecological systems modeling.

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

(DOC)

All reported DOC meteorological

activities are within the National

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The NOAA FY 2003

total congressional request of

$1.72 billion for meteorological programs represents an increase of

8.5 percent over the FY 2002 appropriated funds.

NOAA's FY 2003 operations and

supporting research requests for major

line office activities are described

below:

Weather Services

Mission: The National Weather

Service (NWS) provides climate,

water, and weather forecasts and warnings for the United States, its territories, adjacent waters, and ocean areas

for the protection of life and property

and the enhancement of the national

economy. NWS data and products

form a national information database

and infrastructure, which can be used

by other governmental agencies, the

private sector, the public, and the global community.

America's vulnerability to weather

related hazards is rising as more of the

population moves into weather threatened regions, and national and global

economies become more complex.

Approximately 40 percent of all

Americans, some 100 million people,

currently reside in areas of high risk to

natural disasters, with the number

climbing yearly. Today, 90 percent of

all presidentially declared disasters are

weather and flood related. Weather

will continue to impact our lives and

significantly impact the United States

economy.

The NWS strives to continue mitigating these impacts through improved

weather warning and forecast services.

Over the last five years the NWS

established specific service improvement performance goals and met most

RESOURCE INFORMATION AND AGENCY PROGRAM UPDATES

The tables in this section summarize budgetary information of the federal government for Fiscal Years 2002 and 2003.

The funds shown are those used to provide meteorological services and associated supporting research that has as its

immediate objective the improvement of these services. Fiscal data are current as of the end of June 2002 and are subject to later changes. The data for FY 2003 do not have legislative approval and do not constitute a commitment by the

United States Government. The budget data are prepared in compliance with Section 304 of Public Law 87-843, in

which Congress directed that an annual horizontal budget be prepared for meteorological programs conducted by the

federal agencies.

AGENCY OBLIGATIONS FOR METEOROLOGICAL OPERATIONS 

AND SUPPORTING RESEARCH

SECTION 2 9
10 SECTION 2
SECTION 2 11

of them through a focused emphasis on

performance management and relating

budgeted resources to performance. In

fact, the NWS earned straight A grades

in a government management report

card issued by Government Executive

Magazine and George Washington

University. Also, Office of

Management and Budget Director

Mitch Daniels honored the NWS as an

agency exemplifying the use of performance measures in management.

The FY 2003 President's Budget

Request supports the funding and program requirements to enable the NWS

to better use science to serve our citizens and fulfill its vision. The NWS

will produce and deliver forecasts you

can trust when you need them most,

use cutting-edge technologies, provide

services in a cost-effective manner,

strive to eliminate weather related

fatalities, and improve the economic

value of weather information. The

FY 2003 President's Budget Request

will also help the NWS achieve its goal

of "Working Together to Save Lives,"

through teamwork within the NWS

and with other federal agencies.

In FY 2003, major NWS activities

addressed in this budget include: accelerating nationwide implementation of

the Advanced Hydrologic Prediction

Services; beginning an Aviation

Weather initiative; establishing a comprehensive facilities maintenance program; making operational the next

generation weather and climate supercomputing system; implementing a

supercomputing backup system; and

completing implementation of the

NWS Telecommunications Gateway

Backup facility.

Overall, NOAA requests a total of

$800.8 million for the NWS operations, a net increase of $57.8 million

above the FY 2002 Enacted level. This

continued investment includes a total

of $725.3 million for Operations,

Research, and Facilities (ORF) and

$75.6 million for Procurement,

Acquisition, and Construction (PAC).

In FY 2003, the budget priorities for

NWS include sustaining current services, replacing obsolete technology,

enhancing services to the public and its

private partners, and infusing new

technology.

Operations, Research, and Facilities

The request of $725.3 million for

operations and research is an increase

of $52.9 million over the FY 2002

Enacted level. This continued investment will allow the NWS to maintain

current services and provide improved

weather warning and forecast services.

Specifically, there are the following

program changes:

• Aviation Weather. NOAA requests

a total of $2.5 million to initiate a

seven-year plan to help improve

United States aviation safety and

economic efficiencies by providing

state-of-the-art weather observation

and forecast products responsive to

aviation user needs. Weather

accounts for more than 70 percent of

all air traffic delays which result in

greater expenditures by both airline

customers and the airlines. In addition, averages of 200 general aviation pilot fatalities per year are

caused by weather-related accidents

across the United States. In

response to these trends, a joint government (DOT, DOC, and NASA)

and industry team on aviation safety

recently recommended the following improvements: developing and

delivering pilot-friendly, real-time

depictions of weather hazards;

reducing forecast errors while

increasing the precision of aviation

parameters; and improving weather

training for controllers and pilots.

This initiative will address the referenced aviation safety team recommendations and provide a means for

the NWS to improve its aviation

weather forecast services through

three major components which

include: (1) increasing the number

and quality of aviation weather

observations; (2) transitioning

applied research efforts to operational products; and (3) developing

and implementing new training programs for forecasters, pilots, and

controllers. This initiative has the

goal of a 10 percent reduction in

National Airspace System weatherrelated air traffic delays, which

would save $600 million annually in

potential economic losses, while

also reducing general aviation

weather related fatalities by 25 percent, or 50 lives annually. This initiative will leverage the results of

several different aviation weather

research efforts and expedite the

operational delivery of new forecast

products tailored for improving

pilot awareness and avoidance of

aviation weather hazards.

• Transfer of National Tsunami

Hazard Mitigation Program.

NOAA requests an increase of

$2.3 million to reflect the transfer of

the National Tsunami Hazard

Mitigation Program from the

NOAA Office of Oceanic and

Atmospheric Research (OAR) to the

NWS. Funding this program in the

NWS budget will enable the NWS

to incorporate tsunami hazard mitigation services, developed by OAR

over the past six years, into routine

operations in support of the NWS

tsunami warning function. These

include: operations and maintenance support for Deep-ocean

Assessment and Reporting of

Tsunamis (DART) buoys, and

deployed seismic networks; inundation modeling and mapping efforts;

tsunami hazard mitigation programs; and emergency management

coordination efforts. Incorporating

tsunami hazard mitigation services

into an operational environment will

ensure continuity of warning services and will enhance public safety. 

• Terminations. The FY 2003

request proposes to terminate

$18.7 million for projects funded in

the FY 2002 appropriation, includ-
12 SECTION 2

ing the following programs: New

England data buoys ($0.75 million);

Mt. Washington Observatory

($0.5 million); North Carolina

Flood Mapping Pilot ($4.0 million);

NOAA Weather Radio transmitters

($1.78 million); North Dakota

Agricultural Weather Network

($0.27 million); WSR-88D in

Mississippi ($3.1 million); ASOSAlaska Aviation ($4.0 million).

• Local Warnings and Forecast

Base-Huntsville, Alabama, Weather

Forecast Office. NOAA requests

$1.4 million to pay for recurring

operations and maintenance costs at

the new Huntsville Weather

Forecast Office. The Huntsville

WFO will be established in FY 2002

at the University of Alabama at

Huntsville using $3.0 million appropriated funds provided in FY 2002.

The $1.4 million requested will provide for NWS employee salaries,

facilities rent and maintenance, and

operational equipment and supplies;

all necessary costs to provide and

operate and maintain weather forecast and warning services in the

Huntsville area.

• Advanced Hydrologic Prediction

Services (AHPS). NOAA requests

an increase of $4.7million over the

FY 2002 Enacted level for a total of

$6.2 million to accelerate nationwide implementation of improved

flood and river forecast services in

the Northeast, Middle Atlantic, and

Southeast, including the states of

New Hampshire, Vermont, Virginia,

North Carolina, and South Carolina.

This funding will also support continuing AHPS implementation in the

Upper Mississippi and Ohio River

basins. As implemented, AHPS

will: (1) produce new information

with better predictions of river

height and flood potential to reduce

loss of life and property; (2) deliver

high resolution, visually oriented

products to provide partners and

customers with valuable information for life decisions; (3) refresh

aging hydrologic forecasting infrastructure to support rapid infusion of

scientific advances; and (4) leverage

NOAA's investments in observational systems and atmospheric

models to enhance accuracy and resolution of river forecasts. AHPS

recently demonstrated improvements in flood forecasting for the

Red River of the North. The midMarch 2001 AHPS 90 day outlook

showed an 85 percent chance Fargo,

North Dakota would experience

major flooding. Three weeks later

the Red River was at 20 feet above

flood stage in Fargo. AHPS extends

existing 1, 2, and 3 day river forecasts to 14 day and longer outlooks.

This additional prediction information along with new high resolution

products combine to deliver more

accurate and comprehensive predictions of river height and flood

potential, all using existing infrastructure and staffing levels. AHPS

will greatly improve the Nation's

capability to take timely and effective actions which will significantly

mitigate the economic losses from

major floods and droughts. AHPS

will reduce loss of life and property,

mitigate flood damages (three

fourths of all Presidential Disaster

Declarations involve flood damages), save more than $750 million

per year (more than $6 billion in

flood damages and adverse impacts

on river commerce occur annually),

and significantly improve NOAA's

capability to respond to prevalent

challenges with energy production

and water resource stewardship.

• Weather Forecast Office (WFO)

Maintenance and Repair. NOAA

requests an increase of $3.0 million

over the FY 2002 Enacted for a total

of $7.3 million for WFO maintenance. This continued investment

will allow NWS to fund recurring

maintenance contracts and address a

backlog of more than $10 million in

deferred maintenance repair actions.

In FY 2003, the NWS will begin

implementing of a scheduled preventive facility maintenance program based on manufacturers' specifications and General Services

Administration (GSA)/industry

standards. Funds also will be dedicated to begin cyclical replacements

and to address high priority backlog

repair actions at 20 WFOs. The

WFOs provide forecasters with

modernized facilities, that support

the advanced technology systems

and provide weather service to the

public. As the WFOs continue to

age, the facilities require a significant investment in recurring and

cyclic maintenance, including

replacing major facility support systems such as power backup generators and uninterruptible power supplies. The request will allow the

NWS to protect the $250 million

capital investment in modernized

facilities in accordance with GSA

and private industry standards.

• Systems Operations. The total

request of $93.3 million in Systems

Operation and Maintenance (O&M)

represents an increase of $2.1 million over the FY 2002 Enacted level.

This continued investment provides

the necessary resources to maintain

these capital investments. The

Systems O&M total also includes

$43.9 million for Next Generation

Weather Radar (NEXRAD) O&M,

$8.7 million for Automated Surface

Observing System (ASOS) O&M,

$37.7 million for Advanced Weather

Interactive Processing System

(AWIPS) O&M, and $3.0 million

for the NWS Telecommunications

Gateway Backup.

• NWS Telecommunications

Gateway Backup (NWSTG).

NOAA requests $3.0 million for the

National Weather Service

Telecommunications Gateway

Backup. After scheduled deployment in early FY 2004, the $3.0 mil-
SECTION 2 13

lion will cover recurring costs for

NWSTG backup communications,

system software licenses, systems

operations and maintenance support, facility rent, and cyclical technology refreshment. This will

ensure uninterrupted delivery of

critical meteorological data necessary for the protection of life and

property, and the economic well

being of the Nation. The NWSTG

Backup operations will meet the

operational availability requirement

of 99.99 percent. 

• Mandatory Pay and Inflationary

Costs. NOAA requests an increase

of $23.8 million to fund adjustments

to base for NWS activities. The

increase will fund the estimated

FY 2003 federal pay raise of

2.6 percent and annualize the

FY 2002 pay raise of 4.6 percent.

The increase will also provide

mandatory inflationary increases for

non-labor activities, including service contracts, utilities, field office

lease payments, and rent charges

from the GSA. Also included in this

amount of $52.3 million is

$28.4 million, which supports the

Administration's proposal to fund

all of the Civil Service Retirement

System payments out of agency

budgets.

Procurement, Acquisition and

Construction (PAC)

The total request of $75.6 million

represents an increase of $4.8 million

over the FY 2002 Enacted level. Of

this request a $7.5 million decrease is

requested for the NWSTG Backup to

reflect the completion of one-time

costs associated with the planned

acquisition and construction of backup

infrastructure and facilities. The specific requests are listed below:

• NWS Weather and Climate

Supercomputing. NOAA requests

an increase of $6.2 million over the

FY 2002 Enacted level for a total of

$21.2 million to continue operations

and maintenance of the current

NWS IBM SP system and to transition the next generation weather and

climate supercomputing system into

operations (system to be acquired

and installed during FY 2002). The

NWS supercomputer is the foundation for all NWS weather and climate forecasts. Operational transition of the next generation supercomputer will enable the NWS to

improve the resolution and forecast

accuracy of the following prediction

models by FY 2004: medium range

forecast (global) model from 80

kilometers (Km) to 52Km; regional

severe weather (Eta) model from

12Km to 10Km; and the hurricane

model from 18Km to 12Km. In

addition, this investment will enable

the NWS to upgrade its operational

climate forecasting model to incorporate ocean temperature and current influences, critical to predicting

weaker El Niño and La Niña events

and other climate oscillations.

• NWS Weather and Climate

Supercomputing Backup. NOAA

requests $7.1 million to implement

an operational backup system for

the NWS weather and climate

supercomputer. The NWS weather

and climate supercomputer is a critical component of NOAA's mission.

Many of the data, products and

services provided by and through

the Central Computer System

(CCS) directly contribute to issuing

life saving NWS watches and warnings to the public. During FY 2003,

the NWS will acquire the necessary

backup system hardware capability,

conduct site selection, and install

the backup.

• Radiosonde Replacement

Network. NOAA requests an

increase of $2.0 million over the

FY 2002 Enacted level for a total of

$7.0 million to continue the replacement and modernization of the

upper air radiosonde network. The

radiosonde network provides critical upper air observations for NWS

weather forecasters and serves as

the principle data source for all

weather forecast models. The current network is obsolete and nearing

collapse, risking widespread loss of

data within the next two to three

years. During FY 2003, the NWS

will accelerate system deployment

of radiosonde telemetry units and

begin use of Global Positioning

Satellite (GPS) technology

radiosondes at sites as they become

operational.

• Next Generation Weather Radar

(NEXRAD). NOAA requests

$8.2 million to continue level funding of NEXRAD Product

Improvement (NPI) activities during FY 2003. The NPI program

infuses new science and technology

into the current radar network.

During FY 2003 the NWS begins

full scale development of the Open

Systems Radar Data Acquisition

unit (ORDA). Upon its deployment

in FY 2005-2007, ORDA will provide increased data resolution for

detecting tornados and extend the

effective range of the radar for predicting damaging winds. These

advances in conjunction with Open

Systems Radar Product Generator

(ORPG) technology, deployed in

FY 2002, and AWIPS Build 5 will

result in improved warning lead

times for tornadoes and improved

forecast accuracy for severe thunderstorms and flash floods.

• Automated Surface Observing

System (ASOS). NOAA requests

$5.1 million to continue level funding for ASOS sensor improvement

activities. The NWS is developing

and implementing new ASOS sensor capabilities to meet user requirements and decrease maintenance

demands. In FY 2003, NWS plans

to complete acquisition of allweather precipitation gauges. An

additional 231 gauges will be

acquired for a total of 346. Of these,

NWS will deploy 209 gauges in
14 SECTION 2

FY 2003. NWS also will complete

deployment of 314 dewpoint sensors, begin full scale development

of enhanced precipitation identifier

sensors and begin development of a

25,000 ft. ceilometer that will begin

deployment in FY 2005. Each of

these new sensors will improve the

maintainability, measurement quality and utility, and will fully meet

NWS and aviation weather observation requirements.

• Advanced Weather Interactive

Processing System (AWIPS)/

NOAAPort. NOAA requests

$16.3 million for AWIPS development activities, associated hardware upgrades, and integration of

improved NEXRAD data. In

FY 2003, NWS will continue technology infusion activities to integrate improved radar data from the

Open Systems Radar Product

Generator (ORPG), enhance data

management capabilities, deliver

required unique capabilities to

NCEP and regions outside the contiguous United States, increase

communications bandwidth to

facilitate access to new radar and

computer model data, and continue

hydromet decision assistance

development. Communications

and hardware capacity improvements will be facilitated by the

continuing implementation of

LINUX technology at the WFOs.

NWS will also complete implementation and begin operations of

the AWIPS Network Control

Facility backup facility in

Fairmont, West Virginia. This mitigates the last single point of failure

component in the AWIPS network

(master ground station deployed in

FY 2001) necessary to protect critical infrastructure. Combined with

NEXRAD product improvement,

AWIPS Build 5 capabilities and

ongoing technology infusion programs will improve severe weather

warning and forecast services.

• NWS Weather Forecast Office

(WFO) Construction. NOAA

requests a total of $10.6 million for

critical facility modernization efforts

in the NWS. In FY 2003, NWS

plans to construct the new WFO

facility in Key West, Florida, continue nationwide WFO heating, cooling

and air conditioning (HVAC) corrections, complete post construction

facility preparations at the Alaska

Tsunami Warning Center, complete

WSO facility modernization at

Nome and Kotzebue, Alaska, and

begin architecture and engineering

work for the new WSO facility at

Annette, Alaska.

Environmental Satellite, Data, and

Information Services

Proposed funding for FY 2003

includes an increase in the PolarOrbiting Satellite Program of

$64.3 million and a decrease in the

Geostationary Satellite Program of

$35.1 million. These changes allow for

continuation of procurements to provide the spacecraft and instruments,

launch services, and ground systems

necessary to assure continuity of environmental satellite coverage. The

FY 2003 budget request will maintain a

system of polar-orbiting satellites that

obtains global data and a system of

geostationary satellites that provides

near-continuous observations of the

Earth's western hemisphere. Funding

is included for NOAA's share of the

converged NOAA and Department of

Defense (DOD) polar-orbiting system

that will replace the current NOAA

series and the DOD Defense

Meteorological Satellite Program

(DMSP).

A total of $4.0 million is requested to

continue the Ocean Remote Sensing

Program, which began in FY 1995.

During the next several years, NOAA

will acquire data from foreign and other

non-NOAA satellites that will provide

measurement of ocean currents, surface

winds and waves, subsurface temperature and salinity profiles, ice thickness

and flows, and other marine factors.

An increase of $13.2 million is

included to maintain basic mission

services including maintenance and

operation of satellite ground facilities;

provision of satellite-derived products,

including hazards support; and conduct

of research to improve the use of satellite data. An increase of $2.6 million is

requested to accelerate the assimilation

and use of satellite-based data in

numerical weather prediction models

and an offsetting decrease is included

as the result of reducing funds for the

Global Winds Demonstration Program

(-$2.0 million).

Budgetary changes netting to a

decrease of $4.3 million are included

in the NOAA Data Centers and

Information Services subactivity. The

changes include an increase in base

operating funding (+$10.3 million).

Decreases include elimination of funding for Regional Climatic Centers

(-$3.0 million), reductions in GOES

Data Archive Project (-$2.0 million),

and reductions in funding for Data

Preservation (-$9.6 million).

Ocean Service

Funding provided through the

FY 2003 budget should allow the continuation of the second generation of

the NOS CO-OPS advanced data quality control program, the Continuous

Operational Real-time Monitoring

System (CORMS II), as well as the

implementation of its development program of the Ocean Systems Test and

Evaluation Program (OSTEP). The FY

2002 budget has allowed for sufficient

support to operate the National Water

Level Observation Network (NWLON)

and the Physical Oceanographic RealTime System (PORTS). The FY 2003

anticipated budget will not allow for

full operation of the NWLON in terms

of meeting yearly maintenance requirements, however. Both the NWLON

and PORTS programs have subsets of

operational water level stations with

meteorological sensors installed for

various partners and users.
SECTION 2 15

Under the NOAA-Wide Coastal

Storms Initiative (CSI), targeted stations of existing federal and state tide

station networks have been funded to

be enhanced with new meteorological

sensors. Under a NOAA Ocean

Service Partnership Proposal funded

for FY 2002, a subset of the NWLON

in the Great Lakes will be enhanced

with new meteorological sensors and

with continuous GPS. The portion of

the funding (new money) in both of

these projects targeted towards meteorology is approximately $300,000.

Office of Atmospheric Research

Requested funding for FY 2003 for

Weather and Air Quality research is

$59.0 million--a net increase of

$3.6 million. Increases included a base

adjustment of $1.8 million to partially

cover inflationary cost increases as

well as $2.2 million transfer of pension

responsibility from the Office of

Personnel Management. There also

were programmatic increases of

$8.5 million for: NOAA-wide Energy

Security Program initiaitve ($6.1 million); the United States Weather

Research Program (directed principally toward improving hurricane track

predictions) ($1.0 million), base

restoration ($0.4 million), and tornado/

severe storm research (phased-array

radar) ($1.0 million). In addition,

there were two programs transferred

into the Weather and Air Quality

research base before being proposed

for termination--Atmospheric

Investigation Regional Modeling

Analysis and Prediction (AIRMAP)

($3.0 million) and Central California

Ozone Study ($0.25 million). Finally,

terminations were also proposed for

New England Air Quality Study

($1.0 million), Air Quality Forecasting

Pilot Program ($3.0 million), HighResolution Temperature Forecasting

Pilot Program ($3.0 million), 3-D

Ceilometer in Hawaii ($0.5 million),

the "STORM" Program at the

University of Northern Iowa

($0.35 million), and the space-based

wind profile lidar technology program

for incorporating wind-profile data

into forecast models.

National Polar-orbiting Operational

Environmental Satellite System

(NPOESS)

The FY 2003 DOC/DOD budget for

NPOESS is $474.398 million.

FY 2003 funds will be used for the

development of system architecture,

technology development efforts, and

critical sensor and algorithm development plus the award of System

Engineering, Manufacture, and

Development (EMD) contract.

NPOESS is scheduled to be available

in 2008 as a backup to the final launch

of the NOAA polar-orbiting satellites

and DMSP satellites. This system will

exploit advanced hardware and software technologies to produce a more

reliable, longer-lived spacecraft with

greater mission capability.

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

(DOD)

The DOD total budget request for

FY 2003 is $443.4 million which represents a funding increase of 4.5 percent from FY 2002. Specific highlights for each of the military departments are described below:

United States Air Force

United States Air Force (USAF)

resources for meteorological support

fall into several categories: general

operations, investment and research,

DMSP operations, and DMSP and

National Polar-orbiting Operational

Environmental Satellite System

(NPOESS) supporting research. The

Air Force request (including DMSP

and NPOESS) for FY 2003 is

$240.9 million.

General Operations: The operations

portion of the FY 2003 budget request

is $190.2 million and provides the dayto-day environmental support to the

DOD. These funds will pay for support to the USAF (both active duty and

reserve components), the United States

Army, nine unified commands, and

other agencies as directed by the Chief

of Staff of the Air Force. Over 4,900

people conduct these activities at over

200 worldwide locations. These people include active duty military, Air

Force reservists, Air National Guard

weather flight personnel, weather communications and computer specialists,

and civilians.

General Supporting Research: The

FY 2003 budget request for Air Force

supporting research is $18.3 million.

The Air Force continues the spiral

development of the Space Weather

Analysis and Forecast System

(SWAFS). This project and other

research efforts will investigate the

electrodynamics of the Sun and Earth's

magnetosphere, ionospheric dynamics,

mesoscale meteorology, visible and

infrared properties of the environment,

and cloud parameterization and prediction.

DMSP Operations: Though funding

for DMSP comes from the Air Force,

this system is the major source of

space-borne meteorological data for

the military services and other highpriority DOD programs. Environmental data from DMSP sensors is

also distributed to the National

Weather Service (NWS), National

Environ-mental Satellite, Data, and

Information Service (NESDIS), the

Navy's Fleet Numerical Meteorology

and Oceano-graphy Center (FNMOC)

and the Naval Oceanographic Office

(NAVOCEANO), and AFWA according to the Shared Processing Program

agreement.

The operations portion of the

FY 2003 budget request is $11.6 million. The major portion of this funding is for on-orbit operations, tactical

terminal maintenance, and long-haul

communications. These funds also

pay operations costs for one dedicated command and control facility.

DMSP funds for 93 military and civilian personnel associated with the

operation of, and to a much smaller

extent, the procurement of the DMSP

system.
16 SECTION 2

DMSP and NPOESS Supporting

Research: The FY 2003 budget for

DMSP R&D is $3.8 million. The funds

will be used for launch vehicle integration; system integration and testing;

and mission sensor calibration, validation, and algorithm development

efforts. The FY 2003 DOD R&D

budget for NPOESS is $237.2 million.

FY 2003 funds will be used for the

development of system architecture,

technology development efforts, and

critical sensor and algorithm development. NPOESS is scheduled to be

available in 2008 as a backup to the

final launch of the NOAA polar-orbiting satellites and DMSP satellites. This

system will exploit advanced hardware

and software technologies to produce a

more reliable, longer-lived spacecraft

with greater mission capability.

United States Navy

The United States Navy FY 2003

budget request for meteorological programs is $155 million. The request

includes $135.4 million for operational

programs and $19.5 million for supporting research.

The Navy Meteorology and

Oceanography (METOC) program is

truly unique. Focusing support in the

environmentally complex coastal/littoral regions around the globe, Navy

METOC is required to provide an

assessment of the impact of weather

and ocean phenomena on weapon systems. Additionally, and just as important, Navy METOC provides for safe

flight and navigation in support of

Naval, joint, and combined forces operating throughout the world's oceans.

This task is accomplished with a cadre

of highly trained military and civilian

personnel, schooled in both the sciences and warfighting applications. By

teaming with and leveraging the efforts

of other agencies and activities, Navy

METOC meets these challenges in a

most cost-effective manner, providing a

full spectrum of products and services

with only about 5 percent of the federal weather budget.

The Navy METOC program is

required to provide comprehensive and

integrated weather and ocean support

worldwide. The Oceanographer of the

Navy sponsors programs in four closely related disciplines - meteorology,

oceanography, geospatial information

and services, and precise time and

astrometry. All are used to protect

ships, aircraft, fighting forces, and

shore establishments from adverse

ocean and weather conditions, and to

provide a decisive tactical or strategic

edge by exploiting the physical environment to optimize the performance

and efficiency of platforms, sensors,

and weapons.

Owing to the crucial interrelationship

of the oceans and the atmosphere, the

Navy requires various oceanographic

products to provide the requisite meteorological services. In addition to aviation and marine METOC support, the

Navy provides a variety of unique

services on demand, such as electrooptical, electro-magnetic and acoustic

propagation models and products,

METOC-sensitive tactical decision

aids, and global sea ice analyses and

forecasts.

Support to Navy operations is provided under the direction of the

Commander, Naval Meteorology and

Oceanography Command located at

the Stennis Space Center, Mississippi.

Naval METOC support starts with

sensing the battlespace physical environment and culminates with weapons

arriving on target and personnel operating in the battlespace without being

adversely affected by physical environmental phenomena. Operational

support for the Navy and Marine Corps

includes the day-to-day provision of

meteorological and oceanographic

(METOC) products and services. As

naval operations in the littoral

increase, Navy METOC support is

directed towards providing on-scene

capabilities to personnel that directly

furnish environmental data for sensor

and weapon system planning and

employment. These on-scene capabilities are key elements for enabling the

warfighters to take advantage of the

natural environment as part of battlespace management.

Navy METOC systems acquisition is

accomplished through the Space and

Naval Warfare Systems Command,

San Diego, California. Several major

METOC operations support systems

are being procured or undergoing

upgrades.

Navy METOC Research and

Development (R&D) is cooperatively

sponsored by the Oceanographer of the

Navy and the Chief of Naval Research.

This area is not generally system-specific; instead, Navy R&D efforts typically have applications to meteorological, oceanographic, and/or tactical systems. Navy's tabulation of budget data

includes R&D funding for basic

research, applied research, demonstration and validation, and engineering

and manufacturing development.

Initiatives of the Navy and Marine

Corps, under sponsorship of the

Oceanographer of the Navy, transition

projects from exploratory development

to operational Naval systems. Such

efforts include advances in the Navy's

METOC forecasting capability,

enhancements to communications and

data compression techniques, further

development and improvement of

models to better predict METOC

parameters in littoral regions, and an

improved understanding of the impact

these parameters have on sensors,

weapon systems, and platform performance.

United States Army

The United States Army estimates a

requirement for $50.5 million for operational support and $13.9 million in

research and development in FY 2003.

Costs for operational support to the Air

Force Combat Weather Teams are estimated, as these expenses are normally

part of the overall G-3 or G-2 operating budget at the MACOM, Corps,

Division, or Brigade level. Composite
SECTION 2 17

rates for military and civilian personnel are used for figuring Army personnel costs. Operational support is projected to increase approximately

$7.1 million over the FY 2002 expenditures, research is estimated to

decrease about $4.2 million from the

previous year, and real staffing should

decrease by approximately 5 percent.

Systems upgrades and acquisitions at

Army Materiel Command (AMC) for

the Integrated Meteorological System

(IMETS) and the Meteorological

Measuring Set - Profiler (MMS-P) programs account for the bulk of the projected increase in operational funding

for the Army in this year's report.

Decreases in funding for research at

Army Research Laboratory, specifically for the University Partnership for

Operational Support, where funding

ended in FY 2002, account for most of

the decrease in research and development funding for the Army. Costs for

personnel are up slightly this year due

to the annual increase in the standard

composite rate for military and civilian

personnel.

Army monies for meteorology are

spent in four main areas: support to

United States Army Artillery Met

Sections (ARTYMET), support to

United States Air Force Combat

Weather Teams at Army locations,

research and development related to

the Army mission, and the development, production, and maintenance of

Army meteorological systems.

United States Army Major

Commands (MACOMs) with Staff

Weather Officers and their associated

Combat Weather Teams (CWTs) provide the same support and services to

Air Force weather personnel that they

normally provide to Army personnel.

This support is provided at all levels

within the MACOM where Air Force

Weather personnel are assigned.

Support to Air Force CWTs includes

the use of facilities for weather operations, medical support, the use of training facilities, office supplies, utilities

and maintenance for weather facilities,

vehicles and tactical equipment, and

funding for official travel. Eighth

United States Army, United States

Army Europe, United States Army

Pacific, Forces Command, and

Training and Doctrine Command all

provide support to Air Force weather

personnel assigned at the MACOM

level and below.

Major portions of MACOM meteorological budgets go to support Artillery

Meteorology Sections, also known as

ARTYMET Teams, or Met Sections.

Artillery Met Sections release weather

balloons and track their movement to

measure both direction and speed of

upper level winds. Wind data are then

passed to the United States Army

Artillery units for firing computations.

Artillery Met Sections range in size

from six personnel at a Light Division

to twelve personnel at a Heavy

Division. There are twenty-five Met

Sections in the Active Component,

with each Met Section averaging four

hundred balloon flights per year.

There are forty-eight Met Sections in

the Army National Guard (ARNG),

with each Met Section averaging

approximately one hundred balloon

flights per year. The ARNG's fortyeight teams employ 288 part time personnel. Each of these Guardsmen

trains an average of 39 days per year,

equating to 31 FTE positions for this

report. Eighth United States Army,

United States Army Europe, United

States Army Pacific, Forces

Command, and the Army National

Guard all support Met Sections.

Training and Doctrine Command supports twenty-four military and civilian

personnel at the United States Army

Artillery School at Fort Sill,

Oklahoma. These personnel train

ARTYMET Teams on the use of the

AN/TMQ-41 Meteorological

Measuring Set.

The Army Corps of Engineers - Civil

Operations has programmed funds in

FY 2003 for operational programs and

basic research related to meteorology.

The Army Corps of Engineers -

Military Operations has programmed

funding for meteorological research

and development efforts related to

Army transportation and aviation.

Space and Missile Defense

Command (SMDC) supports several

meteorological missions. SMDC has

funding designated for the operational

support at the High Energy Laser

Systems Test Facility (HELSTF) for

contract services to operate and maintain the instrumentation, equipment,

and facilities to support the atmospheric sciences/meteorological mission.

HELSTF has also set aside monies for

systems acquisition for repair and

replacement of meteorological instrumentation and for data services.

SMDC also operates contract support

services to operate the Ronald Reagan

Missile Defense Test Site for operations support and special weather programs. ARSPACE provided space

weather support through a 0.5 staff

year contract in FY 2002 but is not

funded for FY 2003. FDIC provides

space weather support through a

0.5 government staff year effort for

FY 2002 and programmed to continue

for FY 2003.

Army Materiel Command will fund a

variety of activities for FY 2003, most

of which fall into research and development and for systems acquisition.

AMC will fund developmental and

testing costs associated with the MMS

Profiler and the Integrated

Meteorological System (IMETS). The

Communications Electronics Command

(CECOM) will buy additional MMS's

for the National Guard in FY 2003.

Army Research Laboratory, Battlefield

Environment Division, will continue to

focus on basic research this year. The

Army Research Office saw a small

decrease in funding from FY 2002 to

FY 2003 for basic research. The Small

Business Innovative Research (SBIR)

Program and the Defense University

Research Instrumentation Program
18 SECTION 2

(DURIP) were provided funds for

selected research projects.

Headquarters, Department of the

Army, Deputy Chief of Staff, G-2

employs two full-time meteorologists for development of meteorological policy, coordination of meteorological support within the

Department of the Army and with

other Department of Defense and

federal agencies and organizations,

Department of the Army Policy concerning weather, environmental services, and oceanographic support to

the Army (less those environmental

services functions assigned to the

Corps of Engineers), and Department

of the Army policy concerning

peacetime weather support and point

weather warnings. This office also

sponsors a company grade Army liaison officer at the Air Force Weather

Agency in Omaha, Nebraska and a

field grade Army officer at the

National Polar-orbiting Operational

Environmental Satellite System

Integrated Program Office in Silver

Spring, Maryland.

Variations from last year’s budget

among the MACOMs for operational

support include one-time equipment

purchases in FY 2002 at USARPAC,

special programs related to training,

operations, and maintenance of

weather equipment in USAREUR,

decreases in IMETS operations and

maintenance costs in USARPAC,

slight increases in supply and travel

costs in FORSCOM, and special program costs for instructors, evaluators, and operators at the Artillery,

Aviation, and Intelligence Schools in

TRADOC.

It is anticipated that FY 2003 funding for weather-related environmental research efforts at United States

Army Research Institute of

Environmental Medicine

(USARIEM) will continue at or near

the FY 2002 level. 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

(DOI)

The DOI/BLM fire weather funding request for FY 2003 is

$1,100,000. This figure is for meteorological operations and support of

the Bureau of Land Management

(BLM) remote sensing requirements

for Remote Automatic Weather

Station (RAWS) and Lightning

Detection Programs. Normal operations and maintenance of the restructured Fire RAWS program is approximately $800,000. (This includes

personnel, vehicles, per diem, normal procurement and facilities).

The BLM optimization of RAWS

will continue in 2003 as part of the

Wildland Fire Agencies' consolidation of Fire Weather and National

Fire Danger Rating Support.

Complete optimization will take a

few more years. Subsequent cost savings in operations costs will be used

to replace aging equipment and

upgrade sensor packages. Proposed

changes in Lightning Detection operations will further reduce the outyear expenditures in this program.

Coordination between DOI agencies

and the USDA Forest Service regarding combined meteorological

requirements for the National

Wildland Fire support functions is

ongoing. During the coming geographic area review efforts, interagency RAWS replacement coordination will continue to maximize

National Fire Danger Rating System

(NFDRS) sampling points and minimize the total number of systems

required in the West.

DEPARTMENT OF

TRANSPORTATION (DOT)

The DOT total budget request for

FY 2003 is $487.2 million which

represents a funding decrease of 1.9

percent from FY 2002. The meteorological programs for the Federal

Aviation Administration, Federal

Highway Administration, and the

United States Coast Guard for

FY 2003 are described below:

Federal Aviation Administration

(FAA)

For 2003, FAA has requested a total

$471.8 million for the Aviation

Weather Programs including acquisition of new systems, operations and

support, and supporting research.

The actual funding for aviation

weather in FY 2002 was $481.4 million. The $10 million decrease in FY

2003 constitutes a 2 percent reduction in total funding. The changes

are comprised of decreases in acquisitions of $31.1 million (-26.3 percent) to $87.2 million, as systems are

maturing and entering field operations; increases in operations and

support of $16.7 million (+5 percent)

to $355.9 million, reflecting salary

increases for air traffic specialists,

contract weather observers and maintenance personnel; and an increase

for aviation weather research of $4.9

million to a total of $28.8 million.

The funding changes reflect major

progress in the aviation weather program bringing much automation to

the collection of weather observations from remote sensors, to the dissemination of weather products,

graphics and decision making information for use by the air traffic facilities, pilots, the aviation industry and

general aviation users. Specific programs that will see a change in funding greater than $2 million are listed

below:

Programs Changes

($ Millions)

Systems Acquisition:

Operational and Supportability Implementation

System (OASIS) -10.2

Weather and Radar Processor

(WARP) -10.4

Integrated Terminal Weather

System (ITWS) -2.6

Weather System Processor (WSP) -4.0
SECTION 2 19

Stand Alone Weather Sensor

(SAWS) -3.4

Terminal Doppler Weather

Radar (TDWR) 2.9

NEXRAD Enhancements 2.4

Operations Support:

Equipment Maintenance 2.2

Contract Weather Observations (CWO) 3.1

Flight Service Stations (FSS) 8.8

Research

Aviation Weather Research

Program (AWRP) 4.8

The AWRP will use this increase in

funding to continue research into

understanding the geophysical phenomenom in the atmosphere and

around airports that present hazardous

conditions for aircraft operations.

Among these are in-flight icing, turbulence, visibility, ceiling, convective

activity, tornadoes, etc. Additional

work will be done to improve models,

develop better graphics for decision

making information, and the impacts

of space weather.

Federal Highway Administration

(FHWA)

The total FHWA request for surface

transportation weather programs in

FY 2003 is $2.0 million all of which

will be used for supporting research

and special programs.

In 1999, the FHWA began documentation of road weather requirements,

which has served as the basis for the

majority of work in this area. This

work includes addressing the technical

aspects of the road transportation system (including weather data collection,

processing and dissemination) as well

as the institutional challenges surrounding system implementation.

These institutional challenges encompassed coordination within state and

local Departments of Transportation as

well as across the transportation and

meteorological communities. With

regard to technical areas of interest,

data collection efforts will include

increased coverage of road condition

observations and incorporate road

weather data (e.g., pavement and subsurface observations) into broader

meteorological observation networks.

Better processing includes the application of higher resolution weather models and the development of road condition prediction models (e.g. heat balance models) that are needed to develop the appropriate transportation

weather information. In addition, surface transportation decision-makers

require weather information disseminated in formats that are easily understood and in which human factors

issues have already been incorporated.

This need will be achieved through the

development of improved road weather decision support systems. A multiyear effort has been undertaken by the

FHWA in cooperation with six national labs to prototype and field test

advanced decision support components for winter maintenance. This

effort will lead to demonstration of the

MDSS in the 2002/2003 winter. In

addition, the decision support components will be made available to private

vendors, who can incorporate them

into their products. The FHWA will

continue to develop outreach and training course material for program delivery, training, and promotion. FHWA is

also taking an active role in promoting

more efficient transportation operations during hurricane evacuations.

Three regional workshops were held in

the Spring 2002 that brought together

emergency managers, traffic managers, and highway patrol to discuss

methods to improve evacuations. The

FHWA is currently supporting an

Evacuation Traffic Information System

(ETIS), which is a web-based program

that facilitates the sharing of evacuation and traffic information among

states. In addition, the FHWA is investigating other Intelligent Transportation System technologies that can be

used to support emergency and transportation managers during evacuations. Finally, the FHWA is researching how transportation operation centers around the country integrate

weather information into their traffic

management operations. The FHWA is

interested in the types of information

received (whether generic or tailored)

and how that information impacts traffic management decisions. The FHWA

is also investigating several other

aspects of traffic management with

respect to weather, including the modification of traffic signal timing, traffic

modeling, and freeway operations in

response to adverse weather.

United States Coast Guard (USCG)

All of USCG's funding for meteorological programs is for operations support. For FY 2003, the requested funding level is $13.4 million. (The Coast

Guard does not have a specific program and budget for meteorology--all

meteorological activities are accomplished as part of general operations.)

The Coast Guard's activities include

the collection and dissemination of

meteorological and iceberg warning

information for the benefit of the

marine community. The Coast Guard

also collects coastal and marine observations from its shore stations and cutters, and transmits these observations

daily to the Navy's Fleet Numerical

Meteorology and Oceanography

Center and NOAA's National Weather

Service. These observations are used

by both the Navy and NOAA in generating weather forecasts. The Coast

Guard also disseminates a variety of

weather forecast products and warnings to the marine community via radio

transmissions. Coast Guard shore stations often serve as sites for NWS

automated coastal weather stations,

and the National Data Buoy Center

provides logistics support in deploying

and maintaining NOAA offshore

weather buoys. The International Ice

Patrol conducts iceberg surveillance

operations and provides warnings to

mariners on the presence of icebergs in

the North Atlantic shipping lanes.

Coast Guard efforts in meteorological

operations and services have not
20 SECTION 2

changed significantly during recent

years. Beginning with this Federal

Plan, funding levels include the costs

of relaying observations, broadcasting

NWS products, and servicing NDBC

buoys.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY (EPA)

All of the EPA'S funding of meteorological programs is for supporting

research. The anticipated funding

level in FY 2003 for directed meteorological research is $7.5 million which

is a 17.2 percent higher than the

FY 2002 funding level. Currently,

increased attention is being paid to the

effects of airborne toxics and particulate matter on human health.

In addition, to promote excellence in

environmental science and engineering, EPA established a national fellowship program and substantially

increased its support for investigatorinitiated research grants. The increase

in funding for grants (with reliance on

quality science and peer review) and

for graduate fellowships (to support

the education and careers of future scientists) will provide for a more balanced, long-term capital investment in

improved environmental research and

development.

The funding for the grants program

will remain about $100 million in

FY 2003. This augmented program

will fund research in areas including

ecological assessment, air quality,

environmental fate and treatment of

toxics and hazardous wastes, and

exploratory research. The portion of

these grants that will be awarded for

meteorological research during

FY 2003 cannot be foreseen, but it is

probable that the grant awards will

increase the base amount of $7.5 million listed above for directed meteorological research.

EPA is continuing its development

and validation of air quality dispersion

models for air pollutants on all temporal and spatial scales as mandated by

the Clean Air Act, as amended in 1990.

Research will focus on indoor, urban,

mesoscale, regional, and multimedia

models which will be used to develop

air pollution control strategies, and

human and ecosystem exposure assessments. There will be increased emphasis placed on meteorological research

into regional and urban formation and

transport of ozone and particulate pollution in support of the revisions to the

National Ambient Air Quality

Standards. Increased efficiency of

computation and interpretation of

results are being made possible by

means of supercomputing and scientific visualization techniques.

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND

SPACE ADMINISTRATION (NASA)

For FY 2003, NASA requests a total

of $156.6 million. The majority of this

funding ($154.3 million) is for supporting research.

These funding levels are composed

of the estimated meteorology share of

the supporting research and analysis

programs as well as Earth Observing

System (EOS) and Earth Probe instruments, EOS science, and the EOS Data

Information System elements of the

NASA Office of Earth Science budget.

In parallel with deploying EOS, NASA

Earth Science Enterprise is looking

ahead to determine what will be the

important Earth science questions in

the next decade, and which require

NASA's leadership to be answered.

Drawing on existing reports of the

National Academy of Sciences and the

state of progress in current scientific

endeavors, ESE has developed a

Research Strategy for 2000-2010. This

strategy articulates a hierarchy of one

overarching question, five broad subordinate questions and twenty- three

detailed questions that can and should

be tackled over this decade. For each,

the Research Strategy defines the

observational requirements, which in

turn provide the basis for definition of

candidate missions to be pursued. An

early, high priority in this time frame is

the National Polar-orbiting

Operational Environmental Satellite

System (NPOESS) Preparatory

Program (NPP), which will serve to

provide continuity with the Terra and

Aqua missions as well as a demonstration of instruments for the converged

weather satellite program. NASA and

the Integrated Program Office (IPO)

jointly fund the NPP mission. The IPO

consists of representation from the

three agencies participating in

NPOESS: NASA, the National

Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration, and the Air Force.

NASA plans to meet its immediate

commitments and ensure the success

of the EOS Terra, AQUA, AURA and

IceSAT missions. In addition, NASA

is committed to deliver a functioning

data and information system to support

the processing, archival, and distribution of data products from these missions.

NASA also funds a $55.7 million

program of weather-related research

for aviation safety.

NUCLEAR REGULATORY

COMMISSION (NRC)

The NRC requested funding is for

meteorological operations. The

request of $95,000 in FY 2003 is to

continue technical assistance for the

analysis of atmospheric dispersion for

routine and accident releases from

nuclear facilities.

The meteorological support program

in the NRC is focused primarily on

obtaining and analyzing meteorological data to be used in atmospheric

transport and dispersion models.

These models provide insight on

plume pathways in the near-and farfields for building wake and dispersion

characteristics to perform dose calculations on postulated and actual releases

to the environment. Obtaining current

and accurate meteorological information on a real-time basis that is representative of the facility location is nec-
SECTION 2 21

essary to evaluate releases to the environment in an emergency situation. In

addition, meteorological information is

used as input to probabilistic safety

assessments, assessments of the radiological impacts of routine releases

from normal operations, assessments

of other (non-radiological) hazards that

may impact safe operation of the facility, and assessments of design or operational changes proposed for the facility. Also, the nuclear power industry

has expressed an interest in seeking

site approvals for new nuclear power

plants. As many as three early site permit applications are anticipated in

FY 2003. The NRC may seek assistance from other Federal agencies to

support its safety reviews.

AGENCY FUNDING BY BUDGET CATEGORY

Table 2.2 depicts how the agencies

plan to obligate their funds for meteorological operations broken down

by "budget category." The two major

categories are "Operations Support"

and "Systems Acquisition." To a

large degree, these categories correspond to non-hardware costs

(Operations Support) and hardware

costs (Systems Acquisition). For

agency convenience in identifying

small components that do not fit into

these two major categories, a third

category is added called "Special

Programs." Programs that provide

support to several government agencies such as the Air Force's DMSP

are listed on a separate line.

In FY 2003, Operational Costs

requested are $2.46 billion with a

total of $1.5 billions (61.1 percent)

for Operations Support, $932 million

(37.9 percent) for Systems

Acquisition, and $24.8 million

(1 percent) for Special Programs.

Table 2.3 describes how the agencies plan to obligate their funds for

meteorological supporting research

according to budget categories. The

agencies' supporting research budgets are subdivided along similar

lines--Research and Development

(non-hardware), Systems Development (hardware), and Special

Programs (for those items that do not

easily fit into the two major categories).

For FY 2003, agencies will obligate

a total of $383.8 million in

Supporting Research funds in the following manner: $290.9 million (75.8

percent) to research and development, $71.7 million (18.7 percent) to

Systems Development, and

$21.1 million (5.5 percent) to Special

Programs.
22 SECTION 2
SECTION 2 23
24 SECTION 2
SECTION 2 25
26 SECTION 2

PERSONNEL ENGAGED IN METEOROLOGICAL OPERATIONS

Table 2.6 depicts agency staff

resources in meteorological operations. The total agency staff resourcesrequested for FY 2003 is 14,462. This

total represents an increase of 0.1 percent from FY 2002.

Table 2.4 summarizes how the agencies plan to obligate operational funds

for basic and specialized meteorological services; Table 2.5 is a similar

breakout for supporting research

funds.

Table 2.4 reveals the distribution of

FY 2003 operational funds: basic

meteorology services receiving

60.5 percent; aviation 30.5 percent;

marine 4.6 percent; agriculture/

forestry 0.6 percent; general military

services 3.1 percent; and other specialized services accounting for 0.8 percent. Table 2.5 shows the distribution

of supporting research funds among

the services with basic meteorology

receiving 28.3 percent, aviation

12.7 percent, marine 9.2 percent, agriculture and forestry 4.0 percent, general military 2.9 percent, and the remaining 42.8 percent dedicated to other

meteorological services.

The definitions of specialized and

basic services are described below:

Basic Services

Basic services provide products that

meet the common needs of all users

and include the products needed by

the general public in their everyday

activities and for the protection of

lives and property. "Basic" services

include the programs and activities

that do not fall under one of the specialized services.

Specialized Meteorological Services

Aviation Services. Those services

and facilities established to meet the

requirements of general, commercial,

and military aviation. 

Marine Services. Those services

and facilities established to meet the

requirements of the DOC, DOD, and

DOT on the high seas, on coastal and

inland waters, and for boating activities in coastal and inland waters. The

civil programs which are directly

related to services solely for marine

uses and military programs supporting fleet, amphibious, and sea-borne

units (including carrier-based aviation

and fleet missile systems) are included.

Agriculture and Forestry Services.

Those services and facilities established to meet the requirements of the

agricultural industries and federal,

state, and local agencies charged with

the protection and maintenance of the

nation's forests.

General Military Services. Those

services and facilities established to

meet the requirements of military user

commands and their component elements. Programs and services which

are part of basic, aviation, marine, or

other specialized services are not

included.

Other Specialized Services. Those

services and facilities established to

meet meteorological requirements

that cannot be classified under one of

the preceding categories; such as,

space operations, urban air pollution,

global climate change, and water

management.

AGENCY FUNDING BY SERVICE CATEGORY
SECTION 2 27

TABLE 2.6 PERSONNEL ENGAGED IN METEOROLOGICAL OPERATIONS

(Units are Full Time Equivalent Staff Years)*

% of FY 2003

AGENCY FY 2002 FY 2003 % CHANGE TOTAL

Agriculture 105 106 0.9 0.7

Commerce/NOAA (Subtotal) 5,809 5,809 0.0 40.2

NWS 4,726 4,726 0.0 32.7

NESDIS 883 883 0.0 6.1

OAR 32 32 0.0 0.2

NOS 114 114 0.0 0.8

NOAA Corps 54 54 0.0 0.4

Defense 4,983 4,965 -0.4 34.3

Air Force (Subtotal) 3,266 3,233 -1.0 22.4

Air Force Weather 3,201 3,140 -1.9 21.7

DMSP 65 93 30.1 0.6

Navy 1,421 1,450 2.0 10.0

Army 296 282 -5.0 1.9

Interior (Subtotal) 12 12 0.0 0.1

BLM 8 8 0.0 0.1

Reimbursed** 4 4 0.0 0.0

Transportation (Subtotal) 3,539 3,568 0.8 24.7

FAA 3,431 3,459 0.8 23.9

FHWA 2 3 33.3 0.0

USCG 105 106 0.0 0.7

EPA 0 0 0.0 0.0

NASA 0 0 0.0 0.0

NRC 1 2 50.0 0.0

TOTAL 14,449 14,462 0.1 100.0

* Numbers of personnel are rounded to nearest whole number.

** "Reimbursed" are personnel funded by other agencies.
28 SECTION 2

Table 2.7 summarizes the reimbursement of funds from one agency to

another during FY 2002. Agencies

routinely enter into reimbursable

agreements when they determine that

one agency can provide the service

more efficiently and effectively than

the other. While specific amounts may

vary from year-to-year, the pattern

shown is essentially stable and reflects

a significant level of interagency cooperation.

Department of Commerce. NWS

will reimburse DOT $2,500 for Alaska

housing utilities. NASA will receive

$60,000 for stratospheric studies.

NESDIS will transfer a total of

$279.5 million to NASA for procurement and launches of polar-orbiting

($90.5 million) and geostationary

($189 million) satellites.

Department of Defense. The Air

Force will reimburse DOC a total of

$3.6 million for operations [OFCM

support ($140,000), Lightning Data

($579,000), NCEP operations

($13,000), and Shared Processing

Network ($190,000)] and $2.7 million

for NEXRAD supporting research. In

addition, the Air Force will reimburse

NSF $150,000 for COMET supporting

research activities. The Navy will

reimburse DOC $215,000 for basic climatological analysis and forecasting,

and interagency coordination. The

Army reimbursements to DOC/NOAA

include $570,000 from COE to NWS

for maintaining precipitation reporting

stations and $230,000 from COE and

ARL to NOAA laboratories for precipitation modeling and basic/applied

research. The Army TRADOC will

also reimburse the AF Air Combat

Command $56,000 for operations and

maintenance of weather systems.

Finally, the United States Geological

Survey will be reimbursed by COE

$700,000 for operations and maintenance of hydrologic and precipitation

reporting stations.

Department of Transportation. The

FAA will reimburse NOAA $36.9 million in FY 2003. Included in those

funds are development of enhancements and operational support associated with the WSR-88D, ASOS maintenance, the Center Weather Service

Units at all Air Route Traffic Control

Centers, the World Area Forecast

System, meteorology instructors at the

FAA, and studies and OFCM support.

The FAA will reimburse the Army a

total of $40,000 and the Navy

$340,000 for supporting research.

The NASA will receive $20,000 for

supporting research.

National Aeronautics and Space

Administration (NASA). The Air

Force will be reimbursed a total of

$2.178 million--$1.428 million for

observations, forecasts, and operations/maintenance of weather infrastructure and replacement of upper air

systems at Trans-Atlantic Abort

Landing Sites and $750 million for

technology transition at Applied

Meteorology Unit, Eastern Range.

NOAA’s NWS will receive $16,000

for upper air analysis and research;

National Data Buoy Center will

receive reimbursements of $97,000 for

the operation of two data buoys.

NASA will also reimburse GSA

$666,000 for replacement of upper air

weather support systems at

Transatlantic Abort Sites.

Environmental Protection Agency

(EPA). NOAA's Air Resources

Laboratory (ARL) will receive

$7.5 million for development, evaluation, and application of air quality dispersion models; and for provision of

meteorological expertise and guidance

for EPA policy development activities.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

(NRC). The NRC enjoys a unique

relationship with the DOE as a result

of the Energy Reorganization Act of

1974. The act realigned the Atomic

Energy Commission into a regulatory

organization-NRC and a research and

promotional organization-ERDA

(which was subsequently absorbed into

DOE). As a result, the NRC has access

to the DOE national laboratories for

technical assistance activities. This

assistance, while not a reimbursable

agreement, results in the transfer of

funds from NRC for specific technical

assistance by DOE laboratories. In

FY 2003, the NRC will task DOE laboratories at a funding level of $95,000.

INTERAGENCY FUND TRANSFERS

FACILITIES/LOCATIONS FOR TAKING METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS

Table 2.8 indicates the number of

facilities/locations or platforms at

which the federal agencies carry out

(or supervise) the taking of various

types of meteorological observations.
SECTION 2 29

TABLE 2.7 INTERAGENCY FUND TRANSFERS FOR METEOROLOGICAL

OPERATIONS AND SUPPORTING RESEARCH

FY 2002 Funds ($K)

Estimated or Planned

Agency Funds Agency Funds Supporting

Transferred from: Transferred to: Operations Research

Commerce/NOAA DOT/USCG 2.5

NASA Studies 60

NASA 279,496

Defense/Air Force DOC/NOAA/OFCM 140

DOC/NOAA/LDS 579

DOC/NOAA/NCEP 13

DOC/NOAA/SPN 190

DOC/NOAA/NWS 2,676

NSF/COMET 150

Defense/Navy DOC/NOAA/NCDC 50

DOC/NOAA/OFCM 165

Defense/Army DOC/NOAA/NWS 570

DOC/NOAA/ETL 80

DOC/NOAA 150

DOI/USGS 700

DOD/USAF/ACC 56

Transportation/FAA DOC/NOAA 30,557 6,352

DOD/USA 40

DOD/USN 340

NASA 20

NASA DOD/USAF 1,428 750

DOC/NOAA/NDBC 97

DOC/NOAA/NWS 16

GSA 666

EPA DOC/NOAA/ARL 7,500

NRC DOE/PNNL 95
30 SECTION 2

No. of Locations

TYPE OF OBSERVATION/AGENCY (FY 2002)

Surface, land

Commerce (all types) 841

Air Force (U.S. & Overseas) 130

Navy (U.S. & Overseas) 72

Army (U.S. & Overseas) 39

Marine Corps (U.S. & Overseas) 13

Transportation (Flight Service Stn) 8

Transportation (Lim Aviation Wx Rptg Stn) 114

Transportation (Contract Wx Obsg Stn) 189

Transportation (Auto Wx Obsg Stn) 198

Transportation (Auto Sfc Obsg Sys, fielded) 569

Transportation (USCG Coastal) 100

Interior 470

Agriculture 1080

NASA 3

Surface, marine

Commerce (SEAS-equipped ships) 140

Commerce (Coastal-Marine Autom Network) 65

Commerce (NOAA/NOS/PORTS) 6

Commerce (Buoys--moored) 64

Commerce (Buoys--drifting) 21

Commerce (Buoys--large navigation) 10

Commerce (Water-level gauges) *175

*Number of which have meteorology sensors 59

Navy (Ships with met personnel) 29

Navy (Ships without met personnel 289

Transportation (USCG Cutters) 225

NASA 2

Upper air, balloon

Commerce (U.S.) 86

Commerce (Foreign, Cooperative) 22

Air Force, Fixed (U.S. & Overseas) 12

Air Force, Mobile 15

Army, Fixed (U.S. & Overseas) 10

Army, Mobile 97

Navy, Fixed (U.S. & Overseas) 11

Navy, Mobile 47

Navy, Ships 29

Marine Corps, Mobile 14

NASA (U.S.) 2

Atmospheric Profilers

Army 7

No. of Locations

TYPE OF OBSERVATION/AGENCY (FY 2002)

Upper air, rocket

NASA 1

Army (U.S. & Overseas) 1

Doppler weather radar (WSR-88D) sites

Commerce (NWS) 123

Air Force (U.S. & Overseas) 29

Army (U.S. & Overseas) 2

Transportation 12

Doppler weather radar (Not WSR-88D) sites

Air Force (Transportable) 3

Navy (Fixed) 9

Marine Corps (Mobile) 10

Off-site WSR-88D Processors (PUPs)

Commerce (NWS) 63

Air Force 140

Navy 24

Army 6

Marine Corps 9

Transportation 25

NASA 2

Airport terminal Doppler weather radars

Transportation (Commissioned) 45

Army (not airfield--Test Range/USAREUR) 2

Conventional radar (non-Doppler) sites

Commerce (NWS) 31

Commerce (at FAA sites) 27

Air Force, Fixed (U.S. & Overseas) 7

Air Force, Remote Displays 2

Air Force, Mobile Units 3

Marine Corps, Mobile units 15

Weather reconnaissance (No. of aircraft)

Commerce (NOAA) 3

Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) 10

Geostationary meteorological satellites (No. operating)

Commerce (planned config of 2) 2

Polar meteorological satellites (No. operating)

Commerce (planned config of 2) 2

Air Force 4

Navy (1 in orbit, status TBD)

TABLE 2.8 FACILITIES/LOCATIONS FOR TAKING METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS
SECTION 3

The National Weather Service

(NWS) has the principal responsibility

for planning and operating the basic

climate, hydrologic, and weather services and certain specific applied services. The NWS provides climate, water,

and weather warnings and forecasts for

the United States, its territories, adjacent waters, and ocean areas to help

protect life and property and enhance

the national economy. NWS data and

products form a national information

data base and infrastructure which can

be used by other governmental agencies, the private sector, the public, and

the global community. In support of

this mission, NWS:

• Issues warnings and forecasts of

weather, flood, and ocean conditions.

• Observes and reports the weather

and the river and ocean conditions of

the United States and its possessions.

• Develops and operates national

meteorological, hydrological, climate, space weather and oceanic

service systems.

• Performs applied meteorological,

hydrological, space environmental

and climate research.

• Assists in developing community

awareness and educational materials and programs concerning

weather-related natural disasters.

• Participates in international

hydrometeorological and space

weather activities, including the

exchange, coding and monitoring

of data and forecasts, and also

including the installation and repair

of hydrometeorological equipment

and systems overseas under the

Voluntary Cooperation Program.

The basic enabling legislation and

authority for weather services are summarized as follows:

• Organic Act of 1890 created the

United States Weather Bureau in

the Department of Agriculture.

• Enabling Act of 1919 allowed the

United States Weather Bureau to

enter into cooperative agreements

for providing agriculture weather

services.

• Flood Control Act of 1938 authorized the establishment, operation,

and maintenance of the

Hydroclimatic Network by the

Weather Bureau for Flood Control;

on July 1, 1940, the Weather

Bureau was transferred from the

Department of Agriculture to the

Department of Commerce.

• Federal Aviation Act of 1958

outlined duties of the Secretary

of Commerce for providing

weather observations and services to aviation.

• Reorganization Plan 2 of 1965

placed the "National Weather

Service" in the newly created

Environmental Science Services

Administration (ESSA).

• Reorganization Plan 4 of 1970 made

the NWS a part of the newly created

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration (NOAA).

SERVICES

NWS provides climate, water, and

weather prediction services; including

warnings, advisories, and forecasts 24

hours a day, seven days a week. These

services are provided through a national network of 122 Weather Forecast

Offices (WFOs), 13 River Forecast

Centers (RFCs), and one space weather forecast center that collect data, prepare local warnings and forecasts, and

disseminate information to the public

both directly through NOAA Weather

Radio, and indirectly through the mass

media. Forecast and warning services

prepared at WFOs are derived in part

from prediction guidance prepared by

the nine National Centers for

Environmental Prediction (NCEP).

Continually improving the accuracy,

timeliness, and accessibility to prediction services is largely a result of

research and development both within

the NWS and externally from universities and private corporations.

Public Weather Services. The NWS

Public Weather Service Program provides forecast, warning, and response

services to the public, private meteorological firms, broadcast meteorologists, and those responsible for public

safety, including federal, state and

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE WEATHER PROGRAMS

NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is the principal meteorological agency

of the federal government. By law, NOAA is responsible for reporting the weather of the United States,

providing weather and flood warnings and forecasts to the general public, developing and furnishing

applied weather services, and recording the climate of the United States. This mission is carried out

within NOAA by the National Weather Service (NWS); the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and

Information Service (NESDIS); the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR); the National

Ocean Service (NOS); and the Office of NOAA Corps Operations (NC).

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE

SECTION 3 DOC 31
32 DOC SECTION 3 

local emergency managers and planners. NWS forecasters at WFOs routinely issue forecasts for every location

in the Nation for sky cover, maximum

and minimum temperature, wind speed

and direction, precipitation, and hazardous weather information at least

two times per day. NWS forecasters at

WFOs issue short-duration watches

and warnings for severe weather such

as tornadoes and severe thunderstorms,

as well as long-duration watches and

warnings for extreme winter weather

conditions, high wind events, dense

fog, and temperature extremes.

Additionally, NWS forecasters provide

forecasts in response to nuclear hazard

accidents or hazardous material spills.

Aviation Weather Services. The

NWS provides a broad range of services in support of the aviation community. The WFOs prepare Terminal

Aerodrome Forecasts (TAFs) four

times a day, with amendments as needed, for more than 550 public-use airports in the United States and its territories in the Caribbean and northwest

Pacific. These offices also produce

about 330 individual route-oriented

forecasts three times a day for the

48 contiguous states.

NCEP's Aviation Weather Center

(AWC) and the Alaska Region's

Aviation Weather Unit prepare area

forecasts three times daily describing

general aviation weather conditions

over the lower 48 states, the Gulf of

Mexico, Caribbean Sea and Alaska,

respectively. These two specialized

aviation weather centers, along with

WFOs in Hawaii and Guam, issue inflight advisories and warnings of hazardous weather conditions associated

with thunderstorms, icing, turbulence,

and strong, low-level winds. The

AWC also prepares forecasts of significant aviation weather over the continental United States four times a day

for flight levels from the surface to

25,000 feet.

NWS Center Weather Service Units

located in each of the 21 Federal

Aviation Administration (FAA) Air

Route Traffic Control Centers provide

direct meteorological support to en

route centers, Terminal Radar

Approach Controls, and airport towers.

The NWS provides a service to international aviation as one of the

International Civil Aviation

Organization's two World Area

Forecast Centers. NCEP's Environmental Modeling Center supplies global gridded model data of temperature,

winds, and humidity twice a day for

flight levels from 5,000 to 45,000 feet.

The AWC prepares forecasts of significant weather for approximately twothirds of the globe four times a day for

thunderstorms, tropical cyclones,

severe squall lines, moderate or severe

turbulence and icing, and cumulonimbus cloud associated with the above,

from 25,000 to 63,000 feet. The forecast charts also include information on

volcanoes, radiological releases, jet

streams and tropopause heights. This

information is transmitted by the

International Satellite Communications System with coverage in the

Americas, Caribbean, western portions

of Europe, the Pacific, and eastern

Asia.

Within the framework of the international airways volcano watch, the

NWS, through NCEP, shares management responsibility with NOAA's

National Environmental Satellite,

Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) for Volcanic Ash Advisory

Centers in Alaska and Washington.

The NWS, working closely with the

FAA's Aviation Weather Research

Program, developed new experimental

and operational forecast products

designed to improve aviation hazard

forecast capabilities zero to six hours

into the future (Figure 3-DOC-1).

Figure 3-DOC-1. Current Icing Potential (CIP) Product. The FAA's Aviation

Weather Research Program and the NWS developed this graphical icing product, updated every 3 hours, and available for user selected altitudes across the

contiguous United States.
SECTION 3 DOC 33

New icing and turbulence products for

meteorologists and end users are

expected to become operational in

FY 2003. Improved software tools to

increase the number of terminal airports covered by a forecast are also

under development.

Marine Weather Services. Using

weather analyses and forecast guidance provided by the NCEP,

Department of Defense (DOD), and

European sources, NWS marine

weather forecasters at 46 WFOs provide wind, wave, weather, and ice forecasts, advisories, and warnings for the

United States coastal waters, for the

waters of United States territories, and

for the United States portion of the

Great Lakes. Principal products

include oceanic and Great Lakes forecasts, coastal and lakeshore flood

products, routine ice forecasts for the

Great Lakes and for the waters of

Alaska, special marine warnings and

marine weather statements. When necessary, coastal WFOs will issue site

specific forecasts to aid NOAA or

other hazardous material specialists in

the containment and clean up of oil

spills and releases of other hazardous

substances impacting the marine environment. Now primarily in the form of

text messages, more and more marine

products will be graphical in nature in

the coming years.

Fire Weather Services. NWS Offices

provide routine pre-suppression and

wildfire weather support to federal and

state land management agencies.

Upon request, NWS provides site-specific forecasts for prescribed burns on

federal lands. The NWS deploys a

national cadre of specially-trained

Incident Meteorologists (IMETS) to

large wildfires and coordination centers for on-site weather support.

IMETs use weather instrumentation,

telecommunications, and display

equipment to aid in on-site forecast

preparation and briefings. In the early

morning, NCEP's Storm Prediction

Center issues one and two day fire

weather outlooks that highlight areas

with critical and extremely critical fire

potential based on the state of the fuels

(trees, brush, grasses), and critical

weather parameters. In addition, areas

where significant lightning activity

accompanied by less than 0.1 inch of

precipitation (dry lightning) is forecast

are highlighted.

Tsunami Warnings. Tsunami watches, warnings, and information bulletins

for the Pacific Ocean and Hawaii are

prepared by the Richard H. Hagemeyer

Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in

Ewa Beach, Hawaii and for the west

coast of the continental United States

and Alaska by the West Coast/Alaska

Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer,

Alaska. NWS collects and analyzes

observational data from an international network of seismological observatories, sea-level observing stations, and

deep-ocean tsunami detection buoys

which operate on a cooperative basis.

The centers use these data to prepare

and disseminate watches, warnings,

and information bulletins to international customers, WFOs, federal and

state disaster agencies, military organizations, private broadcast media, and

other agencies involved with warning

the public.

Climate Services. Climate prediction products and other services relate

to the period of week two out to one

year, including seasonal forecasts and

threat assessments. The climate services program maintains strong ties with

other countries; across NOAA lines,

specifically through the Climate

Observations and Services Program;

with federal agencies; the university

community; and the private sector and

encourages collaborative arrangements

among the Regional Climate Centers

(managed by NOAA/NESDIS), the

State Climatologists, and NWS WFOs

and regional headquarters to tailor climate forecasts for local users.

Hydrologic Services. The122 WFOs

and 13 River Forecast Offices (RFCs)

work as a team, to minimize loss of life

and property damage from flooding

and to meet the water service needs of

our Nation. The NWS WFOs work in

conjunction with the RFCs to maintain

an around-the-clock vigil of monitoring the major river systems. The NWS

WFOs are also responsible for issuing

watches and warnings to protect life

and property when the threat of flooding occurs. The NWS WFOs also continuously monitor the threat of flash

flooding and urban flooding. On small

streams, especially near the headwaters of river basins, water levels may

rise quickly in heavy thunderstorms.

Flash floods can begin before the rain

stops falling. Flash floods also occur

in or near mountainous areas where

torrential thunderstorm rains can

quickly change a dry water course or

small stream into treacherous torrents

of water. Desert washes, particularly

near mountains, can go from dry to

flood within minutes as a result of

thunderstorms many miles away from

the flash flood site. Urban flooding

can occur in any populated area and it

is particularly aggravated by urbanization where natural cover has been

removed by the construction of buildings, roads, and parking lots. Heavy

rains can result in flash flooding, inundating cars and causing considerable

damage to residential and industrial

properties. When necessary, NWS

WFOs will issue the appropriate Flood

watches and warnings.

NWS WFOs and RFCs also have a

cooperative arrangement with a variety

of federal and state agencies. For

example, the NWS works very closely

with the United States Geological

Service (USGS), the United States

Army Corps of Engineers (USACE),

the Bureau of Reclamation, the Bureau

of Land Management (BLM), and the

Natural Resources Conservation

Service (NRCS) on a variety of waterrelated issues including streamgaging,

river forecasting, and water management. These various agencies also provide a variety of critical hydrological
34 DOC SECTION 3 

data including soil moisture, precipitation, snow cover, and river/stream

flow.

The NWS is implementing Advanced

Hydrologic Prediction Services

(AHPS), which will produce hydrologic forecasts with lead times of a few

days to several months. NWS RFCs

will produce river forecasts that not

only account for precipitation on the

ground, but will probabilistically

account for estimates of future precipitation. These forecasts will greatly

improve the Nation's capability to take

timely and effective actions that will

significantly mitigate the impact of

major floods and droughts. The system will also provide better overall

information for use in managing water

demands for irrigation, fisheries, hydro

power, and other purposes. AHPS

builds on partnerships with other water

cooperators and on the existing NWS

infrastructure, including the NWS

River Forecast System (NWSRFS).

The NWSRFS is a system used by

RFC hydrologists to produce forecast

time series of discharges or stages at

approximately 4000 locations along

the nation's rivers.

Observations. Observations form the

basis for forecasts and the monitoring

and evaluation of the environment.

Differing applications and requirements are associated with each of these

functions. Forecast applications associated with watch and warning functions must be served immediately,

while real-time availability is not a significant factor for climate monitoring.

The range of differing applications will

dictate how future instrument deployments will be conducted. This poses a

constant challenge to the optimization

of resources placed into in situ and

remotely sensed observation platforms.

The fundamental application of

observations is to deliver better products and improve services. This

demands the link between improved

services and observing systems be well

defined. We need to determine the

gaps in observations to meet varied

requirements, emphasizing the importance of metadata and sensor calibration continuity. Coordinated efforts

within the federal community throughout all aspects of observations development, dissemination and use are

needed for efficiently utilizing

resources.

The NWS approach for improving

observations consists of several

efforts:

• Make better use of data from

observing systems that currently

exist;

• Extend the system life of current

observing systems to postpone

technical obsolescence;

• Replace obsolete observing systems;

• Implement new observing technologies that better meet the data

needs of our customers; and

• Strengthen the link between user

requirements and technology

research and development.

The NWS manages programs that

produce observations in support of a

wide range of customers, such as the

aviation, climate monitoring and

research communities. As part of its

responsibility the NWS inspects all

surface weather observing stations and

certifies equipment and observers. The

NWS headquarters established policy

for observations and standards and

coordinating with other government

agencies and international organizations.

NATIONAL CENTERS FOR

ENVIRONMENTAL PREDICTION

Over the last several decades, NWS

has made major improvements in forecasting synoptic-scale (large-scale,

slowly evolving) weather. Further

improvements will be realized in the

severe weather and flood warnings

program as a result of improvements in

higher resolution, centrally prepared

weather guidance products out to

Day 5, implementation of NWS systems upgrades, advanced observations

from the planned geostationary and

polar-orbiting satellites, and the development of mesoscale predictive techniques for NWS field operations.

While the NWS field structure focuses

more on warnings and short-range

forecasts, NCEP serves a broader,

national mission where national centers provide products based on output

from numerical models, statistical

adjustments to model fields, and valueadded products prepared by national

center forecasters. This NCEP product

suite is transmitted to the WFOs in digital form, where forecasters use the

products to prepare local forecasts.

NCEP is organized into seven science-based, service-oriented centers

that generate environmental prediction

products and two central support centers that develop and operate numerical

models -- the basis for NWS predictions (Figure 3-DOC-2). NCEP delivers national and global climate, water,

weather, and space weather guidance,

forecasts, warnings and analyses to its

partners and external user communities. These products and services

respond to user needs to protect life

and property, enhance the Nation's

economy and support the Nation's

growing need for environmental information. Each service center depends

on the observational infrastructure, the

data assimilation systems, the numeric

modeling function, and the application

of model output statistics to produce

value-added forecast guidance products for NWS field offices and other

users.

Storm Prediction Center. The Storm

Prediction Center (SPC) focuses on

hazardous weather events, such as

severe thunderstorms, tornadoes,

extreme winter weather, and excessive

precipitation with emphasis on the first

few hours of the forecast period. All

Tornado and Severe Thunderstorm

Watches issued anywhere in the contiguous United States come from the

SPC. Also, the SPC prepares
SECTION 3 DOC 35

Mesoscale Discussions which are

technical discussions of developing

mesoscale features and their impact on

hazardous weather. For longer time

periods, the SPC produces the

Convective Outlook which are one,

two and three day forecasts of the

probability and intensity of both nonsevere and severe thunderstorms

(including tornadoes). The SPC also

issues one and two day national outlooks for areas with critical and

extremely critical fire potential out to

two days.

Hydrometeorological Prediction

Center. The Hydrometeorological

Prediction Center (HPC) provides

forecast, guidance, and analysis products and services 1) to support the

daily public forecasting activities of

the NWS and its customers, and 2) to

provide tailored support to other government agencies in emergency and

special situations. As part of this mission, HPC prepares Quantitative

Precipitation Forecasts (QPF) used by

the RFCs to develop local river and

flood forecasts and by WFOs to develop local rainfall, snow and ice forecasts. The HPC provides special QPFs

and coordinates with other federal

agencies, such as the Federal

Emergency Management Agency

(FEMA), during major flood events.

The HPC also provides an array of

analyses and forecasts out to seven

days of frontal systems, pressure patterns, temperature, and precipitation

for use by WFOs and the private

weather community. Additionally,

HPC serves as the backup to the

National Hurricane Center.

Aviation Weather Center. The NCEP

experts in the area of aviation meteorology are concentrated at the Aviation

Weather Center (AWC). The AWC

provides weather warnings, advisories

and forecasts to the aviation community under an international agreement

through the International Civil

Aviation Organization. The AWC provides wind, and flight hazards (e.g.,

icing, turbulence) forecasts for flight

planning and en route aircraft operations for the United States, the Gulf of

Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, the

Atlantic and Pacific routes in the

Northern Hemisphere and some routes

in the Southern Hemisphere. The

AWC also produces guidance products

used by WFOs to support airport terminal forecasts. Thus, the AWC produces large-scale, global aviation functions centrally, while the WFOs customize local aviation products based

on centralized guidance provided by

the AWC and local observations.

Environmental Modeling Center.

The Environmental Modeling Center

(EMC) improves NCEP's numerical

climate, water, and weather predictions

through data assimilation and computer modeling. To provide mesoscale

predictions (thunderstorms, hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, etc.),

ocean predictions and global weather

and climate predictions, EMC develops, adapts, improves, and monitors

data assimilation systems and global,

regional and mesoscale models of the

atmosphere, land surface, ocean, and

atmosphere/ocean/land systems. The

EMC uses advanced modeling methods developed internally and cooperatively with universities, the international scientific community, NESDIS,

NOAA laboratories, and other government agencies. As an example, EMC

is a partner in the newly created

NASA/NOAA Joint Center for

Satellite Data Assimilation (JCSDA)

designed to accelerate the use of

research and operational satellite data

in NCEP operational models. The

EMC integrates research and technology through collaborative model development projects. These interactions

serve as an efficient and effective interface between NCEP and the scientific

community that develop ideas, numerical models, and forecast techniques to

implement model improvements and

improve NWS products. The EMC

conducts applied research and technology transfers and publishes research

results in various media for dissemination to the world meteorological,

oceanographic, and climate community. EMC also participates in ongoing

interactive research programs such as

the United States Weather Research

Program's (USWRP) Hurricane at

Landfall project and the community

Weather Research and Forecast (WRF)

model. Furthermore, EMC is participating in the Pacific targeting observation experiment. EMC research, coupled with increased model resolution,

Figure 3-DOC-2. NCEP consists of seven science-based, service-oriented centers and two central support centers.
36 DOC SECTION 3 

has resulted in a number of improvements in the10 Km Meso Eta model

precipitation, the 12 Km Meso Eta

topography and winds, and hurricane

track forecasts.

Climate Prediction Center. The

Climate Prediction Center (CPC) provides operational monitoring and prediction of global and regional climate

variability, with emphasis on applied

research and partnerships, to improve

understanding of the global climate

system, weather and climate links,

extremes and trends. CPC develops

and maintains data bases for determining current and historical climate

anomalies and trends, and provides

analyses and assessments of their origins and linkages to the global climate

system. CPC products and services

cover time scales ranging from next

week (days 6-10) to seasons and out to

a year in advance, and cover land,

ocean, and atmosphere extending into

the stratosphere. CPC's products

include probabilistic long range outlooks for temperature and precipitation, the multi-agency United States

Drought Monitor (Figure 3-DOC-3), a

drought outlook, and El Niño Southern

Oscillation discussions and outlooks,

among many others. WFOs, as well as

the public, private industry, and the

national and international research

community use CPC products and climate services.

Space Environment Center. The

Space Environment Center (SEC) provides national and international forecasts, alerts, and warnings of extraordinary conditions in the space environment, solar radio noise, solar energetic

particles, solar X-ray radiation, geomagnetic activity, and conditions of

stratospheric warming. The SEC

observes, assesses, and predicts activity

in the space environment to promote

public safety and to mitigate economic

loss that could result from disruption of

satellite operations, communications

and navigation systems, and electric

power distribution grids. The SEC

issues to the public, its United States

Air Force partners, and vendors of

value-added services specific predictions of the space weather activity level

for the next three days and more general predictions up to several weeks in

advance, as well as weekly summaries

of observed solar-terrestrial conditions.

Figure 3-DOC-3. United States Drought Monitor. On each Thursday, the Climate Prediction Center (CPC), together

with the United States Department of Agriculture and the National Drought Mitigation Center in Lincoln, Nebraska,

issues a weekly drought assessment providing a consolidated depiction of national drought conditions based on a combination of drought indicators and field reports.
SECTION 3 DOC 37

Marine Prediction Center. The

Marine Prediction Center (MPC) provides atmospheric and oceanographic

warning, forecast, and analysis products and services for the North Atlantic

and North Pacific (north of 30o

)

(Figure 3-DOC-4) as part of the NWS

mission of protecting life and property

and enhancing economic opportunity.

As part of this, MPC handles United

States international meteorological

obligations to marine interests under

the International Convention for Safety

of Life at Sea (SOLAS). The MPC

provides weather and sea state warnings and forecasts for the high seas of

the Northern Hemisphere north of 30o

for planning and operational purposes.

MPC warnings and products go directly to ships and are vital for the protection of life and property at sea. The

MPC also coordinates forecasts with

and provides forecast guidance to

WFOs with coastal responsibilities.

Tropical Prediction Center/National

Hurricane Center. The NCEP experts

in the area of tropical meteorology are

concentrated in the Tropical Prediction

Center (TPC)/National Hurricane

Center (NHC). TPC/NHC services

include advisories, watches, and warnings for tropical cyclones in the North

Atlantic and eastern North Pacific hurricane basins including the portions of

the coastline threatened by such

storms. In addition, TPC forecasters

provide marine analyses and forecast

products for the same areas of responsibility, south of about 31 north latitude

and a portion of the southeast Pacific.

The TPC/NHC provides guidance,

coordination, and tropical weather

expertise to WFO forecasters, the

media, and private industry.

NCEP Central Operations. The

NCEP Central Operations (NCO) is

responsible for NCEP operations,

including access to real-time data, and

its quality control and use in numerical

weather prediction systems, as well as

the workstations used by NCEP forecasters to access model output and

other data necessary for producing

guidance products. The NCO provides

management, procurement, development, installation, maintenance, and

operation of all computing and communications-related services that link

individual NCEP activities together.

The NCO is the focal point for establishing and executing policies, standards, procedures, and documentation

for computing and communications

within the entire NCEP organization.

The NCO maintains and manages the

supercomputer and runs the computer

applications that generate all NCEP

model products. The NCO leads the

technical transition between the

research and development of numerical weather and climate prediction

models and their operational use on the

NCEP computer systems. In addition,

NCO provides 24-hour information

services and operational support for

NCEP computing systems, including

the network which ties together internal NCEP communications, NWS high

performance computer systems, forecaster workstations, personal computers and a user service that support all

NCEP centers. NCO has recently

shown significant improvement at reliably getting products to customers.

Other NWS Offices with National

Responsibilities. In addition to the

NCEP centers, there are three other

offices provide National products.

These are the Alaskan Aviation Unit,

WFO Honolulu/Central Pacific

Hurricane Center, and WFO Guam.

• Alaskan Aviation Unit. The

Alaskan Aviation Unit (AAU) provides weather forecasts to the aviation community under an international agreement through the

International Civil Aviation

Organization (ICAO). The AAU

provides wind, temperature, and

flight hazards (e.g., icing, turbulence) forecasts for flight planning

and enroute aircraft operations for

Alaska and surrounding areas. 

• WFO Guam. WFO Guam provides

wind, temperature, and flight hazards (e.g., icing, turbulence) forecasts for flight planning and

enroute aircraft operations for

United States territories and

Micronesia in the northwest Pacific

south of 30o

N latitude through

ICAO international agreement.

Figure 3-DOC-4. United States High Seas Forecast Areas of Responsibility.
38 DOC SECTION 3 

• WFO Honolulu/Central Pacific

Hurricane Center. WFO

Honolulu/Central Pacific Hurricane

Center (CPHC) provides products

in aviation, marine, and tropical

cyclone areas. In aviation, WFO

Honolulu provides wind, temperature, and flight hazards (e.g., icing,

turbulence) forecasts for flight

planning and enroute aircraft operations for central north Pacific from

140o

W to 160oE longitude and south

of 30o

N latitude through ICAO

international agreement. The office

handles international meteorological obligations to marine interests

under the International Convention

for Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS).

WFO Honolulu provides weather

and sea state warnings and forecasts for the high seas of the central

north and south Pacific south of

30o

N latitude. CPHC issues tropical

cyclone advisories, forecasts,

watches, and warnings for the central north Pacific including Hawaii. 

SUPPORTING RESEARCH

The NWS conducts applied research,

building upon the more basic research

conducted by NOAA laboratories and

the academic community. Applied

meteorological and hydrological

research is integral to providing more

timely and accurate weather, water,

and climate services to the public.

Meteorological Research. The NWS

conducts meteorological research to

develop, test, evaluate, and improve

numerical models and analysis/forecast techniques for weather and climate prediction including:

• Techniques for predicting

mesoscale phenomena (e.g., heavy

precipitation, tornadoes, and severe

thunderstorms).

• Models to improve hurricane tracking, hurricane probability estimates, and tropical analyses.

• Storm surge models to assist in

developing hurricane evacuation

plans for additional coastal basins.

• Techniques to improve prediction

of seasonal to interannual climate

variability and their impacts on

weather variability.

Hydrologic Research. The NWS

develops, implements and operationally supports improved hydrologic,

hydraulic and hydrometeorological

models and manages hydrologic data

and enhanced quality control procedures to support national flood and

water resources forecasting. Research

encompasses the following areas:

• Improvements to the Ensemble

Streamflow Prediction (ESP) system and its complimentary models

in the NWS River Forecasting

System. Research, development

and implementation of improved

ESP procedures which improve

forecast accuracy and quantify

uncertainty at all time scales.

• Specialized flood and flash flood

forecasting procedures using linked

hydrologic, hydraulic and meteorological models. Major research

areas include developing distributed hydrologic models that use

high resolution precipitation data

from the NWS radar network,

improvement of cold region

processes in watershed models, and

assimilation of data to improve initial conditions. Highly specialized

hydraulic models for routing river

flows will also provide information

for generating maps of inundated

areas.

• Development of improved multisensor precipitation estimates for

input estimates for input into operational hydrologic and atmospheric

models. Radar, rain gauge and

satellite rainfall estimates are

merged to produce optimum rainfall analyses.

• Development of verification methods to assess the added-value of

new science and technology to the

customer.

Space Weather Research. Applied

research improves the specification

and forecast of conditions in the space

environment by developing and implementing models and indices, as well as

by obtaining and processing new

observations.

• Developing of the first dynamic,

global ionospheric model to use

ensemble Kalman filter techniques

to assimilate data every 15 minutes.

Disparate data from widely dispersed sources will enable the

model output to be useful to radiocommunicators and GPS and

LORAN users.

• Developing of models to characterize and predict geomagnetic storm

intensity development, spatially

and temporally.

Training. The NWS provides training to its workforce in support of the

NWS mission and to enhance the professional and scientific development of

its staff. Training deficiencies and

requirements are identified and

addressed via the National Strategic

Training and Education Plan (NSTEP)

process at: www.nws.noaa.gov/om/os/

org/training/nstep.pdf

The NWS provides staff training

through a variety of in-residence and

distance learning techniques. Handson, in-residence training is provided at

three professional training facilities.

The NWS Training Center (NWSTC)

in Kansas City, Missouri, provides

technical and management training;

the Warning Decision Training Branch

(WDTB) in Norman provides training

on how to integrate remotely sensed

data toward improving the warning

decision process; and the Cooperative

Program for Operational Meteorology,

Education and Training (COMET) in

Boulder provides advanced meteorological education. These facilities

along with other groups also provide

distance learning, Internet modules,

teletraining, webcasts and CD-ROM

based training for access by the NWS

workforce to ensure currency with the

latest software, hardware and forecasting techniques.
SECTION 3 DOC 39

The National Environmental

Satellite, Data, and Information

Service (NESDIS) manages United

States civil operational environmental

satellite systems, as well as global

databases for meteorology, oceanography, solid-earth geophysics, and solarterrestrial sciences. From these

sources, NESDIS develops and distributes environmental data and information products and services critical to

the protection of life and property, the

national economy,

energy development

and distribution, global

food supplies, and

development and management of environmental resources.

NESDIS was established as a NOAA line

office on December 1,

1982. The merger of

the former National

Environmental Satellite Service (NESS)

and Environmental

Data and Information

Service (EDIS) formed

NESDIS.

NESDIS operates

two primary polarorbiting satellites in

sun-synchronous orbits

with equatorial crossing times in the early

morning (circa 7:30

a.m. LST) and early

afternoon (circa 1:40 p.m. LST). The

orbits are circular, with an altitude

between 830 km (morning orbit) and

870 km (afternoon orbit). These satellites orbit the Earth 14 times per day,

collecting global data for atmospheric

and surface measurements in support

of short-term weather forecasting and

longer-term global climate change

research.

An agreement finalized with the

European Organization for the

Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites

(EUMETSAT) gives EUMETSAT

responsibility for the morning segment

of the polar environmental mission (circa

9:30 a.m. LST), with United States-provided payload instruments and sensors,

beginning in 2005. Thus, upon inception

of this operational arrangement, NOAA

will operate the afternoon mission while

EUMETSAT will support the morning

mission.

On October 3, 1994, NOAA, the

Department of Defense (DOD), and

the National Aeronautics and Space

Administration (NASA) created an

Integrated Program Office (IPO) to

develop, manage, acquire, and operate

the national polar-orbiting meteorological satellite system, subsequently designated the National Polar-orbiting

Operational Environmental Satellite

System (NPOESS). The IPO is organizationally located within NOAA and

is headed by a System Program

Director responsible to the NPOESS

Executive Committee. This committee, which includes senior representatives from the three agencies, serves as

a board of directors to ensure that overall program plans also meet the individual needs of the three participating

agencies.

The IPO concept provides each of

the participating agencies with lead

responsibility for one of three primary

functional areas. NOAA has overall

responsibility for the converged system and is responsible to the IPO for

satellite operations.

NOAA is also the primary interface with the

international and civil

user communities.

DOD is responsible to

support the IPO for

major systems acquisitions including launch

support. NASA has a

primary responsibility

for facilitating the

development and

incorporation of new

cost-effective technologies into the converged system.

Although each agency

provides certain key

personnel in their lead

role, each functional

division is staffed by

tri-agency work teams

to maintain the integrated approach. The

first converged satellite is expected to be available late in

this decade depending on when the

current NOAA and Defense

Meteorological Satellite Program

(DMSP) programmed satellite assets

are exhausted.

NPOESS will provide standard

meteorological data, oceanographic,

environmental, climatic, space environmental remote sensing information,

as well as continue providing surface

data collection and search and rescue

capability. The IPO, in consultation

NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL SATELLITE, DATA, AND INFORMATION SERVICE
40 DOC SECTION 3 

with the NOAA and DMSP program

offices, is also studying additional

potential cost effective approaches to

maximize user satisfaction during the

transition to NPOESS while guaranteeing continued non-interrupted data

services.

NESDIS is also responsible for operating two Geostationary Operational

Environmental Satellites

(GOES). GOES-East

stationed at 75°W monitors the Atlantic Ocean,

the East and Gulf Coasts,

and the Midwest; GOESWest at 135°W monitors

the Pacific Ocean and

West Coast. Due to an

impending failure of the

attitude and orbit control

systems on GOES-9, it

was replaced by

GOES-10 in July 1998.

GOES-11, the next in the

series of GOES, was

launched on May 3,

2000. It was placed in

on-orbit standby at

104°W. It will replace either GOES-8

(GOES-East) or GOES-10 (GOESWest), when either satellite fails.

ENVIRONMENTAL SATELLITE

SERVICES

Office of Satellite Operations. The

Office of Satellite Operations (OSO)

directs the operation of NOAA's environmental satellites and the acquisition

of remotely sensed environmental

data. It manages the Satellite

Operations Control Center (SOCC)

and Command and Data Acquisition

(CDA) stations, which command and

control, track, and acquire data from

these environmental satellites.

OSO took over the command, control, and communications function of

the DOD's DMSP constellation in

1998. The mission of DMSP is to

provide meteorological and special

sensor data to users in support of

worldwide DOD missions. DMSP is

now operated from the SOCC at

Suitland, Maryland. SOCC is the

primary center for normal operations, mission planning, engineering,

launch and early orbit support, and

anomaly resolution. A new ground

system was developed for DMSP

called Integrated Polar Acquisition

and Control Subsystem.

Office of Satellite Data Processing

and Distribution. The Office of

Satellite Data Processing and

Distribution (OSDPD) directs the

operations of NESDIS central ground

data processing facilities. It processes

and distributes current weather satellite

data and derived products to the NWS

and other domestic and foreign users,

and provides coordination and customer services for satellite direct readout and direct broadcast users and

GOES scheduling. Satellite

sources include the European,

Japanese, and Indian operational geostationary satellites (METEOSAT,

GMS, and INSAT respectively) and

other research or experimental sources,

such as the NASA's Tropical Rainfall

Measuring Mission (TRMM) and

Japan's ADEOS. OSDPD processes

and distributes these NOAA and nonNOAA environmental satellite products to the NWS National Centers and

Weather Forecast Offices (WFOs), and

other federal, state, and private sector

organizations through dedicated satellite server configurations, or through

the NOAAPORT satellite point-topoint broadcast facility.

Data for NOAAPORT are remapped

digital data satellite products and

derived products, such as lifted index,

high density wind direction and intensities at various atmospheric levels,

quantitative precipitation

estimates, and volcanic

ash advisory messages.

NOAAPORT delivers

GOES and soon to be

added POES products in

virtual real-time to the

Advanced Weather

Interactive Processing

System (AWIPS).

AWIPS is the NWS' new

display and analysis

workstation used in their

national centers and field

sites to integrate and display satellite data, model

data, observations, radar and wind profiles for hydrometeorological analyses.

As the AWIPS satellite capabilities

improve, NESDIS will shift focus

from support of the RAMM Branch

Advanced Meteorological Satellite

Demonstra-tion and Interpretation

System (RAMSDIS). RAMSDIS currently supplies digital GOES and

POES images to a group of NWS sites

via the Internet for demonstration,

evaluation, and familiarization purposes. RAMSDIS enables forecasters to

perform operations, such as looping,

enhancement curve changes, and local

image recombination.

NESDIS continued it's support of the

COSPAS-SARSAT Program through

provision of satellites, ground stations,

and alert data distribution services.

The COSPAS-SARSAT program consists of Russia, the United States,

France, and Canada providing the

space segment and 29 other countries
SECTION 3 DOC 41

providing ground systems to relay distress alerts or participate in the management of the program. NESDIS

operates and maintains the United

States SARSAT Mission Control

Center and fourteen ground stations.

The ground stations receive signals

directly from the satellites and process

the information to provide the location

of distress transmissions. In 2000,

COSPAS-SARSAT decided to terminate satellite processing of

121.5/243 MHz signals beginning

February 1, 2009. This decision was

made in response to guidance from the

International Civil Aviation Organization and the International Maritime

Organization. These two specialized

agencies of the United Nations are

responsible for aviation and maritime

search and rescue. The use of new

emergency beacons that can use the

Global Positioning System (GPS) to

provide an accurate position continues

to increase. Seven of the last fourteen

406 MHz beacon models approved are

able to use GPS to transmit their position (Figure 3-DOC-5).

National Ice Center. The United

States National Ice Center (NIC),

under sponsorship of the United States

Navy, NOAA, and the United States

Coast Guard (USCG), is tasked with

providing the highest quality operational global, regional, and tactical

scale sea ice analyses and forecasts,

tailored to meet the requirements of

United States national interests. NIC

ice products are produced in a digital

workstation environment using data

from polar orbiting satellites,

ship/shore station reports, drifting

buoys, meteorological guidance products, ice model predictions, and government partners including foreign ice

services. The primary remotely sensed

data sources used for global and

regional-scale ice mapping are visible

and infrared imagery from the

TIROS-N Advanced Very High

Resolution Radiometer (1.1km spatial

resolution) and the DMSP Operational

Linescan System (0.55km spatial resolution). In areas of extensive cloud

cover, the NIC utilizes Special Sensor

Microwave Imager (SSM/I) sensor

data (19 and 37 GHz channels)

processed using the CAL/VAL and

NASA Team ice concentration algorithms. These algorithms produce

25km gridded mosaic ice maps that are

instrumental in the production of NIC

weekly composite Arctic/Antarctic ice

maps. Higher resolution ice analysis

products, used to ensure the safety of

navigation and protect life and property at sea, are dependent upon the availability and use of Synthetic Aperture

Radar (SAR) data from the Canadian

RADARSAT. RADARSAT's ScanSAR

wide mode produces a 500km wide

swath with 100m spatial resolution.

Images are processed at four different

ground stations and transferred to the

NIC via dedicated communication

lines or via the Internet within six

hours of acquisition. The NIC Science

team, which assists in the transition of

pertinent scientific research to operations, is presently working on the transition of real-time SSMI sea ice products to the NIC operations floor, conducting an evaluation of current

SSM/I-derived sea ice algorithms, and

the use of SSM/I data for initializing

and evaluating the Polar Ice Prediction

System (PIPS).

Routine NIC ice guidance products

include regional-scale ice maps, annotated satellite imagery, short and longterm ice forecasts, and legacy ice information and ice climatology. Specialized support services include specific

regional support, ship route recommendations, pre-sail ship briefings,

aerial ice reconnaissance, and ship

rider support. Specific sea ice features

analyzed include ice edge position,

ice concentration, ice thickness, form

or floe size, ice motion, areas of compression and heavy surface deformation, and the location/orientation of

open water or thin ice-covered leads.

Ice products are disseminated via the

Figure 3-DOC-5. United States Coast Guard helicopter performs rescue based

on information provided by SARSAT. Worldwide 13,629 persons were rescued

with 4,335 persons in United States (Source: Cospas-Sarsat Report)
42 DOC SECTION 3 

Internet (www.natice.noaa.gov) as

simple electronic charts in Joint

Photographic Experts Group (JPEG

format), GIS-compatible coverages

(ESRI ARC/INFO .e00 export format),

and in the World Meteorological

Organization (WMO) digital standard

for Sea Ice in GRIDded (SIGRID,

SIGRID-2) format. Date and time of

data acquisition as well as the percentage of each data type used in all ice

analyses are documented in a metadata

narrative.

Another of the NIC's responsibilities

is oversight of the United States

Interagency Arctic Buoy Program

(USIABP). The USIABP was established in 1992 to provide the management structure and coordination necessary to maintain a baseline network of

drifting buoys. Buoys within the array

provide sufficient spatial resolution to

define surface synoptic scale atmospheric pressure, air temperature, and

sea-ice drift fields (Figure 3-DOC-6).

Data are used in real-time for operational weather and ice forecasting and

for research in the Global Climate

Change Program. The USIABP is a

collaborative program that draws operating funds and services from the collective contributions of seven government agencies and/or programs. These

organizations include: the Naval

Oceanographic Office, Office of Naval

Research (ONR), NASA, National

Science Foundation (NSF), and

NOAA's NESDIS, OAR, and Office of

Global Programs (OGP).

Office of Research and Applications.

The Office of Research and

Applications (ORA) provides guidance and direction for NESDIS

research and applications activities. It

coordinates the efforts of the Climate

Research and Applications Division,

Atmospheric Research and

Applications Division, and Oceanic

Research and Applications Division.

These divisions conduct studies on the

use of satellite data to monitor environmental characteristics and change

and develop algorithms to produce

satellite products for applications to

Figure 3-DOC-6. Locations of buoys in the International Arctic Buoy Program.
SECTION 3 DOC 43

operational weather and ocean analyses and prediction. Further, ORA participates in the development of new

spacecraft and sensors for future systems. It also carries out a vigorous

program to calibrate and validate satellite data to ensure its quality for longterm studies. Additionally, ORA

through division participation, actively

educates others on technology transfer

programs through scientific presentations, technical reports, Internet-based

tutorials, and training workshops at

domestic and international sites.

Polar-Orbiting Systems. The primary mission of the Polar-orbiting

Operational Environmental Satellite

(POES) System is to provide daily

global observations of weather patterns

and environmental measurements of

the Earth's atmosphere, its surface and

cloud cover, and the proton and electron flux at satellite altitude. Since the

beginning of the POES program, environmental data and products acquired

by its satellites have been provided to

users around the globe. These satellites increase the accuracy of weather

forecasting by providing quantitative

data required for improved numerical

weather forecast models. Currently,

the two primary operational spacecraft

are NOAA-15 and NOAA-16.

NOAA polar satellites carry instruments to provide atmospheric temperature and moisture profiles. They also

provide multi-channel images and carry

a data collection and platform location

system, and a Search and Rescue

Satellite-Aided Tracking (SARSAT)

subsystem. The SARSAT subsystem is

used to detect and locate distress alerts

from maritime, aviation, and land-based

users. In addition to taking thermal

images of the earth's surface and atmosphere, the NOAA polar-orbiting satellites carry sounder instruments to provide vertical profiles of atmospheric

temperature and moisture.

POES satellites carry four primary

instrument systems: the Advanced

Very High Resolution Radiometer

(AVHRR); the Television Infrared

Observation System (TIROS)

Operational Vertical Sounder (TOVS);

the Space Environment Monitor

(SEM); and the Solar Backscatter

Ultra-Violet Instrument (SBUV/2).

The AVHRR provides data for realtime transmission to both Automatic

Picture Transmission (APT) and High

Resolution Picture Transmission

(HRPT) users and for storage on the

spacecraft tape recorders for later playback. The AVHRR provides stored

and direct-readout radiometer data for

day and night cloud cover, sea surface

temperatures, vegetation indices, and

snow and ice mapping.

The HIRS/3 is a discrete-stepping,

linescan instrument designed to measure scene radiance in 20 spectral bands

to permit the calculation of the vertical

temperature profile from Earth's surface to about 40km. Multi-spectral

data from one visible channel

(0.69m), seven shortwave channels

(3.7 to 4.6m), and twelve long wave

channels (6.5 to 15m) are obtained

from a single telescope and rotating filter wheel containing twenty individual

filters. An elliptical scan mirror provides cross-track scanning of 56 increments of 1.8m. The mirror steps rapidly (<35 msec), then holds at each

position while the 20 filter segments

are sampled. This action takes place

each 100 msec. The instantaneous

field of vision (FOV) for each channel

is approximately 1.4m in the visible

and shortwave IR, and 1.3m in the

long wave IR band that, from an altitude of 833km, encompasses an area of

20.3km and 18.9km in diameter,

respectively, at nadir on the Earth.

Each AMSU-A instrument is composed of two separate units:

(a) AMSU-A2 with two channels at

23.8 and 31.4GHz and (b) AMSU-A1

with twelve channels in the range of

50.3 to 57.3GHz and one channel at

89.0GHz. The AMSU-B has five

channels with frequencies centered on

89, 150, 183±1, 183±3, and 183±7Ghz,

respectively. AMSU-B, provided by

the United Kingdom Meteorological

Office, produces soundings of humidity from the surface to 200 millibars

(mb). AMSU-A has a nominal FOV of

3.3° (48km on surface at nadir) and

AMSU-B a field of view of 1.1° (16km

on surface at nadir). AMSU-A

(AMSU-B) samples 30° (90°) Earth

views, covering ±48.95° from the subsatellite point. In addition, the specialized 89GHz channel, with the capability to "see" through high and mid-level

clouds to low level moisture clouds, is

utilized to determine the position and

structure of tropical cyclones on a

global scale. The AMSU-A1 uses two

antenna systems, providing observations in the twelve oxygen band channels (3-14) for retrieving the atmospheric temperature profile from the

Earth's surface to about 42km, or from

1000 to 2 mb. The remaining three

channels (1 and 2 from A2 and 15 from

A1) aid the retrieval of temperature

soundings by correction of surface

emissivity, atmospheric liquid water,

and total precipitable water. These

window channels also provide information on precipitation, sea ice, and

snow coverage.

The SEM measures solar proton

flux, alpha particle and electron flux

density, and energy spectrum and total

particulate energy distribution at

spacecraft altitude. The two sensors

included within this instrument are the

Total Energy Detector (TED) and the

Medium Energy Proton and Electron

Detector (MEPED), in addition to a

common data processing unit. This

instrument augments the measurements made by NOAA's geostationary

satellites.

In addition to the three instrument

systems previously described, the

NOAA-16 POES carry the SBUV/2.

SBUV/2 is a non-scanning (fixed nadir

viewing) spectrometer designed to

measure scene radiance and solar spectral irradiance from 160 nanometers to

400 nanometers. Data obtained from
44 DOC SECTION 3 

the instrument are used to compute the

amount and vertical distribution of

ozone in the Earth's atmosphere on the

sunlit side of the Earth. The ground

system required to receive large volumes of digital data from NOAA satellites consists of two major subsystems:

the Polar Acquisition and Control

Subsystem (PACS) and the Central

Environmental Satellite Computer

System (CEMSCS). The PACS

includes the Wallops, Virginia, and

Fairbanks, Alaska, CDA stations and

the SOCC at Suitland, Maryland. All

the CEMSCS components are in the

NOAA facility at Suitland. PACS is

used to command and control the

spacecraft, monitor its health via

housekeeping telemetry, and retrieve

and transmit the spacecraft environmental data to the CEMSCS processing and data handling facility. The

delivery of NOAA system data from

the CDA's to Suitland is accomplished

by using the General Electric

American Communications, Inc. commercial satellite communications network. This system, which includes

Earth stations at Suitland, Wallops, and

Fairbanks, delivers the data to SOCC.

These data are immediately passed to

the CEMSCS for processing. The

CEMSCS ingests the raw satellite data

and pre-processes and stores them

along with appended auxiliary information, such as Earth location, calibration, and quality control parameters.

The data processed by the CEMSCS

are used for environmental products

and operational weather predictions

that are disseminated to users throughout the world.

The POES Data Collection (and

location) System (DCS) is provided

through an international cooperative

agreement with the Centre Nationale

d'Etudes Spatiales of France and is

called the ARGOS DCS. The system

provides a means to locate and collect

environmental data from fixed and

moving platforms; i.e., polar ice flows,

ocean buoys, oil pipelines, birds, mammals, etc. The ARGOS DCS supports

environmental applications, e.g. meteorology, oceanography, and protection

of the environment, with the majority

of users being government/non-profit

agencies and researchers. An instrument upgrade to incorporate a downlink message capability is planned for

the NOAA-N' satellite.

Geostationary Satellite Program. Two

operational geostationary satellites,

GOES-8 (75°W) and GOES-10

(135°W), provide coverage of virtually

the entire western hemisphere for operational meteorological services. The

projected launch schedule and associated instruments for geostationary

satellites are shown in Table 3.1.

The GOES satellites host an imager

capable of detecting atmospheric, sea

surface, and land properties in five

spectral bands including the 3.9m and

12.0m wavelengths. However,

beginning with GOES-M, the 12.0m

channel will be replaced with a

13.0m channel, with the goal of

achieving more accurate cloud height

assignments for mid- and upper-level

atmospheric wind-velocity estimates.

Also, the resolution of the water vapor

channel will improve to 4km from

8km.

GOES satellites transmit all five

spectral bands simultaneously, providing the user community with continuous views of atmospheric measurements in various wavelengths, each

with its own meteorological and

hydrological application. GOES

spacecraft were designed for flexible

scanning of the Earth; a variety of

scans or sector coverage can be scheduled. For example, the full-earth disk

is normally scanned once every

3 hours and requires about 30 minutes

to complete the entire scan.

Depending on requirements to monitor

environmental hazards on the Earth's

surface or in the atmosphere,

30-minute periods in between the fulldisk scans may be scheduled as a mixture of 15-minute intervals (routine

operations) or 71⁄2-minute interval

(severe operations) scans over the contiguous United States. To further support mesoscale and microscale analyses, 1000 km x 1000 km areas can also

be scanned at 1-minute intervals, to

capture rapidly developing and dynamic environmental phenomena. The five

channels and respective resolutions are

as follows:

• Channel 1 (Visible, .55m to

.75m) - 1 km

• Channel 2 (Infrared, 3.8m to

4.0m) - 4 km

• Channel 3 (Water Vapor, 6.5m to

7.0m) - 8 km (4 km starting with

GOES-M)

• Channel 4 (Infrared, 10.2m to

11.2m) - 4 km

• Channel 5 (Infrared, 11.5m to

12.5m) - 4 km

The GOES-8 and GOES-10 sounder

instruments, consisting of 19 spectral

channels, are used for measurements

of atmospheric temperature and moisture profiles, surface and cloud top

temperatures, and ozone distribution.

Products derived from the sounder

include precipitable water and lifted

index - a measurement of atmospheric

stability. Comparable to the imager,

the sounder is capable of providing

various scan coverages, such as fullEarth imagery, sectorized imagery, and

local imagery. In routine operations,

GOES-8 and GOES-10 provide hourly

sounding coverage.

The GOES Space Environment

Monitor (SEM) collects data for warnings of solar activity. This block of

instruments is more extensive than on

POES. The GOES SEM instruments

include X-ray monitors that detect

solar flares, energetic particle sensors,

and three-component vector magnetometers to measure changes in the

ambient magnetic field. Real-time

SEM data are used to support operational NOAA and DOD space environment forecasts and alerts. Data from

GOES SEM sensors are archived by

the National Geophysical Data Center
SECTION 3 DOC 45

TABLE 3.1 PROJECTED SATELLITE LAUNCH SCHEDULE

POLAR-ORBITING SYSTEM GEOSTATIONARY SYSTEM

Satellite Designator Planned Launch Date* Satellite Designator Planned Launch Date*

METOP-1 CY 2005 GOES N CY 2002

NOAA-N CY 2004 GOES O CY 2005

NOAA-N' CY 2008 GOES P CY 2007

METOP-2 CY 2010 GOES Q CY 2010

METOP-3 CY 2012 GOES R CY 2012

NPOESS-3 CY 2014

NPOESS-4 CY 2016

NPOESS-5 CY 2018

*Launch date depends on performance of prior spacecraft and is subject to change.

NOAA Instruments for NOAA Polar-Orbiter and METOP Series

AVHRR - Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer

SEM - Space Environment Monitor

SBUV - Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet Instrument (NOAA PM mission only)

HIRS - High Resolution Infrared Sounder

DCS ARGOS - Data Collection System

AMSU-A - Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A

AMSU-B - Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-B

SARP - Search and Rescue Processor

SARR - Search and Rescue Repeater

MHS - Microwave Humidity Sounder (NOAA-N/N' and METOP) 

Instruments for NPOESS Series

VIIRS - Visible/Infrared Imager/Radiometer Suite

CMIS - Conical Microwave Imager/Sounder

CrIS - Cross-track Infrared Sounder

ATMS - Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder

OMPS - Ozone Mapper/Profiler Suite

SES - Space Environment Suite

DCS - Data Collection System

SARSAT - Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking System

ERBS - Earth Radiation Budget Sensor

TSIS - Total Solar Irradiance Sensor

ALT - Altimeter (Dual Frequency radar altimeter)

Instruments for GOES-Next Series

Imager 

Sounder

SEM - Space Environment Monitor

SXI - Solar X-Ray Imager (GOES M and N)

EUMETSAT Unique Instruments for METOP Series Satellites

ASCAT - Advanced Scatterometer

GOME - Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment

GRAS - GPS Receiver for Atmospheric Sounding

IASI - Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer
46 DOC SECTION 3 

and provided to retrospective users online via Internet and on a variety of

computer media.

GOES also carries a Data Collection

System (DCS), which is used to collect

and relay environmental data observed

by a variety of remotely located platforms, such as river and tide gauges,

seismometers, buoys, ships, and automatic weather stations. In support of

NOAA missions, GOES DCS data are

used in weather forecasts and warnings, reservoir control, and flood monitoring. While the GOES DCS is a

critical element for national and international meteorological and hydrological programs, the NWS NEXRAD program relies on the DCS data as a vital

input for calibration and validation.

Tsunami watches and warnings for the

Pacific Ocean are prepared using the

Data Collection Platform data transmitted via GOES DCS. The GOES

DCS program touches all aspects of

our lives in supporting water quality,

air pollution, and global environmental

monitoring.

The GOES Search and Rescue

Satellite-Aided Tracking (SARSAT)

System is capable of providing an

immediate distress alert, unlike the

POES satellite SARSAT transponders

which must come within line of site of

a Local User Terminal, in order to

relay the distress beacon back to the

United States SARSAT Mission

Control Center (USMCC). Newer

state-of-the art COSPAS-SARSAT distress beacons, utilizing the Global

Positioning System (GPS), now have

the capability to provide location information in the distress message relayed

by GOES to the USMCC.

NESDIS continues to improve user

access to its operational satellite products and services using new communications technologies including the

Internet. One important on-line access

system, managed and operated by

OSDPD and NOAA's National

Climatic Data Center (NCDC), is the

NOAA Operational Satellite Active

Archive (SAA). The SAA

(www.saa.noaa.gov) provides satellite

data access, display, and electronic

transfer. Available data types include

AVHRR, ATOVS, DMSP (special sensor), and RADARSAT (authorized

subscription users). While developed

as an independent system, the SAA

serves as NOAA's initial interoperable

interface to NASA's Earth Observing

System Data and Information System

(EOSDIS). After the phase-out of the

GOES-TAP system in 1998, many

users now rely on GOES sectorized

images, mapped to standard AWIPS

grids, available in near-real-time at

www.goes.noaa.gov. Near-real-time

images and interpretive analyses of

tropical storms and hurricanes worldwide, ash from volcanic eruptions

within the western hemisphere, heavy

precipitation in the United States

which cause flash flooding or blizzards, wildland fires and smoke within

the United States, and northern hemisphere snow boundaries are located

at www.ssd.noaa.gov. Specially

enhanced and annotated imagery and

image loops of environmental events,

such as flooding, hurricanes and other

severe storms, volcanic eruptions,

fires, and dust storms are available from www.osei.noaa.gov

(Figure 3-DOC-7). This web site was

set up for use by the news media and

general public, and to provide once or

twice per day satellite views of an

environmental event for federal, state,

and international governments and

agencies. Also supporting the media,

scientific organizations, and federal

and state agencies is a specially

designed web site featuring visualizations of satellite data, found at

www.nnvl.noaa.gov/.

INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT

FOR HAZARD MITIGATION

The Committee on Earth

Figure 3-DOC-7. Contrails (indicated by the yellow arrows) are visible in this

GOES-8 image over Kentucky. These cirrus-like trails of condensed water

vapor generally form because of the water added to the air from exhaust

processes in aircraft engines.
SECTION 3 DOC 47

Observation Satellites (CEOS) was

formed in 1984, in response to recommendations from the Economic

Summit of Industrialized Nations

Working Group on Growth,

Technology, and Employment's Panel

of Experts on Satellite Remote

Sensing. This group recognized the

multi-disciplinary nature of satellitebased Earth Observation (EO) data and

the value of coordination across all

proposed missions. In CEOS,

providers and users of EO satellite data

work together to promote the effective

use of data from such satellites.

Recognizing the benefits that could be

gained from better application of EO

satellite data to natural and technological hazards, CEOS initiated an activity

on disaster management support. The

Director of NESDIS/OSDPD chairs

the group. The Disaster Management

Support Group focuses on developing

and refining recommendations for the

application of satellite data to selected

hazard areas. Particular emphasis is

placed on working closely with space

agencies, international and regional

organizations, and commercial organizations on the implementation of these

recommendations.

The Disaster Management Support

Group began as a project in 1997 with

an objective to support natural and technological disaster management on a

worldwide basis by fostering improved

utilization of existing and planned Earth

observation satellite data. Meetings are

held two to three times per year.

Hazards addressed include drought,

earthquake, fire, flooding, landslides,

oil spill, sea ice, and volcanic hazards.

Teams were charged with compiling

user requirements; identifying shortcomings and gaps in the provision of

required satellite data; and developing

recommendations for alleviating them.

Hazard team reports are included in the

Group's annual progress reports. The

latest annual progress report is available

in hardcopy or via the group's web site

(www.disaster.ceos.org).

SUPPORTING RESEARCH

PROGRAMS

Recent advances in numerical

weather prediction (NWP) models,

both at NOAA's NCEP/EMC and other

major International NWP Centers,

require higher quality satellite derived

winds, particularly over the traditionally data void oceanic regions of the

globe. The NESDIS GOES winds processing suite is totally automated and

uses a series of geostationary satellite

images to derive wind estimates. The

automated winds algorithm uses an

objective pattern matching technique

to estimate velocity, and satellite water

vapor and infrared brightness temperature data to assign heights to these

derived wind estimates. The automated quality control of image registration

is also an important component of the

NESDIS GOES winds processing

suite. Approximately 20,000 clouddrift and water vapor motion wind vectors are derived from both satellites for

each cycle and distributed to EMC and

to the Global Telecommunications

System (GTS). EMC uses these operational NESDIS wind products in their

global and regional data assimilation/numerical forecast systems. NESDIS recently completed the effort to

reformat the winds in WMO-sanctioned BUFR format. Current work

involves the investigation of a slow

bias seen in water vapor winds.

The newest satellite wind products

include the low-level high density visible satellite winds. During the daylight hours, visible channel data can be

used to track cloud motions. The

GOES visible imagery offers high horizontal resolution (1 km) and frequent

image sampling (15-30 minutes nominally; higher in special rapid scan

modes). The visible channel can

depict lower-tropospheric cumuliform

tracers in areas not covered by opaque

cirrus. In terms of tropical cyclones,

visible winds can depict the low level

flow in the outer storm vortex region,

which is an important area in assessing

storm motion. The GOES satellites

have an atmospheric sounder that

includes two water vapor channels

centered at 7.0m and 7.3m. These

sounder channels can be employed as

surrogate imagers to track water vapor

features radiating from the lower layers of the troposphere. The weighting

function of the 7.0m channel peaks

around 450mb and the weighting function of the 7.3m channel peaks

around 550mb. Water vapor winds

generated from these two channels will

compliment the imager-based clouddrift and water vapor winds, resulting

in an improved three-dimensional

depiction of the wind field. The implementation of these new algorithms and

the visible wind products into the operational environment at NESDIS began

in 1999. These wind products can be

viewed at orbit-net.nesdis.noaa.gov/

goes and cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/tropic/

real-time. Digital sounding and winds

files are available through a GOES

computer server within OSDPD.

Atmospheric Moisture and Stability

Products. Research continues to

improve the atmospheric moisture and

stability products from the GOES-8

and GOES-10 sounder instruments.

Precipitable water for three layers of

the atmosphere: surface to 900 hPa;

900-700 hPa; and 700-300 hPa are

computed from the soundings. Total

precipitable water (TPW) for the entire

atmospheric column, from the earth's

surface to the "top" of the atmosphere,

is also computed. These precipitable

water products are particularly valuable for the short-term forecasting of

precipitation, locating those environments favorable for heavy precipitation and flash floods, thunderstorms,

and fog. Hourly updates of this information provide useful information for

the EMC regional data assimilation

systems and for weather forecasters in

the field. EMC currently uses the

GOES precipitable water retrievals as

input to Eta Data Assimilation System

(EDAS), which provides the initializa-
48 DOC SECTION 3 

tion for the Eta, forecast model. NESDIS is currently aiding EMC with running global and regional model impact

analyses to improve and optimize the

use of the GOES derived products in

numerical weather prediction schemes.

At present, a blended GOES, SSM/I,

and model-derived product is being

evaluated. In addition, a precipitable

water product has been developed

from the NOAA-15 AMSU sensor, and

is presently undergoing evaluation. In

the near future, the blended product

will include the AMSU-derived precipitable water. In addition to the moisture products, numerous atmospheric

stability indices can be computed from

measurements made by the GOES

sounder instrument. Two stability

indices, the lifted index (LI) and CAPE

index, are computed on a routine basis.

Since these indices are produced

hourly, sequential images of these

derived quantities clearly show the

diurnal and dynamic changes associated with weather events. So, in addition

to providing these data to EMC for use

in numerical weather prediction models, the graphical representation of

these products allows for the looping

of the products in time. This capability aids NWS forecasters in the field,

for example, to understand the time

evolution of severe storms. It was

anticipated that the GOES sounder

moisture and stability products that

presently have a horizontal resolution

of approximately 50km2

, would be

generated at a high horizontal resolution of 30 km2 by the summer of 2000.

These products can be viewed at orbitnet.nesdis.noaa. gov/goes and

cimss.ssec.wisc.edu. Digital versions

of these products are available from

POES and GOES computer servers

within OSDPD. A similar suite of

products is being developed from

NOAA-14 and NOAA-15 for forecasters.

Tropical Cyclone Monitoring. NESDIS continues to improve upon satellite-based techniques for estimating

tropical cyclone positions and intensities, and for describing the internal

structure of these storms. New sensors, such as AMSU and TRMM,

among others, are being incorporated

into the NESDIS operational tropical

program, which supports the NWS and

DOD hurricane programs. Real-time

imagery and NESDIS tropical text

messages can be viewed at www.ssd.

noaa.gov/SSD/ML/realtime. html.

Precipitation Estimates. The AutoEstimator produces quarter-hourly

estimates of precipitation based on

GOES infrared data. This technique

was designed to eventually replace the

more manual "Interactive Flash Flood

Analyzer" (IFFA), but currently both

techniques are used to produce the

best quality product for NWS. The

Auto-Estimator has an orographic

adjustment factor and can be manually

adjusted for warm cloud tops. Current

improvements being tested include

using: RADAR and visible data (as a

rain/no-rain detector) and equilibrium

level temperatures from the Eta model

for warm top adjustments. Other

techniques are being tested such as the

GOES Multi-Spectral Rainfall

Algorithm (GMSRA), a combined

GOES and SSM/I rainfall algorithm

(developed at NRL/Monterey), and a

NOAA-15 AMSU based retrieval

algorithm. The GMSRA uses all five

GOES imager channels and may be

merged with the Auto-Estimator after

an inter-comparison is completed.

Finally, the POES based microwave

algorithms from the SSM/I and AMSU

sensors are being utilized to produce

automated tropical cyclone rainfall

potential estimates and global precipitation estimates are produced from

microwave data for climate monitoring and analysis. These products can

be viewed at orbitnet.nesdis.noaa.gov/ arad/ht/ and at

manati.wwb.noaa.gov/ doc/ssmiprecip.html. Digital versions of these

products are also available from POES

and GOES computer servers within

OSDPD.

Microburst Products. Several experimental microburst and convective

wind gust products are being tested.

These products utilize sounder data

from both GOES-East/ West to compute the maximum possible wind gust

and the potential for both wet and dry

microbursts over the continental

United States. They are produced

hourly during the convective season

and can be viewed at orbit-net.nesdis.noaa.gov/arad/fpdt/mb.html

Low Cloud and Aircraft Icing

Products. Detection of fog and low

clouds, particularly at night, is important to aviation activities. A GOES

product utilizing two infrared channels

(10.7m and 3.9m) can help determine the areal extent of this cloudiness

at night over the continental United

States and Alaska every 30 minutes.

An experimental fog depth image is

produced hourly. An experimental

cloud base height product for the West

Coast was added in 2000 to estimate

low ceilings (<1,000 ft) that are critical

to aviation operations. Fog products

can be found at orbitnet.nesdis.noaa.gov/arad/fpdt/

fog.html. By combining information

from the visible and long wave

infrared (12.0m) channels to the two

described above, areas of possible aircraft icing can be delineated. The icing

product is available hourly and can be

viewed at orbit-net.nesdis.noaa.gov/

arad/fpdt/icg.html.

Geostationary Sea Surface

Temperatures. GOES-8 and

GOES-10 are proving capable of producing sea surface temperatures (SST)

over most of the Western Hemisphere

nearly continuously. The accuracy and

spatial resolution achieved with the

GOES measurements are close to that

achieved from the polar orbiting platforms, and GOES has a unique advantage of high temporal sampling frequency. For the SST determination,

the frequent sampling by GOES makes

a more complete map of SST possible

after clouds have moved on.
SECTION 3 DOC 49

Additionally, a change in scene temperature over a short period of time

may indicate the presence of clouds,

thereby enhancing cloud detection.

The abundance of GOES observations

helps to maintain a balance between

high-quality, cloud-free observations

and good geographical coverage of

SST estimates. For the first time,

GOES is enabling quantification of the

diurnal variation of a radiometrically

determined SST over large areas and

long time periods. This quantification

may have important implications in

both numerical weather prediction and

climate monitoring. NESDIS has been

producing the GOES SST hourly in an

experimental configuration since

December 1998 for both GOES-8 and

GOES-10. A global SST product is

produced every three hours; regional

SST products are generated every hour.

These products were recently implemented operationally and can be

accessed as digital files from the

GOES computer servers within

OSDPD (Figure 3-DOC-8).

Volcanic Ash and Fire Monitoring.

Techniques that use primarily the

imager channels on GOES-East/West

are being developed to assist in the

tracking of volcanic ash cloud plumes.

One product that employs three channels (10.7m, 12.0m, and 3.9m) has

been developed and is under evaluation. Ash cloud advisory statements

are provided by NESDIS to the aviation community over southern North

America and northern South America,

through the Volcanic Ash Advisory

Center (VAAC) in Washington,

District of Columbia. Experimental

volcanic ash products are produced

hourly for several active volcanic areas

and are available at orbitnet.nesdis.noaa.gov/arad/fpdt/

volc.html. GOES infrared, visible,

NASA's Total Ozone Mapping

Spectrometer (when applicable), and

operational volcanic ash products for

the Washington VAAC area of responsibility are found at www.ssd.noaa.

gov/VAAC/washington.html. An

emphasis is being placed on development and testing of sounder and other

techniques that do not use the GOES

12 micron channel since the next

GOES spacecraft, GOES-M, will not

carry this channel.

Fire and smoke monitoring algorithms are being developed to automatically detect fires and to monitor their

growth and the associated smoke coverage. The GOES-8 split window data

(at 4m and 11m) have been used to

assess trends in South American burning practices over the past 6 years

(1995-2000); GOES detected the most

fire pixels in the tropical rain forest

ecosystem in 1995. The application to

clear sky human-initiated burning in

South and Central America is now

being adapted to monitor cloudy sky

lightning and clear sky human-initiated

fires in the Canadian provinces and the

continental United States. The continual monitoring from GOES (as often as

every 71⁄2 minutes) can assist firefighters to plan evacuation and extinguishing activities. Studies with Brazil are

underway to predict smoke transport

and air pollution and health alerts for

major cities. An AVHRR fire detection

algorithm is being developed for use in

monitoring fire and smoke outbreaks

around the world. All these new techniques will be used to improve the current operational fire and smoke product, currently posted to the Internet.

This product supports the NWS

Storm Prediction Center (SPC) fire

outlook product. Real time imagery

of GOES and POES imagery in support of SPC can be found at

www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/FIRE/fires-fl.html.

A GOES Products and Services

Catalog is available on line at orbitnet.nesdis.noaa.gov/arad/fpdt/goescat/

index.html. An up-to-date list and

description of operational and experimental products with links to the realtime products are available from this

web page. The Polar Products and

Services Catalog is under development.

NPOESS. ORA scientists continue

to play an important role in the evaluation of proposed contractor sensor

design and retrieval methods during

the ongoing selection process for

NPOESS. ORA scientists have created

a variety of "test bed" data sets that are

being used in the algorithm evaluation

process. This is accomplished through

participation in operational algorithm

teams with the long-term goals of

Figure 3-DOC-8. GOES-8 3-hour composite imagery of sea surface temperatrue (Source: NOAA’s CoastWatch web site).
50 DOC SECTION 3 

assuring capability to meet the requirements of all Environmental Data

Records. Ozone evaluation, calibration, and validation activities took

place for the new Solar Backscatter

Ultraviolet Instrument (SBUV/2) with

the launch and successful checkout of

NOAA-16. A new ozone profile

retrieval algorithm (Version 7) is under

development at NASA. As soon as it

becomes available, NOAA will begin

to incorporate it in its SBUV/2 processing systems. Monitoring of global

ozone will continue with the SBUV/2

instruments on NOAA-11, NOAA-14,

and NOAA-16, and with the TOVS

instruments on NOAA-14, NOAA-15

and NOAA-16. Experimental high

temporal ozone products are also being

produced from the GOES-8 sounder

channels. Monitoring is limited to

North America. Preliminary results

show the GOES values are comparable

to amounts from the Total Ozone

Mapping Spectrometer and groundbased measurements.

Land Surface Parameters for Use in

Weather Forecast Models. Satellitederived fields of land surface characteristics are being prepared for use in

NWP models. These include radiation

products delivered in near real-time as

forcing variables; surface characteristics, such as fractional green vegetation and albedo, that specify model

lower boundary conditions; and validation quantities, such as surface temperature. These products are meant to

help the NWP models maintain better

soil moisture fields which in turn

results in better near surface temperature and humidity forecasts, and better

precipitation forecasts. These fields

now include POES-based (SSM/I and

AMSU) estimates of surface emissivity, snow cover, sea-ice extent and concentration, land surface skin temperature, and soil wetness. Development

of snow depth is underway. Forward

models for surface emissivity at various microwave frequencies have been

developed and are being tested in the

forecast models. Algorithms to determine clear sky ice surface temperatures have been developed and delivered to Atmospheric Environment

Service, Canada for evaluation. New

techniques such as automatic edge

detection and incorporation of new

sensors such as AMSU and NASA's

MODIS are in development to improve

operational production of daily snow

and ice extent products. These products are delivered as digital files to

NWP models and to the NWS Climate

Prediction Center and other users.

Graphical imagery of operational

northern hemispheric snow cover can

be found on the Internet at www.ssd.

noaa.gov/SSD/ML/realtime.html#SNOW.

Clouds from AVHRR. Algorithms

are being developed, tested, and validated for determining cloud optical

and microphysical properties from

imager data such as the AVHRR.

These algorithms are in addition to

those already developed which estimate amounts and types for each

observed cloud layer. The four cloud

types are: L - Liquid Water Clouds;

M - Mixed Phase Clouds;

G - Glaciated Clouds (opaque); and

H - High Ice Clouds (semi-transparent). Knowledge of cloud properties

is important for both climate-scale

and short-medium range forecasts.

Accordingly, algorithms and processing systems to estimate cloud properties from imager data are being

developed for both applications.

Assimilation of cloud properties into

NWP models is an objective of

NCEP for improving short-medium

range forecasts. Other applications

of this work include the validation of

simulated scenes to be used for the

evaluation of new algorithm and

instrument designs that is supported

by the IPO. In addition, new algorithms are being developed to produce optimal estimates of cloud

properties from both imager and

sounder data, such as the merge of

AVHRR and TOVS data.

Aerosols. An algorithm for the correction of a thermal radiation leak in

the 1.6m reflectance channel of the

Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission

(TRMM) satellite's Visible Infrared

Scanner (VIRS) has been developed.

NASA's Clouds from the Earth's

Radiant Energy System (CERES)

instrument data processing team apply

this correction algorithm, to VIRS raw

data prior to application of the NESDIS operational aerosol retrieval algorithm. Without this correction, the

aerosol optical thickness at 1.6m

would be overestimated by as much as

200 percent, depending on the temperature of the Earth's surface. This algorithm is also applied to NOAA-16

AVHRR data that has the same two

reflectance channels as VIRS plus an

0.83m reflectance channel. This

information on aerosols will be used to

correct for the attenuation of aerosol

particles in the infrared channels of the

AVHRR instrument to remove errors

in the retrieval of sea surface temperature. The correction algorithm will initially be derived from the multi-year

archive from the AVHRR Pathfinder

Atmosphere (PATMOS) data set using

a single channel AOT retrieval at

0.63m. The long-term record of

AVHRR SSTs can be corrected for

aerosol-induced errors, which currently limit the utility of these data for climate change studies. Finally, an algorithm for the estimation of aerosol

optical thickness over dark vegetated

land surfaces will be developed in support of NASA's Global Aerosol

Climatology Project (GACP). It will

also utilize the PATMOS archive of

clear-sky reflectances at 0.63m collocated with sun-photometer observations of AOT at non-coastal land based

AERONET stations to make empirical

adjustments to the surface reflectance

model used in the NESDIS operational

aerosol retrieval algorithm used over

oceans. This will be the first globally

applicable aerosol retrieval algorithm

for land areas and will be used by
SECTION 3 DOC 51

NASA and NOAA to create climatology of aerosol optical thickness over

land for climate change studies.

Long-term Monitoring of NOAA-15

Advanced Microwave Sounding

Unit-A (AMSU-A) Performance.

Since the launch of the NOAA-15

satellite, the AMSU-A level 1B data

have been captured from the CEMSCS

and stored on optical disks. These data

are used for off-line characterization of

the instrument radiometric performance on orbit. Over 20 important

radiometric parameters are extracted or

calculated from the AMSU-A 1B data.

NESDIS has already demonstrated that

the noise in the observations in all

channels is lower (better) than that

required by the specifications and, in

some channels, it is lower than estimates based on pre-launch test results.

NOAA will continue compiling longterm trends of all the parameters to

provide a better understanding of the

instrument performance. The PCbased software developed for evaluating these data will be improved for better efficiency in processing the data.

Calibration of the Visible and NearInfrared Channels of the AVHRR. The

AVHRR flown on POES is recognized

as an invaluable resource for satellitebased studies of the Earth system. The

long-term records of geophysical products such as the Normalized Difference

Vegetation Index (NDVI), columnar

aerosols over the oceans, cloud morphology, and short-wave radiation

budget play a central role in climate

and global change studies by providing

a means to study the environment continuously. It is thus very important to

characterize and document the in-orbit

performance of the AVHRR flown on

the polar orbiters. Toward this end, a

very comprehensive program of postlaunch calibration and characterization

of the AVHRR has been implemented

to ensure the accuracy, continuity, and

viability of the various AVHRRderived geophysical products, with

particular attention paid to the visible

(Channel 1: 0.58 - 0.68 m), and nearinfrared (Channel 2: 0.72 - 1.1 m;

Channel 3A: 1.58 - 1.64 m) channels

which do not have any onboard calibration devices.

The major program elements are:

(a) development of an optimal vicarious post-launch calibration technique,

utilizing radiometrically stable calibration sites, model simulations of the

radiation measured by the sensors, and

simultaneous radiation measurements

by the AVHRR and by calibrated spectrometers onboard aircraft;

(b) enhancement of available vicarious

calibration techniques to improve

attainable radiometric calibration accuracies beyond ±5 percent; (c) evaluation of the feasibility of using the

International Space Station (ISS) as a

platform to calibrate satellite sensors,

in general, using radiometers on the

ISS traceable to the National Institute

of Standards and Technology (NIST);

(d) establishment of the AVHRR as a

traveling calibration standard to monitor the performance of sensors, such as

the imager on the GOES, the visible

channel of the High-resolution Infrared

Radiation Sounder (HIRS), the

Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS), and various sensors

to be flown on ENVISAT; and (e)

design of optimal onboard and vicarious calibration techniques for the visible and near-infrared sensors planned

under the National Polar-orbiting

Operational Environmental Satellite

System (NPOESS). The relevance and

importance of these activities has been

recognized by the national and international user community, as evidenced

by the appreciation and endorsement

of the Working Group on Calibration

and Validation (WGCV), Committee

on Earth Observation Satellites

(CEOS), and the Global Observing

Systems Space Panel (GOSSP).

To ensure global access to the results

of the above program, and recognizing

the importance of the AVHRR-derived

products to national and international

programs, such as the International

Satellite Cloud Climatology Project

(ISCCP), the International Geosphere

Biosphere Programme (IGBP), the

Global Climate, Ocean, and Terrestrial

Observing Systems, and to benefit

from sensor calibration research elsewhere, active liaison, and collaboration

in some instances, has been established

with researchers in NASA, NIST,

EUMETSAT, China Meteorological

Administration, Beijing, China;

Rutherford Appleton Laboratory,

United Kingdom; National Space

Development Agency, Japan; the

NOAA/NASA Pathfinder Program;

several space agencies and remote

sensing laboratories outside the United

States, and academia both in the

United States and abroad.

Calibration of Geostationary

Operational Environmental Satellite

Instruments. The wavelength configuration of channels on the GOES-M

Imager will be slightly different from

that of its predecessors. A 13.3m

channel will replace the current 12m

channel. The new channel will employ

a single detector with an 8-km field-ofview at the Earth's surface. The watervapor channel at 6.7m, which on

GOES I through L observe the Earth

with a single 8-km detector, will

employ two 4-km detectors on GOESM. To accommodate these revisions,

the calibration processing in the

ground system will be modified.

Pathfinder. Climate data sets of

cloud amount, aerosol optical thickness (AOT) over the oceans, and the

Earth's radiation budget for clear and

cloudy skies have been retrospectively

generated from over 17 years of

AVHRR data as part of the NOAANASA Pathfinder program. An

improved data set spanning the period

from July 1981 through the end of

1999 was completed in 2000. This

data set is being utilized to study the

relationship between the variation in

global mean values of the absorbed

solar radiation and variation in aerosol
52 DOC SECTION 3 

amount caused by major volcanic

eruptions. The influence of the aerosol

amount on variations in the global surface temperature is also under investigation. The analysis of time series of

anomalies of the cloud radiative forcing has been shown to correlate well

(spatially and temporally) with El Niño

events. A second reprocessing of the

entire data set is being proposed, where

multiple-layered cloud data will be

used. Land surface and ocean products

such as the vegetation index and the

sea surface temperature will be added.

Ocean Surface Winds. Calibration

and validation studies are performed

for all new operational ocean surface

wind data streams. Product refinement

and development activities are currently underway to improve ocean wind

vector retrievals in the high wind speed

regime where current retrieval algorithms underestimate the wind speeds.

There are several satellite-based active

and passive microwave sensors

planned for launch in the near future

from which NOAA would have the

opportunity to obtain near real-time

data streams. One of these sensors will

be the first demonstration of the passive polarimetric technique, which is

the technique that is being depended

on for NPOESS to meet the nation's

ocean surface wind vector requirements.

Storm Signatures and Winds from

Synthetic Aperture Radar. ORA scientists are currently studying ocean surface wind signatures of atmospheric

fronts and storms with synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery. By sensing

variations in ocean surface roughness

on the centimeter scale, SAR sensors

can image storms, atmospheric waves

(such as coastal lee waves), atmospheric fronts, and coastal wind shadowing. Techniques for calculating

wind speed (and under certain conditions direction as well) are also under

development. Before the year 2003,

four new wide-swath SAR satellites

are planned for launch. If data acquisition and sharing arrangements can be

made to obtain access to SAR imagery

from these new sources, frequent routine SAR coverage of United States

coastal areas will be possible.

Ocean Color. Several programs at

ORA are involved in satellite ocean

color research. The Marine Optical

Buoy (MOBY) Project develops,

deploys, and maintains the MOBY off

of the coast of Lanai, Hawaii, to measure visible and near-infrared radiation

entering and emanating from the

ocean. The resulting measurements

support the initialization and vicarious

calibration of international and national ocean color sensors, such as the

Ocean Color and Temperature Sensor,

the Sea-Viewing Wide-Field-of-View

Sensor, and the recently launched

Moderate Resolution Imaging

Spectroradio-meter. The Marine

Optical Characterization Experiment

(MOCE), MOBY's sister project,

involves the collection of in situ measurements of these and other parameters

relevant to ocean color in the surrounding region from ship. Data from

both sampling platforms furnish a

time-series of bio-optical measurements that is employed to track sensor

drift, define bio-optical relationships,

validate satellite-derived products, and

develop ocean color algorithms. In

addition to MOBY and MOCE, programs exist at ORA to routinely evaluate the accuracy of NESDIS operational ocean color products and to

develop algorithms in order to remotely detect and predict the presence of

noxious marine biota, such as harmful

algal blooms.

Coral Reef Watch: NOAA's Early

Warning System for Coral Reef

Health. Like the rest of the world,

most of the United States coral reef

systems are threatened due to pollution, over-fishing, and thermal bleaching. This threat includes almost all of

Florida and Puerto Rico reefs, nearly

half of Hawaii's, and an unknown but

significant fraction of United States

Pacific Territories. The widely distributed and isolated locations of many

coral reefs preclude normal monitoring

practices. In 1998, NESDIS established an experimental capability using

POES satellites to conduct thermal

bleaching surveillance of coral reefs on

a world-wide basis. This experiment

demonstrated remarkably accurate

capabilities for early warning of El

Niño-induced coral reef bleaching conditions over all global tropical ocean

regions resulting in a special

International Workshop on Satellite

Monitoring of Coral Reefs being convened in June 1999. A Coral Reef

Watch Program was proposed to

(1) transition existing experimental

satellite reef health monitoring capabilities into a viable operational capability, (2) formalize the existing United

States leadership in the emerging global "Virtual Coral Reef Ecosystem

Monitoring Laboratory," and (3) provide for a solid scientific basis for

future monitoring and assessment

products/capabilities.

CoastWatch. NESDIS has responsibility for CoastWatch Program

Management. This program managed

in conjunction with other NOAA Line

Offices makes satellite data products

and in situ data from NOAA environmental buoys available to federal,

state, and local marine scientists and

coastal resource managers.

For coastal areas in the Great Lakes,

East Coast, and Gulf of Mexico, data

from the Advanced Very High

Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) on

NOAA's polar orbiting spacecraft are

collected at Wallops Island, Virginia,

and at Fairbanks, Alaska. These data

are processed on NOAA computers in

Suitland, Maryland using a set of

NOAA-developed multi-channel

atmospherically corrected algorithms

for determination of sea surface temperature. Data are then mapped

(Mercator Projection) and sectored to

predefined coordinates specified for

each of the CoastWatch regions.
SECTION 3 DOC 53

Digital, high-resolution data products

(1 km/4 km in a CoastWatch Binary

Format) are then passed daily to

CoastWatch Regional Nodes in the

eastern United States (i.e., Southeast,

Great Lakes, Northeast, Gulf of

Mexico, and Caribbean). For Regional

Nodes in the Pacific region

CoastWatch local data acquisition and

processing capabilities are in La Jolla,

California; Anchorage, Alaska; and

Honolulu, Hawaii.

The Internet is used as the primary

telecommunications pathway for digital data distribution. Once products

are delivered to the CoastWatch

Regional Nodes they become immediately available for local use. An evergrowing number of federal, state, and

local organizations are establishing a

formal relationship with local

CoastWatch Regional Nodes for routine timely access to CoastWatch

image products. More information

about CoastWatch is available on the

Internet at coastwatch.noaa.gov/

COASTWATCH/.

ENVIRONMENTALDATACENTERS

NESDIS is responsible, among other

things, for the collection, archiving, and

dissemination of environmental data

collected by a variety of in situ and

remote sensing observing systems from

throughout NOAA and from a number

of its partners, (e.g., NASA). NESDIS

must have a Comprehensive Large

Array-data Stewardship System

(CLASS) that provides archive and

access services for these data in place

by December 2002. CLASS will be

able to handle the data flow from current satellite-based (e.g., GOES,

Defense Meteorological Satellite

Program - DMSP) and ground-based

(e.g., Next Generation Weather Radar -

NEXRAD, Automated Surface

Observing System - ASOS) observing

systems, and be structured to handle the

large increases in data that will come

from planned satellite launches, beginning with the first of the Meteorological

Operational satellites (METOP-1), and

followed in ensuing years by additional

satellite launches [e.g., National Polarorbiting Operational Environmental

Satellite System (NPOESS), NPOESS

Preparatory Project (NPP), and Earth

Observing Satellites (EOS)].The first

EOS satellite (Terra) has been launched

and NOAA and NASA are presently

negotiating a Long Term Archive agreement for the safeguarding of EOS data.

Some of these data may flow to NESDIS before the launch of METOP-1.

The December 2002 date is key to the

initiation of the period during which

NOAA and the European Organization

for the Exploitation of Meteorological

Satellites (EUMETSAT) will begin to

share data from the EUMETSAT

METOP-1 launch in July 2005.

CLASS will be able to ingest, catalog,

quality control, archive, and, via e-commerce, make available to NESDIS' customers and partners (e.g., NASA) the

satellite, radar, and other in situ environmental information and data sets

contained in the system.

NATIONAL CLIMATIC DATA

CENTER

The National Climatic Data Center

(NCDC) (www.ncdc.noaa.gov) has the

responsibility for long-term stewardship of and access to the Nation's climatological data. To meet this responsibility:

• NCDC performs data management

and access functions regarding retrospective meteorological data, including data from in situ (ASOS, AWOS,

Rawinsonde, COOP, etc.) and

remote sensing sources (satellites,

radars, etc.). Such functions include:

acquisition (ingest, to include inventories), quality control processing,

archiving, access, indexing, quality

assessment, evaluation, synthesis,

and dissemination of data collected

by global and national meteorological observation networks or systems.

Meteorological data that have enduring value to the Nation and are sufficient to describe the climate are

included.

• NCDC has principal responsibility

to manage and distribute the nation’s

climatological data, as part of the

Federal Records Retention System

(FRRS). NCDC follows NARA

guidelines and policies for meteorological data records and information.

• NCDC partners nationally with

National Aeronautics and Space

Administration (NASA), Department of Defense (DOD), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),

United States Department of

Agriculture (USDA), Department of

Energy (DOE), Department of State

(DOS), National Science Foundation

(NSF), United States Geological

Survey (USGS), United States

Global Climate Research Panel

(USGCRP), and others.

• NCDC partners internationally

with: World Meteorological

Organization, International Council

of Scientifists, World Data Centers,

other nations via bilateral agreements, Intergovernmental Panel on

Climate Change, UNESCO.

• NCDC maintains and updates

national and global baseline data sets

for analyses of long-term climate

trends and for monitoring global

change. These data sets include the

Global Historical Climatology

Network (GHCN), the United States

Historical Climatology Network

(USHCN), the Comprehensive

Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set

(COADS), and the Comprehensive

Aerological Reference Data Set

(CARDS).

• NCDC serves as World Data CenterA (WDC-A) for Meteorology under

the auspices of the International

Council of Scientific Unions. In this

capacity, NCDC archives the data collected by internationally sponsored

research programs and actively

exchanges climate data with foreign

countries.

• NCDC provides facilities, data pro-
54 DOC SECTION 3 

cessing support, data exchange, and

expertise, as required, to meet United

States commitments to foreign nations,

international organizations, and to the

World Meteorological Organization's

(WMO) programs (Figure 3-DOC-9).

• NCDC manages the Regional

Climate Center (RCC) Program consisting of six facilities. These

Centers, located at universities or

state agencies, provide data collection, user services, and applied climate research on a regional basis.

NCDC also coordinates the State

Climatologist (SC) programs. Along

with the NCDC, the RCCs and the

State Climatologists form a vital

component of a national climate

services program.

SUPPORTING RESEARCH

Global Historical Climatology

Network. The Global Historical

Climatology Network (GHCN) data

set on-line at

www.ncdc.noaa.gov/ol/climate/

research/ghcn/ghcn.html is a comprehensive global surface baseline climate

data set designed for monitoring and

detecting climate change. Comprised

of surface station observations of temperature, precipitation, and pressure,

all GHCN data are monthly values.

NCDC is striving to move the continual updating of this data set into an

operational scenario.

Global Blended Temperature

Product. A global surface temperature

data set is being operationally produced from numerous sources including sea surface temperatures (SST),

land surface temperatures (GHCN) and

satellite data using the Special Sensor

Microwave Imager (SSMI) which collects data over land areas that are not

snow covered.

New Climate Normals. NCDC computed and released to customers the

1971-2000 Climatolo-gical Normals

for temperature, precipitation and heating/cooling degree days. Monthly and

daily normals were computed for nearly 8,000 stations in the United States,

Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the

United States Pacific Islands. This

represents an increase of over 15 percent in the number of stations from the

previous 1961-1990 edition. The new

Figure 3-DOC-9. Interactive web pages from the National Climatic Data Center's Climate Services Division web site.

Global Climate analyses for July 2002 of (a) Selected Global Significant Events (top, left); Precipitation Anomalies (bottom, left); Surface Temperature Anomalies (top, right), and Temperature Anomalies (bottom, right).
SECTION 3 DOC 55

normals are being used by NOAA’s

NWS in their daily and monthly climate reports and are valuable to a large

variety of NCDC customers including

the energy industry which uses them

for rate setting for customers.

Climate Reference Network Project.

The United States Climate Reference

Network (CRN) is a planned network

of 250 pairs of climate observing stations now being developed as one

component of the NOAA Climate

Services Initiative. The primary goal

of this network is to provide long-term

homogeneous observations of temperature and precipitation that can be coupled to past long-term observations for

the detection and attribution of present

and future climate change. The CRN

will also provide the United States of

America with a reference network that

meets the requirements of the Global

Climate Observing System (GCOS).

The stations will monitor temperature,

precipitation, solar radiation, and wind

speed. Hourly observations of these

variables will be transmitted in real

time. NCDC is continuing site surveys

and the building and deploying of

CRN instrumentation suites during

2002.

Climate Monitoring. The National

Climatic Data Center's (NCDC)

Climate Monitoring Branch produces

operational as well as special event

reports on climate and weather around

the globe. These NCDC reports

address the climate in historical perspective and are available via the

NCDC web site. Highlights include:

synopses of global monthly and annual

mean temperatures and precipitation

and their departures from the long term

mean; global and United States

extreme events; and United States and

global regional analyses using traditional surface data as well as blended

surface and satellite data products.

The monitoring group responds to high

level NOAA and executive level governmental requests concerning the

state of the national and global climate.

NCDC directs the production of an

annual Climate Assessment which is

published as a special issue of the

Bulletin of the American

Meteorological Society. There are

national and international contributors

to this effort from operational and

research institutions, the university

community and other NOAA components.

Observing System Performance

Indicators. This multi-year effort will

provide real-time information on the

health and status of NOAA's observing

networks. The developed system will

continually monitor and assess the

state of these networks with the intent

of providing feedback that could either

lead to improvements in the network or

changes in analysis techniques to

account for problems in the network.

Electronic Ingest and Online

Storage. NCDC continues to improve

access to its archived data. Efforts in

the last year have made some data

available to users within hours instead

of days after receipt. Improvements to

robotics mass storage devices and

additional high-speed communication

capabilities have accelerated the

amount of data readily accessible from

NCDC. During the last year, NCDC

began ingesting and archiving for near

realtime access WSR-88D data electronically via high speed Internet connections from 27 NWS sites. NCDC

has also added data from Polar

Orbiting Earth Satellites (POES) to the

mass storage system. Data are now

available from 10 to 400 times faster

than ever before. During the next year,

NCDC will ingest additional WSR88D sites and begin electronically

ingesting vast amounts of satellite data

including those from NOAA’s GOES.

NOAA Operational Model Archive

and Distribution System. The NOAA

Operational Model Archive and

Distribution System (NOMADS) is a

multi-agency and university collaboration developed to provide access to retrospective and real-time global climate

models and numerical weather prediction model input and output data.

NCDC along with the National Centers

for Environmental Prediction (NCEP)

and the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics

Laboratory (GFDL) initiated the project. Using a distributed client-server

framework, NOMADS, for the first

time, will provide long-term stewardship of numerical and climate model

runs and provide the regional modeling

community with the data necessary to

initialize local models. NOMADS will

also provide the tools necessary to

inter-compare model and observational

data sets from around the world.

GOES Active Archive. NCDC is

also building, in coordination with the

NESDIS CLASS project, the GOES

satellite data Active Archive (GAA).

The GAA objective is to enhance and

increase the availability and accessibility of NOAA GOES data and derived

products to a customer community that

includes the national and international

scientific and academic communities,

the United States and international

commercial communities, and the general public.

NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHIC

DATA CENTER

The National Oceanographic Data

Center (NODC) (www.nodc.noaa.gov)

manages the world's largest collection

of publicly available oceanographic

data. NODC holdings include in situ

and remotely-sensed physical, chemical, and biological oceanographic data

from coastal and deep ocean areas.

NODC customers reuse this data to

answer questions about climate, and

ocean and coastal phenomena.

Specifically, NODC data archive and

access responsibilities support climate

research and operational activities as

follows:

International

• NODC provides data management

for major climate-related research

programs including: Tropical Ocean

Global Atmosphere (TOGA), World
56 DOC SECTION 3 

Ocean Circulation Experiment

(WOCE), Joint Global Ocean Flux

Study (JGOFS), and Global

Temperature Salinity Profile

Program (GTSPP).

• NODC served as the Upper Ocean

Thermal Data Assembly Center for

WOCE, part of the World Climate

Research Program. WOCE made

unprecedented in situ and satellite

observations of the global ocean

between 1990 and 1998. NODC, in

cooperation with WOCE, published

this international data set on

CD-ROM.

• NODC performs a number of

functions for GTSPP (www.nodc.

noaa.gov/GTSPP/gtspp-home.html),

including incorporation of real-time

and delayed mode data into a continuously managed database. GTSPP

makes global temperature and salinity data quickly and easily accessible

to users.

• NODC produces regular updates

of the World Ocean Data Base

(WOD) (www.nodc.noaa.gov/OC5/

pr_wodv2.html) and World Ocean

Atlas (WOA) (www.nodc.

noaa.gov/OC5/pr_woa.html). WOD

1998, produced in 2000, includes

over five million profiles of scientifically quality controlled ocean temperature, salinity, oxygen, plankton,

pigment, and nutrient data. WOA

1998 presents statistical summaries

and gridded fields of these parameters on a monthly, seasonal, and

annual basis, from the 1940's

through 1998.

• NODC distributes the Atlas of

Surface Marine Data on CD-ROM.

This atlas includes global surface

marine observations taken from

COADS (Comprehensive OceanAtmosphere Data Set) files, and

objectively gridded fields of surface

marine fluxes of heat, momentum,

and freshwater.

National

• The NOAA Marine Environmental

Buoy Database (www.nodc.noaa.

gov/BUOY/buoy.html) is one of the

largest and most frequently used data

archives maintained by the NODC.

This database holds wind, wave, and

other marine data collected by the

NOAA National Data Buoy Center

(NDBC) from moored buoys and

C-MAN (Coastal-Marine Automated

Network) stations. Parameters reported by both buoys and C-MAN stations

include air temperature and pressure,

wind speed and direction, wind gust,

and sea surface temperature

(Figure 3-DOC-10).

• NODC provided archive and storeand-forward data services in support of

a National Ocean Partnership Program

project to conduct tests of a coastal

marine forecast system. The project

was a collaboration between the

National Ocean Service, the National

Weather Service, several universities,

and industry groups. NODC served as

the central data exchange facility.

• NODC provides data products and

services individually to members of the

operational marine community, e.g.,

the Navy, Coast Guard, and shipping

industry.

• NODC CD-ROM products are

described on its web pages

(www.nodc.noaa.gov/General/NODCcdrom.html), and made available

through the NOAA National Data

Centers' (NNDC) Online Store.

NOAA/NODC Library

NODC houses the NOAA Central

Library (www.lib.noaa.gov/) which supports weather and climate research programs by providing a variety of information services, including:

• Access to print and electronic versions of American Meteorological

Society journals.

• Access to Meteorological and

Geoastrophysical Abstracts (desktop

access at the Silver Spring campus).

• Desktop access to Web of Science at

several NOAA sites.

• Assistance in obtaining site licenses

for 169 National Weather Service field

sites for electronic access to Monthly

Weather Review and Weather and

Forecasting.

• Archival of historic collections of the

Weather Bureau.

• Data rescue of hundreds of volumes

of meteorological data publications in

danger of loss.

NATIONAL GEOPHYSICAL DATA

CENTER

The National Geophysical Data

Center (NGDC) (www.ngdc.noaa.gov)

participates in national and international programs that collect and provide

data for research in meteorology, climatology, and space weather as well as

solar-terrestrial physics, paleoclimatology, snow and ice, marine geology and

Figure 3-DOC-10. NOAA Marine Environmental Buoy Database is one of the

largest and most frequently used data archives maintained by NODC.
SECTION 3 DOC 57

geophysics, and solid earth geophysics. NGDC operates World Data

Centers for Solar-Terrestrial Physics,

Paleoclimatology, Marine Geology

and Geophysics, Solid Earth

Geophysics, and Snow and Ice under

the auspices of the International

Council of Scientific Unions. The secretariat for the Scientific Committee

for Solar-Terrestrial Physics is located

at NGDC. NGDC conducts research

in paleoclimatology, satellite remote

sensing and space weather.

NGDC provides data and scientific

stewardship for the archives including

data processing, access, management,

archive, analysis, and research for

databases collected on satellites and by

ground-based observatories. Space

environment data collected on GOES

and POES satellites are archived at

NGDC. Space environmental, meteorological and oceanographic data collected on DMSP satellites are archived

by the Solar-Terrestrial Physics

Division. Data collected by groundbased observatories used in NOAA's

space weather forecasts, warnings and

alerts are managed at NGDC. The

Paleoclimatology Group operates

NOAA's Paleoclimatology Program,

which manages geophysical data used

to derive paleoclimate data and information. The National Snow and Ice

Data Center, which is affiliated with

NGDC, manages cryospheric data

from both ground-based and satellite

instruments.

New technology presents new opportunities and challenges for NOAA's

National Data Centers (NNDCs).

WWW-based applications provide

improved and more timely services that

include data discovery, on-line catalogs

and inventories, interactive data display,

data mining, and data delivery. As a

result, the number of users has increased

dramatically. Since most of the new

users are less familiar with the data than

the research community, additional burdens are placed on the NNDC's to assure

that data and products are provided in a

display that is easy to understand and in

a format that is easy to use. At the same

time, new applications are under development, which increase the need for

research quality data

(www.ngdc.noaa.gov).

The DMSP Program at NGDC prepares research quality data from the

raw data records recorded by scientific

instruments on operational satellites

for retrospective analysis and the official archive. Data sets include visible,

infrared and microwave imagery,

microwave soundings and in situ

measurements of the space environment (Figure 3-DOC-10). The official

archive is used to prepare data products, derive geophysical parameters

including atmospheric and ionospheric

principal components, and conduct

research. New user services are provided through the Space Physics

Interactive Data Resource

(www.ngdc.noaa. gov/dmsp). Three

new activities were launched in 2002;

gridded mosaics of visible and infrared

images and color spectrograms of

auroral electrons and ions are now

available in near-real-time and visible

and infrared imagery are distributed to

customers in near-real-time.

NOAA's paleoclimate program to

assemble global information on paleoclimate is operated by NGDC. The

program has acquired many paleocliFigure 3-DOC-10. Near-Real-Time Mosaic. The infrared emissions recorded on all operational DMSP satellites, F-13,

14, and 15, were geolocated and placed into a 2 arc-minute grid. The grids are updated every hour and saved every

6 hours. Similar visible and infrared mosaics are prepared for each satellite and saved twice a day.
58 DOC SECTION 3 

mate databases derived from geophysical data, namely tree-rings, pollen and

macrofossils, lake and bog sediments,

marine sediments, ice cores, and other

geological and biological sources.

Paleoclimate databases can be displayed, searched, and retrieved at

www.ngdc.noaa.gov/paleo.

The Space Weather program at

NGDC prepares research quality data

of the near-Earth space environment

for retrospective analysis and the official archive. GOES, DMSP, and POES

satellites carry instruments that monitor the space environment; for example, the SEM instruments on GOES

and POES and the SSIES, SSJ/4 and

SSM instruments on DMSP. The successful launch of DMSP F-16 will

greatly enhance the ionospheric data

archives. Other data sets in the space

weather archives include measurements of solar activity, solar flares,

magnetic activity, magnetic storms,

ionospheric parameters, and ionospheric storms collected by NOAA and

other agencies. The STP program at

NGDC archives measurements of total

solar and solar spectral irradiance for

use in climate studies

(www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/stp.html).

The major new activity was the successful operation of the Solar X-ray

Imager on GOES-12. When the instrument is turned back on SXI images

including animations at a 1 minute

cadence will be available in real-time

(Figure 3-DOC-11).

National Snow and Ice Data Center.

The National Snow and Ice Data

Center (NSIDC) at the University of

Colorado is associated with NGDC

and maintains several cryosphericrelated data sets of interest to meteorology and climatology. These data sets

include a collection of historical photographs of glaciers; temperature, pressure and position data from drifting

buoys placed on the central Arctic pack

ice; and data from the NOAA snow

cover and DOD-NOAA sea ice chart

digitizing projects (Figure 3-DOC-12).

NSIDC provides data management

services for a variety of cryospheric

research programs sponsored by

NASA and NSF. In addition, NSIDC

has developed gridded sea ice products

(sea ice concentrations and multi-year

ice fraction) based on passive

microwave data collected by NASA

and DMSP satellites. NSIDC is

acquiring snow cover, glacier and sea

ice records from the former Soviet

Union. Online services are available,

at www.nsidc.colorado.edu.

SUPPORTING RESEARCH

Paleoclimatology. NOAA's paleoclimate program at NGDC cooperates

in research projects that combine the

global paleoclimate database with the

instrumental record to extend the climate record back in time for climate

model verification and climate change

studies. Objectives of the program are

to cooperate with researchers in academia, NOAA and other agencies and to

conduct original research to describe

the global patterns of annual-to-millennial scale climate change, to understand the causes of climate change, to

separate man-induced climate change

from natural variability, and to validate

the models that are used to predict

future climates. Support is received

from NOAA's Climate and Global

Change Program. More information is

available at www.ngdc.noaa.gov/

paleo/paleo.html.

Environmental Remote Sensing.

Operational meteorological satellite

imagery provides a unique opportunity

to monitor wildfires and population

dynamics on a global basis, and sometimes nightly. The DMSP nighttime

imagery are used to locate sources of

visible and infrared emissions including city lights, lightning, wildfires,

flaring gas, and boats. Research projects use the city lights to infer such

diverse parameters as population density, economic vitality, and carbon

Figure 3-DOC-11. An X-ray Image of the Sun. The Solar X-Ray Imager on

GOES-12 recorded this composite image. This image integrates x-ray emissions

recorded at different wavelengths and over different accumulation intervals.
SECTION 3 DOC 59

dioxide emissions. More information

is available at www.ngdc.noaa.gov/

stp/stp.html.

Wildfires Monitored from Space.

Operational meteorological satellite

systems offer a unique opportunity to

monitor wildfires because each satellite records nighttime visible emissions covering the entire globe each

day. Instruments designed to detect

clouds also "see" wildfires--many of

which burn in very remote areas.

NGDC has developed a unique capability to capture the nighttime emissions from both large and small wildfires. The system has been used to

assist firefighters in developing

countries. More information is available at www.ngdc.noaa.gov/

dmsp/fires/globalfires.html.

SPACE WEATHER

The Space Weather program at

NGDC conducts original research in

space physics with an emphasis on

space weather and climate applications. Research focused on numerical

modeling of the ionosphere and magnetosphere is conducted with resident

and visiting scientists from the United

States and other countries. Research

projects use the extensive integrated

data bases archived at NGDC. In addition to building better models and

improving our understanding of ionospheric and magnetospheric plasma

processes, the research leads to

improved data sets and new data products. NGDC has embarked on an environmental scenario generator project to

mine information from the archives

and to use the mined information to

launch a numerical simulation of the

atmospheric and space environment.

More information is available at

www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/stp.html. This

year we started a data-driven modeling

project to build the first space climatology. The project, which is designed

similarly to the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis project, will construct the distribution of particles and electromagnetic fields in the near-Earth space

environment over an extended period

of time.

Cryospheric Research at NSIDC.

NSIDC research interests cover a

broad spectrum of climate-cryosphere

interactions using a variety of observing techniques with special emphasis

on arctic regions and satellite-born

instruments. Their projects study the

long-term record of snow and ice in the

March 5, 2002 

Figure 3-DOC-12. NASA’s MODIS sensor on Terra satellite recorded the breakup of Larsen B ice shelf, a large floating

ice mass on the eastern side of the Antarctic Peninsula--January 31 to March 5, 2002. The shattered ice formed a plume

of thousands of icebergs adrift in the Weddell Sea. A total of about 3,250 km2 of shelf area disintegrated in a 35-day period. This breakup was the largest single event in a series of retreats by ice shelves in the Peninsula over the last 30 years.

Over the last five years, the shelf has lost a total of 5,700 km2

, and is now about 40 percent the size of its previous minimum stable extent.

January 31 2002

February 23, 2002 

February 17, 2002 
60 DOC SECTION 3 

arctic, in the sea and in mountainous

regions, as well as the hydrology of the

southwestern United States.

Algorithms to detect snow, frozen

ground and sea ice in passive

microwave images recorded on DMSP

and NASA satellites have been developed at NSIDC. They have developed

models that describe the physical and

mechanical properties of snow and ice

in glaciers and avalanches. Another

area of special interest and study is the

interaction between sea ice and the

ocean and atmosphere

(www.nsidc.org) (Figure 3-DOC-13).

Figure 3-DOC-13. Sea ice products available from

NSIDC web site. Polar stereographic projection

images of sea ice concentration for Northern

Hemisphere (left) and Southern Hemisphere

(above). Images are produced from the near realtime DMSP SSM/I sensor.
SECTION 3 DOC 61

OFFICE OF OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH

OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC

RESEARCH LABORATORIES

Programs within the Oceanic and

Atmospheric Research (OAR)

Laboratories support various National

Oceanic and Atmospheric (NOAA)

meteorological, oceanographic, and

space science missions. The activities

of OAR laboratories are oriented

toward providing the scientific and

engineering understanding, tools, and

techniques that form the basis of

improved national weather and climate

services.

Special emphasis is placed on

improving severe weather and hurricane warnings and forecasts and on

improving the utilization and dissemination of data and information. Severe

weather events include flash floods,

strong winds, thunderstorms (including tornadoes, lightning, and hail),

heavy snowstorms, extreme cold and

heat, drought, and geomagnetic

storms. The key contributions to

improved hurricane forecasts fall

under the "Hurricanes at Landfall"

(HaL) focus of the United States

Weather Research Program (USWRP).

They include more accurate prediction

of track, intensity, surface winds, rainfall, and human impacts. Improving

flood forecasts fall under the component of USWRP labeled "Improving

Quantitative Precipitation Forecast

ing." In pursuit of improved utilization

and dissemination of data, the OAR

laboratories conduct both in-house and

cooperative research with other NOAA

organizations, government agencies,

joint institutes, universities, and the

private sector. In addition, OAR labs

conduct research to improve routine

weather forecasts and improve the

ability to forecast regional air quality

and atmospheric deposition.

A significant focus of OAR in the

weather and air quality area is the

development of operational testbeds

under the auspices of the USWRP.

These testbeds are the mechanism

through which research is transitioned

to operations. It is recognized by the

USWRP that, since NOAA is one of

the forecast mission agencies in the

program and the program goals are

predominantly operational ones, its

most significant role in the USWRP is

to provide the infrastructure and capabilities to efficiently and effectively

test research products in an operational

environment. The testbeds are the

Joint Hurricane Testbed, and the

Mesoscale Numerical Weather

Prediction Testbed, and the Joint

Center for Satellite Data Assimilation.

These test beds are operated in partnership with other USWRP agencies.

OAR's role is to provide the directed

research and operational testing, in

partnership with the National Weather

Service (NWS). In addition, the development of the Weather Research and

Forecasting (WRF) modeling architecture, also under the auspices of the

USWRP, will provide a common modeling structure to be shared by most of

the test beds and between the research

and operations communities. Several

OAR laboratories are involved in the

WRF development in partnership with

the NWS and other USWRP agencies.

Observing Technology

Two OAR laboratories in Boulder,

Colorado, and one in Norman,

Oklahoma, are heavily involved with

developing new environmental observing system technologies. The new

activity for FY 2003 will be the planning and very early establishment,

under the direction of the USWRP, of

observational testbeds which will provide an environment to evaluate new

observing systems and suites of observing systems in order to decide on their

efficacy for operational use. It also

provides observations for testing data

assimilation methodology, much of

which will be under the direction of the

North American Atmospheric

Observing System (NAOS) Council

made up of the United States, Canada,

Mexico, Central America, and the

Carribean. Data assimilation is the link

between observations and modeling.

The Environmental Technology

Laboratory (ETL) in Boulder,

Colorado, develops and evaluates new

remote-sensing concepts and systems.

This development and the associated

environmental research directly supports the Nation's forecasting and

warning services.

The Forecast Systems Laboratory

(FSL) takes promising new scientific

and engineering technologies from the

research arena, helps develop them

into mature engineering systems, and

transfers these technologies to NOAA

operations and the private sector.

The National Severe Storms

Laboratory (NSSL), located in

Norman, Oklahoma, both develops

new remote sensing systems and

assists in the transfer of these technologies to the NWS.

A major example of these activities

is the development of the world's first

major wind profiler network. An outgrowth of early basic research at

NOAA's Aeronomy Laboratory (AL)

and extensive development at ETL,

FSL now operates a network of over 30

unattended wind profilers that provide

profiles of high-resolution winds aloft

to NWS forecasters and modelers, universities, government researchers, and

the private sector. Radio-acoustic

sounding systems (RASS) comprising

integrated wind profiler radars and

acoustic sources are now capable of

measuring temperatures as well as

winds. The NOAA Profiler Network

(NPN) has made significant contributions to improved forecasts and warnings since its completion in 1992.

In a continued collaboration between

NWS and FSL, three NOAA profilers

were installed in Alaska to support

NWS volcanic plume tracking and

hazard mitigation. All three profilers

transmit at the new operational frequency of 449 MHz. The engineering
62 DOC SECTION 3 

requirements for the transition of wind

profilers from an experimental frequency allocation of 404.37 MHz

came from collaborative efforts

between FSL, ETL, and the United

States Air Force (Figure 3-DOC-14).

In another example of technology

transfer, FSL is collaborating with several universities, NOAA's National

Geodetic Service, the United States

Coast Guard, and the Federal Highway

Administration to develop and deploy

a network of surface-based water

vapor observing systems for NOAA

that utilize the Department of

Defense's Global Positioning System

(GPS). Some of these systems are

installed at NPN sites. ETL and FSL

will continue investigating the use of

GPS receivers (surface and spacebased) to achieve real-time, continuous

observations of atmospheric water

vapor for weather forecasting, climate

monitoring, and satellite data calibration and validation. NRT GPS-IPG

data with approximately 30-minute

latency is now being provided for testing and evaluation.

FSL is investigating the use of superpressure balloons in the stratosphere as

a platform for monitoring and observing the environment. Among the balloons' capabilities would be atmospheric soundings. The trajectory of the

balloons could be controlled to some

extent by adjusting their altitude so as

to take advantage of the vertical shear.

The balloons would carry compact,

lightweight sondes whose locations

could be tracked as they fell toward the

surface. The balloons would comprise

a moderately priced global system.

A number of engineering tests have

already been performed at altitude by

piggybacking on a zero-pressure balloon launched by the Physical Science

Laboratory at New Mexico State

University and with launches near the

Oregon coast. Telemetry was received

line-of-sight from a distance of over

200 miles, the storage batteries were

charged by solar panels, the proper

thermal environment was maintained

during the daytime heating cycle, and

the instrument package was successfully recovered after descent by parachute.

In a related balloon development

effort, the Idaho Falls Division of the

Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) is

refining its constant-level "smart" balloon, intended to serve as a marker of

parcels of air moving across the countryside and permitting samples to be

made of the changes occurring in its

composition. The Idaho Falls group is

also active in the development of high

wind speed sensors, such as are used

on aircraft and for studies of hurricanes. A specialized probe to measure

turbulence during hurricanes is now

nearing completion, as a joint project

with the Oak Ridge Division of ARL.

The Oak Ridge group continues to lead

in the development of specialized sensors for measuring atmospheric turbulence. Their systems are now widely

used for measuring the efficiency of

coupling between the air and the surface, and have recently been selected

for instrumenting the latest generation

of research aircraft, manufactured in

Italy.

ETL and FSL will continue development of new sensors and innovative

techniques for combining observing

systems synergistically and economically. One effort involves the extension of wind profiler (RASS) and other

data sources to develop humidity profiles through the planetary boundary

layer. Other efforts include developing

tools and techniques to integrate the

data from surface-based and satelliteborne profiling systems for more effective use of these data in forecasts. In

support of this effort, ETL has recently

added a satellite remote sensing group

that uses data from various environmental satellites to study air-sea interaction processes, the global hydrological cycle including water vapor and

precipitation, and the Earth's radiation

budget.

ETL scientists, in conjunction with

the National Aeronautics and Space

Administration (NASA), are also

investigating the potential of a new

observational platform featuring

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, or UAVs.

The concept is to deploy specialized

cameras called hyperspectral imagers

on these remote-controlled, solar-powered aircraft. Recent developments

indicate that UAV's will eventually be

capable of flying indefinitely at altitudes exceeding 50,000 feet, higher

than most weather events, but much

lower than satellites, making them

ideal observational platforms. Dubbed

"Peacewing," ETL scientists envision

many potential applications of this

technology. Images from UAV-mounted cameras can be used to enhance

satellite images of severe storms such

as hurricanes. This platform can also

be used to monitor the health of coral

Figure 3-DOC-14. NOAA wind profiler.
SECTION 3 DOC 63

reefs. It can also be flown over land to

assess moisture content of soil and

vegetation, both of which are indicators of drought and fire susceptibility.

Peacewing is a perfect complement to

satellite-borne sensors and ground

based systems (Figure 3-DOC-15).

In a new development, ETL has

demonstrated that tornadoes can be

detected well before touch down by

listening for their unique infrasonic

signatures. Infrasonic antennas located in the central United States have

been used to detect and locate numerous tornadoes. Verification has been

provided by Doppler radar and visual

sightings. This research effort is continuing and it is proposed that a network of these inexpensive infrasonic

systems be deployed at WSR-88D sites

to enhance early detection capability.

Icing is a weather hazard that occasionally causes aviation disasters,

especially in winter. In-flight icing

forms on wings and other exposed surfaces as an aircraft flies through clouds

that contain super-cooled liquid water

droplets. Leveraging earlier work with

polarization-sensitive cloud radars,

ETL is designing a new ground-based

cloud radar and radiometer system to

monitor clouds in the vicinity of airports and to provide automated warnings of icing conditions aloft. This

instrument is the Ground-based

Remote Icing Detection System

(GRIDS). It will form the initial component of the Federal Aviation

Administration's (FAA's) Icing

Remote Sensor Testbed (FIRST).

ETL will also continue development

of lidars and infrared Doppler multifrequency radars as research tools to

improve our knowledge of atmospheric winds, turbulence, and moisture

processes. Development of dualpolarization Doppler and multi-frequency radars and passive radiometers

will also be undertaken to study convective storms and their precursors,

including in-cloud and entrainment

processes. ETL will also continue

research in the area of ocean remote

sensing, including theoretical and

experimental studies of rough surface

scattering processes. In particular,

ETL has demonstrated the potential

application of Cold War-era over-thehorizon (OTH) surveillance radars for

the large-scale mapping of ocean surface currents and winds. ETL is also

developing an airborne Polarimetric

Scanning Radiometer (PSR) designed

to provide higher resolution measurements of sea state quantities, including

surface winds.

The discussion of observing technologies would be incomplete without

mention of the North American

Atmospheric Observing System

(NAOS) Program. The overriding purpose of NAOS is to make recommendations on the configuration of the

upper air observing system over North

America and adjacent water areas.

Government organizations and universities in Canada, Mexico, and the

United States support NAOS. About

15 agencies from these countries have

representatives on the NAOS Council,

which identifies issues, sets priorities,

coordinates the work of the program,

and seeks financial support.

Eventually, the council will advise

governments on how to: (1) improve

the utility of existing observing systems and reduce costs, (2) design a

cost-effective observing system for the

21st Century, and (3) evolve toward that

system from the present one. OAR

representatives serve on the NAOS

council and its two principal working

groups.

The National Severe Storms

Laboratory (NSSL) is known for its

development of observational capability, both remote and in situ, and in particular for its role in the development

of the WSR-88D NEXRAD radar.

NSSL is presently working to improve

the WSR-88D software algorithms

used by the NWS forecasters and is

exploring ways to enhance the

WSR-88D hardware using dual polarization techniques. Most weather

radars, including the WSR-88D

NEXRAD radar, transmit radio wave

pulses that have a horizontal orientation. Polarimetric radars (also referred

to as dual-polarization radars), however, transmit radio wave pulses that

have both horizontal and vertical orientations. The horizontal pulses essentially give a measure of the horizontal

dimension of cloud (cloud water and

cloud ice) and precipitation (snow, ice

pellets, hail, rain) particles while the

vertical pulses essentially give a measure of the vertical dimension. Since

the power returned to the radar is a

complicated function of each particle

size, shape, and ice density, this additional information results in improved

estimates of rain and snow rates, better

detection of large hail location in summer storms, and improved identification of rain/snow transition regions in

winter storms. The first step in the

processing is to prototype a new Radar

Data Acquisition (RDA) unit for the

WSR-88D capable of processing the

additional information to produce the

dual polarization information. In

March 2002, dual polarized data were

collected using the NSSL WSR-88D

research radar located on the NSSL

Norman, Oklahoma campus. The next

step will be to assist the NWS in their

development of a generalized dualpolarization solution for their network

of WSR-88D radars.

Figure 3-DOC-15. ETL envisions

“Peacewings” becoming part of

NOAA’s observational platforms for

severe storms and hurricanes.
64 DOC SECTION 3 

Unfortunately, a fire in the building

used to fabricate and store much of the

NSSL field observing equipment in

July 2001 created significant challenges for NSSL in meeting its scientific goals in 2002 with respect to field

observations. Although recovery

efforts began almost immediately, it

appears complete recovery will not be

achieved until 2003.

Tropical Atmospheric Research

The Tropical Dynamics and Climate

Program of the Aeronomy Laboratory

is using a network of remote-sensing

wind profilers in a long-term study of

tropical circulation and its impact on

global climate. The Trans-Pacific

Profiler Network consists of an array

of wind profilers that make continuous

measurements of atmospheric winds

and other parameters in the tropical

Pacific. In addition to 50-MHz wind

profilers, the network is incorporating

915-MHz lower tropospheric wind

profilers developed at AL. The observations, which extend from the boundary layer to the lower stratosphere,

reveal the relationship between atmospheric vertical motions and convective

systems in the tropics. Precipitation

measurements can be made with sufficient vertical resolution to categorize

precipitation in deep and shallow convective systems and in stratiform conditions. The network will: (1) provide

valuable improvements to the boundary layer and convective parameterization schemes used in general circulation models and (2) contribute to climate forecasting by furthering the

understanding of the coupled oceanatmosphere dynamics that governs the

El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO)

phenomenon, the dominant component

of interannual climate change.

Routine wind observations are made at

Christmas Island using 50-MHz and

915-MHz profilers. Lower tropospheric wind measurements using

915-MHz profilers are made at San

Cristobal, Ecuador; and Tarawa,

Kiribati. In addition, surface and

upper air measurements are being

made at Nauru and Manus Island,

Papua, New Guinea at sites collocated

with the Atmospheric Radiation CART

Sites (ARCS) maintained by the

Department of Energy (DOE),

Atmospheric Radiation Measurement

(ARM) program. The wind data are

assimilated into the analyses and forecast models of NOAA's National

Centers for Environmental Prediction

(NCEP), the European Centre for

Medium-Range Weather Forecasting

(ECMWF), and other meteorological

centers. The data are also used by climate researchers to support investigations of the variability of tropical circulation systems. A recent focus of

research with profilers has been to provide ground validation research in support of the NASA Tropical Rainfall

Measuring Mission (TRMM). Profiler

observations were made by AL during

several TRMM Ground Validation

Field Campaigns in 1998 and 1999.

These observations have provided

important information on the vertical

structure and temporal evolution of

precipitating cloud systems during

these campaigns. The profiler observations have been made available to the

TRMM Science Team and can be

viewed on the AL web page

(www.al.noaa.gov). The observations

made during the field campaigns are

the subject of collaborative research

with other TRMM researchers with an

emphasis on the use of profilers to calibrate scanning radars used for TRMM

ground validation research and the use

of profilers to retrieve drop-size distributions and related precipitation

parameters of interest to the TRMM

Science Team. One profiler is being

maintained for TRMM on Legan in

Kwajalein to obtain a longer term perspective on the structure of precipitating clouds and the variability of drop

size distributions in oceanic precipitation. Validation of drop-size distributions used in algorithms is key to

improving the retrieval of rainfall estimates from the TRMM satellite.

Severe Weather Analysis and

Forecasting Research

The National Severe Storms

Laboratory focuses on research to

understand and forecast severe weather systems and their associated hazards, such as tornadoes, hail, high

winds, heavy rain and snow, lightning,

and ice storms. The parameters of

storm development and intensification

are identified and studied by incorporating observations from Doppler

weather radar, satellites, remote-sensFigure 3-DOC-16. Schematic diagram of a thunderstorm 

(Source: NSSL’s VORTEX Project web site)
SECTION 3 DOC 65

ing wind profilers, instrumented aircraft, and lightning-location networks.

NSSL's research includes assessment

and improvement of numerical models

to forecast severe weather systems.

NSSL provides significant technical

and scientific support, with a focus on

research and development, for the

NWS WSR-88D radar program. In

2002, NSSL continued to develop

techniques, in cooperation with the

NWS, to forecast and warn of weather

hazards to aviation and the general

public. Knowledge gained from the

Verification of the Origins of Rotation

in Tornadoes Experiment (VORTEX;

mrd3.mmm.ucar.edu/~vortex/) campaigns in the mid- and late 1990's,

1998's Mesoscale Convective System

(MCS) Electrification and Polarimetric

Radar Study (MeaPRS;

www.nssl.noaa.gov/projects/meaprs/),

and the 2000 Intermountain

Precipitation Experiment (IPEX;

www.nssl.noaa.gov/~schultz/ipex/)

provide new understanding of severe

thunderstorms, storm electrification,

winter weather, and tornadoes and lead

to improved methods to detect, model,

and predict these storms

(Figure 3-DOC-16).

NSSL works closely with the NWS

WSR-88D Radar Operations Center

(ROC). NSSL's involvement with the

project to re-host the Radar Product

Generator to an open systems computation platform (ORPG) was completed in November 2001. The ORPG system will ease the incorporation of new

software applications and allow for

integration of new hardware technology into the radar system resulting in

less time needed for technology transfer. The NWS's ORPG deployment for

170 total radar sites, both operational

and non-operational, began August

2001 and will run through 2002.

Improvement of short-range

(1-12 hour) forecasting will be accomplished by the development and evaluation of new local data system technologies and techniques, many of

which can be incorporated into operational weather forecasting in the near

term. FSL develops and evaluates

state-of-the-art workstations for forecast office environments. Specifically,

FSL has and will continue to develop

capabilities to allow the forecaster to

integrate, view, and manipulate observations from current and planned

meteorological sensing systems using

computer-assisted data display and

synthesis techniques. By maintaining

state-of-the-art capability for use in

research and development of operational techniques, it continues to provide a mechanism to evaluate weather

service requirements for AWIPS.

FSL will continue efforts toward

effective assimilation of diverse observational data into numerical prediction

models. Data from the Aeronautical

Radio Incorporated (ARINC) Aircraft

Communications, Addressing, and

Reporting System (ACARS), WSR88D Doppler radars, the NOAA

Profiler Network, and weather satellites, especially GOES, are frequent

and provide unprecedented resolution,

either in the vertical or the horizontal,

or both. These data are being more

fully exploited in the Local Analysis

and Prediction System which provides

highly detailed analyses and forecasts

over areas hundreds of kilometers on a

side, and the Mesoscale Analysis and

Prediction System, the basis for operational and frequent short-term forecasts for the lower 48 states. The system has been incorporated into the

AWIPS system and is being used by a

number of other agencies, not only for

various regions of the United States,

but for a number of regions throughout

the world.

OAR will continue to transfer

knowledge of Doppler radar applications, severe weather systems, and

heavy rainfall events; much of the

transfer is through courses at the NWS

training center. Visits and interactions

with NWS centers, regional headquarters, and forecast offices continue and

NSSL is participating directly in training programs, such as COMET in

Boulder, Colorado, and the WSR-88D

Operational Support Facility in

Norman, Oklahoma.

A multi-year program of coastal

meteorology research continues at the

Pacific Marine Environmental

Laboratory (PMEL). This program

also involves ETL and NSSL, the

NWS Seattle forecast office, the

National Center for Atmospheric

Research (NCAR), and the University

of Washington. Support for the program is also being provided by the

Office of Naval Research. This

research improves understanding of

the effects of prominent terrain on

West Coast weather, with the ultimate

goal of providing improved forecasts

of coastal winds, precipitation, sea

state, and storm surges. The emphasis

is on the upstream effects of the coastal

terrain in the storm environment when

the background forcing is strong and

the coastal forecasts are most critical.

The approach involves special field

observations and diagnostic studies

using experimental numerical simulations. Field work featuring a NOAA

WP-3 research aircraft in FY 1994 and

1996, for example, has yielded meteorological data for the Pacific Northwest

coast with low-level winds of up to

85 knots, in the vicinity of strong

fronts and, in one case, an intense,

landfalling low. The case studies from

this work provide immediate insights

on the influences of the coastal terrain

on landfalling storms, and high quality

data sets for numerical model initialization and validation. Follow-up field

programs in FY 2001 and FY 2002

focused on cloud and precipitation

processes using special observations

from research aircraft and land-based

radars. The results are providing information on how to improve forecasts of

Northwest weather.

Mesometeorology and Precipitation

Forecasting and Warning Research

NSSL develops techniques to
66 DOC SECTION 3 

improve short-term forecasts of significant weather events. Through detailed

case studies and regional climatologies, scientists have developed diagnostic tools and aids for operationally

forecasting thunderstorms, lightning,

flash floods, and large mesoscale convective storms complexes. Experiments such as MeaPRS (MCS

Electrification and Polarimetric Radar

Study, 1998) and STEPS (Severe

Thunderstorm Electrification and

Precipitation Study, 2000) were conducted to improve the science behind

the technology. MeaPRS was specifically designed to investigate

Mesoscale Convective Systems (MCS)

electrification processes and ways to

enhance understanding of polarimetric

radar measurements in preparation for

possibly upgrading the NWS radars in

the future. STEPS was designed to

improve our understanding of how

severe storms become electrified and

to better understand how variations in

lightning flash type and flash rate

relate to severe storm classification

and storm evolution. Other studies

underway are focused on the precipitation structure of mesoscale convective

systems, the interactions between

mesosconvective systems and the larger environment, the use of satellites to

infer storm development and rainfall,

short-range ensemble forecasting techniques, and winter storm forecasting

procedures.

NSSL will continue to investigate

various model convective parameterization schemes, along with techniques

to improve model initialization

through four-dimensional data assimilation in 2002. Also in 2002, NSSL

conducted an experiment called the

International H2O Project (IHOP).

IHOP was a field experiment over the

Southern Great Plains (SGP) of the

United States from 13 May to 25 June

2002. The chief aim of the 2002 IHOP

campaign is improved characterization

of the four-dimensional (4-D) distribution of water vapor and its application

toward improving the understanding

and prediction of convection. The

SGP region is an optimal location due

to existing experimental and operational facilities, strong variability in

moisture, and active convection.

NSSL is working with the NWS

Storm Prediction Center (SPC) to

improve the nation's ability to forecast

severe weather and to enhance severe

winter weather guidance products.

Data collected during the

Intermountain Precipitation Experiment, 2000 (IPEX) held in 2001

should help. The data are being analyzed by NSSL, the NWS Storm

Prediction Center, and University of

Utah scientists. The IPEX field and

research program was designed to

improve the understanding, analysis,

and prediction of precipitation and precipitation processes in complex terrain.

Data analysis of IPEX will continue in

2002.

Mesoscale Dynamics at the

Geophysical Fluid Dynamics

Laboratory (GFDL) in Princeton, New

Jersey, develops and utilizes atmospheric models with limited spatial

domains to understand mesoscale phenomena and the interaction of these

regional scale features with the atmosphere's larger-scale synoptic processes.

As part of these research activities,

GFDL scientists investigate the practical limits of forecast models to predict

the behavior of these mesoscale features through model sensitivity studies.

The FSL implemented a Rapid

Update Cycle (RUC) at NCEP in 1994.

The RUC gave a new analysis of surface and atmospheric conditions every

three hours as well as short-range predictions for the next 12 hours. This

information is useful to forecasters at

local NWS offices around the country

and also supports commercial and general aviation (Figure 3-DOC-17).

A higher-resolution, higher-frequency version of the RUC was implemented at NCEP in April 2002. This new

version operates at 20-km horizontal

Figure 3-DOC-17. GFDL’s 3-D model depiction of Hurricane Floyd
SECTION 3 DOC 67

resolution with 50 vertical levels and

provides updates every hour, thus,

incorporating information from virtually all high frequency data sources:

hourly wind profiles, WSR-88D

(Doppler radar) velocity azimuth displays, ACARS reports (up to 65,000

per day), cloud-drift winds and estimates of total precipitable water vapor

from the GOES satellites, and surface

observations. The new RUC also

includes explicit forecasts of cloud

droplets, ice crystals, raindrops,

snowflakes, and graupel (snow pellets). This improves forecasts of precipitation type. The RUC exploits a

new, multi-level soil and vegetation

model to improve forecasts at and near

the earth's surface.

Along with NCAR, NCEP, and the

university community, FSL is collaborating on the development of a new

mesoscale model, the Weather

Research and Forecast (WRF) model.

The goal of this development, from the

beginning, is that the WRF model

should become a community model

and a tool both for experimental and

operational prediction, thus paving the

way for quick realization of research

advances in forecast dissemination to

the public and industry.

The Air Resources Laboratory is also

involved in the development of new

models for operational use by NCEP.

The main focus is on mesoscale models and in the development of new

capabilities for data assimilation. In

particular, the new generation of

mesoscale models (such as the WRF

model referred to above) will require

advanced descriptions of the coupling

between the air and the surface, a matter that is being studied intensively in

ARL programs involving closely interacting measurement and modeling

activities. To this end, ARL maintains

the nation's surface radiation network

(SURFRAD), data from which are

now routinely employed to test both

forecast mesoscale models (such as

Eta) and satellite outputs. ARL conducts research on the surface energy

balance and on the spatial variability of

surface fluxes using aircraft. In addition, ARL serves as the provider of the

NCEP modeling capability to address

situations of atmospheric dispersion,

such as of emissions from sources like

volcanos and industrial enterprises. In

recent work, ARL is developing a new

system for forecasting the dispersion

of smoke from forest fires, in collaboration with the Association of South

East Asian Nations and their Regional

Haze Action Plan.

Hurricane Analysis and Prediction

Research

The Hurricane Research Division

(HRD) of the Atlantic Oceanographic

and Meteorological Laboratory

(AOML) explores hurricanes in dedicated research flights aboard the

WP-3D aircraft operated by NOAA's

Aircraft Operations Center (AOC).

The P-3s carry a suite of instruments to

measure a wide range of meteorological quantities, including standard

flight-level data, precipitation characteristics, remotely-sensed surface

winds, vertical soundings, ocean thermal structure, radar reflectivity, and

Doppler radar winds. In addition to the

airborne observations, HRD develops

techniques for real-time analysis and

display of hurricane data, especially of

surface winds. It also carries out modeling and theoretical studies closely

tied to the observational program and

studies interannual and inter-decadal

changes in hurricane activity.

An exciting new tool for this effort is

AOC's Gulfstream IV (G-IV) jet which

has operated successfully in the hurricane environment since 1997. The

G-IV extends the envelope of observations throughout the depth of the troposphere. Use of these aircraft presents

an unprecedented opportunity for better

understanding and forecasting of hurricanes through detailed observations.

Of special interest are the hurricanes'

inner core, the oceanographic and

upper tropospheric synoptic-scale forcings that control intensity and motion,

and the kinematics and thermodynamics of the near-surface boundary layer.

The GPS-based dropsondes procured

as the G-IV's main scientific payload

have a vital role in these investigations

because of their high vertical resolution

and superior thermodynamic and wind

sensing capability. The 1998 season

constituted the first major field program for HaL carried out in collaboration with NASA's Third Convection

and Moisture Experiment (CAMEX-3).

The success of this campaign combined

with follow-on missions in later years

was unprecedented. NOAA and NASA

aircraft flew a combined total of more

than 100 scientific sorties in 1998 and

1999. Participation by the G-IV and

NASA's DC-8 and ER-2 provided

extensive in situ observations above the

middle troposphere for the first time

since the 1960s. In addition to airborne

measurements, university teams with

instrumented towers, mobile Doppler

radars, and portable profilers coordinated with HRD to obtain detailed measurements of near-surface conditions in

most hurricanes that passed onshore

during these seasons.

The motivation for acquisition of the

G-IV was a statistically rigorous

demonstration, based upon more than a

decade of experiments with the P-3s,

that intensive observations of the flows

surrounding hurricanes can produce

substantial (16-30 percent) reductions

in track forecast errors. Data from multiple-aircraft experiments involving the

G-IV and both WP-3Ds should confirm

the GI-V's ability to improve forecasts.

Adaptive targeting of aircraft observations to regions where they will do the

most good is a strategy to realize even

further improvement.

The forecast system currently has

limited skill in prediction of intensity.

Through continuing research with the

expanded aircraft fleet, the nation can

realize large (billions of dollars per

year) economic benefits through more

accurate routine operational track fore-
68 DOC SECTION 3 

casts. A second, equally significant,

outcome is the promise of dynamicallybased, skillful intensity forecasts.

Because hurricanes inflict huge costs

on the United States economy, even

incremental improvements in forecasts

have large benefit to expenditure ratios.

The report on HaL by the USWRP

Prospectus Development Team 5

(PDT5) contains a comprehensive,

focused scientific strategy to realize

these benefits (BAMS, 79, 305-323).

In addition to HRD research activities, the OAR scientists carry out hurricane research at GFDL. GFDL's

Hurricane Dynamics group performs

hurricane modeling research to study

the genesis, development, and decay of

tropical storms using multi-nested

three-dimensional computer models of

the hurricane system and its surrounding environment.

In the early 1990's, this research

model proved so successful for simulation of observed storm behavior that

the NWS adopted a version of it for

use in operational forecasting. From

the 1995 through the 1999 hurricane

seasons, the GFDL Hurricane

Prediction System provided the most

accurate hurricane-track forecast guidance available and contributed substantially to the dramatic error reductions in official forecasts that have

occurred since its introduction.

Under the USWRP, OAR, NWS,

NESDIS, and the USWRP participating agencies are currently establishing

a Joint Hurricane Testbed (JHT) at the

Tropical Prediction Center in Miami.

It is anticipated that the JHT will grow

in FY 2002 as more resources become

available. This test-bed is where the

hurricane research will be evaluated

for operational use and those research

products passing the test will be handed off to operations.

Numerical Analysis and Prediction

Modeling

As part of its weather research activities, GFDL conducts long lead-time

research to understand the predictability of weather on both large and small

scales and to translate this understanding into improved NWP models.

Three groups at GFDL are engaged in

weather research activities:

Experimental Prediction, Mesoscale

Dynamics, and Hurricane Dynamics

(described above).

Experimental Prediction at GFDL

develops and improves numerical

models of the atmosphere-ocean-land

system in order to produce useful

weather forecasts with lead-times

ranging from weeks to seasons and

beyond. The group is pursuing several

avenues of research to achieve such

improvements. First, GFDL scientists

are investigating methods of stochastic

dynamic prediction in order to extract

as much forecast information as possible from numerical prediction models,

given imperfectly observed initial conditions. In addition, laboratory scientists are developing methods for the

assimilation of ocean observations into

prediction models in order to improve

the forecast of the atmosphere and the

ocean.

Air Quality Research

The principal mission of the Air

Resources Laboratory (ARL) is to

improve the capability to forecast

changes in air quality and atmospheric

deposition. Deposition is the factor

that links the pollutant characteristics

of the air with the terrestrial and aquatic environments. ARL's research

focuses on the lower atmosphere,

where the atmosphere is in direct contact with other media--aquatic, terrestrial, and biospheric. The core of ARL

research relates to studies of the atmosphere as a component of the total environment. Much of this work is in collaboration with other parts of NOAA

(principally NCEP) and with other

agencies, such as EPA, DOE, and

DOD.

The ARL Headquarters Division in

Silver Spring, Maryland, develops

models for air quality prediction, for

use in special forecasting (both weather and air quality) programs, and in

emergency response. The

Atmospheric Sciences Modeling

Division, in Research Triangle Park,

North Carolina, develops predictive

models on local, regional, and global

scales for assessing changes in air

quality and air pollution exposure as

affected by ecosystem management

and regulations. This work is primarily to provide technical guidance to the

EPA on air pollution control strategies

for attainment and maintenance of

ambient air quality standards. The

Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion

Division, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee,

conducts studies to improve understanding of atmospheric transport, diffusion, and air-surface exchange

processes, and to develop new predictive models. The Field Research

Division, in Idaho Falls, Idaho, designs

and conducts field studies to evaluate

the performance of transport and dispersion models, over local, regional,

and continental scales, and specializes

in the development of high-technology

airborne instrumentation (for both aircraft and balloons). The Special

Operations and Research Division, in

Las Vegas, Nevada, conducts research

on problems of mutual interest to

NOAA and DOE that relate to the

Nevada Test Site, its atmospheric environment, and its emergency preparedness and emergency response activities. SORD also serves as the main

NOAA facility working with the

Cooperative Institute for Atmospheric

Studies and Terrestrial Applications

(CIASTA) of the University of Nevada

system.

Air quality forecasting is a major

theme of ARL research. Over the last

several years, ARL has made ozone

forecasts available to interested

researchers, via the web, with focus

mainly on the area surrounding the

Great Smoky Mountains. In this area,

ozone exceedances are reported with

increasing frequency, and forecasts of

ozone levels are being requested by
SECTION 3 DOC 69

federal and state agencies alike. The

ARL effort in this regard is targeted

through its East Tennessee Ozone

Study (ETOS), which has been a focus

for regional air quality attention for the

last three years. In future years, it is

planned to develop air quality forecast

capabilities using the supercomputing

center of the University of Nevada at

Las Vegas, through the formal linkage

with the Cooperative Institute for

Atmospheric Studies and Terrestrial

Applications (CIASTA).

ARL operates two national networks that direct research attention on

the needs of the next generation of

predictive models. The Atmospheric

Integrated Research Monitoring

Network (AIRMoN) is a nested-network with sites of varying complexity

addressing evolving scientific issues

of wet and dry deposition from the

atmosphere. A major current item for

scientific attention is the atmospheric

deposition of nitrogen compounds

and its role in promoting eutrophication of ecosystems, primarily coastal.

The ARL-run Integrated Surface

Irradiance Study (ISIS) serves as the

national array of monitoring stations

for solar radiation (and ultraviolet-B)

with a subset of more advanced stations (the SURFRAD array) where

both incoming and outgoing radiation

components are monitored. Many of

the SURFRAD stations are augmented with instrumentation to measure

fluxes of sensible heat, latent heat,

momentum, and carbon dioxide.

Thus, the SURFRAD program is

evolving into one of complete energy

balance with supporting data on carbon dioxide exchange. This work

forms an intersection with the new

flux measurement networks in the

United States and overseas, referred

to as "Ameriflux" and "Fluxnet." All

of this work is coupled with ARL

research on atmospheric aerosols and

with the development of new automatic methods for measuring cloud

cover.

Much of ARL's research focus is on

expressing air surface exchange

processes in numerical models. To this

end, ARL scientists have been instrumental in developing methods for

describing areal air surface exchange

appropriate for use with model grid

cells of several tens of kilometers on a

side. To test the aerial integration

capabilities, ARL has instrumented an

aircraft of the NOAA fleet (a

DeHavilland Twin Otter) to measure

all of the eddy fluxes as well as a number of trace gas exchange rates. This

instrumented aircraft has been used in

several field experiments and has

already demonstrated that considerable

error can result when local values are

inappropriately taken to represent larger areas.

ARL also provides forecast support

to NOAA's emergency response systems with emphasis on chemical,

nuclear and volcanic events. For this

application, ARL develops and couples

advanced dispersion models with the

forecast products of the NWS to provide a basis for trajectory and dispersion calculations. The models in question are now widely accepted. The

Hazardous Atmospheric Release

Model (HARM) is operationally

employed at a number of DOE locations. The ARL Hybrid Single Particle

Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory

(HYSPLIT) model is now operational

in many countries, including China

and Australia, as the national dispersion forecasting capability. It serves

the NWS in this role. Registered users

can also access HYSPLIT products via

the Internet. HYSPLIT is the major

product employed in the operations of

the Regional Specialized Meteorology

Center (RSMC) set up as a joint undertaking of ARL and NWS/NCEP under

the auspices of the World

Meteorological Organization. The

WMO/RSMC is the source of dispersion products in the event that a pollution plume (in this case, radioactive)

crosses international boundaries.

The provision of dispersion forecasts

by ARL scientists extends to two specific areas of special relevance – the

Nevada Test Site and the Idaho

National Engineering and Environment Laboratory. ATL maintains staffs

of dedicated dispersion meteorologists

at each location, where site-specific

models are developed and run using

data generated by dedicated regional

networks of meteorological sensors.

The Aeronomy Laboratory coordinates a NOAA/OAR air quality

research effort, the Health of the

Atmosphere research. NOAA's Health

of the Atmosphere research is focused

on the atmospheric science that underlies regional and continental air quality, with the goal of improving our ability to predict and monitor future

changes, leading to improved scientific input to decision-making. AL, ARL,

the Climate Monitoring and

Diagnostics Laboratory (CMDL),

FSL, and ETL participate in the

research. The Health of the

Atmosphere research goals are:

• Characterize regional ozone

episodes: Characterize the origin

of ozone in rural areas, where crop

and forest damage are of increasing

concern. In 2000, a comprehensive

air quality field experiment took

place in the region around Houston

Texas. This experiment was

designed to investigate the complex chemical and meteorological

factors that influence the air quality of that coastal region. The

regional chemistry is of special

interest because of the presence of

large natural as well as anthropogenic sources of hydrocarbons

(including the petrochemical

industry) and because of the unique

influence of coastal meteorology

on air quality of the region.

• Document trends in air quality:

Help evaluate predicted atmospheric responses to changes in emissions (i.e., the ongoing measurements provided by the Atmospheric
70 DOC SECTION 3 

Integrated Research Monitoring

Network (AIRMoN) and the ozone

profiling network).

• Develop a better understanding of

the fundamental science underlying

the processes responsible for the

formation and distribution of fine

particles in the atmosphere.

Improve the atmospheric predictive

capability that links sources of fine

particles and their precursors to

human exposure and visibility

impairment. In 1999, an experiment was conducted in Atlanta to

compare research capabilities related to the measurement of fine particles in the lower atmosphere.

In future Health of the Atmosphere

research, the OAR Laboratories will

integrate their meteorological, chemical, and forecasting expertise to build

an assessment and prediction capability for regional air quality that incorporates the influence of multipletimescale meteorology/climatology.

While the ambient levels of pollutants

like ozone and fine particles are clearly dependent on pollutant emissions, a

large fraction of the variation in those

levels is driven by meteorology, both

in the short term and longer term.

Therefore, the key to assessing both

the intended long-term improvements

in air quality and the more-episodic

variations lies in understanding not

only the atmospheric linkages between

emissions and concentrations, but also

in understanding the coupled chemical

and meteorological processes. This

"chemical meteorology" research will

extend the current program focus on

emissions/concentration linkages to

include a predictive understanding of

the role of synoptic, seasonal/interannual, and longer-term meteorological/climatological changes on the

chemistry of the lower atmosphere.

Research efforts will also focus on an

evaluation and improvement of the

tools used to forecast future air quality

and the observing systems needed to

evaluate their skill. The Air Quality

Research Subcommittee of the

Committee on Environment and

Natural Resources (CENR) will provide the interagency collaboration at

the United States federal level. On the

broader international arena, the coordinating body is the North American

Research Strategy for Tropospheric

Ozone (NARSTO), a tri-lateral public/private partnership focused on

ozone and particulate matter research

in the United States, Canada, and

Mexico. NOAA is the public sector

co-chair of NARSTO.

ETL uses its suite of remote sensors,

including a mobile profiler network,

airborne and ground-based ozone

Lidars, Doppler Lidar, and supporting

turbulence instrumentation to understand and better model the transport,

transformation, and fate of primary

and secondary pollutants in both rural

and urban environments as well as in

complex orography. ETL participated

in field programs in FY 2002 designed

to develop a deeper understanding of

climate variability and source pollutants in the New England region

(Atmospheric Investigation, Regional

Modeling, Analysis and Prediction

(AIRMAP) and NEPS), and to investigate the composition of air masses

along the Pacific coast of North

America as part of the Intercontinental

Transport and Chemical Transformation (ITCT) program. ITCT is a coordinated international research program

designed to address the question,

"How does the transport of chemicals

from one continent influence the air

quality in other continents, as well as

regional and global climate?" ETL

will be deploying a number of lidar

systems and wind profiler radars in

support of these programs.

Space Environment Services and the

Space Environment Center

NOAA and the Air Force jointly

operate the National Space Weather

Operations (SWO) group in NOAA's

Space Environment Center (SEC) in

Boulder, Colorado. The SEC, working

closely with the Air Force Weather

Agency (AFWA), provides forecasts,

alerts, indices, and summaries of disturbances occurring on the Sun, in

space, in the geomagnetic environment, and in the upper atmosphere.

The services are used by DOD, DOT,

DOC, DOI, DOE, NASA, NSF, commercial users, and the research community:

• To optimize the operation of technical systems that are adversely

affected by disturbances in the

space environment.

• To protect astronauts from harmful

radiation.

• To carry out research in the solarterrestrial environment.

Examples of the adverse effects

include loss or reduced efficiency of

communication systems, radiation hazards to personnel and systems in high

altitude aircraft and in space, degradation of surveillance and monitoring

systems for defense, errors in navigation systems, perturbations of satellite

orbits, and disruptions in power distribution networks. The United States

Air Force operates a space weather

operations center at Air Force Weather

Agency (AFWA) to provide space

weather support, including products

from the SWO, to DOD assets. The

AFWA operates and maintains the

solar observing network with sites at

Palehua, Hawaii; Learmouth,

Australia; San Vito, Italy; Ramey,

Puerto Rico; Sagamore Hill,

Massachusetts; and Holloman Air
SECTION 3 DOC 71

Force Base, New Mexico. The AFWA

space weather operations group shares

space weather data and support responsibilities with its civilian counterpart at

SEC.

SEC serves as the international

World Warning Agency for the

International Space Environment

Service (ISES). It exchanges international data--solar-wind, X-ray,

sunspot, corona, magnetic, and ionospheric measurements--in real-time

and, from these data, provides and

meets additional specific needs of

other government agencies. SEC distributes (receives) data to (from) other

countries and issues a consensus set of

daily forecasts for international use.

There is also a substantial and rapidly

growing customer base in the private

sector.

SEC operates with observations

received from agencies that contribute

their data and, in return, receive the

synthesized and integrated services to

meet their needs. Agencies making

major contributions of data include:

DOD, NASA, DOC, NSF, DOE, and

DOI. SEC cooperates directly with

NESDIS to receive solar X-ray, particle, in situ magnetic field, and plasma

data from the SEM on GOES and the

polar-orbiting NOAA satellites. Data

are collected, stored, and displayed for

analysis and products and distributed

to outside customers primarily via the

Internet (www.sec.noaa.gov), by

NOAA Weather Wire, and digital data

links (primarily operated by other

agencies). Radio broadcast, mail, and

recorded telephone messages are available to users as well.

Research and development at the

SEC emphasizes understanding of the

fundamental physical processes governing the regime from the solar surface, through the interplanetary medium, into the magnetospheric-ionospheric regions, and ending in Earth's

upper atmosphere. These processes

are manifest in the climatology and

disturbances of Earth's magnetic field,

the ionosphere, the charged particle

populations at satellite orbits, and the

atmospheric density at high altitudes

(including low-Earth orbit). Our

research is focused on areas where

advanced applications can be developed and prototyped to improve space

weather services, whereby the nation is

served through alerts and warnings of

those conditions that can be often hazardous to technological systems in

space and on the ground and human

activities in space.

Solar Terrestrial Models and Theory.

SEC work is also devoted to basic

research of Earth's space environment

and the application of this research to

space weather operations. The staff

has expertise spanning from solar

physics to Earth's upper atmosphere,

and maintains close collaborations

throughout the research community.

They publish regularly in scientific

journals, and work directly with the

SEC Space Weather Operations and

the Systems Division to develop stateof-the-art capabilities for the

NOAA/SEC forecast center.

Solar Terrestrial Instrumentation and

Data. The group ensures that space

environment data are processed, validated, interpreted, and disseminated in

an efficient and timely fashion. The

group develops analysis tools for

working with data from a variety of

spacecraft, including the NOAA geosynchronous and polar orbiters, and

spacecraft in the solar wind. Data

access is provided through customized

data-analysis routines and individualized displays. In addition to enhancing

the utility and value of the primary

data through research and analysis, the

group explores sources of new data

and improved monitoring to support.

Space Weather Operations.

Solar Influences and Imaging. SEC

conducts research into understanding

processes on the Sun and the effects of

solar activity on the near-Earth space

environment. The group leads in the

development of techniques to process

and interpret both ground-based and

space-based solar imagery, and has

special expertise in solar X-ray imaging. To support Space Weather

Operations, the staff examines both

short and long-term solar influences on

human activities in space and on the

ground.

Satellites. Developing space monitoring instrument specifications,

receiving and validating data from

these instruments, analyzing and presenting data, and archiving data in the

National Geophysical Data Center

(NGDC) are all aspects with which the

SEC is involved. The Space

Environment Monitor (SEM) instruments on the Geostationary

Operational Environmental Satellite

(GOES) and the Polar-orbiting

Operational Environment Satellite

(POES) are among our major responsibilities. The SEM instruments on

POES include energetic particle monitors and SBUV. The SEM instruments

on GOES include magnetometers,

energetic particle monitors, and solar

x-ray intensity measurements. In addition, we cooperate with other agency

satellite missions to provide real-time

space weather information. These

include the NASA missions: WIND,

ACE, and IMAGE. SEC always

emphasizes improvement of space

weather observations.

Solar X-Ray Imager. A Solar X-ray

Imager (SXI) telescope was launched

in 2001, checked out, and put in onorbit storage aboard the GOES-12

satellite. When GOES-12 becomes

operational, the SXI will provide

images of the solar atmosphere on time

scales of an image every minute. The

SXI telescope, based on recent

research instruments flown on

American and Japanese satellites, will

enable observations of the threedimensional structure of solar disturbances as they develop and propagate

in the solar atmosphere. The new

instrument will fill an important gap in

the ability to model and predict space
72 DOC SECTION 3 

weather disturbances as they propagate

from the Sun to Earth. First level integration of the SXI data into space

weather operations was completed

early in FY 2002; all is in readiness to

integrate SXI data into operations

when they become available.

GOES NO/PQ satellites. SEC will

be completing full implementation of

the ingest, processing, analysis, and

distribution of data from the new

instruments that allow measurements

of the environment immediately

surrounding the satellite. The

measurements, of low energy but

dense radiation, will improve our

capability to specify conditions

that can interrupt or disable satellite operations. The use of models being developed in the

research community and evaluated for operational use in SEC

will allow the new measurements

to be extrapolated throughout

near-earth space. With the combination of new measurements

and models, the environment can

be specified at any location for

the hundreds of satellites in geosynchronous orbit around Earth.

Expanded use of the NOAA

Space Weather Scales and New

Products. Use of the NOAA

scales for classifying space

weather disturbances continued

to increase through FY 2001. Several

new alert categories have been developed and implemented to make use of

the scales in response to users who find

the scales offer more useable information than previous, often overly technical alerts.

SEC has proposed and implemented

additional space weather products,

including new alerts and graphical

products; these have been assigned

World Meteorological Organization

(WMO) codes to facilitate the SEC

program to integrate space weather

products into the NOAA suite of

weather services. This continues a

series of implementations of space

weather products into the NOAA

Family of Services.

New products describing the location and intensity of the energy put into

the atmosphere by the aurora were put

in place in FY 2001; this effort continued in FY 2002, using data from the

POES.

SEC will participate directly in interagency programs directed at improving

our understanding of the space environment. These include the Living

With a Star Program (a NASA program), and three cooperative campaigns covering the Sun, Earth's magnetic field, and the ionosphere.

Use of Global Positioning System

(GPS) to measure the ionosphere.

SEC, in cooperation with FSL and with

support from the DOD, will continue

to develop a capability to measure the

ionosphere, including its electron content and height, through use of the

DOD Global Positioning System

(GPS). By recording thousands of

GPS signals each day and using data

assimilation techniques that allow the

measurements to be reversed, the ionosphere can be mapped, and predicted,

in greater detail than with current

measurement systems.

Voluntary Observing Ship (VOS)

Program. OAR operates a global VOS

program that provides real-time meteorological and oceanographic data

from selected vessels. Data are collected with the Shipboard

Environmental Data Acquisition

System, which transmits the information to NOAA via the GOES system.

The information is then disseminated

nationally and internationally

using existing data networks.

Presently, there are over 120 vessels in the program which record

and transmit surface meteorological information four times per

day at synoptic hours. Of these

vessels, about 60 vessels are also

equipped to collect expendable

bathythermograph data.

Southern Hemisphere Drifting

Buoy Program. In support of

Global Climate Observing

System (GCOS) requirements,

OAR, in cooperation with NWS,

the Office of Global Programs

(OGP; housed withing OAR),

AOML, and the Scripps

Institution of Oceanography,

maintains a network of approximately 100 meteorological drifting buoys in the Southern

Hemisphere. The buoys measure

sea-level atmospheric pressure, air

temperature, and sea water temperature. Observations are obtained

through the ARGOS data collection

and platform location system on-board

the NOAA polar-orbiting satellites.

The Tropical Atmosphere

Ocean/TRIangle Trans-Ocean buoy

Network (TAO/TRITON) array consists of approximately 70 Autonomous

Temperature Line Acquisition System

(ATLAS) and TRITON moorings in

the tropical Pacific Ocean, telemetering oceanographic and meteorological

data to shore in real-time via the Argos

satellite system. Designed to improve

detection, understanding, and predic-
SECTION 3 DOC 73

tion of El Niño, TAO/TRITON is a

major component of the El

Niño/Southern Oscillation

(ENSO) Observing System, the

Global Climate Observing System

(GCOS), and the Global Ocean

Observing System (GOOS). The

array is supported primarily by the

United States (NOAA) and Japan

(JAMSTEC) with contributions

from France (IRD) and Taiwan

(NTU). The mooring array is operated and maintained by the TAO

Project Office located at PMEL in

Seattle, Washington, which has

responsibility for project management,

operations and logistics. These buoys

provide climate researchers, weather

prediction centers, and scientists

around the world with real-time data

from the tropical Pacific. El Niño (the

warm phase of the ENSO cycle) is

associated with a disruption of the

ocean-atmosphere system in the tropical Pacific and has important consequences for weather around the globe.

A description and overview of the

TAO/TRITON array is available at

www.pmel.noaa.gov/ toga-tao/

overview1.html.

The Pilot Research Moored Array in

the Tropical Atlantic (PIRATA) is a

project designed as an extension of the

TAO array into the Atlantic. The purpose of PIRATA is to study oceanatmosphere interactions in the tropical

Atlantic that are relevant to regional

climate variability on seasonal, interannual and longer time scales. It consists of an array of 12 ATLAS moorings similar to those deployed in the

Pacific.

Global Drifter Program. AOML

manages the deployment of drifting

buoys around the world, deploying

some 300 new drifters annually and

tracking nearly 700. Using research

ships, Volunteer Observation Ships

(VOS), and United States Navy aircraft, Global Lagrangian Drifters

(GLD) are placed in areas of interest.

Once verified operational, they are

reported to AOML's Data Assembly

Center (DAC). Incoming data from

the drifter are then placed on the

Global Telecommunications System

(GTS) for distribution to meteorological services everywhere. The primary

goal of this project is to assemble and

provide uniform quality control of SST

and surface velocity measurements.

These measurements are obtained as

part of an international program

designed to make this data available in

an effort to improve climate prediction.

Climate prediction models require

accurate estimates of SST to initialize their ocean component. Drifting

buoys provide essential ground truth

SST data for this purpose. The models also require validation by comparison with independent data sets.

Surface velocity measurements are

used for this validation.

ARGO--Global Array of Profiling

Floats--will deploy a global array of

3,000 profiling floats to better understand and forecast climate. ARGO

floats will be "parked" at 1,000 meters

depth and will profile the water column from the surface to 2,000 meters

depth. Observations will be made in

real-time. Along with satellites,

ARGO will initiate the oceanic equivalent of today's operational observing

system for the global atmosphere.

NOAA Ship RONALD H. BROWN.

NOAA recently installed and deployed

a 5-cm Doppler precipitation radar to

conduct studies of atmospheric

processes over the ocean

(Figure 3-DOC-18). The system has

been shown to not only be effective for

studying convective processes but also

processes associated with marine stratus clouds. In August-October of

2000, ETL installed and tested a novel

phased array, electronically stabilized

radar for measuring wind profiles

above the ocean. This profiler has been

used to monitor winds in several

upcoming field experiments (e.g.,

EPIC 2001, PACS 2001, AIRMAP

2002).

Figure 3-DOC-18. NOAA Research Vessel

Ronald H. Brown.
74 DOC SECTION 3 
SECTION 3 DOC 75

The National Ocean Service (NOS)

monitors, assesses, and forecasts conditions in the coastal and oceanic environment to maintain a healthy, safe,

and economically productive coastal

and oceanic environment for present

and future generations. NOS is the primary civil agency within the federal

government responsible for the health

and safety of our nation's coastal and

oceanic environment. NOS acquires

water levels, currents, winds, and other

physical oceanographic and meteorological data, and distributes

these data and circulation predictions as elements of an integrated NOS program to provide a comprehensive sciencebased suite of information

products required by the

marine transportation community to ensure safe and efficient

marine transportation, including the transport of oil and

other hazardous materials.

Also, NOS provides coastal

oceanographic and meteorological products required by

the National Weather Service

(NWS) to meet its short-term

weather and forecasting

responsibilities, including

tsunami and storm surge warnings/forecasts.

National Water Level

Observation Network

(NWLON). NOS manages the

NWLON, stations located along the

coasts of the United States and the

Great Lakes, from which water level

data, as well as other oceanographic

and meteorological data, are collected

and disseminated. NWLON provides

a number of NOAA and other federal

programs with data and supporting

information, such as the NOAA Tide

and Tidal Current Prediction program,

NWS Tsunami Warning System, NWS

storm surge warning/forecast activities, and the Climate and Global

Change Program.

An event triggered NWLON modification is now operational that allows

emergency "Tsunami Warning" GOES

transmissions to NWS when the water

level exceeds a specified high/low

limit or when the rate of change

between the standard 6-minute water

level values exceeds a specified value.

A similar event triggered modification

is also operated for the NWS storm

surge warning program.

The NOS Continuous Real-Time

Monitoring System (CORMS) was

designed to operate on a 24hour/7 days

a week basis to ensure the accuracy of

tide and current observations acquired

via the NWLON and PORTS® programs. CORMS improves the overall

data quality assurance of real-time

measurements, reduces NOAA's

potential liability from disseminating

inadequate data, and makes the observations more useful for all applications. CORMS ingests real-time data

from all field sensors, determines data

quality, and identifies and communicates the presence of invalid or suspect

data to real-time users/customers who

rely on the data. An advanced version

of this system, CORMS II, is presently

in developmental stages

(Figure 3-DOC-16).

Physical Oceanographic Real-Time

System (PORTS®). PORTS® is a

decision support tool which improves

the safety and efficiency of maritime

commerce and coastal resource management through the integration of

real-time environmental observations,

forecasts, and other geospatial information. PORTS® measures and disseminates observations and

predictions of water levels, currents, salinity, and many meteorological parameters, e.g

winds and visibility, needed by

the mariner to navigate safely.

Bridge mounted "Air Gap" sensors for water level detection

are presently being developed

and are included in future plans

for PORTS®.

PORTS® systems come in a

variety of sizes and configurations, each specifically

designed to meet local user

requirements. The largest of

NOS' existing installations is

comprised of over 26 separate

instruments. The smallest consists of a single water level

gauge and associated meteorological instruments, i.e. winds,

barometric pressure, etc.

(Figure 3-DOC-17).

Regardless of its size, each PORTS®

installation provides information that

allows shippers and port operators to

maximize port throughput while maintaining an adequate margin of safety

for the increasingly large vessels visiting United States ports. In addition,

prevention of maritime accidents is the

most cost effective measure that can be

taken to protect fragile coastal ecosystems. One major oil spill, e.g.

EXXON VALDEZ, can cost billions of

dollars and destroy sensitive marine

habitats critical to supporting coastal

NATIONAL OCEAN SERVICE

Figure 3-DOC-16. PORTS sites in the New York and

New Jersey.
76 DOC SECTION 3

marine ecosystems. PORTS® provides information to make navigation

safer, thus reducing the likelihood of a

maritime accident, and also provides

the information necessary to mitigate

the damages from a spill, should one

occur.

An extensible PORTS® can be integrated with other marine transportation

technologies such as Electronic Chart

Display Information Systems (ECDIS)

and Vessel Traffic Systems (VTS).

Also, new developments will enable

PORTS® to incorporate biological and

chemical sensor systems and integrate

the information with circulation measurements to provide information on

transports of materials in the ecosystem essential for effective marine

resource management.

The integration of PORTS® technology and numerical circulation models

allows nowcasts and predictions of

parameters within the boundaries of

the models even at locations where

physical measurements are not available. The Chesapeake Bay

Oceanographic Forecasting System

(CBOFS) is an NOS project that provides forecasts of total water level

within the Bay in addition to the astronomical tidal prediction. Future models include the New York/New Jersey

Harbor and Houston/Galveston Bay.

Figure 3-DOC-17. New York/New Jersey PORTS: Bergen Point Composite.
SECTION 3 DOC 77

The Aircraft Operations Center

(AOC) provides aircraft support to

many NOAA missions, several of them

associated with the Natural Disaster

Reduction Initiative (NDRI). In particular, AOC operates a fleet of aircraft

to support NOAA's research and development programs to improve weather,

marine, and climate services. It provides hurricane reconnaissance and

surveillance support to NOAA's

National Hurricane/Tropical Prediction Center (NHC/TPC) with its

Lockheed (WP-3D--NOAA 42 and

NOAA 43) and Gulfstream IV (G-IV--

NOAA 49) aircraft as well as flight

services to other federal agencies and

international programs approved by

NOAA's Aircraft Allocation Council.

AOC's light aircraft provide hydrologic data for soil moisture forecasts, aerial photography and remote sensing for

nautical and aeronautical charting, and

living marine resources surveys.

AOC was established in October

1983 through a consolidation of all

existing NOAA organizations and elements operating NOAA aircraft. This

consolidation was accomplished to

achieve a more efficient, more economical, and safer operation of NOAA

aircraft. Fourteen aircraft, located

throughout the United States, are managed by AOC from its home base at

MacDill AFB in Tampa, Florida.

NOAA's atmospheric and oceanographic research, as well as its reconnaissance operations, are supported by

two WP-3D Lockheed Orion aircraft

which carry a full array of state-of-theart environmental research instrumentation. The aircraft research and navigation systems provide detailed spatial

and temporal observations of a wide

range of atmospheric and oceanic

parameters. AOC develops and calibrates specialized instruments, integrates user-supplied instrumentation

into its automated data recording systems, and processes and analyzes data

sets collected during various field programs.

The AOC WP-3D aircraft, while

executing the complex patterns for

hurricane research, also provide storm

data to the NHC in near-real-time,

transmitting flight level data, dropwindsonde messages, as well as radar

images via its aircraft-satellite data

link. The AOC aircraft have primary

reconnaissance responsibility for tropical storms and hurricanes in foreign

airspace and also augment the Air

Force Reserve aircraft reconnaissance

during particularly active storm periods when tasking requirements exceed

their available resources.

AOC has integrated into its operations a high-altitude jet, the G-IV,

which is used for hurricane surveillance. This aircraft flies in the environment surrounding hurricanes at altitudes up to 45,000 feet. The G-IV dispenses GPS dropwindsondes and

transmits the resulting profiles of thermodynamic and wind information to

the National Center for Environmental

Prediction (NCEP) and the NHC for

inclusion into their computer prediction models. Recent estimates of the

improvement in hurricane track predictions is between 20 and 30 percent, and

these improvements have resulted in

savings of $10 million or more per hurricane in warning and preparedness

costs. With its high-altitude capability,

the G-IV is the central focus for additional research leading to improvements in hurricane intensity forecasts.

The G-IV aircraft is also beginning to

be used for air chemistry studies and

other research in the upper troposphere.

Landfalling hurricanes, a major subject of the United States Weather

Research Program and NDRI, receive

particular attention from AOC aircraft.

During the 2001 hurricane season, the

G-IV and WP-3D aircraft flew a combined total of nearly 300 surveillance,

reconnaissance, and research hours on

tropical storms including those that

made or nearly made landfall in the

continental United States. Joining the

Air Force Reserve and National

Aeronautics and Space Administration

aircraft, the NOAA planes participated

in the second multi-agency hurricane

research experiment since STORMFURY, a hurricane modification project that took place in the early to

mid-70's. The Convection and

Moisture Experiment IV (CAMEX-4)

experiment focused on fully describing

the physical structure of a hurricane

and its environment from the ocean

depths to an altitude of 65,000 feet.

CAMEX-4 utilized in-situ, radar, and

remote sensing measurements from

multiple aircraft platforms along with

profile data in both the atmosphere and

ocean obtained from GPS-dropwindsondes and expendable bathythermographs. Utilizing these aircraft and

sensors, the project objectives to completely depict the character of a hurricane twice in a two-day period were

met in Hurricane Humberto near the

end of September, 2001.

An AOC WP-3D, NOAA 42, also

participated in a multi-aircraft experiment with two other NASA aircraft,

the DC-8 and ER-2, to validate the

Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission

(TRMM) satellite measurements of

convective clouds in the Florida

OFFICE OF NOAA CORPS OPERATIONS

AIRCRAFT OPERATIONS CENTER
78 DOC SECTION 3 

Straits. This experiment, known as

KAMP for the Keys Area

Microphysical Project, utilized the P-3

to penetrate convectively growing

cloud towers to acquire cloud microphysical data and other state parameters for validation purposes.

AOC's second WP-3D, during much

of the hurricane season, was based in

Huatulco, Mexico, participating in a

multi-agency climate program called

the Equatorial Pacific Investigation of

Climate (EPIC). This project, which

was part of the United States CLIVAR

and Pan American Research Program,

utilized the AOC aircraft for most of

September and the first third of

October.

NOAA 49, AOC's high altitude

G-IV, had a busy winter season flying

numerous winter storm missions for

NCEP from Honolulu International

Airport in Hawaii in January and

February. During this period, the aircraft also flew several missions in support of an FAA-sponsored clear air turbulence project. The data obtained

from dropwindsondes and aircraft sensors will be used to improve forecasts

of potential commercial aircraft turbulent events in the jetstream region over

the North Pacific.

The AOC Shrike Commander aircraft, NOAA 51, armed with a sophisticated gamma radiation spectrometer

loaded in the aircraft is the world's

finest airborne snow survey platform.

The aircraft flew over 475 hours in

support of the Airborne Snow Survey

Program in FY 2001. The gamma radiation spectrometer, developed and custom built by NOAA scientists, is one of

the most sensitive airborne gamma

radiation detectors ever produced in

the world. It enables the aircraft to

measure the very low levels of naturally occurring gamma radiation from

trace elements of potassium, uranium

and thorium radioisotopes in the upper

20cm of soil. Water mass in the snow

cover blocks the terrestrial radiation

signal. The deeper the snow, the weaker the signal picked up by the sensors.

Consequently, analysts can use the difference between airborne radiation

measurements made over bare ground

and snow-covered ground to calculate

a mean areal snow water equivalent

value with an error of less than one cm.

Water equivalent snow measurements are invaluable to the hydrologists of NOAA's NWS, who use the

airborne snow water equivalent data to

estimate snow melt runoff and provide

early warnings of potential flooding.

Agencies within the state governments, the Environment Canada, and

the United States Army Corps of

Engineers also use the snow water

equivalent data collected by the Shrike

as a water resource management tool,

estimating reservoir recharge and predicting river flow rates into various

bodies of water like the Great Lakes.

An AOC Twin Otter (DHC-6),

NOAA 48, will participate in the Bay

Region Atmospheric Chemistry

Experiment in FY 2002 around the

Tampa, Florida, metropolitan region.

Another project to be flown on

AOC's Twin Otter is the Appalachian

Tropospheric Ozone Study (ATOS),

which was also flown in FY 2001. The

objective of flying this survey is to

study the increasingly high ozone concentrations that have been observed in

the southern and mid-Atlantic

Appalachians. Health standards are

violated with increasing frequency.

Previous studies in this region have

indicated the presence of an elevated

03 layer above the Great Valley of East

Tennessee and the Shenandoah Valley,

and the advection of polluted air from

outside the region. Additional measurements are needed along and across

the Great Valley and up into the

Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, to document the inflow of ozone and ozone

precursors and the horizontal and vertical extent of the ozone layer.

Landfalling winter storms along

the California/Oregon/Washington

coasts annually cause more property

damage and more deaths than earthquakes or any other natural disasters

along the West Coast. For several

years, one of AOC's WP-3D aircraft

has participated in a study of these

landfalling events in both a research

and reconnaissance mode. During

2001, AOC provided one of its P-3's

to participate in this very important

study. Operating out of Monterey,

California, in January, February, and

the first part of March, this aircraft

flew numerous missions in support

of this program, providing real-time

information to local NWS forecast

offices thereby leading to improved

wind and precipitation forecasts.

This on-going study extends well

into the 2004 flying season.
METEOROLOGICAL SERVICES

The Air Force functional manager for

meteorological and space environmental services is the Director of Weather

within the Headquarters United States

Air Force, Deputy Chief of Staff for

Air and Space Operations (HQ

USAF/XOW). The Air Force Director

of Weather oversees the development

and implementation of operational

concepts, doctrine, policies, plans, and

programs to provide effective environmental information for the Air Force,

Army, and other agencies as directed

by the Chief of Staff, United States Air

Force (USAF). The AF provides environmental information to DOD Joint

operations as directed by the Joint

Chiefs of Staff (JCS) under the Unified

Action Armed Forces (JCS

Publication O-2) document. The Air

Force Director of Weather interfaces

with other military departments, federal agencies, and international organizations concerning coordination, cooperation, standardization, and interoperability of weather services.

Air Force Weather (AFW) Organization.

AFW is a Total Force organization,

employing the active forces as well as

Air Force Reserve (AFR) and Air

National Guard (ANG) weather personnel. The active component of AFW

has recently completed reengineering

to mirror the three levels of military

operations--strategic, theater (operational), and tactical. The

Headquarters, Air Force Weather

Agency (HQ AFWA), a Field

Operating Agency (FOA) reporting to

HQ USAF/XOW, provides strategiclevel weather information (global and

synoptic-scale) to worldwide customers in addition to fulfilling some

unique mission requirements (discussed later). HQ AFWA, located at

Offutt Air Force Base (AFB),

Nebraska, has two subordinate centers:

the Air Force Combat Climatology

Center (AFCCC) at Asheville, North

Carolina, and the Air Force Combat

Weather Center (AFCWC) at Hurlburt

Field, Florida. In addition, space environment operations have nearly completed the transition from the

55th Space Weather Squadron at

Schriever AFB, Colorado, to HQ

AFWA. Eight Operational Weather

Squadrons (OWS) provide theaterlevel environmental information tailored to overseas theater CommanderIn-Chief and/or Numbered Air Force

(NAF) operations (Figure 3-DOD-1).

Each OWS is designated as the forecast agency for a specific geographical

area of responsibility (AOR) in concert

with their associated NAFs or

Theater's AOR. Continental United

States (CONUS) OWSs are also

responsible for CONUS regional

weather information. OWSs provide

theater-scale tailored environmental

information to active duty as well as

ANG units executing their Homeland

Defense missions during Operation

NOBLE EAGLE. They produce and

disseminate terminal forecasts, weather warnings and advisories, planning

and execution area forecasts, and other

operational products to Combat

Weather Teams (CWT). The CWTs,

located at base and post level, take and

disseminate local observations and

provide mission-tailored forecasts and

briefings at the tactical level based on

centrally produced guidance. In addition to the active duty force, approximately 110 weather personnel serve as

AFR individual mobilization augmentees assigned to various active

AFW units at all levels. They typically train two days each month and for

an additional two weeks each year.

The ANG program consists of two distinct functions. The traditional program consists of 33 weather flights,

ranging in size from 13 to 25 personnel. The flights meet monthly to train

for their wartime missions and provide

weather information to Army National

Guard and United States Army

Reserve units as well as ANG flying

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE WEATHER PROGRAMS

The Department of Defense (DOD) operates a military environmental service system to provide specialized worldwide meteorological, space environmental and oceanographic analysis and prediction

services in support of military forces. This system directly supports all phases of military operations,

from strategic planning to tactical operations. While the Army and Marine Corps each have a small

specialized weather support capability, the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command and Air

Force Weather are the primary sources of military weather products. The military weather services contribute to the national and international weather observing capability by taking conventional observations on land and at sea where there are no other conventional weather observing capabilities and where the observations are most needed to meet military requirements. In addition, DOD maintains specialized observing capabilities,

such as the Defense Meteorological Satellite and Global Weather Intercept Programs, to meet unique military requirements. Observational data are sent by military communications networks to military and civil facilities in the United

States and overseas.

UNITED STATES AIR FORCE

SECTION 3 DOD 79
80 DOD SECTION 3

units. The ANG operates the Weather

Readiness Training Center at Camp

Blanding in Starke, Florida, to provide

Army tactical skills training that is not

available elsewhere in the Air Force.

The ANG is also responsible for peacetime weather operations at locations

where the ANG is responsible for airfield support. Total Force AFW personnel enhance the unique global capability of ground and aerospace military

operations, while indirectly assisting

civil aviation by providing flight

weather briefings, air/ground radio

services, and tailored observations,

forecasts, watches, and warnings for

military operations.

To fulfill its global mission of providing timely, accurate, and relevant

weather information, AFW maintains

and continually improves on its five

core processes: data collection, analysis, forecasting, tailoring, and dissemination. The following paragraphs provide more information on each of these

areas.

Weather Data Collection integrates

the spectrum of remote and fixed sensors into a single meteorological sensing and instrumentation approach for

battlefield and in-garrison operations.

Data collection in the space environment is discussed in the Space

Environmental Services section.

AFW personnel take observations

essential for effective military operations and for weather analysis and

forecasting. Weather personnel at both

Air Force and Army locations (fixed

and tactical) make observations available to local users and transmit them to

military and civil locations throughout

the world via the Automated Weather

Network (AWN). Upper air observations provide vital input to numerical

weather analysis and prediction.

United States and foreign rawinsonde

reports are primary sources and are

supplemented with military and civilian pilot reports. The Observing

System 21st Century (OS-21) program

will provide a much-needed, state-ofthe-art, life-cycle replacement for Air

Force observing equipment. OS-21

includes five different configurations:

fixed, deployable, remote, manual, and

upper air. The manual configuration is

intended for tactical operations and

continues the improvements begun

under the Manual Observing System

and Tactical Meteorological Observing

System Modification programs. For

remote surface observations, AFW

purchased commercial off-the-shelf

Remote Miniature Weather Systems

(RMWS) to provide accurate real-time

Figure 3-DOD-1. Areas of Responsibility for Air Force Weather’s Operational Weather Squadrons.
SECTION 3 DOD 81

weather information from forward

unmanned locations. Special Operations Forces (SOF) used RMWSs

widely and successfully in Afghanistan

during Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, among other operations.

Weather radar data is a principal

source of information needed to produce severe weather warnings. Within

the CONUS, AFW uses the WSR-88D.

DOD, the National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

and the Federal Aviation

Administration (FAA) operate and

maintain the radars within CONUS,

and the Air Force operates and maintains the overseas radars. Tactical

Weather Radars (TWR), which provide

a weather radar capability to worldwide military contingency operations,

replace existing radars at deployed

locations and at select fixed locations

overseas.

The Defense Meteorological

Satellite Program (DMSP), which provides a large volume of cloud, upper

air, and space environmental data, is a

vital source of global weather data

used by combat operations. On-board

sensors provide HQ AFWA and the

Navy's Fleet Numerical Meteorology

and Oceanography Center with visible,

infrared, and microwave imagery of

the entire globe, temperature and moisture sounding data, electrically charged

particle fluxes, and other specialized

space environment data. DMSP also

supplies direct, real-time readout of

regional imagery and mission-sensor

data to DOD land-based and shipboard

terminals located worldwide.

The present DMSP satellite series

(Block 5D-2) uses the Operational

Linescan System to provide visible

imagery to optimize distinction among

clouds, ground, snow, and water. The

DMSP also flies microwave temperature and moisture sounders (SSM/T

and SSM/T-2). Processing algorithms

convert the sensed data into vertical

temperature, moisture, and height profiles of the atmosphere, providing key

data for numerical analysis and forecasting. The microwave imager

(SSM/I) observes rainfall, ocean surface wind speed, cloud and soil moisture, ice conditions, and other environmental data. The Block 5D-3 spacecraft were scheduled to begin service

in 2002 with the launch of DMSP

Flight 16. The new spacecraft will add

several new capabilities: enhanced

microwave imaging and atmospheric

temperature/moisture sounding

through the Special Sensor Microwave

Imager/Sounder (SSMIS); new auroral

boundary and electron density measuring capability through the Special

Sensor Ultraviolet Spectrographic

Imager (SSUSI); and profiles of upperatmospheric temperature, electron content, and species densities through the

Special Sensor Ultraviolet Limb

Imager (SSULI).

AFW continues to participate in the

refinement of requirements for the

National Polar-orbiting Operational

Environmental Satellite System

(NPOESS). NPOESS will replace the

existing DMSP and NOAA polar-orbiting satellite systems beginning in

approximately 2009 and is a joint

DOD, DOC, and National Aeronautics

and Space Administration (NASA)

program. A new ground terminal system will also provide a direct readout

capability for tactical users similar to

that of the DMSP. AFW also expects

to gain operational experience as well

as benefit from the risk reduction

planned with the NPOESS Preparatory

Program planned for launch in

CY 2005.

In addition to DMSP polar-orbiting

data, HQ AFWA receives stored data

from the DOC's Polar-orbiting

Operational Environmental Satellite

constellation and real-time high-resolution data from the DOC's

Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) East and

West, the European Union's Meteosat7 geostationary satellites, and Japan's

Geostationary Meteorological

Satellite-5. HQ AFWA receives data

files from Europe's Meteosat-5 and

India's INSAT-1D geostationary satellites, as well as NASA's Tropical

Rainfall Measuring Mission and

QuikSCAT, via the Shared Processing

Program.

To receive real-time visible, infrared,

and microwave imagery and other nonimagery weather data from both polarorbiting and geostationary satellites,

the Air Force has developed and fielded the Small Tactical Terminal (STT).

STTs are composed of antennas and

portable processors, thus giving tactical users a survivable "first-in" source

of meteorological satellite data.

The Air Force Reserve Command's

53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron

(53 WRS), also known as the

"Hurricane Hunters," provides another

means of collecting vital meteorological data, especially in and around tropical cyclones. Their specially

equipped WC-130 aircraft collect temperature, moisture, wind, pressure, and

visually observed information at the

aircraft location as well as vertical profiles of the atmosphere collected by

dropsondes. They penetrate the eyes

of tropical cyclones to provide the

National Hurricane Center a very accurate center fix location as well as other

meteorological parameters, including

sea level pressure. In addition to the

tropical cyclone reconnaissance mission, the 53 WRS collects meteorological information to improve wintertime

West Coast forecasts and to support

scientific field programs when possible. For more information, see their

web site at http://www.hurricanehunters.com/.
82 DOD SECTION 3

Analysis and Forecasting. HQ

AFWA is the primary Air Force strategic production center for weather

analyses and forecasts while the OWSs

are the primary theater-scale production centers for Air Force and Army

operations. HQ AFWA uses networked computer systems and an interactive graphics and imagery system to

implement a "build-and-apply" concept. Worldwide conventional weather

data are relayed to HQ AFWA and

combined with civil and military meteorological satellite data to construct a

real-time, integrated environmental

database. Computer programs further

process the data to construct models of

the atmosphere and forecast its future

behavior. Manual tailoring of the data

is critical for application to the specific needs of the warfighters. The interaction between forecaster and machine

is accomplished at HQ AFWA with the

Satellite Data Handling System

(SDHS). SDHS consists of interactive

workstations capable of high-speed

manipulation of satellite and conventional meteorological data to prepare

forecasts and other environmental

products.

HQ AFWA has organized forecast

operations to achieve greater flexibility and focus production on its primary

customers. Forecasts are generated in

the agency's Global Weather Center

Division, which consists of five production branches: Global Weather

Center Production, Special Support

Operations, Space Weather, National

Intelligence Community Weather, and

Meteorological Satellite Applications.

The Strategic Section of the Global

Weather Center Production Branch

produces tailored worldwide meteorological analyses and forecasts used by

aviation customers. The branch also

provides forecasts of CONUS lowlevel aviation hazards and hot backup

to Aviation Weather Center and Storm

Prediction Center. The American

Forces Network Weather Center provides worldwide, broadcast-quality

public weather services and planning

forecasts through the American Forces

Radio and Television Service to over

800,000 DOD and Department of State

personnel and family members stationed overseas.

The Special Support Operations

Branch (SSOB) provides worldwide

mission-tailored forecasts to Joint

SOF. The branch acts as a clearinghouse for unique data requests from

the SOF customers; provides tailored

meteorological information for end-toend targeting operations to unified

command, component, and national

customers; produces long-range (4-8

day) forecasts for unified command,

component, and national customers;

and supplies the Nation's reconnaissance community with cloud-free forecast products. The SSOB is continually involved in worldwide military

operations. Operation ENDURING

FREEDOM highlighted the role of

SOF forces in modern warfare. The

SSOB provided these forces a myriad

of products ranging from air refueling

forecasts, to tailored meteorological

satellite imagery, to tactical decision

aids, distributing them via classified

secure media. Additionally, the SSOB

actively participated in the Homeland

Defense mission through its operations

with North American Aerospace

Defense Command. By advising

Operation NOBLE EAGLE decisionmakers of mission limiting weather,

they ensured alert aircraft maintained

the highest state of readiness possible.

The Space Weather Branch provides

worldwide general and tailored analyses, forecasts, advisories, and warnings

for space weather phenomena that can

affect military operations and National

Intelligence Community activities.

The branch provides products for

agencies from all DOD Services using

space weather measurements from a

variety of ground- and space-based

sensors. Data sharing and forecast

coordination is performed with the

NOAA Space Environment Center

(SEC) in Boulder, Colorado. Due to

the highly technical nature of precision-guided munitions, satellite communications, and modern guidance and

radar systems, space environmental

impacts are a key and growing field

critical to military operations. The

reliance on Global Positioning

Systems (GPS) and their vulnerability

to solar storms compel military planners and commanders to use space

environmental information in all phases of combat. This was true in

Operations ENDURING FREEDOM

and NOBLE EAGLE as well as in routine daily operations.

The National Intelligence Community Weather Branch provides

weather information to the classified

National Intelligence Community. The

branch produces detailed global cloud

analyses and forecasts. Under this

branch, the Special Projects

Operations Cell provides worldwide

mission-tailored planning and execution forecasts for National Intelligence

Community agencies at the levels up to

Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented

Information (TS/SCI) level. The

branch serves as the focal point for HQ

AFWA Special Access Program (SAP)

requirements; ensures the National

Intelligence Community and other SCI

and SAP meteorological requirements

are integrated into HQ AFWA programs; monitors and evaluates accuracy and timeliness of centralized weather services to the National Intelligence

Community; and interfaces with the

DOD and National Intelligence

Community regarding weather services and exploitation of weather information.

The Meteorological Satellite (METSAT) Applications Branch provides

operational imagery analyses production, technique development, technology insertion, and product improvement. The branch produces rapid

response tailored METSAT imagery

and evaluation for DOD contingency

operations and generates automated
SECTION 3 DOD 83

METSAT imagery products for webbased distribution to DOD customers.

The branch tracks and classifies tropical cyclones, using METSAT analysis,

for the DOD Joint Typhoon Warning

Center (JTWC) and the DOC National

Hurricane Center; serves as the DOD

focal point for volcanic ash plume

detection, advisories, and trajectory

forecasts; and provides hot back up for

both JTWC satellite operations and the

DOC's Washington Volcanic Ash

Advisory Center. The METSAT

Applications Branch produces worldwide snow and ice cover analyses to

update and refine the Snow Depth

database and also provides tailored

snow depth and dust event analyses in

contingency areas. During Operation

ENDURING FREEDOM, branch

imagery specialists provided high-resolution analyses of extensive dust

storms in Central Asia. These storms

potentially impact air, land, and sea

operations; advance notice allowed

mission planners to modify operations

to maximize mission effectiveness.

The branch also develops new capabilities to display and visualize satellite

imagery on workstations and infuses

state-of-the-art techniques into

improved imagery analysis ensuring

high quality customer products.

The recently completed Global

Theater Weather Analysis and

Prediction System (GTWAPS) program has improved interaction of the

strategic, OWS theater-level, and

CWT tactical-level forecasting systems. The key software component of

the GTWAPS program is a theater

analysis and forecast model--

Mesoscale Model version 5 (MM5),

which provides fine-scale forecast data

with improved accuracy. During

Operation ENDURING FREEDOM,

HQ AFWA initiated various model

window locations and resolutions as

mission requirements dictated. The

highly responsive nature of the MM5

and the way HQ AFWA employs it permitted new contingency windows to be

operational within hours.

Advancements in cloud modeling have

enabled GTWAPS to produce high-resolution products that became a mainstay of weather data during Operation

ENDURING FREEDOM. Used by

Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

(UAV), Global Hawk UAV, and spacebased reconnaissance operators, these

products allowed decision-makers to

choose the most effective reconnaissance platform to maximize mission

effectiveness. MM5 is routinely provided by AFWA to National Centers

for Environmental Prediction (NCEP),

where it is utilized as a backup to their

ETA model.

On-going modernization initiatives

at HQ AFWA include the

Reengineered Enterprise Infrastructure

Program (REIP), Cloud Depiction and

Forecasting System (CDFS) II, the

Space Weather Analysis and

Forecasting System (SWAFS), and the

Weather Data Analysis (WDA) program. REIP closes the Detachment 7

facility at Tinker AFB and

relocates/reengineers its functions of

alphanumeric data collection, processing, and dissemination (to include the

AWN) to HQ AFWA. CDFS II brings

major software and hardware modifications at HQ AFWA to upgrade

weather satellite data and cloud analysis and forecast processing and satisfy

forecasting requirements. CDFS-II

will double the horizontal data resolution of METSAT data and reduce its

overall latency throughout each hemisphere by integrating the available

suite of geosynchronous METSAT

data into processing. SWAFS will

integrate additional space weather data

sources and execute next-generation

space weather models for DOD and

National Intelligence Community

operations. WDA will continue the

modernization of the HQ AFWA

Strategic center as a component of the

Air Force Weather Weapon System

(AFWWS). The reengineered HQ

AFWA strategic center will provide

component-based and standards-compliant hardware, software tools, a central data cloud, and a classified processing environment to modernize the

AFWWS communications and data

processing infrastructure. WDA provides a significant increase in the database capacity and capability by standing up Joint DOD-approved METOC

database segments that will begin an

era of Common Operating

Environment compliance and interoperability among data sharers.

OWSs provide theater-scale battlespace forecasts; drop zone, range, and

aerial refueling track forecasts; finescale target forecasts; and airfield forecasts and warnings for Air Force and

Army installations within their AOR.

Their primary tool is the OWS

Production System, Phase II (OPS-II),

used to ingest data and strategic center

information and create and disseminate

theater-scale products.

Product Tailoring/Warfighter

Applications. Progressive focusing

and tailoring of weather information is

the heart of the reengineered AFW

organization, leading to individual

mission-specific information provided

at the CWT level. An example of specific mission tailoring performed for

an emerging system still in testing is

the Global Hawk high-altitude reconnaissance system and the turbulence

forecasts provided by the weather personnel.

The Forecasting System 21st Century

(FS-21) program is the vehicle for providing necessary computer hardware

and software throughout all levels of

AFW (HQ AFWA, OWSs, and CWTs).

The OPS-II is the backbone of the

OWS production system. This hybrid

system of databases, servers, and

workstations, provides the computer

hardware and software necessary for

OWSs to produce and disseminate

forecast products to CWTs.

The New Tactical Forecast System

(N-TFS) provides garrison and

deployed CWT personnel the meteoro-
84 DOD SECTION 3

logical tools necessary to manipulate

and disseminate graphical and

alphanumeric products (satellite

imagery, graphical forecast products,

weather forecasts, advisories, briefings, observations, etc.) to Army and Air

Force operational, command and control, and support forces worldwide.

N-TFS provides weather personnel the

ability to use the same system in

"peace and war," thus providing a

robust "first in" and sustainment

weather forecast capability to combat

weather units worldwide.

Additionally, N-TFS ingests data from

Air Force observing systems and

observations from indigenous sources,

which then gets forwarded to

OWSs/HQ AFWA for further dissemination and incorporation into the central data cloud. Data from the N-TFS,

combined with satellite imagery from

the STT, provide the essential capability required for deployed weather units

to meet operational mission requirements.

Tactical Decision Aids (TDAs) provide warfighters an automated way to

"visualize" environmental impacts on

operations. These tools, which continue to be integrated into command and

control systems and mission planning

systems, include Target Acquisition

Weapon Software (TAWS), Night

Vision Goggles Operations Weather

Software (NOWS), InfraRed Target

Scene Simulation (IRTSS), and Joint

Environmental Exploitation Segment

(JEES), all modular programs developed by the Air Force Research

Laboratory (AFRL) with additional

assistance from the Navy's Space and

Naval Warfare Systems Command, the

Navy Research Laboratory and the

Army Research Laboratory. TAWS

provides a mission planning tool to

combine platform, weapon, target,

background, and weather impacts to

depict three-dimensional weapon

acquisition and lock-on range versus

time. NOWS (soon to be integrated

into TAWS) provide illumination and

environmental impacts on night vision

goggles used by aircrews, naval, and

ground forces to execute nocturnal

mission profiles, including search and

rescue. IRTSS uses detailed terrain

information and multi-spectral

imagery with TAWS processing to

generate forecast target scene images

for mission rehearsal. JEES uses environmental data with TAWS modules to

automatically generate mission impact

forecasts for large scale planning

efforts such as Air Tasking Order

preparation. JEES, TAWS, NOWS,

and IRTSS integrate environmental

impacts into the Mission Execution

Forecast for Command and Control

and Mission Planning Systems from

zero to 48 hours prior to mission execution. The TDA program continues to

add weapons systems, targets, and

operational features at the request of

operational customers from all three

services. During Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, the WarWeather program provided additional targets

requested specifically for application

with TAWS and NOWS in operations.

Dissemination. AFW dissemination

employs a variety of media to meet the

needs of its worldwide customer base.

High-speed communications between

large DOD and civilian processing

centers facilitate sharing of data, highresolution satellite imagery, and output

from numerical weather prediction

models. Additional circuits provide a

subset of these data to the OWS facilities. Forecaster-developed products

and gridded data sets are distributed

from HQ AFWA via the

Communications Front-End Processor

to base and post weather stations

worldwide using dedicated 96-baud

circuits. AFW will continue replacing

these dedicated circuits in FY 2002

with commercial K-band broadcast

satellites over the CONUS, Europe,

and the Pacific using the Very Small

Aperture Terminal (VSAT), saving significant communications costs by

eliminating the network of expensive

landlines to each weather station.

Alphanumeric data including surface, upper-air, and aircraft reports are

collected and distributed via the AWN,

VSAT, and the DOD's Non-Secure

Internet Protocol Router Network

(NIPRNET). The AWN consists of

dedicated circuits ranging from 74-

baud to 56kbps linking DOD, national,

and international facilities worldwide,

as well as sophisticated data collection,

message creation, and dissemination

software. Data are also received from

DOD-operated High Frequency (HF)

radio receiver sites strategically positioned around the globe to intercept

weather broadcasts. These broadcasts

originate from nations that do not routinely make data available through

World Meteorological Organization

channels. The Automated Digital

Weather Switch at Tinker AFB,

Oklahoma, to be transitioned to HQ

AFWA in FY 2002, receives alphanumeric weather data, parses them

according to data type, eliminates

duplicate reports from different

sources, and creates specially tailored

bulletins. Some of these bulletins are

sent to the large processing centers to

provide the input data for global,

regional, and fine-scale forecast models. Other bulletins are redistributed to

end users over: (1) the same dedicated

circuits, (2) NIPRNET, and (3) satellite

broadcast facilities. The High

Frequency Regional Broadcast

(HFRB) system was terminated in

FY 2002 and replaced by current technology communications equipment

that are more reliable, satellite-based,

and worldwide-capable.

AFW operates a website on the

NIPRNET known as the Joint Air

Force-Army Weather Information

Network (JAAWIN). JAAWIN provides worldwide access to numerical

model forecast graphics, satellite

imagery, and text bulletins. Additional

products are available to classified customers via the JAAWIN-Secret

(JAAWIN-S) and JAAWIN-Sensitive
SECTION 3 DOD 85

Compartmented Information (JAAWIN-SCI) capabilities.

An additional means of making tailored weather information available to

DOD customers includes the Joint

Weather Impacts System (JWIS).

JWIS provides a link to weather information from both Air Force and Navy

sources for use by command and control systems and applications. AFW

successfully demonstrated JWIS during Joint Expeditionary Force

Experiment 2000 and integrated an initial capability into the Combined Air

Operations Center-Experimental in

2001. 

Finally, HQ AFWA continued to

enhance its presence on the Air Force

Portal, an initial "one-stop gateway"

capability established in 2001 to provide weather and other information to

any Air Force user or activity. HQ

AFWA will continue expanding this

capability in FY 2003.

Unique Requirements. A special

aspect of the military weather mission

is the need to provide decision assistance to commanders and resource

managers as well as operational units.

To fulfill this requirement, designated

AFW personnel serve as part of the

staff of operational Air Force, Army,

and joint force units. In this capacity,

AFW personnel identify all weathersensitive areas of the operation, monitor the weather service provided in

these areas, and provide expert advice

to mitigate weather impacts on training

or combat operations. Products and

data are tailored to the needs of

weapon systems being developed or

used, command and control systems,

Army firing units, research, development and evaluation, testing, training

and deployment of military forces, and

contingency operations. This effort

helps ensure that Air Force, Army, and

joint force units fulfill their missions

regardless of the weather and results in

efficient use of weather resources by

gearing them to mission specific

requirements.

Army weather requirements are completely integrated into the Air Force's

overall mission concept. The Army

trains and educates Air Force personnel about Army organizations, concepts of operations, and the weather

sensitivities of Army operations and

equipment. AFW units are aligned and

integrated with the Army intelligence

organization. Weather products are

tailored to be pertinent to and directly

usable by Army personnel and are integrated into Army communications systems. Mobile and fixed meteorological equipment is programmed by the

Air Force. In a tactical environment,

weather personnel serve with echelonabove-corps, corps, divisions, separate

brigades, regiments, aviation brigades,

armored cavalry regiments, ranger regiments, and special forces groups (as

well as subordinate battalions

deployed at forward operating bases).

The Air Force provides observers to all

command levels identified above. The

Army Forward Area Limited

Observing Program and the Army

artillery meteorology program augment the Air Force observations in the

tactical environment.

The Air Force provides meteorological products to the Nation's space and

missile programs including a wide

range of weather observing services at

the Air Force Eastern Range and the

Kennedy Space Center. The Air Force

provides tailored forecasting for

NASA's manned and unmanned

launches and for commercial launches

from the Kennedy Space Center. The

Air Force also provides specialized

meteorological information to the Air

Force Western Range at Vandenberg

AFB, California, and the Pacific

Missile Range, which includes Point

Mugu and San Nicholas Island,

California, and Barking Sands,

Hawaii. In addition, the Air Force provides environmental information to the

White Sands Missile Range, New

Mexico, the Kwajalein Missile Range,

Republic of the Marshall Islands, and

other DOD research and test facilities.

The Air Force and Navy operate

JTWC, which moved to Hawaii in

1999. JTWC provides tropical cyclone

warning services to DOD units and

other United States subscribers in the

area west of 180 degrees longitude to

the East Coast of Africa in both hemispheres.

The Air Force furnishes environmental information to DOD Special

Strategic Programs, the President and

Secretary of Defense, the National

Military Command System, and the

National Security Agency. Tailored

environmental products are disseminated to these customers worldwide.

The Air Force also provides agrometeorological output to the United States

Department of Agriculture's Foreign

Agricultural Service and other national

customers. The output provided

includes diagnostic soil hydrology and

other meteorological output pertinent

to crop growth and yield estimation as

well as trafficability and rudimentary

flooding estimations.

AFCCC provides climatic data and

specialized products to the Air Force,

Army, and other government agencies.

Typical climatic information satisfies

requirements for assessments of natural environmental effects on military

plans, weapon systems, facilities, and

intelligence activities. AFCCC collects, quality assures, and applies

worldwide surface and upper air observations, satellite derived soundings,

numerical model output such as global

gridded surface and upper air model

data, a global three-dimensional cloud

analysis (real-time cloud analysis), a

global analysis of snow cover, and

other specialized environmental data

sets. AFCCC produces standard climatic summaries of meteorological

phenomena for points worldwide.

Examples of these standard products

include the Operational Climatic Data

Summary and the Wind Stratified

Conditional Climatology. Analysts are

also available to produce tailored prod-
86 DOD SECTION 3

ucts for which no standard product

exists to meet specific customer

requirements. AFCCC employs the

Atmospheric Slant Path Analysis

Model to produce vertical profiles for

any point around the globe for any

time since 1987. Modeled climatologies are produced using the Advanced

Climate Modeling and Environmental

Simulations model. AFCCC is colocated with the National Climatic

Data Center to facilitate cooperation

and data exchange.

The Air Force Director of Weather is

the DOD Modeling and Simulation

Executive Agent for the Air and Space

Natural Environment. The director

executes his responsibilities through

OL-M, HQ AFWA, located in

Asheville, North Carolina. The

Executive Agent is responsible for

ensuring modeling and simulation

developers and users have the tools,

infrastructure, and databases necessary

to represent the air and space environment rapidly, thoroughly, accurately,

and consistently in a manner that promotes cost-effectiveness, ready access,

interoperability, re-use, and confidence. OL-M sponsors relevant

research and development and fields

technology at AFCCC-the designated

operational center providing tailored

atmospheric data for modeling and

simulation. OL-M also sponsors ongoing research in cooperation with the

National Geophysical Data Center and

the Defense Modeling and Simulation

Office (DMSO) to develop a similar

capability to provide tailored, ondemand representations of the space

environment.

SPACE ENVIRONMENTALSERVICES.

HQ AFWA is the DOD focal point

for space environmental information

and participates with NOAA in the

operation of its SEC. Many DOD systems are affected by space weather

phenomena that occur in the nearEarth environment. Space weather

impacts fall in three general categories:

electromagnetic radiation, high-energy

charged particles, and electrically

charged particle clouds. HQ AFWA

provides a suite of automated and manually tailored space weather products

to the range of customers susceptible

to these impacts.

Sources of Space Environmental

Information. A variety of ground- and

space-based space weather data is

available to forecasters providing

information for space weather operations.

HQ AFWA operates a network of

solar optical and radio telescopes at

Sagamore Hill, Massachusetts; Ramey,

Puerto Rico; Holloman AFB, New

Mexico; Palehua, Hawaii; San Vito,

Italy; and Learmonth, Australia. These

systems provide observations of solar

Figure 3-DOD-2. Solar optical and radio telescopes at Ramey, Puerto Rico and Learmonth, Australia (lower left).
SECTION 3 DOD 87

phenomena at optical and radio wavelengths (Figure 3-DOD-2).

A worldwide (primarily Northern

Hemisphere) network of ground-based

ionosondes and other sensors provide

ionospheric data. AFW manages 15

automated Digital Ionospheric

Sounding Systems (DISS) to provide

measurements of disturbances in the

ionosphere. The Jet Propulsion

Laboratory also operates a complementary global network of sensors providing ionospheric data and the United

States Geological Survey (USGS)

operates a network of magnetometers

located primarily in the Northern

Hemisphere. The USGS data provides

indirect measurements of the strength

of ionospheric and magnetospheric

electric currents, which create their

own magnetic field superimposed

upon the Earth's magnetic field. HQ

AFWA receives these data from the

SEC.

The GOES meteorological satellites

provide real-time solar X-ray, electrically charged energetic particle, and

geomagnetic data, made available

through the SEC. DMSP, NOAA, and

other DOD geostationary satellites

provide additional energetic electrically charged particle data in low-Earth

and geosynchronous orbits.

Additionally, AFW leverages spacebased data from NASA and other agencies. For example, NASA's Advanced

Composition Explorer satellite provides real-time solar wind data.

A number of additional sensors or

improvements to existing space weather sensors are planned. The Solar XRay Imager (SXI) recently went into

orbit aboard GOES-12. The SXI monitors solar emissions in the extreme

ultraviolet (EUV) and X-ray portions

of the solar spectrum

(Figure 3-DOD-3). AFW expects the

first Solar Radio Burst Locator to

become operational in 2002 to provide

radio wave measurements of the Sun

while also mapping certain solar phenomena blocked from optical view by

cloud cover. HQ AFWA has additional improvements scheduled for the

optical telescopes as well as for the

ionospheric sensors. 

HQ AFWA uses a suite of space

weather models to specify current solar

or global characteristics of space

weather where observations are not

available and to assist in forecasting

future conditions. These models use

available observations and include

both climatology-based and physicsbased algorithms. Some of the products created with these models include

the Single-Frequency GPS Receiver

Error maps (Figure 3-DOD-4), UHF

Satellite Communication Scintillation

maps (Figure 3-DOD-5), HF

Illumination maps (Figure 3-DOD-6),

and Radar Auroral Clutter maps.

These products help warfighters determine where space weather is impacting

their mission.

More detailed descriptions of both

the available observations and current

models are available in Chapter 2 of

the National Space Weather Program

Implementation Plan, Second Edition,

available from the Office of the

Federal Coordinator for Meteorology.

Mainstreaming Space. AFW continues its FY 2001-initiated effort to

"mainstream" space weather for both

providers and users. DOD's increasing

reliance on space weather-affected systems, continuing expansion of operations into space, and the Air Force's

designation as executive agent for

space indicates space weather will

become increasingly important. AFW

will treat space weather initiatives the

same as it does terrestrial weather initiatives. Once mainstreamed, the spectrum of weather information users

should think of space weather as

quickly as they do terrestrial weather.

The AFW goal is to create a seamless,

real-time depiction of the entire natural

environment from the mud to the sun

by planning, programming, and budgeting for space weather initiatives following the National Space Weather

Program and National Security Space

Architect's space weather architecture.

Figure 3-DOD-4. SXI imagery (visualization courtesy of NOAA).
88 DOD SECTION 3

AFW is taking steps to standardize

space weather operations, improve

space weather training for both

providers and users, integrate dissemination channels for both space and terrestrial weather, and improve customer

interaction. To improve interaction,

AFW in conjunction with the Air Force

Flight Standards Agency has modified

the flight weather briefing form to

include space weather effects on navigation and communication and establishing a space weather "pilot report"

process to obtain feedback to identify,

quantify, and archive space weather

impacts.

RESEARCH INITIATIVES

The overarching objective of the Air

Force meteorological and space environmental research and development

(R&D) program is to provide system

designers, operational weather personnel, and weather information users

with the technology and tools to gain

and maintain the advantage over a

potential adversary. Documented

R&D requirements in the atmospheric

sciences are articulated in the AFW

Mission Support Plan and in the

Mission Area Plans of the Air Force

major commands. Space environment

R&D is targeted to meet the DOD's

space weather requirements as summarized in the National Security Space

Architect's Space Weather Architecture

Study and the associated Transition

Plan as well as the National Space

Weather Program Implementation

Plan, Second Edition. AFW also

strives toward improvements in environmental operations through

Cooperative Research and

Development Agreements with forprofit companies.

In meteorological R&D, the Air

Force is improving cloud depiction and

forecasting (CDF) techniques by doubling the resolution, integrating geosynchronous METSATs into the cloud

analysis, using a new cloud interpretation scheme, and blending numerical

weather prediction with forecast cloud

advection techniques. The Air Force

has transitioned key advances in tactical decision aids into operations, permitting improved forecasting of electro-optical system performance and

generation of cloud and target scene

visualizations for training, system

development, and mission rehearsal.

In addition to internal efforts, AFW

will continue to rely on collaboration

and leveraging of efforts with other

federal meteorological agencies,

research labs, and universities to further improve CDF system performance

and meet other research needs.

Mesoscale Modeling for Air Force

and Army Operations. Efforts have

continued for combining the MM5 and

Land Surface Model (LSM) for use by

Air Force and Army operations worldwide. Recent research paid off with

the development of a coupled MM5-

Land Surface Model (LSM) capability.

The LSM analyzes the current state of

the land surface to provide information

to both DOD and civilian agencies

and, through coupling with MM5, will

improve forecasting performance in

the low levels of the atmosphere. This

allows AFW to provide better forecasts

for low-level aircraft operations, the

dispersion of aerosol contaminants,

and the employment of precision-guided munitions. It also allows for assessment of trafficability for ground forces.

The advances achieved in the LSM are

also being carried over into Weather

Research and Forecast (WRF) model

development, another area of HQ

AFWA participation in research. HQ

AFWA is closely collaborating with

the National Center for Atmospheric

Research (NCAR), the NCEP, the

Forecast Systems Laboratory (FSL),

the University of Oklahoma's Center

for the Analysis and Prediction of

Storms, and others in WRF development. WRF is the next generation

community model expected to replace

MM5, and HQ AFWA is benefiting by

leveraging the efforts of 537 registered

users developing the model. HQ

AFWA is preparing to fully implement

WRF operationally in the 2004 to 2005

timeframe and in 2003 will continue

with sponsorship and funding of development at NCAR and FSL, test and Figure 3-DOD-4. Single-Frequency GPS Receiver Error Map (visualized by

HQ AFWA) 
SECTION 3 DOD 89

evaluation of real-time runs of the

WRF prototype, and will lead the LSM

Working Group while participating in

others.

Another example of how HQ AFWA

has benefited from its R&D approach

of strategic partnering is in the data

assimilation arena. HQ AFWA's partnership with NCAR has resulted in an

advanced 3-Dimensional VARiational

(3D-VAR) data assimilation for the

MM5 modeling system. The 3DVAR

system will replace HQ AFWA's current Mesoscale Data Assimilation

System and Multi-Variate Optimum

Interpolation operational data assimilation system.

Atmospheric Optical Turbulence.

Electro-optical (EO) systems are

adversely affected by optical distortions caused by atmospheric thermal or

refractive turbulence. As the sophistication of current and next generation

military systems grows, the requirement for more detailed knowledge of

fine scale (meters or less) atmospheric

behavior also grows. The Airborne

Laser (ABL) program is one such system whose performance is highly

dependent on the variations of the

meteorological conditions that produce

turbulence. The Air Force program in

atmospheric optical turbulence measurements and modeling seeks to

address these needs. Researchers used

a balloon-borne turbulence sensor

mated to a standard radiosonde to

obtain measurements, producing data

and empirical models that are the basis

for ABL system specification.

Balloon-borne measurements were

made in conjunction with airborne stellar scintillometer measurements to

understand the relation between atmospheric structure and path-integrated

optical effects. The turbulent scalar

spectrum was also sampled using balloon-borne high-bandwidth sensors.

As part of an international program,

aircraft measurements of temperature

and velocity turbulence have been

made in different locales worldwide.

Horizontal measurements by the aircraft augment the vertical profiling by

balloons to assist in the development

of the detailed knowledge required by

new EO systems.

Atmospheric Optical Opacity. Airand Space-borne reconnaissance systems are adversely affected by optical

distortions caused by clouds, fog, haze,

and other airborne particles. As the

sophistication of current and next generation military systems grows, the

requirement for more detailed knowledge of smaller scale (meters) atmospheric behavior also grows. The Air

Force's CDFS-II program seeks to

address these needs.

Radar Analysis using Digital Terrain

Elevation Data (DTED), MM5 data,

and Advanced Propagation Model

(APM) Prediction Software

(RADMAPS). Through the University

Partnering for Operational Support

(UPOS) program, Johns Hopkins

University Applied Physics Laboratory

(JHUAPL) has developed RADMAPS,

an application to assess and forecast

anomalous propagation for ground

based, airborne, and sea based radars.

RADMAPS uses DTED from the

National Imaging and Mapping

Agency along with a newly developed

and unique MM5 capability to forecast

radar refractivity in the lower atmosphere and the APM (a model developed by Space and Naval Warfare

Systems Command to predict atmospheric and terrain effects on radar performance).

United States Weather Research

Program (USWRP). AFW first entered

into discussions with USWRP in 2001

to explore expanded participation in

the program and is looking forward to

increased collaboration. USWRP's

mission is to accelerate forecast

improvements of high-impact weather

and facilitate full use of advanced

weather information. The program

currently focuses on land falling hurricanes, heavy precipitation, and socioeconomic impacts. AFW anticipates

being able to leverage the advances

made in the focus areas of landfalling

hurricanes and heavy precipitation.

AFW is eager to leverage future efforts

in the areas of observing and assimilation strategies in data sparse regions

Figure 3-DOD-5. UHF Satellite Communications Scintillation Map (visualization by HQ AFWA)
90 DOD SECTION 3

and urban forecast issues and opportunities. AFW is already committed to

the USWRP-affiliated community

development of the WRF model and

will continue its involvement with this

development during FY 2003. The

basic WRF model is running at HQ

AFWA now and initial results are very

favorable.

University Partnering for

Operational Support (UPOS). AFW

continued to collaborate through the

UPOS program with JHUAPL, the

University of Alaska at Fairbanks

Geophysical Institute, and the Army

Research Laboratory (ARL). UPOS

provides a link between university

research and the DOD operational

community and is currently focused on

near-term forecasts of ground, tropospheric, ionospheric, magnetospheric,

and solar weather. The goals of UPOS

are to provide an alternate path for

rapid transition of the best-applied

research ideas to the warfighter and to

raise awareness of DOD operational

needs within the academic community.

The partnership delivers prototype

operational products to the Air Force

and Army sponsors. The UPOS

Steering Committee, which includes

the Air Force Director of Weather,

meets semiannually to review progress

and approve new projects. UPOS

includes warfighter exercise support to

demonstrate utility of products through

web-based, non-operational access as

well as collecting direct user feedback

for faster updates of the prototype systems. Some examples of tropospheric

weather UPOS work include fine-scale

polar numerical weather prediction,

operational volcanic plume forecasting, and electromagnetic propagation

forecast maps generated from MM5

output. Examples of space science

work include high frequency radar and

communication propagation to predict

the area a transmitter can illuminate,

forecasting coronal mass ejections, and

improving determination of solar

events that will cause militarily significant space weather effects on and near

Earth.

Air Force Research Laboratory

(AFRL). In other space weather

research, AFRL programs focus on

ionospheric impacts to radio frequency

systems, space particle specification

and forecast, solar disturbance prediction, and neutral density effects on

Low Earth Orbit spacecraft. Working

closely with the DMSP System

Program Office at the Space and

Missile Center under a Memorandum

of Agreement, AFRL supports the

development and upgrading of operational space weather sensors, models,

and software products to include space

environment sensors on the DMSP

spacecraft, state-of-the-art groundbased scintillation detectors, total electron content sensors, DISS, the

Improved Solar Observing Optical

Network, and the Operationalized

Space Environment Network Display

suite of web-based products. AFRL

also conducts customer-supported

R&D for NPOESS, the DMSO, the

National Reconnaissance Office, the

Ballistic Missile Defense Office, the

DOD High Performance Computing

Modernization Office, and NASA.

This program will continue in 2003 to

build improvements for future operational implementation.

In addition to the AFRL research

portfolio, AFW collaborates with others in the space weather community to

develop new techniques, models, and

systems for transition to operational

applications. These include the

Community Coordinated Modeling

Center, the Constellation Observing

System for Meteorology, Ionosphere,

and Climate, and the previously mentioned UPOS.

Community Coordinated Modeling

Center (CCMC). AFW has been a full

member of the consortium that formed

the CCMC in 2000, co-chairing the

CCMC Steering Committee, and contributing to center efforts since 2001

by providing Defense Research and

Engineering Network connectivity and

exclusive access to a set of supercomputing nodes at HQ AFWA. The

CCMC mission is to provide a computing facility to enable, support, and

perform research for the next generation of space weather models, preparing them for transition to operations

Figure 3-DOD-6. HF Illumination Map (visualized by HQ AFWA).
SECTION 3 DOD 91

through the rapid prototyping centers

at both the SEC and HQ AFWA. AFW

provided funding for a CCMC replacement capability to be fielded in

FY 2002. Additional information on

the center is available at its web site at

http://ccmc.gsfc.nasa.gov/.

Constellation Observing System for

Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate

(COSMIC). AFW, through the Air

Force Office of Scientific Research,

will continue to collaborate with the

University Corporation for

Atmospheric Research (UCAR),

NOAA, NASA, the National Science

Foundation (NSF), and the Navy on

the COSMIC program. COSMIC

comprises six micro-satellites planned

for launch in 2005 to provide approximately 3,000 daily global observations

of pressure, temperature, humidity,

refractivity, ionospheric electron density, and ionospheric scintillation. The

system will use GPS satellite occultation techniques to provide vertical

atmospheric soundings as well as an

ionospheric photometer and a tri-band

beacon to measure electron densities

and ionospheric parameters. The global coverage of atmospheric profiles

should improve global-scale numerical

weather prediction models and provide

at least limited value in regional models and point analysis models. The

space weather observations will complement other sensors to provide a

more complete picture of the ionosphere and improve prediction of communication and navigation degradations. Additional information on COSMIC is available at http://www.cosmic.ucar.edu.

In conclusion, through a continuous

process of review and definition, the

Air Force documents its requirements

for research aimed ultimately at providing timely, accurate, and relevant

weather information to the warfighter

today and in the future. In meteorological R&D, AFW is committed to

continued development of the WRF

model and collaboration with others to

the benefit of the warfighter and the

nation overall. Space weather research

will continue with a strong program in

2003 both in AFRL as well as in leveraged programs such as UPOS to facilitate expediting needed capabilities to

operations, at minimum expense.
92 DOD SECTION 3
SECTION 3 DOD 93

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

The United States Navy has the

unique military requirement to assess

meteorological and oceanographic

(METOC) impacts on naval, joint, and

combined operations. METOC support begins by measuring the battlespace physical environment and culminates with safe, effective weapons systems and sensor employment. The perspective is global, and historically

focuses on areas outside of the contiguous 48 states, but the emphasis is

on wherever the Fleet goes and

includes force protection within the

coastal waters of the United States.

Developing METOC forecasts and

determining potential effects on

weapons system information requires:

• collection of data through tactical

and dedicated sensors (including

satellites);

• fusion and analysis of atmospheric

and oceanographic phenomena;

and

• use of meteorological information

in tactical decision aids and mission planning systems.

The Chief of Naval Operations,

through the Oceanographer of the

Navy (CNO (N096)), sponsors operational Navy METOC services and

related research and development

(R&D). The Navy METOC organization provides meteorological services

for Navy and joint forces, meteorological products to the uniformed services

and other Government agencies, and

oceanographic support to all elements

of DOD. The Oceanographer of the

Navy sponsors programs in four closely related disciplines to provide worldwide, comprehensive, integrated

weather and ocean support - meteorology, oceanography, geospatial information and services, and precise time

and astrometry. All are used to protect

ships, aircraft, fighting forces, and

shore establishments from adverse

ocean and weather conditions, and to

provide a decisive tactical or strategic

edge by exploiting the physical environment. Dual-hatted as the

"Navigator of the Navy", the

Oceanographer of the Navy serves as

the Chief of Naval Operations' focal

point for the development of technical

standards for navigation plans, data

standards, training, and navigation system certification. He also serves as an

advocate and broker for all fleet navigation issues. The Oceanographer of

the Navy streamlined his staff's organizational structure to better respond to

fleet needs with two proactive divisions. The Requirements and Liaison

Division works with the Fleet to establish METOC Requirements and maintains an active "Outreach" Program,

both within and outside DOD. They

work in conjunction with the

Programming and Assessment

Division who manages the R&D,

materiel and infrastructure resources.

The Oceanographer of the Navy's websites for information are at

www.oceanographer.navy.mil and (for

navigation information) www.navigator.navy.mil.

Research and development is conducted by warfare centers, laboratories, and systems commands, through

sponsorship by the Chief of Naval

Research and the Oceanographer of the

Navy. To ensure that all research and

development supported by the

Oceanographer is in direct support of

the Naval mission as established by

formal Navy doctrine, the

Oceanographer recently developed and

implemented a comprehensive framework to transition research to operations. The Naval Research Laboratory

(NRL) and the Space and Naval

Warfare Systems Command

(SPAWARSYSCOM) are the primary

activities that manage naval research

and transition to operations, and are

supplemented by various universities,

industry partners, and organizations

under Navy contract. NRL detachments are collocated with the Fleet

Numerical Meteorology and

Oceanography Center in Monterey,

California and with the Naval

Oceanographic Office at Stennis Space

Center, Mississippi. The

SPAWARSYSCOM METOC Systems

Program Office (PMW-155) is Navy's

single program manager for METOC

system development and acquisition.

UNITED STATES NAVY

Figure 3-DOD-7. USS MITSCHER (DDG-57) conducts underway replenishment in heavy seas.
94 DOD SECTION 3

METEOROLOGICAL SERVICES

UNITED STATES NAVY

Operational support within the Navy

is provided by elements of the Naval

Meteorology and Oceanography

Command (NAVMETOCCOM).

Navy METOC activities are involved

in worldwide collection of observations ashore, afloat and through remote

sensors, and in the assimilation and

processing of these observations on a

global basis to support analysis and

forecasting throughout the world.

The Fleet Numerical Meteorology

and Oceanography Center (FLENUMMETOCCEN), in Monterey,

California, provides global, regional,

and tactical observations, analyses, and

coupled air-ocean forecasts.

Environmental data is acquired

through links with DOD and NOAA

conventional and remotely sensed data

distribution systems. By agreement

between Navy and Air Force,

FLENUMMETOCCEN is the primary

DOD global numerical weather prediction center, running the Navy

Operational Global Atmospheric

Prediction System (NOGAPS), developed by the Naval Research

Laboratory's Marine Meteorology

Division, also in Monterey. NOGAPS

provides global atmospheric predictions and drives a variety of ocean

models, including the global Wave

Watch III ocean wave model run at

FLENUMMETOCCEN

(Figure 3-DOD-8).

In near-shore regions, the smallscale interactions between the atmosphere, underlying ocean, and nearby

land make it necessary to analyze and

predict the battlespace environment

with higher resolution and improved

physics. In addition to the global

product suite, FLENUMMETOCCEN

is uniquely capable of providing highresolution coupled air-ocean products

on short notice for any location in support of global contingency military and

humanitarian operations. Navy's

Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS) is

an operational tactical system featuring

data quality control algorithms; nested,

non-hydrostatic physics; explicit moisture physics; aerosols; and improved

data assimilation. Using lateral boundary conditions provided by NOGAPS,

COAMPS provides a high-resolution,

re-locatable, meteorological and

oceanographic prediction capability to

support joint littoral operations.

COAMPS is routinely run for Europe,

Southwest Asia, Western Pacific,

Central America, Western Atlantic, the

continental United States, and the

Eastern Pacific. COAMPS is frequently run in other areas around the world

as requirements dictate.

NOGAPS and COAMPS forecast

products are distributed via various

communications systems including the

Internet, either directly to Fleet customers, or through the Navy regional

METOC centers. The regional

METOC centers develop value-added

products and services tailored to specific operational requirements. COMNAVMETOCCOM recently installed

computer systems at all their regional

centers to run COAMPS in theater,

allowing them to respond to Fleet commanders' requirements in near realtime. As a complement to numerical

forecast products, FLENUMMETOCCEN provides atmospheric and

oceanographic observations, satellite

products, data extracts, and data for

tactical decision aids. Additionally,

FLENUMMETOCCEN is the designated National "Core Processing

Center" for remotely sensed

microwave products under the Air

Force/Navy/NOAA Shared Satellite

Processing Agreement. The

FLENUMMETOCCEN web site for

information is www.fnmoc.navy.mil.

Since atmospheric conditions are

inherently coupled to oceanographic

conditions, the Navy's program in

meteorology is closely linked with

oceanography, which is the focus of

the Naval Oceanographic Office

(NAVOCEANO), Stennis Space

Center, Mississippi. NAVOCEANO's

primary responsibilities include the

collection, processing, and distribution

of oceanographic, hydrographic, and

other geophysical data and products.

NAVOCEANO recently began disseminating products from the world's first Figure 3-DOD-8. Landing Carft Air Cushion (LCAC) transports light armored

vehicles.
SECTION 3 DOD 95

operational global layered ocean

model - NLOM. NAVOCEANO is the

Navy's primary processing facility for

NOAA polar-orbiting satellite data and

is the National "Core Processing

Center" for satellite-derived sea-surface temperature measurements, providing the global sea surface temperature data critically important to successfully running NOGAPS and

COAMPS. Additionally, NAVOCEANO is a DOD Major Shared

Resource Center, enabling creation of

the latest research and development

models on the most modern scaleable,

supercomputing architecture and facilitating transition from R&D to operational use. The NAVOCEANO web

site for information is www.navoceano.navy.mil.

Tailored Theater and Regional Support

Theater and regional support are provided to forces ashore and afloat

through six regional centers delivering

METOC services within their broad

areas of responsibility (AORs).

Aligned with specific Naval

Component Commanders of the

Unified Combatant Commanders,

these centers tailor services to theater

requirements, and manage and prioritize dissemination of numerical products from FLENUMMETOCCEN and

NAVOCEANO. Special products

needed to meet requirements of Joint

Force Commanders are also generated

by the regional centers. Additionally,

the Joint Typhoon Warning Center

(JTWC) (operated by Navy and Air

Force) is co-located with the Naval

Pacific Meteorology and

Oceanography Center in Pearl Harbor,

Hawaii. Specific METOC products

common to the regional centers

include high winds and seas warnings

for the world's oceans, tailored forecast

support for Navy, United States Coast

Guard (USCG), and NOAA ships at

sea, and ship routing services for ocean

transits (Figure 3-DOD-9).

Tailored ice forecasts and analyses

are provided to DOD by the Naval Ice

Center (NAVICECEN), located in

Suitland, Maryland. The Navy

(through NAVICECEN), NOAA, and

the Coast Guard, jointly operate the

National Ice Center (NIC). The NIC

provides ice analyses and forecasts for

the Arctic and Antarctic regions,

coastal United States waters, and the

Great Lakes to civilian and military

activities.

Local and Aviation Support

NAVMETOCCOM Facilities at

Whidbey Island, Washington, Naples,

Italy, and Jacksonville and Pensacola,

Florida, provide aviation forecast services as well as Fleet Operating Area

(OPAREA) and local forecasts and

warnings for aircraft, ships, submarines and naval bases and staffs.

Additionally, there are 29 NAVMETOCCOM detachments worldwide.

Though the detachments are primarily

situated at Naval Air Stations for aviation safety of flight forecasting, several are located at Naval Stations in support of sea-going units. The detachments provide METOC forecasting

and warning services to DOD and

allied units within their local and functional areas of responsibility.

Detachments and Facilities within the

continental United States use numerical products from both FLENUMMETOCCEN and NOAA's National

Centers for Environmental Prediction

(NCEP). Overseas Detachments and

Facilities use FLENUMMETOCCEN

numerical weather products, in addition to USAF and foreign products.

Additionally, FLENUMMETOCCEN

provides aircraft routing services for

military (primarily Navy) aircraft on

demand.

One detachment, the National

Climatic Data Center, Asheville, North

Carolina, coordinates the Navy's climatological program as part of the

Federal Climate Complex.

On-Scene Support

The Navy's permanent afloat

METOC assets are their OA Divisions,

embarked aboard aircraft carriers,

major amphibious ships and command

ships. The OA division's primary

objectives are safety of ships, aircraft

and embarked personnel, optimum tactical and planning support to on-board

warfare commanders, and tailored onscene products and services for the

assigned task force/group and Allied

units in joint, combined, or coalition

military and humanitarian operations

(Figure 3-DOD-10).

Figure 3-DOD-9. Extreme pitch and roll conditions after storm passage cancel

helicopter operations.
96 DOD SECTION 3

Deployable Mobile Environmental

Teams (METs) are the primary source

of on-scene Navy METOC support for

other forces afloat and forces deployed

ashore in remote operation areas.

These teams provide short-term, onscene services to DOD activities without organic METOC personnel, other

government agencies, and elements of

the armed forces of Allied nations during combined exercises or operations.

METOC products and services provided by these METS are tailored to each

unit's requirements, and include tactical METOC information and forecasts

for operations, weapon and sensor system employment and tactical decisionmaking, and climatological information for long-range planning.

UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS

(USMC)

The mission of the Marine Corps

METOC Service is to provide meteorological, oceanographic, and space

environmental information, products,

and services required to support

Marine Corps operations and other

military operations. The Marine Corps

METOC support infrastructure is

designed to readily deploy and operate

in an austere expeditionary environment. It is capable of providing sustained, comprehensive, and relevant

METOC support to all elements of a

Marine Air Ground Task Force

(MAGTF), as well as bases and stations of the supporting establishment. 

Organization

The Deputy Commandant for

Aviation, Headquarters, United States

Marine Corps (Code ASL-37) is the

cognizant office for Marine Corps

METOC support and requirements.

The Marine Corps METOC organization consists of two operational chainsof-command, one for supporting establishment METOC units and the other

for the Fleet Marine Force (FMF).

Supporting establishment METOC

units are located worldwide at Marine

Corp Air Stations (MCAS) and

Facilities (MCAF). These activities

are manned and equipped to provide

direct aviation METOC support and

services to host and tenant units at nine

major air stations in the continental

United States, one in Hawaii, and two

in Japan (Figure 3-DOD-11).

Within the FMF, Marines typically

deploy and employ as scalable, tailorable, combined-arms teams known

as Marine Air Ground Task Forces

(MAGTF). There are three sizes of

MAGTFs. From smallest to largest,

they are: Marine Expeditionary Unit

(MEU), Marine Expeditionary Brigade

(MEB), and Marine Expeditionary

Force (MEF). Additionally, Special

Purpose MAGTFs (SPMAGTFs) may

be formed to support operationally

unique situations and/or requirements.

All MAGTFs, regardless of size, share

four organizational elements that vary

in size and composition according to

the mission: Command Element (CE),

Ground Combat Element (GCE),

Aviation Combat Element (ACE), and

Combat Service Support Element

(CSSE).

FMF METOC activities are organized, trained, and equipped to provide

tailored support, products, and services

to all combat elements of the MAGTF.

METOC support is focused towards

impacts on Expeditionary Maneuver

Warfare (EMW) operations, particularly Operational Maneuver from the Sea

(OMFTS). FMF METOC activities

are fully interoperable within joint

force operations as part of a service or

functional component command.

When directed to stand-up as part of a

Joint Task Force Headquarters (JTF

HQ), they are capable of planning,

coordinating, and leading joint

METOC operations. Marine METOC

forces can rapidly transition from precrisis state to full operational capability in a distant theater to provide onscene support to MAGTF, combined,

joint, allied, and coalition operations

and other military operations as may

be directed.

FMF METOC assets are permanently assigned to Marine Expeditionary

Force Headquarters (MEF HQ),

Intelligence Battalions, Marine Wing

Support Groups (MWSGs), and

Marine Wing Support Squadrons

(MWSSs). There are three Marine

Expeditionary Forces strategically

positioned for global response. I MEF,

based in southern California and III

MEF, forward based in Okinawa,

mainland Japan, and Hawaii fall under

the control of the Commander, Marine

Forces Pacific. II MEF, located at

bases in North and South Carolina,

falls under the command of the

Commander, Marine Forces Atlantic.

MEF METOC personnel serve as special staff to the Commanding General

(CG) and are under the direction and

cognizance of the G-2 (Intelligence)

Division.

The three Intelligence Battalions in

the Marine Corps are co-located with

respective Marine Expeditionary Force

Headquarters. These battalions directly support the MEF G-2 and serve as

MAGTF intelligence centers during

operations. METOC is a vital part of

the intelligence estimate and is an

essential element that supports the

Marine Corps Planning Process.

Figure 3-DOD-10. AV-8 Harrier aircraft prepare to vertically take-off

from sea.
SECTION 3 DOD 97

METOC personnel assigned to these

commands provide expertise, products, and services that directly support

the Intelligence Preparation of the

Battlespace (IPB) process by helping

intelligence analysts to effectively

evaluate, integrate, and synchronize

METOC effects for both enemy and

friendly courses of action.

Marine Aircraft Wings (MAWs) conduct the complete range of air operations in support of the MEF, to include

anti-air warfare, offensive air support,

assault support, aerial reconnaissance,

electronic warfare, and control of aircraft and missiles. The MAW serves as

the principle headquarters for the ACE

and is co-located with each MEF HQ.

Most of the MAGTF's METOC support assets reside within the MAW,

specifically at the MWSG and its subordinate MWSSs. These assets are

organized, structured, and capable of

supporting a variety of MAGTF and

ACE-specific operations as defined by

the size, scope, and mission requirements. Dedicated METOC support is

available for all MAGTF elements

from within the MAW/ACE.

METOC Support Capabilities

Meteorological Mobile Facility

(MetMF). The highest level of

METOC support to the MAGTF and

ACE-specific operations is the deployment of the MetMF. The MetMF provides a METOC support capability

similar to that found in garrison

METOC facilities, is normally

deployed as part of an entire MWSS to

a Forward Operating Base (FOB), and

is the only realistic option for largescale MAGTF operations. Once established ashore, the MWSS may detach a

small METOC team with portable

ancillary equipment to a forward base

in support of ACE units that are separated from the main airbase. This redeployment also provides the MetMF

with a forward data collection capability that significantly enhances METOC

situational awareness and overall support efforts to the entire MAGTF.

With appropriate service personnel

augmentation, the MetMF is also capable of serving as host for an in-theater

Joint METOC Forecasting Unit

(JMFU) during joint operations and

exercises.

MEF (Weather) Support Team

(MST). MSTs are task organized and

equipped to provide a limited level of

METOC support to combat elements

other than the ACE (e.g. CE, GCE, and

CSSE) and can be assigned to support

MEU operations. It is capable of rapidly deploying as part of a first-in level

of METOC support response to a crisis

and can be easily integrated into an Air

Contingency MAGTF (ACM).

Additionally, the MST can be assigned

to augment a JMFU during joint operations (Figure 3-DOD-12)

One MWSS within each MAW is

structured and organized to provide up

to four fully manned MSTs that would

each consist of one METOC officer,

two forecasters, and two observers.

When deployed, the MST will normally be assigned to the G/S-2

(Intelligence) division/section of the

supported combat element or MEU.

The MST does not have a standalone

METOC capability. Instead, during

operations they collect METOC products, data, and information from the

nearest deployed MetMF, Navy

METOC OA Division afloat, host

nation or other METOC support organizations and agencies to satisfy

METOC information requirements.

Specialized METOC Support

The Marine Corps' Chemical

Biological Incident Response Force

(CBIRF) was established in 1996 as a

result of Presidential Decision

Directive (PDD) 39 to manage the consequences of Nuclear, Biological, and

Chemical (NBC) materials or weapons

used by terrorists. This national level

asset is part of the re-activated

4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade -

Anti-Terrorism (MEB-AT) located at

Indian Head, Maryland. It is comprised of specially trained and

equipped Navy, Marine, and civilian

personnel who can rapidly be forward

deployed and/or respond to a credible

threat of a Chemical, Biological,

Radiological, Nuclear, or High Yield

Explosive (CBRNE) incident in order

to assist local, state, or federal agencies

and designated Combatant

Figure 3-DOD-11. MEF Support Team (MST) developing a forecast using

portable equipment.
98 DOD SECTION 3

Commanders in the conduct of consequence management operations.

Within the S-2 (Intelligence) section, a

permanently assigned METOC forecaster provides specialized NBC dispersion forecast products and services

that aid mission accomplishment of

this organization.

METOC Support Doctrine

Marine Corps Warfighting

Publication (MCWP) 3-35.7, MAGTF

Meteorological and Oceanographic

Support, provides more detailed information about the Marine Corps

METOC Service. An electronic copy

is available for viewing and downloading from the Marine Corps Combat

Development Command (MCCDC),

Doctrine Division web site at

ismo-www1.quantico.usmc.mil/docdiv.

MAJOR METOC SYSTEMS

The capability to provide near realtime global, regional, and local

METOC services to the Navy and

Marine Corps team requires a robust

and evolving set of leading edge technology tools. Theses tools are embodied in the following systems:

Primary Oceanographic Prediction

System (POPS) II Upgrade

(POPS II U) operates complex computer-based models of the world's

ocean and atmosphere and disseminates METOC forecasts, charts,

imagery and operational data sets to

support deployed Navy and DOD

forces worldwide. This data is essential to the safety and effectiveness of

the Navy's operational platforms, sensors, and weapons including cruise and

ballistic missiles, ships, aircraft, radar

and sonar. POPS II U prediction models must provide horizontal resolutions

of 1-5 kilometers and in near real-time

for use in on-scene tactical decision

aids and systems.

POPS II U is the DOD approved system that operates global, regional, and

tactical atmospheric, oceanographic,

ice, wave, and tropical cyclone models. The POPS II U, located at

FLENUMMETOCCEN also provides

the computing capability required to

support DOD's only global atmospheric forecast model pursuant to an agreement between the Navy and Air Force.

Under an umbrella memorandum of

agreement signed in 1993 between

NOAA and FLENUMMETOCCEN,

both sides provide cooperative efforts

in operational numerical modeling,

data exchange, and mutual backup

between NCEP and FLENUMMETOCCEN. In 1999, FLENUMMETOCCEN provided numerical modeling backup capability for NOAA’s

Tropical Prediction Center and NWS

forecast office use during several

NCEP supercomputer outages including a five month period following the

NCEP computer fire outage in

September.

POPS II U is composed of a number

of different high-performance computer systems, including two SGI Origin

3800s (one with 512 processors, the

other with 128 processors). These

state-of-the-art computer systems form

the basis of METOC support throughout DOD. This capability includes

state-of-the-art decoders, data managers, quality control algorithms, and

observational assimilating software for

all types of METOC data from all

available sensors. These data will support state-of-the-art numerical weather,

ocean, chemical/biological, and

acoustic models, running in multiple

nested fashion from global scale models at resolutions of tens of kilometers

to battlegroup/battlefield models at

resolutions of a few kilometers.

The POPS II U System performance

improvement objectives optimize

DOD support in the following specific

areas:

• METOC forecasting skill worldwide for longer time periods

• Aircraft routing services

• Safe and direct ship routing

services

• Hurricane, cyclone, and tropical

storm prediction worldwide

• Open ocean and coastal wave prediction

• Precipitation prediction

• Refractivity conditions/ducting

range

• Acoustics support

• Ballistic missile targeting support

• Search and rescue

• Chemical/biological/nuclear transport prediction

Distributed Atmospheric Modeling

Prediction System (DAMPS). For

centuries, military commanders have

looked to the weather for tactical

advantage. The Navy is currently the

nation's only military service that operates a distributed model in support of

tactical weather prediction. DAMPS

allows users to ingest high-resolution

data and on-scene observations into

regional and global model information

received from the Fleet Numerical

Meteorology and Oceanography

Center in Monterey, California. The

result is an on-scene weather model

that provides accurate weather predictions for an operating area within a

24-hour timeframe.

DAMPS is fielded at all Navy

METOC centers worldwide and uses

the COAMPS model to develop

METOC prediction products out to

48 hours. DAMPS uses real-time

weather data from ship and battle

group observations, including parameters such as wind, temperature, cloud,

visibility and radar data, and then

incorporates this data into its analysis.

This analysis can be highly focused on

any area of interest.

Tactical Environmental Support

System (TESS). The Navy is presently undergoing migration towards a

modular, interoperable suite of systems

to ingest, process, fuse, display, and

disseminate METOC data. The program consists of five seamless versions

known as the Naval Integrated Tactical

Environmental Subsystem (NITES)

versions I-V. NITES systems will be

fielded in FY 2000 through FY 2004.

The five NITES versions are:
SECTION 3 DOD 99

• NITES I. Provides Navy decisionmakers on major combatant ships

with METOC assessments and

forecasts, and integrates data with

sensor and weapon platform

parameters for system performance

assessments. Theater METOC

Centers use NITES I to provide

value-added products to fleet units,

and the numerical prediction guidance generated by FLENUMMETOCCEN.

• NITES II. Makes METOC data

and products available to Navy and

Marine Corps activities afloat and

ashore via the Global Command

and Control System-Maritime

(GCCS-M). TESS data and products are used to feed tactical decision aids resident within GCCS-M.

NITES II is the basis for the Joint

METOC Segment of the new

Global Command and Control

System (GCCS) V3.0.

• NITES III. An unclassified forecast, briefing, and display system

tailored to Naval METOC shore

activities in support of aviation

operations.

• NITES IV. A portable system tailored to Mobile Environmental

Team (MET) and USMC

Meteorological Support Team

(MST) METOC requirements.

Fielding of NITES IV is expected

to commence in FY 2003.

• NITES V. A forecast, briefing, and

display system for foreign military

sales to ensure interoperability with

our allies. It is a follow-on to the

Allied Environmental Support

System (AESS) and will incorporate capabilities used in the other

NITES variants.

Tactical Environmental Data Server

(TEDS). TEDS is a storage and data

management system for meteorological and oceanographic information. It

is the central engine in both the

Tactical Environmental Support

System (TESS) and the Navy

Integrated Tactical Environmental

System (NITES), providing the

broadest support via access to the full

spectrum of client applications and

METOC models. TEDS architecture

connects to government historical

databases and commercial relational

databases management systems using

network and Internet protocols. With

the associated METCAST automated

delivery software, users with Internet

access can monitor information

updates on demand, continuously, or

on schedule.

Meteorological Data ReceiverRecorder (AN/SMQ-11 and

AN/FMQ-17). These systems are the

principal Navy systems to acquire

environmental data directly from

satellites. There are different equipment configurations for ships

(AN/SMQ-11) and shore sites

(AN/FMQ-17), and through their

interface with TESS variants they

provide remotely sensed information

to the operator.

Automated Surface Observing

System (ASOS). ASOS supports aviation and local area observing

requirements at Navy and Marine

Corps stations worldwide, leveraging

development efforts of the National

Weather Service (NWS). ASOS helps

assimilate field meteorological

parameters and facilitates efficient

entry of surface aviation observations

and synoptic weather reports into the

Automated Weather Network (AWN).

NAVMETOCCOM is certifying

ASOS units at local and remote

USN/USMC airfields for stand-alone

use during off-duty hours, when

observers are not present to verify the

official station observation. NMOC

expects to complete major airfield

certification by mid-FY 2002, and

certify the remainder of remotely

located sites by the second quarter of

FY 2003.

Supplemental Weather Radars

(SWR) (AN/FPS-131 and

AN/TPS-76). The Navy has procured

Supplemental Weather Radars to provide Doppler weather radar coverage

at selected Navy and USMC sites,

mostly overseas, outside of NEXRAD

coverage. This system replaced the

obsolete AN/FPS-106 non-Doppler

weather radars.

Meteorological Mobile Facility

Replacement (MetMF(R)). The

MetMF(R) is a transportable system

that houses meteorological support

equipment for the Marine Air Ground

Task Force (MAGTF). This 8 x 8 x

20 foot van provides a fully functioning weather office designed to support

Marine Corps expeditionary airfield

operations for 30 days without resupply. It includes sub-systems for data

collection (local, remote and upper air

sensors), data processing, satellite

data ingest and display, Doppler radar,

communications, briefing support,

and support for remote forces. The

MetMF(R) is interoperable with the

Marine Corps C4

I systems and

METOC systems of the other Services

via the Global Command and Control

System (GCCS).

Figure 3-DOD-12. USMC

Meteorological Mobile Facility

(MetMF) deployed in support of winter.
100 DOD SECTION 3

Operational Products and Services

Optimum Track Ship Routing

(OTSR), and Optimum Path Aircraft

Routing System (OPARS) are advisory

services for fleet units. They are based

on NOGAPS, COAMPS and wave

forecast data, are tailored to the customer, and provide guidance to the

forecaster for the safe operation and

cost-effective routing of DOD ships

and aircraft, just as they have for nearly 30 years. OTSR and OPARS save

the operating forces of all services

approximately $57M/year in reduced

fuel consumption and personnel costs.

The Navy Oceanographic Data

Distribution System (NODDS) was

discontinued in October 2001. The

Navy METCAST system is a

PC-based software package used to

make FLENUMMETOCCEN numerical products available to front line

DOD users. All standard meteorological and oceanographic fields, synoptic

observations and basic DMSP satellite

imagery are also available.

The Joint METOC Viewer (JMV) is

a more recent capability that is integrated into NITES and has gradually

replaced NODDS. Building on the

availability of the Internet and the successful user interface of NODDS, JMV

provides an intuitive Graphical User

Interface for retrieving, viewing and

annotating METOC information.

Authorized DOD and government

users with Internet access now have a

simple, cost-efficient way to display

weather and ocean information on various computer platforms and operating

systems. JMV is operational at several

hundred DOD and other government

sites including ships, and is available

to authorized non-government users as

well.

WxMAP ("Weather Map") is a Webbased service from FNMOC that

allows military and civilian users

worldwide to access numerical output

of selected weather parameters at preestablished geographical areas

throughout the world. Because of continually emerging Internet technology,

a large subset of these products can

also be made available to the general

public at no additional cost. WxMAP

is being replaced by the more robust

"MyWxmap" in 2002, and will eventually be integrated into various Web

portals now under development.

Since 1983, the Naval Regional

Meteorology and Oceanography

Center, in Norfolk, Virginia, has provided long-range forecasts in support

of Energy Conservation efforts at

Naval shore installations in the continental United States. The services are

primarily in the form of extendedrange (10 day) temperature forecasts

provided to energy managers to assist

in optimizing power plant operations.

Monthly temperature/degree day outlooks and long-lead (12 month) seasonal and precipitation forecasts are

also issued to assist in strategic planning of fuel purchasing and resource

allocation. Documented savings from

the Energy Conservation Forecast

Program exceed $62M, with the

majority of savings resulting from

power plant steam/air conditioning

on/off recommendations and energy

resource/fuel allocation based on longlead forecast products. Customers

include 128 Navy and Marine Corps

facilities and commands.

SUPPORTING RESEARCH

The Navy administers a diverse

research and development (R&D) program, ranging from software development to sensor engineering, and processing, display, and distribution

devices. Application of R&D activities of other Services and Federal

agencies is always considered, and use

of existing government and commercial off-the-shelf items is emphasized.

The Navy is a world leader in the

field of numerical weather prediction

for marine environmental services.

Transitioning fundamental scientific

research, through additional development, into operational meteorological

and oceanographic models is key to a

successful numerical prediction program. This ongoing process includes

work at universities and the Naval

Research Laboratory's Marine

Meteorological Division to keep the

NOGAPS and COAMPS at the leading

edge of technology. Development is

also underway to improve data assimilation, quality control, and management techniques to support these models. A major numerical weather prediction thrust is underway to develop a

shipboard tactical atmospheric forecast

capability to assimilate locally

acquired data in real-time and deliver

high resolution (5 km), limited area

(100s of km), short range (12-24 hr)

atmospheric predictions in tactical

timeframes. The Navy's suite of models also includes phenomena such as

waves, tides, ice, tropical cyclone, and

biological/aerosol transport. A complete set of numerical modeling

"Roadmaps" can be found at

www.cnmoc.navy.mil.

The Navy R&D program in remote

sensing develops techniques to extract

tactically significant information in the

littoral regions of the world. Sensors

aboard existing satellites are exploited

to the greatest extent possible and

plans are in place to incorporate new

capabilities when introduced. Because

many satellite-processing algorithms

are designed for use with tactical systems, expert or rule-based processes

are used where possible to reduce

human-intensive interpretation.

ONR and SPAWARSYSCOM continue to explore techniques for assimilating environmental data through nontraditional sensors. One such effort is

investigating the AEGIS Weapon

System's AN/SPY-1 radar and developing the ability to produce

NEXRAD-like radar information from

ships at sea.

INTERAGENCY COOPERATION

Navy and Air Force have long been

cooperating in DOD weather support,
SECTION 3 DOD 101

and these efforts have led to such successes as the Defense Meteorological

Satellite Program and the Joint

Typhoon Warning Center. Recently,

the two services have reinvigorated

efforts to increase efficiencies in their

METOC programs through greater

cooperation, particularly in the area of

support to military Command &

Control and Intelligence/reconnaissance systems. The most recent initiative under NAVAF-21 (Navy/Air Force

Cooperation in the 21st Century) was

the creation of the Joint METOC

Interoperability Board (JMIB). As

examples, working groups of this

board have been developing a road

map to build a Four Dimensional Data

Cube, accelerating the development of

common data base segments and API's,

and developing a common mapping

tool kit. All of these efforts are

designed to ensure consistent, accurate, relevant, and timely information

for both automated and human-in-theloop planning and decision systems.

To maximize efficiency and benefit

for Navy and NOAA cooperative

activities, an Umbrella Memorandum

of Agreement (MOA) between these

two agencies was signed in 1993.

Additionally, an agreement for shared

processing of remotely sensed data

was last updated in 1997. Both agencies continue to identify new areas of

potential cooperation and review existing agreements for conversion into

annexes to this MOA. Specific areas

include:

• Cooperative efforts in operational

numerical modeling, data

exchange, and mutual backup

between FLENUMMETOCCEN

and the National Centers for

Environmental Prediction (NCEP).

• Navy/NOAA/Coast Guard operation of the National Ice Center.

• Cooperative efforts between

FLENUMMETOCCEN and the

Pacific Fisheries Environmental

Lab of the National Marine

Fisheries Service.

• Air Force Weather Agency

(AFWA)/Navy (FLENUMMETOCCEN, NAVOCEANO)/

NOAA-NESDIS agreement on

shared processing of satellite data.

• Navy/NOAA agreement on ASOS

procurement and installation.

• Satellite altimetry data processing.

• Training cooperation through

Cooperative Program for

Operational Meteorology

Education and Training (COMET).

MOAs also exist between the DOD,

DOC, and DOT concerning procurement and operation of NEXRAD.

Additionally, Navy is a DOD participant in the development of the

DOC/DOD/NASA converged National

Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS).

There are numerous other bilateral

agreements involving FLENUMMETOCCEN, NAVOCEANO and the

Navy Regional Centers with other

DOD activities. These agreements

range from weapons of mass destruction hazard dispersion modeling to

specific backup capabilities.

NATURAL DISASTER MITIGATION

Navy METOC plays a vital role in

reducing the impact of natural disasters

to units both ashore and afloat. Severe

weather warnings are issued at Naval

facilities by the local NAVMETOCCOM activity when conditions warrant. For ships operating at sea without

METOC personnel embarked, tailored

enroute weather forecast messages

(WEAX) and high winds and seas

warnings provide commanding officers with advance notice of heavy

weather, and OTSR forecasters monitor ship movements and provide heavy

weather avoidance recommendations.

Tropical cyclones and even severe

winter storms provide even greater

challenges, as ships cannot generally

"ride out" storms in port without sustaining damage. Similarly, once they

get underway (or "sortie") ships must

steer well clear of the highest winds

and seas, to avoid personnel injuries

and damage and ensure their stability

limits are not exceeded. Storms of little consequence to the general public -

those that remain well out at sea - are

still of great concern to the Navy.

Because of the need to sortie ahead of

tropical cyclones, the Navy must make

decisions 3 to 5 days in advance of

potentially dangerous weather. Sortie

decisions are extraordinarily difficult

to make because of their high cost and

impact on personnel and operations.

In making these decisions, Fleet commanders must strike a balance between

the risk of staying inport versus the

cost and potential for damage at sea.

Additionally, naval exercises and ship

transits are often placed at risk by multiple tropical cyclone events, which

can make successful evasion extremely difficult.

Forecasts are provided to the fleet

commanders and their staffs by the

nearest NAVMETOCCOM activity.

Within CONUS and adjacent ocean

areas, tropical cyclone forecasts in particular are closely coordinated with

those of the NWS. Overseas, local

tropical cyclone warnings and forecasts are based on guidance provided

by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center

(JTWC), Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

FLENUMMETOCCEN has been designated as the alternate JTWC by the

United States Combatant Commander,

Pacific.
102 DOD SECTION 3
SECTION 3 DOD 103

ARMY TRANSFORMATION

Global changes to the strategic environment dictate that the Army significantly alters the way it conducts business. On 12 October 1999, the

Secretary of the Army and the Chief of

Staff of the Army articulated a vision

designed to posture the Army so that it

can better meet the demands of the 21st

Century: "Soldiers on Point for the

Nation...Persuasive in Peace,

Invincible in War." This requirement

to transform the Army is based upon

emerging security challenges in the

21st Century as well as the requirement

to respond more

rapidly across the

full spectrum of

operations. In support of the National

Security Strategy

(NSS), the strategic

significance of land

forces lies in their

ability to not only

fight and win our

nation's wars but

also to provide

options that shape

the global environment to the future

benefit of the

United States and

its allies. To this

end, the Army

developed a strategy and plan to guide

this transformation (Figure 3-DOD-13).

The Army Vision is about People,

Readiness and Transformation. People

are the centerpiece of our formations;

leadership is our stock in trade. It is

imperative that we continue to take

care of our quality soldiers, civilians,

veterans and their families as we transform our Army. Readiness remains, as

it has always been, our top priority.

We have a non-negotiable contract

with the American people - to fight and

win the nations wars. We must ensure

that at all times, the Army can meet

demands of the National Military

Strategy (NMS) and requirements

specified in the Joint Strategic

Capabilities Plan (JSCP). Finally, the

Army must transform to become more

strategically responsive and dominant

at every point on the spectrum of operations.

The vision represents goals for the

Army while Transformation and its

accompanying Transformation

Campaign Plan (TCP) are vehicles for

becoming more strategically responsive and dominant. Achieving this

vision requires a complete and radical

transformation of the entire Army.

Transformation consists of three

major objectives: Initial Force,

Interim Force and Objective Force,

with three corresponding phases

(Figure 3-DOD-14). The first phase of

Army Transformation has already

begun. During this phase, the Army is

fielding an Initial Force of two Brigade

Combat Teams at Ft. Lewis,

Washington, that will establish and

validate an organizational and operational model for Interim Brigade

Combat Teams. To bridge the gap

between the capabilities of today's

force and the Objective Force, it is necessary to field an Interim Force of six

brigades, employing Interim Armored

Vehicles (IAVs) and currently available commercial off-the-shelf (COTS)

equipment. These Interim Brigade

Combat Teams (IBCTs) are the vanguard of the future Objective Force -

they will have full spectrum capability

and be available for apportionment to

the warfighting CINCs. These Interim

Brigades also will have the capability

to deploy anywhere in the world in

96 hours. The Army envisions fielding

the first units of the Objective Force in

eight years or less. This force will not

only retain the capability to deploy a

combat-capable

brigade anywhere

in the world in 96

hours but also a

division in 120

hours and five

divisions in 30

days. The

Objective Force

will provide our

national leaders

with an increased

number of options

for regional

engagement, crisis

response and sustained land force

operations. The

Objective Force is

designed and built

around a Future Combat System (FCS)

that will incorporate state of the art

technologies and capabilities into a

multi-mission combat system. The

Army has significantly increased

spending in science and technology in

order to develop the operational capabilities of the FCS and the overall

force. Throughout the Transformation,

readiness remains our top priority - the

Legacy Force provides this capability.

The Army must fulfill its non-negotiable contract with the American people-to fight and win the Nation's wars.

Therefore, the Army must sustain and

recapitalize its Legacy Force to guarUNITED STATES ARMY

Figure 3-DOD-13. The Strategic Environment.
104 DOD SECTION 3

antee maintenance of critical warfighting readiness. To accomplish this, the

Army will recapitalize selected legacy

formations in its Active and Reserve

Components to enhance key armored

and aviation systems as well as

enhance light force lethality and survivability.

These changes to the Army structure

dictate changes in both weather support requirements and the way weather

is provided to the new Brigade Combat

Teams. Weather teams will be smaller

in size and will depend more heavily

on "reach back" capabilities to obtain

meteorological data. The Air Force is

working with the Army to optimize the

type and level of weather support that

will be provided to the new brigades,

while still maintaining appropriate

support to the legacy force during

transformation.

OPERATIONAL EQUIPMENT

AND SUPPORT MISSIONS

United States Army weather support

is a mix of Army and USAF personnel

and equipment under Law and according to Army-Air Force (AF) agreement. Army Regulation (AR) 115-10/

Air Force Joint Instruction (AFJI)

15-157, Weather Support for the

United States Army, 30 June 1996

describes the Service responsibilities

and those of Major Army Commands

(MACOMs) within the Army providing weather support. The United

States Army provides direct weather

support to two Army missions: upper

air observations for Field Artillery fire

support, and limited surface weather

observations to support Army weapon

systems forward of Division tactical

operations centers (Figure 3-DOD-15).

AF Major Commands (MAJCOMs)

provide operational weather services to

warfighting MACOMs in combat, contingencies, and peacetime training.

United States Army Forces Command

(FORSCOM), United States Army

Europe (USAREUR), United States

Army Pacific (USARPAC), United

States Army Special Operations

Command (USASOC), Eighth United

States Army (EUSA), and United

States Army Training and Doctrine

Command (TRADOC) have AF

Weather personnel providing daily

installation and tactical weather support. Army Artillery Meteorological

(ARTYMET) Crews provide direct

upper air observation support to

artillery units in the same MACOMs.

During peacetime training and activation the Air National Guard (ANG)

provides AF operational weather support to the Army Reserve and Army

National Guard (ARNG), collectively

designated the Reserve Component

(RC). In addition, during exercises

and contingencies the ANG may augment the active Army Combat Weather

Teams (CWTs).

The Army also provides the operational weather support to Army

Research Development, Test and

Evaluation (RDTE) ranges, centers,

and other research facilities using the

Developmental Test Command's

(DTC) Meteorological Teams (MET

Teams) and United States Army Space

and Missile Defense Command

(SMDC) contractors. DTC operational

support is described under Army Test

and Evaluation Command. SMDC

provides weather support to the Ronald

Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test

Site at Kwajalein Atoll through a

Meteorological Environmental Test

Support contractor.

The Army provides the tactical field

and communications equipment to

USAF CWTs for tactical operations.

The Integrated Meteorological System

(IMETS) is an automated mobile

weather support and communications

system. The Project Director (PD) for

IMETS is under the direction of

Program Manager, Intelligence and

Effects. The Communications and

Electronics Command (CECOM) and

Army Research Laboratory (ARL)

provide fielding and technical support

to PD, IMETS and to Field Artillery

meteorology programs.

ARTYMET Crews are assigned to

Artillery units at Division level, to

Field Artillery Brigades, and to

Separate Brigades with a direct support

Artillery Battalion. Army soldiers regularly take tactical upper air observations to support Field Artillery units

during tactical training exercises, at

permanent Army Artillery Ranges, or

during the full range of combat missions. ARTYMET Crews also take

limited surface observations at tactical

locations on an "as needed" basis to

Figure 3-DOD-14. United States Army Transformation.
SECTION 3 DOD 105

support artillery operational requirements.

ARTYMET Crews in the Active

Component (AC) and RC sections currently use the Meteorological

Measuring Set (MMS), AN/TMQ-41,

to take upper air observations during

tactical operations. It is a mobile,

upper air sounding system mounted on

a High Mobility Multipurpose

Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV). The

MMS provides upper air data to the

Field Artillery Tactical Data System

for use in adjusting artillery fire, to

USAF CWTs, and to the Chemical

Officer for use in smoke and in

Nuclear, Biological and Chemical

(NBC) defense operations. The

CECOM section provides a complete

description of MMS. The United

States Army Field Artillery School

(USAFAS), Fort Sill, Oklahoma,

develops the requirement documents

and is the combat and training developer for meteorological equipment

used for Field Artillery support.

The Army provides supplemental,

limited surface observations when

required in tactical situations to support Army operations. When directed

by the Intelligence Officer (S2),

Intelligence personnel in the forward

combat areas take these observations.

Headquarters, Department of the

Army, Office of the Deputy Chief of

Staff, G-2, is responsible for Army

weather support policy. The Office of

the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-3, is

responsible for validating and prioritizing weather support requirements and

programs to meet Army requirements.

The Army Staff also has a full-time

active duty User Liaison assigned to

the National Polar-Orbiting

Operational Environmental Satellite

System (NPOESS) Integrated Program

Office and an Intelligence Officer

assigned to the Air Force Weather

Agency at Offutt AFB Nebraska.

Army Operational Support provided

by the Air Force

Under AR 115-10/AFJI 15-157, the

AF is responsible for providing the

Army with the necessary manpower

and unique tactical and fixed weather

equipment to meet Army tactical and

garrison active component (AC)/RC

support requirements. Army support

manpower requirements are sourced

from AF active, reserve, and ANG

weather units. While direct support of

the Field Artillery remains an Army

responsibility and is supported by

Army ARTYMET teams, AF CWTs

provide supplemental information to

artillery crews in contingencies for

areas beyond direct ARTYMET observation capabilities. The AF assigns AF

weather personnel to the warfighting

MACOMs at theater, corps, division,

armored cavalry regiments, aviation

brigades, separate brigades, and special forces groups/ranger regiments to

provide direct, on site weather support.

AF Operational Weather Squadrons

and CWTs provide garrison and tactical weather warning, observing, forecasting, special support, and staff

weather officer (SWO) services to

Combat, Combat Support, and Combat

Service Support units throughout the

peacetime/war continuum. Peacetime

garrison activities include supporting

flying operations at Army Airfields and

severe weather watch, warning, and

advisory services for aircraft and post

resource protection. The AF is responsible for installation, operation, and

maintenance of standard AF meteorological and observing equipment at

Army Airfield Weather Stations.

Tactically, the Army is responsible for

vehicles, tactical communications, and

weather effects criteria. The Army

Integrated Meteorological System

(IMETS) is fielded for these purposes

and is operated by AF CWTs. The

Army also maintains IMETS hardware

and software, with the AF maintaining

AF software that performs meteorological functions within IMETS. IMETS

uses AF meteorological software, but

IMETS is built on an Army vehicle,

uses Army tactical communications

and Army weather effects software.

The Army provides other tactical

equipment to AF CWTs through an

Army Table of Organizations and

Equipment (TOE).

Eighth United States Army Support

Eighth United States Army (EUSA)

requires, and uses, Army resources to

conduct two major meteorological

services in direct support of Army

operations: collecting and disseminating upper air observations for artillery

support, and collecting and disseminating limited surface weather observa- Figure 3-DOD-15. Army Weather Support Architecture.
106 DOD SECTION 3

tions to support all tactical units and

operations.

Two artillery meteorological

(ARTYMET) crews with the Second

Infantry Division use AN/TMQ-41

Meteorological Measuring Sets to collect upper air observations for direct

use by field artillery units. ARTYMET

crews also collect routine (usually

daily) upper air observations for training; these observations are typically

fed into the global weather database.

Additionally, under the Forward

Area Limited Observing Program

(FALOP), Army personnel use tactical

weather kits to collect limited weather

observations in data sparse, forward

areas. Observations are typically collected by intelligence personnel at

brigade and battalion tactical operations centers (TOC) during contingencies or exercises and, in turn, are disseminated to and through United States

Air Force (USAF) weather teams supporting Army air, ground, or special

operations.

Army Operational Support Provided

by USAF

USAF weather personnel assigned to

the 607th Weather Squadron (607 WS)

provide fixed and tactical weather support to EUSA units and installations.

607 WS provides garrison and tactical

weather warning, observing, forecast,

special support, and staff weather officer (SWO) services during contingency, exercise, or armistice operations. 607 WS units provide direct, onsite support at eight EUSA installations

and at deployed locations. Support is

focused on air, ground, special operations, and other combat and combat

support missions. In FY 2000, the

607 WS reengineered weather support

in theater and the 607 WS's Theater

Forecast Unit (TFU) took over forecasting responsibilities for the eight

EUSA locations. Theater forecast

responsibility will move from the TFU

to 20th Operational Weather Squadron

at Yokota in FY 2002, though 607 WS

will continue to occupy the same facilities at all eight locations. The EUSA

Cadre Weather Teams are now primarily responsible for providing their customers with observations and tailored

mission execution forecasts. 607 WS

provided 101 trained weather personnel and required fixed and tactical

weather sensing, data processing, and

communications equipment in

FY 2002. The number of trained

weather personnel will drop to 78 after

the move of theater forecast responsibility to 20th Operational Weather

Squadron. EUSA provides supporting

USAF units needed garrison and tactical communications, tactical vehicles,

MTOE and CTA equipment, and operating funds (for expendables, maintenance, etc.) IAW AR 115-10/

AFJI 15-157.

United States Army In Europe And

Seventh Army

United States Army Europe

(USAREUR) and 7th Army require and

use Army resources to conduct meteorological services in direct support of

Army operations. These services

include collecting and disseminating

upper air observations for artillery support and collecting and disseminating

limited surface weather observations to

support all tactical units and operations.

7th Weather Squadron (7 WS) provides USAREUR/7th Army in-garrison

and tactical weather intelligence and

support. This includes observing services for in-garrison operations, contingency and exercise operations, SWO

services, and specialized support. The

United States Air Forces in Europe

(USAFE) Operational Weather

Squadron (OWS) at Sembach AB,

Germany, provides operational-level

forecast products for the European

Command Area of Responsibility, to

include all USAREUR units. CWTs

located at V Corps and its aviation

assets, 1st Infantry Division and its aviation brigade, 1st Armored Division

and it aviation brigade, Southern

European Task Force, and 7th Army

Training Command, as well as 7 WS

supporting 7th Army, evaluate and tailor these forecast products to produce

mission execution forecasts.

The mission of 7 WS and its

9 detachments is to provide weather

operations packages to conform to the

Army's Transformation initiative.

7 WS will match the deploying weather force structure to the mission that

USAREUR is called upon to execute.

7 WS will utilize "reachback" capabilities to the maximum extent possible to

minimize the deployed footprint without compromising weather operations.

Weather units received a new tactical

observing system, the TMQ-53. Its

lightweight capability allows units to

set it up and pack it up for movement

in minimal time. It has become the

replacement for the Portable

Automated Surface Observing System

(PASOS) in the Balkans.

The Automated Meteorological

Information System (AMIS) is the primary in-garrison weather equipment

for receiving forecast graphics and

alphanumeric data. Data is received

via Very Small Aperture Terminal

(VSAT) and hard-wire circuits. The

New Tactical Forecast System (NTFS)

is the primary equipment used for

deployed locations with data received

via Tactical VSAT, NIPRNET and

SIPRNET. Units also use the NATO

Automated Meteorological

Information System (NAMIS) to

receive NATO generated weather

products. NAMIS software is hosted

on a laptop and receives data via

VSAT. Satellite imagery

(METEOSAT and DMSP) is received

via the Small Tactical Terminal (STT),

a direct readout system

(Figure 3-DOD-16). Seven Integrated

Meteorological Systems (IMETS)

have been fielded within USAREUR.

The IMETS is geared to interface as a

module of the Army Battlespace

Control System to inject weather decision products into the common battle

picture for Army commanders. A
SECTION 3 DOD 107

lighter version of the IMETS

(IMETS-L) is programmed for fielding

beginning in FY 2003 with expected

fielding in USAREUR in FY 2004.

This version is designed to mirror the

capabilities of the IMETS Vehicle

mounted configuration currently fielded, but will be much more deployable.

USAREUR provides supporting

USAF weather teams with tactical

vehicles, MTOE and Common Table

of Allowances (CTA) equipment and

operating funds (expendables, maintenance, etc.). Four artillery meteorological (ARTYMET) sections collect

upper air observations for direct use by

field artillery units. The Forward Area

Limited Observing Program (FALOP)

consists of Army personnel taking limited observations at forward areas in

the battlespace.

United States Army Special Operations

Command (USASOC)

Weather support to USASOC consists of forecasts and observations, climatological studies and course of

action recommendations to aid commanders in improving efficiency,

effectiveness, and safety of operations

for USASOC units. USASOC personnel provide limited scope meteorological observations in direct support of

Army operations using tactical weather kits to collect limited weather data

in data sparse permissive and non-permissive environments. Observations

are typically collected by Army

Special Operations Forces at the team

level and are passed to operating bases

for use by Army commanders and

staff, as well as Air Force Special

Operations Command (AFSOC) and

Air National Guard (ANG) weather

personnel. AFSOC and ANG weather

personnel supporting USASOC are

assigned to the 10th Combat Weather

Squadron (CWS), OL-A, 320 Special

Tactics Squadron (STS), OL-A,

321 STS and the 107th, 146th, and 181st

ANG Combat Weather Flights

(CWF's). These weather units provide

garrison and tactical support to

USASOC units including the

75th Ranger Regiment and subordinate

battalions, the 160th Special Operations

Aviation Regiment, seven Special

Forces Groups and subordinate battalions and 2 Psychological Operations

Groups. Support provided includes

climatological information, mission

forecasts, command decision forecasts,

aviation forecasts and observations,

drop zone forecasts and observations,

special reconnaissance, and Foreign

Internal Defense/Unconventional

Warfare. The 10 CWS also provides

staff support to USASOC, the United

States Army Special Forces Command

(Airborne), and the United States

Army John F. Kennedy Special

Warfare Center and School.

United States Army Pacific

(USARPAC)

United States Army Pacific

(USARPAC) uses Army resources to

conduct meteorological services in

direct support of Army operations.

These services include collecting and

disseminating upper air observations

for artillery support and collecting and

disseminating surface weather observations to support tactical units and

operations.

USARPAC provides supporting

USAF units with tactical vehicles,

MTOE and Common Table of

Allowances (CTA) equipment and

operations and maintenance funds.

The Integrated Meteorological

Systems (IMETS) and New Tactical

Forecast System (NTFS) have been

fielded within USARPAC as the primary meteorological equipment for

deployed operations. The IMETS and

NTFS reachback for data via Army

provided NIPRNET and SIPRNET

conduits. Deployed weather teams

also use the Small Tactical Terminal

(STT) for direct reception of weather

satellite imagery.

The 17th Operational Weather

Squadron (OWS) provides USARPAC

with garrison and tactical weather

warnings, forecasts, special support,

and SWO services during contingencies and humanitarian operations.

Additional CWTs assigned to United

States Army Japan (USARJ), United

States Army Hawaii (USARHAW) -

including the 25th ID - and United

States Army Alaska (USARAK),

including 172th SIB, provide direct, onsite support at 5 USARPAC installations. The CWTs also deploy with

their customers providing tailored battlefield observations and forecasts.

Figure 3-DOD-16. An Air Force Combat Weather Team member sets up a

Small Tactical Terminal during a USAREUR exercise (United States AF Photo).
108 DOD SECTION 3

Weather reengineering will reduce the

requirement for forward deployed

weather personnel, and instead leverage IMETS and other recently fielded

technology for reachback capability.

The 17th OWS will provide regional

weather support, allowing the forward

deployed forces to focus on specific

area and target forecasts. 

There are three subordinate commands within USARPAC: United

States Army, Hawaii (USARHAW),

United States Army, Alaska

(USARAK), and United States Army,

Japan (USARJ).

The 20th Operational Weather

Squadron (20 OWS) at Yokota AB,

Japan, provides operational-level forecast products for the USARJ AOR, to

include all USARJ units. A member of

the 20 OWS's staff serves as the

USARJ's SWO. In addition, specific

resource protection support (i.e.

weather advisories, warnings, and

watches) is provided for Camp Zama,

Japan. An AF CWT assigned to the

374th Operational Support Squadron at

Yokota AB is located at Camp Zama.

It provides observational support and

produces mission execution forecasts

to support aviation operations.

The 11th Operational Weather

Squadron (11 OWS) at Elmendorf

AFB, Alaska, provides operationallevel forecast products for the Alaskan

Command AOR, to include all

USARAK units. The Commander, 11th

Operational Weather Squadron, serves

as the CG, USARAK's Staff Weather

Officer. Additionally, the 11 OWS is

responsible for Terminal Aerodrome

Forecasts for Fort Wainwright, along

with resource protection weather support (i.e. weather advisories, warnings, and watches) for Forts

Wainwright, Greely, and Richardson.

The 11 OWS provides flight weather

briefing support, as required, to Army,

Army Reserve, and Army National

Guard aviation assets in theater. An

AF CWT collocated with the

172nd Infantry Brigade (Separate) at

Fort Wainwright and its aviation

assets, for both tactical and garrison

operations, observes the atmosphere

and evaluates, then tailors, forecast

products to produce Mission Execution

Forecasts and staff briefings. The

Alaska Army National Guard operates

the airfield at Fort Richardson.

United States Army Forces Command

(FORSCOM)

Weather support to the United States

Army Forces Command (FORSCOM)

is diverse and demanding.

FORSCOM, the Army's largest major

command, requires and uses Army

resources to conduct meteorological

services in direct support of Army

operations. These services include collecting and disseminating upper air

observations for artillery support and

collecting and disseminating limited

surface weather observations to support all tactical units and operations.

FORSCOM consists of more than

760,000 Active Army (AA), United

States Army Reserve and Army

National Guard (ARNG) soldiers.

These soldiers account for approximately 85 per cent of the Army's combat power. FORSCOM trains, mobilizes, deploys, and sustains combat

ready forces capable of responding

rapidly to crises worldwide

(Figure 3-DOD-17). The AA component of FORSCOM has nearly 200,000

soldiers. Third United States Army is

the Army component of United States

Central Command (USCENTCOM),

which is the Joint command responsible for Southwest Asia (SWA) and the

Horn of Africa. FORSCOM also commands two Army Corps: III Corps at

Fort Hood, Texas, and XVIII Airborne

Corps at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Together they include six divisions,

two armored cavalry regiments, five

separate brigades, and a range of other

corps combat, combat support, and

combat service support units. Two

Continental United States Armies

(CONUSAs), First United States Army

and Fifth United States Army, are

responsible for training, mobilization,

and deployment support to Reserve

Component units in FORSCOM.

A major subordinate command to

FORSCOM, the United States Army

Reserve Command (USARC), commands all United States Army Reserve

units in the continental United States

except those assigned to Special

Operations Command. FORSCOM's

Army Reserve strength stands at

approximately 196,000 soldiers.

USARC units are part of the Federal

force and make their primary contribution to FORSCOM combat power in

combat support and combat service

support specialties such as medical,

civil affairs, transportation, maintenance and supply.

The ARNG provides FORSCOM a

Figure 3-DOD-17. CH-47 Chinook helicopters depart Bagram Airfield in support of military operations in Afghanistan (United States Army photo).
SECTION 3 DOD 109

balanced force of eight National Guard

combat divisions, 15 enhanced separate brigades, extensive combat support, and combat service support units.

The current FORSCOM ARNG

strength is approximately 367,000 soldiers.

United States Army Signal

Command also falls under control of

FORSCOM and provides all Echelon

Above Corps (EAC) tactical, power

projection, and strategic signal support

to warfighting unified commanders as

well as Army component commanders,

in both war and peace.

Weather support to FORSCOM's AA

units comes from dedicated Air Force

weather teams aligned under three Air

Support Operations Groups (ASOGs):

1 ASOG at Fort Lewis, Washington;

3 ASOG at Fort Hood, Texas; and

18 ASOG at Pope AFB, North

Carolina. A weather squadron for each

ASOG makes up the Corps' CWT.

Each Army division has their own dedicated CWT. These CWTs are aligned

under an Air Support Operations

Squadron (ASOS) or one of the weather squadrons, at their respective installations. Corps and division CWTs are

authorized enough personnel and

equipment to support a variety of missions at the various Army echelons.

Weather support at each Army echelon

is provided according to Army Field

Manual 34-81, Air Force Joint

Pamphlet 15-127, Weather Support for

Army Tactical Operations. Currently,

there are nearly 350 Air Force weather

authorizations supporting various echelons across FORSCOM. These Air

Force Weather personnel provide garrison and tactical weather warning,

observing, forecast, special support,

and SWO services during peacetime,

contingency, exercise, or armistice

operations.

FORSCOM weather units provide

direct, on-site support at 11 major

installations, including the National

Training Center at Fort Irwin,

California, and the Joint Readiness

Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana

and at deployed locations. Support is

focused on air, ground, special operations, other combat, and combat support missions.

FORSCOM provides supporting

USAF units with a Modified Table of

Organization and Equipment (MTOE)

and operating funds (expendables,

maintenance, etc.). Eleven artillery

meteorological (ARTYMET) sections,

comprised of Army weather personnel,

collect upper air observations for direct

use by field artillery units.

The Automated Meteorological

Information System (AMIS) is the primary in-garrison weather equipment

for receiving graphics and alphanumeric data. Data is received via a Very

Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT). The

New Tactical Forecast System (tactical version of AMIS) is the primary

equipment used for deployed locations

with data received via Tactical-VSAT,

the Non-Secure Internet Protocol

Router Network and the Secure

Internet Protocol Router Network.

Satellite imagery (METEOSAT and

Defense Meteorological Satellite

Program) is received via the Small

Tactical Terminal. Nineteen Integrated

Meteorological Systems, developed by

the Army Research Laboratory, have

been fielded within FORSCOM.

FORSCOM has fielded commercial

Automated Weather Observing

Systems at Yakima Training Center

Washington, Fort Campbell, Kentucky,

and Georgetown Bahamas.

Training and Doctrine Command

(TRADOC) Programs

HQ TRADOC is responsible for

development and management of

weather training programs, Army and

Joint weather support doctrine (concepts and field manuals), and the establishment of requirement documents for

Army tactical weather support.

Headquarters, TRADOC is the

approval authority for Army-AF

weather doctrine, Army weather hardware requirements, and weather support policy. Key mission area for the

next few years will be to coordinate

weather requirements during Air Force

Weather Reengineering and Army

Transformation. The Army Tactical

Experiment 2002 (ATEx 02) in Fall

2002 will test new concepts in

deployed weather support to the prototype Army Brigade Combat Team.

The Integrated Meteorological

System (IMETS) continues as the state

of the art weather forecast system, but

2002 marked the start of deployment

of the laptop version of this system.

Minimizing the footprint of deployed

weather equipment and personnel contribute to the rapid deployability of

these light and lethal Army forces,

while leveraging weather intelligence

to maintain Intelligence, Surveillance,

Reconnaissance (ISR) overmatch.

The Schools and Battle Laboratories

The United States Army Intelligence

Center and Fort Huachuca

(USAIC&FH) is the functional proponent for Army tactical weather support.

USAIC&FH represents the warfighter

by developing solutions to satisfy

Army weather requirements. In addition, it serves as the proponent for the

Owning the Weather (OTW) program -

a concept for exploiting weather as a

force multiplier on the battlefield. The

key component to OTW is IMETS,

fielded by the Army and operated by

Air Force CWTs.

The USAIC&FH Weather Support

Team (WST) advises the USAIC&FH,

ARL, and Air Force Weather (AFW)

on Army weather support issues and

helps develop solutions to meet both

active and reserve forces' requirements. In addition, the WST monitors

weather support training to

Intelligence and AFW personnel supporting the Army (e.g., the Staff

Weather Officer Army Indoctrination

Course), and establishes requirements

documents for weather support equipment.

Over the last year, the WST continued to update and expand the weather
110 DOD SECTION 3

effects critical threshold value database to be incorporated into the

Integrated Weather Effects Decision

Aid (IWEDA). The WST participated

in the ongoing Army Force XXI and

AFW Reengineering process and programs. Finally, they updated the

Operational Requirements Document

(ORD) for IMETS.

The Air Force staff weather officer at

the Army's Combined Arms Center

(CAC) is the primary overseer of the

Tables of Organization and Equipment

for CWTs supporting Army operations.

The CAC SWO also arranges for and

provides environmental data, concepts

of operation, and weather support

guidance for various programs, projects, and studies conducted by the

TRADOC System Manager for Army

Battle Command System, the Battle

Command Battle LaboratoryLeavenworth, and the TRADOC

Analysis Center. Development of

weather scripts and climatological

packages to support modeling and simulation exercises of the Battle

Command Training Program (BCTP),

the Command and General Staff

College (CGSC), and the National

Simulation Center at Fort Leavenworth

is another key CAC SWO task.

The United States Army Field

Artillery School (USAFAS), Fort Sill,

Oklahoma, is the proponent for upper

air meteorological support to the

Army. Artillery meteorological crews,

Active and Reserve, currently use the

AN/TMQ-50 to measure surface

weather parameters, and the

AN/TMQ-41 Meteorological

Measuring Set (MMS) to take upper

air observations. The MMS provides

weather data to the Field Artillery

Tactical Data System for ballistic calculations; to USAF CWTs for weather

forecasting; and to the Chemical

Officer for obscurant deployment, and

Nuclear, Biological, Chemical (NBC)

defense operations. (Army will be

working with USAFAS to ensure these

surface and upper air observations are

sent back to weather centrals where

they can be ingested in to our newest

mesoscale models.) Over the next few

years, the MMS will be replaced by an

atmospheric sounder system. The

sounder can take upper air observations more rapidly and accurately and

preclude the logistical burden of helium/hydrogen balloon-based systems.

The Engineer School (USAES), Fort

Leonard Wood, Missouri, coordinates

weather support requirements for

Terrain Analysis and Topographic

Engineering. USAES develops methods of measuring and forecasting state

of the ground for trafficability assessments using input weather data fields.

Their mission also includes identifying

and documenting requirements to

interface meteorological and engineer

battlefield systems. Due to force cuts,

USAES no longer has a full-time civilian meteorologist in the Terrain

Visualization Center, DCD, but now

has an instructor at the terrain school at

Fort Belvoir, Virginia, to teach weather

effects on cross-country mobility and

engineer missions. (Operating

Location B, 3rd Weather Squadron,

USAF, provides weather observation

services at Forney Army Airfield, Fort

Leonard Wood, Missouri. OL-B is

included in this report only to the

extent that Fort Leonard Wood provides funding for its expendables and

overhead.) In 1999, the Army Military

Police and Chemical Schools moved to

Fort Leonard Wood. Neither currently

employ meteorologists.

The Aviation Center at Fort Rucker,

Alabama, incorporates weather

instruction and procedures into rotarywing training programs in their mission areas. The center has requirements for weather observations and

USAF forecast support at Cairns Army

Airfield, Troy Municipal Airport

(MAP), Alabama, and Andalusia MAP,

Alabama. Additionally, Fort Rucker

operates observing and communications equipment to relay weather intelligence and resource protection advisories to numerous Army remote training sites. In FY 2003, Air Combat

Command plans to civilianize most

weather support to Aviation operations

at Fort Rucker and surrounding satellite airfields. Four active duty positions are allocated to provide support

to curriculum, and concept development at the Aviation School.

The weather units at Fort Benning,

Fort Knox, and Fort Huachuca provide

airfield observing and forecast support

to their respective Army posts.

During 2003, as directed by the Air

Force Chief of Staff, the weather forecasting and observing functions at several TRADOC posts will be outsourced. This direct conversion

LOCATION BASE MILITARY CIVILIAN TOTAL

Virginia Fort Belvoir 5 0 5

Georgia Fort Benning 7 0 7

Kentucky Fort Knox 5 0 5

Missouri Fort Leonard Wood 0 3 3

Oklahoma Fort Sill 5 0 5

Arizona LibbyArmy Airfield 1 3 4

Alabama Fort Rucker 13 0 13

Alabama Andalusia 2 0 2

Alabama Troy Municipal Arpt 0 2 2

TOTAL 38 8 46

Table 3.2 Planned outsourcing of weather positions.
SECTION 3 DOD 111

impacts a total of 8 civilians and 38

military at 9 locations as shown in

Table 3.2.

Army National Guard (ARNG)

Artillery

The Army National Guard (ARNG)

has 48 Meteorological Sections

assigned to artillery units at Division

level, Field Artillery Brigades, and in

Separate Brigades. The ARTYMET

sections provide upper air observations

at least 39 training days each year supporting artillery live fire during Annual

Training and monthly Inactive Duty

Training. The ARTYMET sections

support an average of 20 live fire training days and annually expend in excess

of 100 balloons per section. The

ARNG is in the process of modernizing to the Meteorological Measuring

Set (MMS), AN/TMQ-41A.

Army Corps of Engineers Civil

Operational Activities

The Corps of Engineers (COE) uses

a network of about 8,810 land-based

gauges. About 55 percent of the sites

collect meteorological data, 35 per

cent a combination of hydrologic and

meteorological data, and 10 per cent

hydrologic or water quality data. The

Corps funds or partially funds 61 percent (4,500) of all the gauges it used.

Meteorological gauges commonly

measure minimum of precipitation,

temperature as a minimum. Most sites

also measure hydrological data. All

data are used in the regulation of COE

dams and other water projects used for

flood control, navigation, hydroelectric power, irrigation, water supply,

water quality, and recreation. The

COE transfers funds to NOAA/NWS

to collect and maintain precipitation

information from 600 of meteorological sites. Similarly, COE transfers

funds to the United States Geological

Survey to maintain precipitation data

collection from 500 sites, while the

COE maintains the rest. Eight-two per

cent of all Corps sites provide realtime via satellite microwaves meterbursts, landlines or radio. Data from

all COE networks are available and

used by other federal, state and local

agencies.

United States Army Space and Missile

Defense Command (USASMDC)

Army Space Command

(ARSPACE), an USASMDC component, provides operational space

weather support on a limited basis to

Army units through it's Army Space

Support Teams (ARSST) as well as

Space Operations Officers (FA40).

Limited space weather support is provided to Army warfighters as part of

ARSPACE's effort to improve overall

space support and situational awareness. Potential space weather effects

include disruptions of over the horizon

communications, radar interference,

space environment induced satellite

service disruptions, high flyer radiation hazards and hazard warnings to

civil power grids resulting from geomagnetic activity.

Related projects include the annually

updated Space Weather Smart Book

that is intended to improve the

ARSPACE staff, ARSST teams and

FA40s understanding of space weather

fundamentals.

Force Development and Integration

Center (FDIC), a part of USASMDC,

is responsible for articulating space

requirements including space weather.

In addition, FDIC is responsible for

development and execution of the

Space Operations Officer's Qualification (SOOQ) Course that is the primary training tool for Space

Operations Officers. Currently, the

Space Weather portion consists of

3 hours of instruction titled, Impacts of

Space Weather and Effects of

Atmospheric Weather. Plans are being

worked within FDIC to extend the

SOOQ training concept to enlisted

Army personnel and the Department of

the Army Civilian workforce.

The High Energy Laser Systems Test

Facility (HELSTF), a subcommand of

USASMDC located on White Sands

Missile Range, New Mexico, is designated as the DOD National Test Range

for high energy laser test and evaluation. In addition to laser systems test

and evaluation, extensive use has been

made of on-site laser systems to perform damage and vulnerability testing

on laser-hardened materials, missile

and aircraft components, and assorted

battlefield equipment. The atmospheric sciences/meteorological mission is

to support HELSTF activities by providing atmospheric propagation and

meteorological measurements, planning, and analysis as required. These

capabilities also support the safe storage, handling and use of the toxic laser

fuels.

United States Army Kwajalein Atoll

(USAKA) is a subcommand of USASMDC, which provides operational support for the Ronald Reagan Ballistic

Missile Defense Test Site (RTS). The

RTS (Figure 3-DOD-18) meteorological services support contractor performs meteorological support for range

activities including missile operations

(GMD, TMD, ICBM) within the atoll,

intra-atoll transportation (marine and

aircraft), remote island missile launches including Wake Island (TMD), and

severe tropical weather emergency

center operations. Supporting these

operations are local surface and upper

air observations using five upper air

sounding systems (two mobile), one

polarimeteric-Doppler S-band radar,

Figure 3-DOD-18. USASMDC is

responsible for meteorological support

to the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile

Defense Test Site in the remote

Kwajalein Atoll (United States Army photo).
112 DOD SECTION 3

one Doppler C-band radar, two

DMSP/NOAA satellite receivers (one

mobile) both having McIDAS display

and management systems, one geostationary satellite receiver, and an intraatoll mesonet with an automatic surface observation system at Roi-Namur

airfield. In addition, RTS meteorological support in cooperation with

NASA/GSFC is supporting global climate studies through the Tropical

Rainfall Measurements Mission and

the follow-on program of Global

Precipitation Measurement and a

smaller program of monitoring the

solar-earth radiation flux for

NOAA/ERL.

WEATHER SUPPORT FOR

RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT,

TEST, AND EVALUATION (RDTE)

Under Army-AF agreement, the

Army has responsibility for weather

support for research, development,

test, and evaluation (RDTE) to support

Army ground combat missions as

specified in AR 115-10/AFJI 15-157.

The Corps of Engineers (COE), and

the Army Materiel Command (AMC)

are the major contributors to weather

research. The Medical Research and

Development Command does research

related to soldiers performance in the

range of weather conditions expected

to be encountered in all theaters of

operations.

Corps of Engineers (COE)

The Corps of Engineers (COE) is

responsible for reviewing all emerging

Army systems for environmental

effects, as stated in Army Regulation

70-1. The COE also manages the

Technology Demonstration (DT-08)

program. Tactical Decision Aids

(TDAs) are developed for this program

by two COE laboratories: topographic

Engineering Center (TEC) and the

Cold Regions Research and

Engineering Laboratory (CRREL).

TDAs interpret the impact of weather

and terrain conditions on Army systems and operations. They are based

on weather and terrain limitations,

known as critical values. Critical

threshold values are determined from

design criteria, operational testing, or

other evaluations of Army capabilities

in adverse weather. Critical values

define system limitations and are used

by decision-makers to take advantage

over opposing forces. Technology

Demonstrations are currently being

transitioned to terrain and weather systems such as the Integrated

Meteorological System (IMETS), and

the Digital Topographic Support

System (DTSS).

The COE Topographic Engineering

Center (TEC), Fort Belvoir, Virginia,

provides basic and applied environmental support to Army R&D programs and coordinates the development

of TDAs relating to environmental

effects on combat systems, operations,

and personnel. This support includes

the development and integration of

environmental effects databases and

models that are relevant to military

plans, operations and the acquisition

communities. TEC also develops models and techniques to assist in the generation of proxy environmental information (climate and terrain) for data

sparse areas and the integration of models to enable the spreading of this information spatially over map backgrounds. TEC is also responsible for

developing integrated software modules that are designed to be exploited in

the synthetic environment arena and for

developing techniques to portray natural and induced battlefield environments, thus enhancing computerized

battle simulations. TEC also contributes to the development of policies

and procedures for the consideration of

realistic natural environmental conditions for application in the materiel

acquisition process. As preparer and

custodian of AR 70-38, TEC provides

special climatological studies and guidance to materiel acquisition activities.

TEC also reviews all emerging materiel

systems for environmental effects.

Under the military portion of its civil

and military support mission, the Cold

Regions Research and Engineering

Laboratory (CRREL), Hanover, New

Hampshire, provides weather support

to Army weapon systems RDTE, combat, and combat support mission areas,

and develops climatological studies on

the effects of winter environment on

Army operations. CRREL conducts

basic research in sensor signal interaction with snow, ice, and frozen soil,

icing accretion on surfaces and structures, deicing technologies, and cold

regions surface-air boundary process.

CRREL develops databases and models predicting infrared and millimeter

wave (MMW) weapon system performance, and the capability of technology to enhance military operations

in cold environments. Other programs

include weather effects on environmental research for military training

lands, winter effects on acoustics, helicopter pre-flight deicing and airborne

icing avoidance, remote sensing for

predicting snow coverage and snowwater equivalence for snow melt

runoff, and modeling winter effects for

input into Army operational and training models and simulations.

Army Materiel Command (AMC)

The Army Materiel Command

(AMC) is responsible for the design,

development, test, and evaluation of

equipment to satisfy requirements for

meteorological support equipment.

AMC provides climatological and

meteorological support to RDTE projects involving electro-optics and

obscurants. It is also responsible for

determining weather effects critical

threshold values and environmental

sensitivities of battlefield systems.

AMC has several subcommands and

elements carrying out weather research

and development responsibilities.

Within the Army Research

Laboratory (ARL), the Army Research

Office (ARO) manages the Army's

extramural basic research program in

the atmospheric sciences and the
SECTION 3 DOD 113

Battlefield Environment (BE) Division

is the lead DOD agency for research

and development in the portion of the

atmosphere unique to the Army

warfighter's battlespace--the planetary

boundary layer.

BE's mission is to provide the technology and tools (1) for the Warfighter

to know and exploit weather on the

battlefield, (2) for the commander to

avoid exposing the Soldier to environmental hazards, (3) for the Materiel

Developer to quantify the atmospheric

effects and minimize the weather

impacts on developmental weapons

systems, and (4) that improve the

understanding and the underlying science of atmospheric processes at sufficiently high resolution and fidelity to

address the close combat environments

that will face the Army's future

Objective Force. Within the DOD, BE

is the lead agency for multi-service

R&D programs in transport and dispersion modeling, boundary layer meteorology over land, and atmospheric

effects on boundary layer acoustic and

electro-optic propagation. In addition,

BE contributes to tri-service goals in

the areas of theater data fusion and predictions, modeling of boundary layer

processes, and assessing atmospheric

effects on military system performance. The BE program is driven by the

Army's need for meteorological information at smaller scales than used by

either the AF, Navy, or civilian community, and over data-sparse geographic regions. While the AF provides the Army with its basic tactical

weather support, the Army provides

technology to support service-unique

requirements and Army systems, as

well as distributing this weather intelligence information to the Army Battle

Command Systems (ABCS) on the

battlefield.

The joint Army/AF tactical weather

support systems require knowledge of

current and forecast battlefield environmental conditions, along with their

effects on systems, soldiers, operations, and tactics, to contribute to

achieving the Army's decisive advantage over its adversaries. The Army's

atmospheric science R&D program is

responding to a number of changing

Army requirements and Air Force

Weather initiatives. Support to higher

command echelons will continue to

emphasize forecasting weather and its

projected military impacts up to one to

five days in advance for mission planning. Army Transformation to light,

highly mobile Combat Brigades, however, will emphasize continuous situational understanding and mission execution requiring a current picture of

fine scale meteorological conditions

for the close in battle. This transformation will require capabilities to

assimilate and fuse meteorological

information from local sensors, observations and remote sensing in near

real-time. Some key information may

not be in traditional weather observation format or acquired with standard

sensors at standard levels.

The current Air Force Reengineering

initiative is transforming future weather support to the Army through centralization of weather support and analysis

at the Air Force Weather Agency

(AFWA), Offutt AFB, Nebraska. In

the future, Air Force/Army CWTs in

the field and the Army systems that

they support will need to rely more on

global communications reach back to

AFWA to obtain daily weather forecast

data, METSAT data, and weather

impact products. Limited bandwidth

means that only the most essential data

can be broadcast to the Army units.

More automated post processing will

be required of this core data at the field

unit level, including local generation

of weather-effects products, fusion of

local weather observations and assimilation of remote sensing information.

The BE Division within the ARL

Computational and Information

Sciences Directorate, consists of three

branches and two centers. These span

the two BE Division sites at Adelphi,

Maryland, and White Sand Missile

Range, New Mexico. The three

branches combine basic and applied

research programs in the areas of

atmospheric aerosols and contaminants, chemical/biological transport

and dispersion, planetary boundary

layer processes, and atmospheric

investigations. The two centers focus

on establishing university and external

laboratory partnerships and providing

technology transition of ARL products

for support of Army RDTE on

weapons systems and weather information technology for tactical command and control and field artillery

systems.

The Atmospheric Investigations

Branch performs field measurements

of the atmosphere, its processes and

effects. BE opened an experimental

site at Blossom Point, Maryland, in

mid-1998, in a complex littoral region

on the north shore of the Potomac

River, and is able to conduct field

experiments in electro-optic and

acoustic propagation, as well as test

weather modeling tools. Measurements at White Sands are performed at

the lab and at the High Energy Laser

Test Facility on the range.

The Atmospheric Effects Branch

provides basic research and applies

theories, laboratory measurements and

field studies to produce innovative

models, databases and new techniques

that quantify the atmosphere and its

effects on electro-optical and acoustic

propagation, military systems and

operations. This includes R&D to

characterize simple and complex battlefield atmosphere obscurants,

aerosols, gasses, liquids, particles, and

various chemical and biological

agents. These significantly reduce military system performance or exhibit

signatures that are typically small,

complex and difficult to distinguish

relative to the natural background

environment. A range of acoustic

propagation models are developed and

verified to treat the propagation of
114 DOD SECTION 3

acoustic spectral signatures through

the atmosphere, including complex

3-D meteorological profiles, atmospheric scattering, ground impedance,

and non-uniform terrain effects.

Spectral emission, absorption, extinction, fluorescence, inelastic scattering,

changes in polarization, turbulence

effects and non-linear propagation are

modeled and measured to improve

intelligence and understanding through

the battlefield atmosphere and to mitigate adverse effects and unwanted signals.

The Boundary Layer Meteorology

Branch conducts a research program in

the micrometeorological processes and

structure of the atmospheric boundary

layer. This program focuses on the

interaction of the land-air interface

with wind fields, turbulence, and fluxes and the modeling of aerosol and

chemical-biological transport and dispersion in the tactical environment

including urban domains. A range of

numerical weather models is

addressed, including hydrostatic, nonhydrostatic and diagnostic gridded

meteorological models. These are verified against existing numerical weather prediction models and data.

The Atmospheric Investigations

Branch addresses improved methods to

measure the atmosphere and its

processes, to acquire tactical weather

data, perform information assimilation

and distribution. It includes exploitation of commercial and military satellite technology. The gridded meteorological databases support Army command and control systems and field

artillery. Rule-based tactical decision

aids for impacts of weather on military

systems, platforms and operations are

produced based on validated Army

weather requirements. Software products are analyzed, verified and delivered for integration into the Army's

Integrated Meteorological System

(IMETS). IMETS is the weather

INTEL functional area of the Army

Battle Command Systems.

Research is also underway in

enabling technologies that will permit

the handling and transfer of large met

data sets over the distributed, net centric force of the future.

The Army Research Office (ARO),

Research Triangle Park, North

Carolina, manages the Army's extramural basic research program in the

atmospheric sciences. These programs

are concerned with understanding the

dynamical and physical processes of

the atmospheric boundary layer at

scales of interest to the Army (millimeters to 10's of kilometers) through

measurements, simulations, and theoretical considerations. The basic

research program is conducted through

the peer-reviewed, individual investigator program and occasional special

initiatives. The focus of the research is

on the atmospheric processes and

effects of the atmospheric boundary

layer where the Army operates.

Objectives of the research are to develop, from first principles, the physical

basis for understanding the boundary

layer processes, thereby leading to better understanding of atmospheric

effects on soldiers, materials, and

weapon systems. The research examines dispersion of battlefield materials,

the effects of heterogeneous terrain

features on airflow, and the development of natural obscurations throughout the diurnal cycle. An essential element of the research is the development of instrumentation to measure the

volumetric fields of wind velocity,

temperature, and moisture of the

boundary layer at turbulence time

scales. Other areas of special funding

are also managed. The Defense

University Research and

Instrumentation Program (DURIP)

provides funds for instrumentation

needed to support ongoing research

activities. The Defense Experimental

Program to Stimulate Competitive

Research (DEPSCoR) participation is

a competition restricted to universities

in certain states that compete for additional basic research funds. Also basic

research under the Small Business

Innovative Research Program (SBIR)

is managed for selected topics. At the

Army Research Office, funding for

basic research remains relatively static.

Increased funding will come if special

program initiatives or requests are

approved. A primary focus continues

on the analysis and understanding of

data taken in the CASES99 field study

of the stable boundary layer.

The following Communications

Electronics Command (CECOM)

organizations provide support to developing and fielding weather programs:

Logistics Readiness Center (LRC),

Research, Development and

Engineering Center (RDEC), Software

Engineering Center (SEC), and Safety

office. The CECOM Logistic

Readiness Center (LRC) is the level II

manager of the Meteorological

Measuring Set (MMS) program.

CECOM RDEC's Intelligence and

Information Warfare Directorate provides technical management and support to the Program Manager,

Intelligence and Effects and Program

Manager, Night

Vision/Reconnaissance, Surveillance,

and Target Acquisition for the

Integrated Meteorological System

(IMETS) and the MMS-Profiler. A

brief description of each of these programs shows CECOM's involvement. 

Meteorological Measuring Set

(MMS), AN/TMQ-41. The MMS is an

upper air meteorological data collection, processing and dissemination system that provides data to the field

artillery and target acquisition users.

The system is a non-developmental

item (NDI). All active Army units are

equipped with the MMS. In FY 1999,

MMS production and fielding started

and will continue through FY 2003 to

modernize the National Guard.

The Meteorological Measuring SetProfiler (MMS-P) AN/TMQ-52

System. The Meteorological

Measurement Set-Profiler (MMS-P) is
SECTION 3 DOD 115

a major improvement over the MMS.

The AN/TMQ-52 design will support

the new generation of artillery

weapons. The system will include frequent and update meteorological messages that enhances the meteorological

validity over a larger battle space than

the current equipment. The MMS-P

uses the MM5 mesoscale meteorological model to assimilate data from a

variety of sources to provide the best

meteorological messages to the user in

a timely fashion. The system receives

data from ground-based sources,

radiosondes, and satellite-based

sources, (such as boundary data from

communications satellites and, in a

future program block improvement,

polar orbiting meteorological satellites) through onboard satellite receiving capability. The data affects the

operation of the mesoscale meteorological model and for post-processing

of the data in order to generate meteorological messages. Finally, an operator interface, in conjunction with the

message generation and formatting

software, facilitates communication

between the MMS-P and all other systems that require interoperability with

the MMS-P. Currently in development

are four System Design and

Development (SDD) models.

Development and testing is on schedule for FY 2002 and FY 2003 along

with a scheduled production decision

for FY 2003.

The Integrated Meteorological

System (IMETS), Vehicle Mounted

Configuration (AN/TMQ-40B/C) &

Light Configuration (AN/GMQ-36).

The Integrated Meteorological System

(IMETS) is the weather component of

the Intelligence Electronic Warfare

(IEW) sub-element of the Army Battle

Command System (ABCS). The

IMETS provides commanders at all

echelons with an automated tactical

weather system that receives, processes, and disseminates weather observations, forecasts, battlefield visualization, and weather effects decision aids

to all Army Tactical Command and

Control System (ATCCS) Battlefield

Functional Areas (BFAs). IMETS

receives weather information from

polar-orbiting civilian and defense

meteorological satellites; civilian forecast centers, the Air Force Weather

Agency, artillery meteorological sections and remote sensors. IMETS

processes and collates forecasts, observations, and climatological data to produce timely and accurate weather

products tailored to the specific

warfighter's needs. The most significant weather and environmental support to warfighters are the automated

tactical decision aids. These graphics

display the impact of the weather on

current or planned operations for both

friendly and enemy forces. The

warfighter can effectively employ his

forces and weapons systems to achieve

success in battle.

FY 2002 efforts will focus on four

main areas. The Army will field one

AN/TMQ-40C vehicle mounted configuration and complete the upgrade of

twenty fielded IMETS from

AN/TMQ-40A's to AN/TMQ-40B.

The Army will also hand-receipt a second IMETS Light to the Interim

Brigade Combat Team (IBCT) and will

conduct an IMETS Light combined

developmental and operational test in

order to achieve a Milestone III decision for fielding this configuration.

In FY 2003 the army will field one

AN/TMQ-40C vehicle mounted configuration and twenty-six

AN/GMQ-36 Light configurations

with one designated for the IBCT.

Army Test and Evaluation Command

(ATEC)

The Developmental Test Command

(DTC), a subordinate command of

United States Army Test and

Evaluation Command (ATEC), is

responsible for providing operational

meteorological support to eight Army

ranges and test sites. Under responsibilities established in AR 115-10/

AFJI 15-157, the DTC meteorological

units provide meteorological data collection and analysis, consultation, and

weather forecast and warning services

to support Army and other DOD

research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) activities at the eight

Army installations. Funding for the

Army RDT&E Meteorology Program

under Program Element 665702 has

stabilized after several years of decline

and is sufficient to maintain the basic

meteorological support infrastructure

at Army RDT&E ranges and sites.

However, instrumentation needed to

support unique or test-specific requirements generally must be funded by test

sponsors.

The Army RDT&E Meteorology

Program has entered into a multi-year

working relationship with the National

Center for Atmospheric Research

(NCAR) to enhance "range scale"

(mesoscale to microscale) forecast and

analysis technology. The principal

product of this relationship is the FourDimensional Weather (4DWX)

System, which consists of a central

data archival/retrieval system for all

range and external meteorological and

model data, a high-resolution

mesoscale meteorological model, and

a variety of user-configurable displays.

The MM5 mesoscale model is used

operationally in both predictive and

analysis modes to provide detailed

information about the past, current,

and forecast structure of the atmosphere over the Army's test ranges.

Output from both MM5 forecasts and

analyses is used as meteorological

input to atmospheric dispersion, noise

propagation, ballistic trajectory, and

other range applications models to

simulate many tests and their associated impacts. The 4DWX system contributes to improved test planning and

conduct, selection of more representative locations for test sensors, inclusion of realistic atmospheric effects in

virtual testing, and forensic analyses of

meteorological effects on test results.

The Chief of the Meteorology and
116 DOD SECTION 3

Obscurants Division at Dugway

Proving Ground's West Desert Test

Center serves as the Program Manager

for Meteorological Support to Army

RDT&E. Under Program Element

0605384, the Division's Modeling and

Assessment Branch also provides the

following specialized services:

(1) atmospheric model verification and

validation, including algorithm evaluation and the generation of validation

data sets; (2) chemical/biological

threat analysis, detection, and decontamination tests and studies for the Joint

Contact Point (Project DO49); and

(3) prototype development of virtual

proving ground meteorological support. Division employees also serve

on various national and international

committees addressing issues related

to meteorological measurements,

atmospheric dispersion modeling, and

chemical/biological hazard assessment.

Army Medical Research and Materiel

Command

The United States Army Research

Institute of Environmental Medicine

(USARIEM) conducts basic and

applied research on the effects of heat,

cold, high terrestrial altitude, and nutritional status on the health and performance of individual soldiers and combat

crews operating Army systems.

Applied research in thermal physiology and biophysical modeling are

directed toward improving soldier performance and minimizing health risks

in climatic extremes. The sensitivity

of the soldier to local weather parameters (primarily ambient temperature,

dew point, wind speed, and solar radiation) defines an operational envelope

for unimpaired human performance.

The overall goals of USARIEM's

weather-related research programs are

to develop methods to effectively monitor and, where possible, extend the

operational envelope for both training

and operational scenarios.

Weather-related research efforts

include the development and validation of automated methods to integrate

thermal strain prediction models with

real-time weather information

resources relevant to dismounted

infantry operations. Temporal and spatial scales of interest are meters to

kilometers and minutes to several

days.

The Operational Medicine Environmental Grid Applications (OMEGA)

project is a software development

effort intended to provide an integrated

research platform for the evaluation of

predictive modeling strategies for

warfighters. It enables the integration

of digital terrain data and real-time

weather information with candidate

physiologically-based environmental

injury risk and performance prediction

models. This test-bed system has a

field of view of up to 200 X 200 kilometers and uses a color-coded map

overlay display format. The webenabled client-server architecture and

archiving resources of OMEGA are

intended to provide a rich and extensible tool set for model development

efforts at USARIEM and to contribute

key modeling methodologies directly

to other projects.

The environmental Heat Stress

Monitor (HSM), a pocket-sized electronic device, combines the

USARIEM heat strain prediction

model with a miniaturized sensor suite

to measure air temperature, humidity,

wind speed, solar radiation, and barometric pressure. This device provides

tailored local guidance on optimal

work/rest cycle limits, safe work time,

and hourly drinking water needs for a

wide range of military clothing types

and work categories.

As part of the warfighter physiological status monitoring (WPSM) program, USARIEM is investigating

methodologies needed to integrate

real-time local environmental data and

warfighter physiological data with predictive model processes. The effective

fusion of these two real-time data

streams will enable near term environmental strain and performance status

predictions for individual warfighters.

Research efforts in this area are intended to address capabilities identified in

the Operational Requirements Document (ORD) for the Army's Land

Warrior program.

The availability of ground level environmental data at high temporal and

spatial resolution continues to pose a

significant challenge for predictive

model development and validation. A

Phase II Small Business Innovative

Research (SBIR) project to design and

build a very small wireless networkcapable, expendable, micro-environmental sensing system is underway, and

the feasibility of on-body environmental sensors is also being investigated.
AVIATION WEATHER MANAGEMENT

The Federal Aviation Administration

(FAA) has the leadership role for the

national aviation weather program. As

the leader, FAA must conduct continual coordination for

identifying needs for

aviation weather products and services

among the Air Traffic

Control organization,

the aviation industry

components and

among service

providers. The coordination process leads

to opportunities to

leverage efforts and

resources to form

partnerships in finding

solutions in response

to the needs. The

National Aviation

Weather Program Strategic Plan and

the National Aviation Weather

Initiatives are two documents that formalize the coordination and partnerships. These documents comprise the

first two tiers in a four tier system

where funding and development of the

solution are the third and fourth tiers,

respectively.

The FAA focus for Aviation Weather

has been to promote safety first, then

improve the National Airspace System

(NAS) efficiency to promote reductions in the delays and re-routing due

to weather. The Administrator has

launched The Safer Skies, A Focused

Safety Agenda which includes a government/industry Commercial Aviation

Safety Team (CAST) and Joint Safety

Analysis Teams (JSAT) to evaluate

accident investigation reports to analyze the series of events leading to the

accidents, and get a sense of what and

how decisions were made in the course

of the flight. Other

teams, Joint Safety

Implementation Teams

(JSIT), using the findings of the JSAT, develop and recommend

intervention actions to

eliminate or reduce the

causes or improve the

actions in the decision

making process.

Training about the decision making process has

been identified by these

teams as part of the solution.

Aviation weather

information, which is

complex and highly perishable, is most

useful when customers can successfully plan, act, and respond in ways that

avoid accidents and delays. FAA will

improve the ability of the aviation

community to use weather information

through a review and upgrade of airDEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION WEATHER PROGRAMS

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has the responsibility to provide national and international leadership in the optimization of aviation weather systems and services. This leadership is manifested through the management of a safe and efficient National Airspace System (NAS) and the encouragement of consensus and cooperation between government agencies, private weather services,

research organizations, and user groups involved in aviation weather. The Federal Highway

Administration (FHWA) manages programs that provide federal financial and technical assistance to

the states, promotes safe commercial motor vehicle operations, and provides access to and within national forests and

parks, native American reservations, and other public lands. Safety, efficiency, and mobility in these programs requires

the incorporation and use of timely weather and road condition information. The Federal Railroad Administration is

promotes and regulates railroad safety. It also sponsors research to enhance railroad safety and efficiency, including

support for improved collection, dissemination, and application of weather information to reduce hazards to train operations and to railroad employees. The Federal Transit Administration mission is to ensure personal mobility and

America's economic and community vitality by supporting high quality public transportation through leadership, technical assistance and financial resources. The United States Coast Guard (USCG) meteorological activities include the

taking, collection, and transmission of marine and coastal weather warnings and observations; deployment and maintenance of offshore environmental monitoring buoys; and the operation of long-range radionavigation networks.

FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION

SECTION 3 DOT 117
118 DOT SECTION 3

men training and certification programs. FAA will also develop multimedia training tools to support aviation

safety and training initiatives. Funding

has been requested to further this

effort.

Weather has been made a standard

consideration in all aspects of the operation and architecture of the NAS.

Aviation weather needs from the field,

federal agencies, and industry are

entered into the FAA Acquisition

Management System (AMS) through

which all new programs and changes

to the NAS are processed, evaluated,

validated, engineered to a requirement,

and acquired. The Air Traffic System

Requirements Service (ARS) has the

responsibility to guide all initiatives

through the AMS process and organization, including the Integrated

Requirements Team, the Integrated

Product Team, and the Decision

Boards; to assure the development

continues to meet the original need;

and to guide the activity should the

need be evolving. ARS has added

improvements to the AMS process

whereby non-system or non-hardware

(e.g., service improvement or rule

changes) solutions will receive the

same rigorous evaluation and validation. FAA has established an Aviation

Weather Technology Transfer (AWTT)

Board which addresses the key issues

involved in bringing new capabilities

in to the operational system. At key

decision points, the board evaluates the

maturity of the capability, its integration into the existing system, its supportability in the field, and the training

program to prepare the users.

The successful execution of a national aviation weather program is first

dependent upon an explicit and mutually understood definition and acceptance of roles and responsibilities both

within and outside of the FAA. The

execution of these roles and responsibilities have been enhanced by the

chartering and complete staffing of the

ARS, clarifying FAA lines of business,

and completing intra-agency and interagency plans.

FAA relies on other federal agencies

for weather services and support, especially NOAA's National Weather

Service (NWS) and its Aviation

Weather Center. Requirements validated by FAA for domestic and

International Civil Aviation

Organization (ICAO) users are coordinated annually and supported through

the agencies and contractual arrangements. All agencies' efforts in the area

of aviation weather services is coordinated for use by all as appropriate.

Aviation weather technology includes

the ways in which aviation weather

information is gathered, assimilated,

analyzed, forecast, disseminated, and

displayed. The development of this

technology also demands that consideration be given to human factors and

the application of decision-making

tools. FAA will support the use of

technology to improve aviation weather information through integration of

federal and non-federal resources.

Automation, improved product and

graphics generation, and dissemination

to the cockpit offer early opportunities.

AVIATION WEATHER ACQUISITION AND SERVICES

One of the primary functions of the

FAA ARS organization is the development and management of requirements

for the FAA Capital Investment Plan.

Recent projects in the AMS have

focused on weather detection and display systems for pilots and air traffic

controllers to ensure that aircraft avoid

hazardous weather. The following

paragraphs describe many of those

projects.

The Integrated Terminal Weather

System (ITWS) will integrate weather

data from sensors in the terminal area

to provide and display compatible,

consistent, real-time products that

require no additional interpretation by

controllers or pilots--the primary users.

ITWS will use data from automated

surface observing systems, Doppler

weather radars, and low-level wind- Figure 3-DOT-1. The ITWS will integrate data from FAA and NWS sensors

and systems to provide a suite of weather informational products.
SECTION 3 DOT 119

shear alert systems, together with

NWS data and products, to forecast

aviation impact parameters, such as

convection, visibility, icing, and wind

shear, including down bursts. Initial

capabilities will include sensors available now through the early years of the

21st Century. The development is now

in the demonstration phase at several

airports in various climatic regimes.

There will be 38 ITWSs which will

provide displays at 47 high activity airports that are supported by terminal

doppler weather radars.

(Figure 3-DOT-1).

The Corridor Integrated Weather

System (CIWS) is a new program

which will take most of the capabilities

of the integration software of the

ITWS and expand it to cover larger

areas beyond the terminals. ‘Corridor'

in the name implies the area covered

will be an elongated zone which may

include a number of terminal areas

(e.g., the area over Cleveland and

Pittsburgh connecting Chicago and

New York). The CIWS is expected to

integrate information from many

observing sensors in the corridor to

produce weather information products

on current conditions affecting en

route traffic in such a major corridor.

Details on this program are being formulated.

The Terminal Doppler Weather

Radar (TDWR) program consists of

the procurement and installation of a

new terminal weather radar based on

Doppler techniques. TDWR units

have been located to optimize the

detection of microbursts and wind

shear at selected high operations and

weather activity airports. In addition,

TDWR has the capability to identify

areas of precipitation and the locations

of thunderstorms (Figure 3-DOT-2).

Microbursts are weather phenomenon that consist of an intense down

draft with strong surface outflows.

They are particularly dangerous to aircraft that are landing or departing.

TDWR scanning strategy is optimized

for microburst/wind shear detection.

The radars are located near the airport

operating areas in a way to best scan

the runways as well as the approach

and departure corridors. The displays

are located in the tower cab and

Terminal Radar Approach Control

(TRACON).

FAA has 45 TDWR systems commissioned and the remaining 2 systems

will be commissioned by the end of

calendar year (CY) 2002. A software

upgrade which integrates TDWR and

low level wind shear alert system data

has been integrated at 9 high

traffic/high weather threat airports.

The Low Level Wind Shear Alert

System (LLWAS) provides pilots with

information on hazardous wind shear

that create unsafe conditions for aircraft landings and departures. A total

of 110 airports have LLWAS. The 101

basic systems, LLWAS-2, consists of a

wind sensor located at center field and

5 to 32 sensors near the periphery of

the airport (Figure 3-DOT-3). A computer processes the sensor information

and displays wind shear conditions on

a ribbon display to air traffic controllers for relay to pilots. The

Figure 3-DOT-2. FAA Terminal Doppler Weather Radars provide supplementary wind and precipitation conditions for airport approach and departure. 
120 DOT SECTION 3

improvement phase, referred to as

LLWAS-Relocation/Sustainment

(LLWAS-RS), will include expanding

the network of sensors, developing

improved algorithms for the expanded

network, and installing new information/alert displays. The new information/alert displays will enable controllers to provide pilots with head

wind gain or loss estimates for specific

runways. These improvements will

increase the system's wind shear detection capability and reduce false alarms.

Improvements are also expected to

reduce maintenance costs. Currently,

LLWAS–RS are being deployed and

should be completed by mid fiscal year

(FY) 2003.

The Weather Systems Processor

(WSP) program provides an additional

radar channel for processing weather

returns and de-alias returns from the

other weather channel in the ASR-9.

The displays of convective weather,

microbursts, and other wind shear

events will provide information for

controllers and pilots to help aircraft

avoid those hazards. A prototype has

been demonstrated and limited production has commenced. Full production

deliveries are expected to be completed in FY 2002.

The Terminal Weather Information

for Pilots (TWIP) program provides

text message descriptions and character graphic depiction of potentially

hazardous weather conditions in the

terminal area of airports with installed

TDWR systems. TWIP provides pilots

with information on regions of moderate to heavy precipitation, gust fronts,

and microburst conditions. The TWIP

capability is incorporated in the

TDWR software application. Text

messages or character graphic depiction are received in the cockpit through

the Aeronautical Radio Incorporated

(ARINC) Communication Addressing

and Reporting System (ACARS) data

link system. A total of 47 TDWR systems will be deployed with 45 of those

currently installed and commissioned.

The TWIP capability is operational at

31 of the TDWR sites. Activation of

TWIP at the remaining sites is dependent on availability of National Airspace

Data Interchange Network (NADIN) II

connectivity and program funding.

The Flight Information System (FIS)

Policy was implemented during

FY 2001, through GovernmentIndustry Project Performance

Agreements (G-IPPAs) with two industry FIS data link service providers

(ARNAV Systems, Inc. and Honeywell

International, Inc.). Through the government-industry agreements, the FAA

provides access to four VHF channels

(136.425-136.500) in the aeronautical

spectrum while industry provides the

ground infrastructure for data link

broadcasts of text and graphic FIS

products at no cost to the FAA. Under

the agreements, a basic set of text products are provided at no fee to the pilot

users while industry may charge subscription fees for other value-added

text and graphic products.

The FAA FIS data link program will

continue development of necessary

standards and guidelines supporting

inter-operability and operational use.

In addition, the need and feasibility for

establishing a national capability for

collecting and distributing electronic

pilot reports (E-PIREPs) from low-altitude general aviation operations is

being evaluated. Also, in FY 2001 a

concept analysis will be initiated to

define the need for transition and evolution of FIS data link services supporting the future NAS architecture

including Free Flight operations.

SURFACE WEATHER OBSERVING PROGRAM

Aviation Weather Observations. The

FAA has taken responsibility for aviation weather observations at many airports across the country. To provide

the appropriate observational service,

FAA is using automated systems,

human observers, or a mix of the two.

It has been necessary to place airports

into four categories according to the

number of operations per year, any

special designation for the airport, and

the frequency at which the airport is

impacted by weather.

• Level D service is provided by a

stand-alone Automated Weather

Observing System (AWOS) or an

Automated Surface Observing

System (ASOS). In the future,

Level D service may be available at

as many as 400 airports. Figure 3-DOT-3. LLWAS equipment on an airfield.
SECTION 3 DOT 121

• Level C service includes the

ASOS/AWOS plus augmentation by

tower personnel. Tower personnel

will add to the report observations of

thunderstorms, tornadoes, hail, tower

visibility, volcanic ash, and virga

when the tower is in operation.

Level C service includes about 250

airports.

• Level B service includes all of the

weather parameters in Level C service plus Runway Visual Range

(RVR) and the following parameters

when observed--freezing drizzle versus freezing rain, ice pellets, snow

depth, snow increasing rapidly

remarks, thunderstorm/lightning

location remarks, and remarks for

observed significant weather not at

the station. Level B service includes

about 57 airports.

• Level A service includes all of the

weather parameters in Level B service plus 10-minute averaged RVR for

long-line transmission or additional

visibility increments of 1/8, 1/16, and

0 miles. Level A service includes

about 78 airports.

Automated surface aviation weather

observing systems will provide aviation-critical weather data (e.g., wind

velocity, temperature, dew point,

altimeter setting, cloud height, visibility, and precipitation--type, occurrence,

and accumulation) through the use of

automated sensors. These systems will

process data and allow dissemination

of output information to a variety of

users, including pilots via computergenerated voice.

Automated Weather Observing

Systems (AWOS) was deployed at

over 200 airports to provide the basic

aviation weather observation information directly to pilots approaching the

airport. The majority of these systems

were installed at various non-towered

airports to enhance aviation safety and

the efficiency of flight operations by

providing real-time weather data at airports that previously did not have local

weather reporting capability. These

systems are built to the standards of

quality necessary to ensure the safety

of flight operations and are available

off-the-shelf as a commercial product.

There remain 198 AWOSs.

Automated Surface Observing

Systems (ASOS). In a joint program

with NOAA NWS, the FAA has procured, installed, and operates ASOS at

the remaining airports where the FAA

provides observations and at additional

non-towered airports without weather

reporting capabilities in accord with

the levels of service listed above.

Production is complete and the FAA

has 569 systems installed and commissioned.

Aviation Weather Sensor Systems

(AWSS), a new program, will have

capability similar to ASOS. However,

the AWSS is a direct acquisition of the

FAA and not from the joint program.

Full production may begin in FY 2002,

pending funding, with commissioning

completed in FY 2003.

The AWOS/ASOS Data Acquisition

System (ADAS) functions primarily as

a message concentrator and will collect

weather messages from AWOS and

ASOS equipment located at controlled

and non-controlled airports within

each air route traffic control center's

(ARTCC) area of responsibility.

ADAS will distribute minute-byminute AWOS/ASOS data to the

Weather and Radar Processor (WARP)

within the air route traffic control center in which it is installed. ADAS will

also distribute AWOS data to the

NADIN which will in-turn forward the

data to Weather Message Switching

Center Replacement (WMSCR) for

further distribution. Field implementation of ADAS has been completed.

The Automated Lightning Detection

and Reporting System (ALDARS) is a

system adjunct to the ADAS.

ALDARS collects lightning stroke

information from the National

Lightning Detection Network (NLDN)

and disseminates this data to

AWOS/ASOS for the reporting of

thunderstorms in METAR or SPECI

observations, when appropriate. The

use of ALDARS eliminates the need

for manual reporting of thunderstorms

and increases the number of airports

where thunderstorms will be reported.

ALDARS is completely operational.

Stand Alone Weather Sensors

(SAWS) are planned to be back-up for

some AWOS/ASOS sensors at locations where no other back-up capability is available. SAWS is in the demonstration phase with full delivery

expected in CY 2002.

AWOS for Non-Federal

Applications. Under the Airport

Improvement Program (AIP), state and

other local jurisdictions may justify to

the FAA their need to enhance their airport facilities. Upon approval, these

improvements may be partially funded

by the FAA using resources from the

Airway Trust Fund. The local airport

authority becomes responsible for the

remainder of the funding necessary to

complete the procurement as well as

the funding for the regular maintenance. The addition of an AWOS is

one of the improvements that qualify

for AIP funding assistance. Systems

that qualify must meet certain standards which are defined in an FAA

Advisory Circular on Non-Federal

Automated Weather Observing

Systems.

There are more than 275 non-Federal

AWOS locations. Some of these are

capable of reporting through a geostationary communications satellite;

many more will acquire that capability

during the year. These observations

will be entered into the national network for use in support of the NAS and

the national weather network.

The New Generation Runway Visual

Range (NRVR) program provides for a

new generation RVR sub-element of

the NAS. The NRVR provides runway

visual range information to controllers

and users in support of precision landing and take-off operations. The

NRVR incorporates state-of-the-art
122 DOT SECTION 3

sensor technology and embedded

remote maintenance monitoring. FAA

plans to procure and install these

NRVR systems at all new qualifying

locations. FAA plans also call for the

replacement of many existing RVRs in

the NAS inventory.

The NRVR provides for near realtime measurement of visibility conditions along a runway (up to three

points along the runway can be measured-- touchdown, midpoint, and rollout) and reports these visibility conditions to air traffic controllers and other

users. The system automatically collects and formats data from three sensors: a visibility sensor--forward scatter meters will replace the transmissometers currently in use, a runway

light intensity monitor for both runway

edges and center-line lights, and an

ambient light sensor which controls

computer calculations using a day or

night algorithm. The data processing

unit calculates runway visibility products and distributes the products to

controllers and other users.

NRVR visibility sensors will be

deployed at 308 airports. Delivery of

the NRVR sensors began in November

1998. To date, 208 have been delivered and 172 have been commissioned.

At the current levels of annual funding,

the program will have completed the

deployment by the end of CY 2009.

The FAA is procuring the

Operational and Supportability

Implementation System (OASIS) to

improve weather products, flight information, aeronautical data collection,

analysis, and timeliness of dissemination and, thereby, enhance the safety

and efficiency of the NAS. OASIS

will replace the Model-1 Full Capacity

Flight Service Automation System,

which includes the Aviation Weather

Processor. OASIS will also integrate

the Interim Graphic Weather Display

System functions and include several

automated flight service data handling

capabilities. This configuration will be

its initial deployment capability.

Operational testing began in 1999;

deployment will commence in

FY 2002.

Future enhancements leading to the

full capability deployment will

include: interactive alphanumeric and

graphic weather briefings, direct user

access terminal (DUAT) service functionality, automated special use airspace, and training support. OASIS

will support flight planning, weather

briefings, NOTAM service, search and

rescue, and pilot access terminal services.

The Next Generation Weather Radar

(NEXRAD), known operationally as

the Weather Surveillance Radar-1988

Doppler (WSR-88D), is a multiagency program that defined, developed, and implemented the new weather radar. Field implementation began

in 1990 and was completed in 1996.

There are a total of 161 WSR-88D systems deployed. The FAA sponsored

12 systems in Alaska, Hawaii, and the

Caribbean. DOC and DOD

WSR–88Ds provide coverage over the

continental United States.

The FAA emphasized the development of WSR-88D algorithms that take

advantage of the improved detection of

precipitation, wind velocity, and hazardous storms. The FAA also stressed

that these algorithms provide new or

improved aviation-oriented products.

These improvements in detection of

hazardous weather will reduce flight

delays and improve flight planning

services through aviation weather

products related to wind, wind shear,

thunderstorm detection, storm movement prediction, precipitation, hail,

frontal activity, and mesocyclones and

tornadoes. WSR-88D data provided to

ATC through the WARP will increase

aviation safety and fuel efficiency.

In addition, the three funding agencies support the field sites through the

WSR-88D Radar Operations Center

(ROC) at Norman, Oklahoma. The

ROC provides software maintenance,

operational troubleshooting, configuration control, and training. Planned

product improvements include a shift

to an open architecture, new antenna

design, dual polarization, and the

development of more algorithms associated with specific weather events,

such as hurricanes.

The Air Route Surveillance Radar

(ARSR-4) provides the ARTCCs with

accurate multiple weather levels out to

200 nautical miles. The ARSR-4 is the

first en route radar with the ability to

accurately report targets in weather.

The ARSR-4 can provide weather

information to supplement other

sources. The ARSR-4 is a joint

FAA/USAF funded project. Forty

joint radar sites were installed during

the 1992-1995 period.

The Weather and Radar Processor

(WARP), Stage 0 has replaced the

Meteorologists Weather Processor to

provide aviation weather information

to the Center Weather Service Units.

Stage 1 and 2 will automatically create

unique regional, WSR-88D-based,

mosaic products, and send these products, along with other time-critical

weather information, to controllers

through the Display System

Replacement and to pilots via the FIS.

WARP will greatly enhance the dissemination of aviation weather information throughout the NAS. WARP is

currently undergoing operational testing and evaluation and will be fielded

at the ARTCCs in FY 2003.

The Direct User Access Terminal

(DUAT) system has been operational

since February 1990. Through DUAT,

pilots are able to access weather and

NOTAMs and also file their IFR

and/or VFR flight plans from their

home or office personal computer.

This system will eventually be

absorbed into OASIS.

AVIATION WEATHER COMMUNICATIONS

It should be noted that FAA communications systems are multi-purpose.

Weather data, products, and informa-
SECTION 3 DOT 123

tion constitute a large percentage of the

traffic, as do NOTAMS, flight plans,

and other aeronautical data.

The National Airspace Data

Interchange Network (NADIN II)

packet-switched network was implemented to serve as the primary interfacility data communications resource

for a large community of NAS computer subsystems. The network design

incorporates packet-switching technology into a highly connected backbone

network which provides extremely

high data flow capacity and efficiency

to the network users. NADIN II consists of operational switching nodes at

two network control centers (and

nodes) at the National Aviation

Weather Processing Facilities at Salt

Lake City, Utah, and Atlanta, Georgia.

It will interface directly to Weather

Message Switching Center

Replacement (WMSCR), WARP,

ADAS, TMS, and the Consolidated

NOTAM System. NADIN II also may

be used as the intra-facility communications system between these (collocated) users during transition to end

state.

The Weather Message Switching

Center Replacement (WMSCR)

replaced the Weather Message

Switching Center (WMSC) located at

FAA's National Communications

Center (NATCOM), Kansas City,

Missouri, with state-of-the-art technology. WMSCR performs all current

alphanumeric weather data handling

functions of the WMSC and the storage and distribution of NOTAMs.

WMSCR will rely on NADIN for a

majority of its communications support. The system will accommodate

graphic data and function as the primary FAA gateway to the NWS'

National Centers for Environmental

Prediction (NCEP)--the principal

source of NWS products for the NAS.

To provide for geographic redundancy, the system has nodes in the NADIN

buildings in Atlanta, Georgia, and Salt

Lake City, Utah. Each node supports

approximately one-half of the United

States and will continuously exchange

information with the other to ensure

that both nodes have identical national

databases. In the event of a nodal failure, the surviving one will assume

responsibility for dissemination to the

entire network.

Currently, specifications for an

upgrade or replacement for the

WMSCR are being formulated. The

needs, when developed, will be entered

into the AMS process for validation

and acceptance into the NAS architecture.

The Flight Information Service (FIS)

is a new communications systems to

provide weather information to pilots

in the cockpit. FIS is a partnership

program among the government and

private industry with the government

providing the base information and the

bandwidth while the private companies

provide the broadcast and value-added

products. New products are screened

for technical suitability and value to

the pilots. Two companies have

demonstrated preliminary products

and capability.

The Worldwide Aeronautical

Forecast System (WAFS) is a three

geosynchronous satellite-based system

for collecting and disseminating aviation weather information and products

to/from domestic or international aviation offices as well as in-flight aircraft.

The information and products are prepared at designated offices in

Washington, District of Columbia, and

Bracknell, United Kingdom. The

United States portion of WAFS is a

joint project of the FAA and NWS to

meet requirements of the ICAO member states. FAA funds the satellite

communications link and the NWS

provides the information/product

stream.

Two of the three satellites are funded

by the United States. The first is located over the western Atlantic with a

footprint covering western Africa and

Europe, the Atlantic Ocean, South

America, and North America (except

for the West Coast and Alaska). The

second United States-funded satellite

is positioned over the Pacific and covers the United States West Coast and

Alaska, the Pacific Ocean, and the

Pacific rim of Asia. The third satellite,

operated by the United Kingdom, is

stationed over the western Indian

Ocean and covers the remaining areas

of Europe, Asia, and Africa. The data

available via WAFS include flight

winds, observations, forecasts,

SIGMETs, AIRMETs, and hazards to

aviation including volcanic ash clouds.

AVIATION WEATHER RESEARCH

PROGRAM

Working closely with the Integrated

Product Team for Weather/Flight

Services Systems, ARW sponsors

research on specific aviation weather

phenomena which are hazardous

and/or limiting to aircraft operations.

This research is performed through

collaborative efforts with the National

Science Foundation (NSF), NOAA,

NASA, and the Massachusetts Institute

of Technology's Lincoln Laboratory. A

primary concern is the effective management of limited research, engineering, and development resources and

their direct application to known deficiencies and technical enhancements.

Improved Aircraft Icing Forecasts.

The purpose of this initiative is to

establish a comprehensive multi-year

research and development effort to

improve aircraft icing forecasts as

described in the FAA Aircraft Icing

Plan. The objectives of this plan are to

develop: (1) an icing severity index,

(2) icing guidance models, and (3) a

better comprehension of synoptic and

mesoscale conditions leading to inflight icing. The result of this effort

will be an improved icing forecasting

capability that provides pilots with

more timely and accurate forecasts of

actual and expected icing areas by

location, altitude, duration, and potential severity.
124 DOT SECTION 3

Convective Weather Forecasting.

The purpose of this research effort is to

establish more comprehensive knowledge of the conditions that trigger convection and thunderstorms and, in general, the dynamics of a thunderstorm's

life cycle. The program will lead to

enhanced capability to predict growth,

areal extent, movement, and type of

precipitation from thunderstorms.

Gaining this forecast capability will

allow better use of the airspace and

help aircraft avoid areas with hazardous convective conditions

(Figure 3-DOT-4).

Model Development and

Enhancement. This research is aimed

at developing or improving models to

better characterize the state of the

atmosphere and stratosphere in general, with specific emphasis on the flight

operation environment specifically,

with the aim to provide superior aviation weather products to end users.

Aviation Forecast and Quality

Assurance (AF&QA). The Product

Development Team for AFGS is working on the development of products for

dissemination on the Aviation Digital

Data System. New algorithms will be

developed to present hazardous conditions in the flight operations environment. They will develop a process for

automated production of the

SIGMETs. There will be capability to

assure quality and a real-time verification process.

Weather Support to Deicing Decision

Making (WSDDM). This system

develops products that provide forecasts on the intensity of snow and

freezing rain, and how or when these

phenomena will change in the short

term. This information is needed by

airport management to determine when

an aircraft will require deicing before

take-off. The water content of snow is

believed to be an important factor. The

output product is designed for nonmeteorological aviation users and has

been demonstrated at three different

airports. Development work has been

completed and FAA has made this system available to airport authorities who

wish to use it as a decision aid.

Ceiling and Visibility. A development and demonstration is underway

in the San Francisco Bay area. The

project will have unique sensors and

the data will be used in new algorithms to develop improved forecasts.

The project will continue over a number years as the progress is evaluated.

This project is a joint effort with other

federal agencies and some of the

effort is performed by academic

researchers.

Turbulence. In addition to the work

being performed by the JSAT under

the Safer Skies Program, a PDT has a

seven year plan to evaluate wind shear

and turbulence around and on the

approaches to Juneau, Alaska. Also,

they are working with certain airlines

to install instruments on aircraft with

the capability to measure turbulence

as sensed on the aircraft and report

this information automatically. The

data will be used to verify forecasts

and to develop a standard index to

report and warn for turbulence.

Figure 3-DOT-4. Convective Sigmet graphics are produced by the Aviation Weather Center and accessible to

pilots from their web site. (Source: AWC web site)
SECTION 3 DOT 125

NEXRAD Enhancements. Work is

continuing to develop improvements to

the existing products and to develop

some new graphics. Hardware and

software pre-planned product

improvements are are being pursued.

These efforts are joint among DOT,

DOD, and DOC.

Space Weather. Space Weather is of

concern to the FAA in several areas of

operations and regulations.

Ionospheric scintillation creates certain

errors in the Global Positioning

System that affects navigation, especially for instrument approaches to airports. In programs for Wide Area and

Local Area Augmentation Systems

(WAAS and LAAS) corrections for

these effects are being developed. This

will be a very important advance to

promote the Free Flight management

of the National Airspace System. In

addition, the effects on the ionosphere

have grave impacts on the use of high

frequency communications which are

essential in air traffic control of flights

across the oceans and over the poles of

the Earth.

FAA is embarking in research at the

Civil Aeromedical Institute in Oklahoma

City on the radiation effects on fetuses of

newly pregnant women when flying at

high altitudes and at high latitudes where

exposure is increased. The exposure of

flight crews to this hazard will be measured to determine if repeated flights in

this regime may accumulate deleterious

results.

FAA planners for commercial space

operations are working on the weather

requirements to set criteria for space

launch activities. The commercial

launch sites in California, Florida and

Virginia are co-located with government sites where the weather support is

available. However, at the new commercial space launch site in Kodiak,

Alaska new criteria must be developed

and established for standard procedures.
126 DOT SECTION 3
SECTION 3 DOT 127

FEDERAL PROGRAMS IN

SUPPORT OF ROAD WEATHER

The Road Weather Management

Program

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) coordinates a number of

activities aimed at improving safety,

mobility, productivity, environmental

quality and national security on the

nation's highways with respect to

weather threats. These activities

include identification of weather

impacts to build the case for road

weather programs, research to advance

the state of the art concerning road

weather practices, and promotion of

the best available practices. The

FHWA acts through federal aid and

national coordination since it does not

operate the highway system or Road

Weather Information Systems (RWIS)

that serve state and local highway

operators and the public and private

highway users. FHWA activities are

conducted as partnerships with other

public agencies, private sector vendors, road users, and universities.

Weather cuts across many FHWA

and related surface transportation

modal activities. Coordination is centered in the Road Weather

Management Program within the

FHWA Office of Transportation

Operations. Road weather activities

are closely associated with the

Intelligent Transportation System

(ITS) Program as the framework for

advanced road weather information

and decision support. Road weather

activities are dependent on, but distinct

from, general meteorological activities

in two respects. In terms of the geophysical focus, weather must be related to what happens near, on, and under

road surfaces as it affects pavements,

structures, vehicles and ITS components. In terms of operations, the focus

is on the decisions that use road weather information as one of many

resources. This has led to a decisioncentered approach for defining the program, with road weather information

on one side and effective actions to

deal with road weather on the other.

Program activities are then organized

primarily by the ITS subsystems and

decisions served: maintenance management, traffic management, emergency management and traveler information. However, a common information infrastructure, or "infostructure",

within the ITS includes road weather

observation. This observational system is emerging as a contribution to

the general environmental observation

system that underlies all weather products. The FHWA expects that as

weather products advance, there will

be a need for greater integration of

observation, prediction and science in

the total land/air/sea/space environment.

FHWA road weather activities

extend back to the 1970s, but the current coordinating program began in

1997. Over the entire period, the

FHWA has achieved both practical

successes and an expanded vision for

the road weather agenda. There is no

question that among modes, surface

transportation has the most lives, the

most time, and the most value in commerce at risk to weather threats. The

problem has been to identify distinct

and useful roles with respect to weather within FHWA jurisdiction. With the

surface transportation reauthorization

in 2004, funding programs for an integrated "infostructure" system and a

dedicated road weather research program are anticipated. This will enable

a more vigorous attack on the many

issues associated with past and current

activities whose descriptions follow.

The Strategic Highway Research

Program (SHRP)

The Strategic Highway Research

Program (SHRP) was established by

the United States Congress through the

1987 Surface Transportation Act. This

Act obligated $150 million over five

years to improve the performance and

durability of our nation's roads. The

SHRP program examined a number of

different subject areas, but the one

most closely related to road weather

was winter maintenance within the

highway operations subject area. The

research program was active until

1993, producing specifications, testing

methods, equipment, and advanced

technologies. Following the success of

the five-year effort, the FHWA coordinated a national program to work with

state and local highway agencies to

implement and evaluate the products.

This phase, entitled SHRP

Implementation, was funded through

the 1991 Intermodal Surface

Transportation Efficiency Act

(ISTEA). This Act obligated $108 million over six years, and was administered jointly by the FHWA, the

American Association of State

Highway and Transportation Officials

(AASHTO), and the Transportation

Research Board (TRB).

The SHRP products encompassed

various technology areas. Reports on

Anti-Icing and Road Weather

Information Systems, published by

1993, were instrumental in raising

awareness of the state of the art among

highway operating agencies. Antiicing techniques, requiring chemical

application before snow fall and ice

formation , have had a vital synergy

with predictive road weather information, and have in turn led to demand for

improved observation and prediction

through RWIS. 

The SHRP Evaluation and

Implementation Database (www.wsdot.

wa.gov/fossc/OTA/SHRP/) contains

information on the SHRP Lead States

Program, SHRP products and vendors,

SHRP and other publications, discussion groups, a personnel directory, and

a calendar of SHRP-related events. An

important adjunct to the SHRP antiicing studies was a follow-up field

evaluation of techniques, conducted

under the FHWA Test and Evaluation

FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION
128 DOT SECTION 3

Maintenance Decision Support System (MDSS)--Update

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) recently unveiled a functional prototype of the

Maintenance Decision Support System (MDSS). The MDSS is a tool made specifically to assist State

Department of Transportation personnel with guidance and recommendations associated with winter road

maintenance activities. The goal of the project is to integrate state of the art weather forecasting components

with customized best maintenance practice logic to provide precise forecasts of road conditions and roadway

treatment recommendations. It is envisioned that the output of the MDSS will provide savings to the state by

reducing the amount of materials applied to the road, minimizing labor and equipment costs by matching

plow runs with expected weather conditions, and promoting safety by providing detailed recommendations

optimized to maintain the highest level of service on roads.

The FHWA assembled a stakeholder group of representatives from two-dozen states, numerous private

transportation weather forecasting companies, and members of academia to solicit requirements for a next

generation decision support system for winter maintenance. These inputs were provided to a consortium of

national laboratories, which leveraged existing cutting edge technologies with new components to create the

prototype. Participating labs included the National Center for Atmospheric Research, NOAA's Forecast

Systems Laboratory, NOAA's National Severe Storms Laboratory, the United States Army Corps of

Engineers Cold Regions Research and Experimental Laboratory and the Massachusetts Institute of

Technology's Lincoln Laboratory.

The MDSS contains several sophisticated components. In addition to utilizing weather models from the

National Weather Service's National Centers for Environmental Prediction, the MDSS ensemble module provides one of the first applications of high-resolution mesoscale ensemble forecasting. The Road Weather

Forecast System is a mature data fusion engine that uses model input, mesonet/Road Weather Information

Systems (RWIS) observations and dynamic Model Output Statistics (MOS) to provide accurate forecasts.

The Road Condition and Treatment Module (RCTM) ingests all of the weather data, executes algorithms to

determine roadway temperatures and surface chemical concentrations, and integrates customized, best management practice information to produce route-specific treatment recommendations. A java-based display

application presents the results to the operators using combinations of colorful maps, animations, and time

series graphics. One of the most powerful aspects of the MDSS is its ability to allow the user to modify treatment recommendations in any number of "what if" scenarios.

Most of the MDSS will be available in the public domain for download on September 20, 2002.

Information about the MDSS project and links to the software and documentation can be found at

www.rap.ucar.edu/projects/rdwx_mdss/index.html

FHWA and the lab consortium plan to demonstrate the MDSS in one state over the winter of 2002-2003 to

solicit feedback from state maintenance managers and to validate and verify the accuracy of both the weather forecasts and the treatment recommendations. For more information on the MDSS and the Federal

Highway Administration's Road Weather Management Program, contact Paul Pisano at

Paul.Pisano@fhwa.dot.gov or visit www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/weather.
SECTION 3 DOT 129

Program. Results appeared in 1998 as

Project No. 28: Anti-Icing Technology.

The ITS Research Program

The synergy of treatment technique

and RWIS development now continues

in the FHWA Road Weather

Management Program and is strongly

allied with the ITS Program. The

ISTEA of 1991 also established the

ITS Program, including its research

program that now funds most of the

FHWA road weather activities. The

ITS program in the United States is

overseen by the ITS Joint Program

Office (ITS-JPO), which is a crossmodal program hosted in the FHWA

Operations Core Business Unit, where

the Road Weather Management

Program also resides.

While the ITS initially focused on

automated highways and metropolitan

areas, a rural focus was initiated in

1996. The rural ITS Program identified maintenance and weather as additional ITS focus areas, and recognized

the need for total integration of the

maintenance, traffic and emergency

management functions across wide

areas and between states. Maintenance

management continued the SHRP heritage as the main focus of road weather concerns when the Road Weather

Management Program was formed,

initially as the FHWA "Weather Team",

in 1997. However, the long term agenda continues to integrate road weather

across the management functions,

across modes, and for traveler information. The research activities below

are within this overall weather-acrossITS strategy. The ITS is also the logical informational interface with the

national weather information system.

The ITS Architecture and Standards

The ITS uses open system principles: a uniformly defined modular

structure of information processes with

known protocols for passing information between modules. The information may be free or for a price, but all

ITS applications should be able to get

the information needed to support

transportation decisions. The National

ITS Architecture is the modular structure and was one of the earliest tasks of

the ITS program. Several equipment

interfaces are then standardized under

the category of National

Transportation Communications for

ITS Protocol (NTCIP) standards, and

there are associated data object and

message set standards. The ITS program is promoting use of the National

ITS Architecture and its standards as

requirements for federal aid to ITS

deployments by the operating agencies.

Weather information was not an

original focus of the National ITS

Architecture, and weather information

was defined as flowing from external

sources with their own architecture and

standards. As weather gains significance in the ITS, and as the interfaces

between road weather and atmospheric

weather need to be coordinated, the

National ITS Architecture is being

adapted. The Environmental Sensor

Station (ESS) standard was recently

approved. This NTCIP standard specifies data objects and formats between

the remote surface-weather and roadcondition sensor sites, and the central

processing units for the data (e.g., in

maintenance management offices and

traffic management centers). The ESS

standard will be effective in the integration of different vendors' systems,

and create a uniform format for ingest

of road weather data into the general

environmental observation system. 

Following the rural ITS program

definition of weather and maintenance

as ITS application areas, the National

ITS Architecture has, within the last

two years, developed the Maintenance

and Construction Operations (MCO)

user service. User services are the

application-oriented requirements

clusters for the architecture. Detailing

of the architecture with respect to road

weather and its maintenance applications, through the MCO user service

requirements, was completed in 2002.

Among the changes is definition of a

Road Weather Information Service terminator in addition to the existing

Weather Service terminator. Together,

these represent the division of responsibility for road weather, now provided

largely by private vendors and based

on the ESS observations, and weather

generally. The interfaces between the

two types of services is then defined as

being outside of the ITS. However, the

FHWA maintains an interest in specific improvement in weather information

that will enhance road weather prediction, such as higher resolution numerical modeling and better characterization of precipitation at the road surface.

The interface from the ESS, which is

within the ITS, to both the road and

general weather services, is also a

FHWA interest.

It is hoped that further detailing of

weather applications in traffic and

emergency management will lead to

further architecture detailing in the

years ahead. As the interface between

the ITS and the evolving national

weather information system becomes

closer, the National ITS Architecture

and standards will provide a technical

basis for integration and promotion of

open system principles. The National

ITS Architecture, in its latest update,

can be found at itsarch.iteris.com/itsarch/.

The Observing "Infostructure"

Surveillance is fundamental to the

ITS. The state of roadways and traffic

is basic to almost all ITS applications.

The capabilities to observe traffic,

facilities, and the environment around

the roadways are becoming a necessary part of roadway facilities themselves. The information-generating

part of the road infrastructure is

dubbed the "infostructure". In 2002,

the FHWA is drafting requirements to

support infostructure funding as part of

the surface transportation-authorizing

act that will be effective in 2004.

Road weather sensing, through the

ESS, will be a part of the "infostructure". However, there are many
130 DOT SECTION 3

aspects to road weather observation,

and some substitutability between

methods of observation. The authorizing legislation is focused on metropolitan ITS and concerned mainly with

congestion management. Clearly, the

need for ESS observations extends further. The ESS can be a vital part of

homeland security, as well as more

prosaic hazardous material (hazmat)

spill and environmental management.

Many types of fixed, mobile and

remote platforms can observe relevant

road conditions, especially road weather. But all observations ultimately support predictive information for decision support applications, even if the

predictions just use persistence of what

is observed. In the case of road temperature, the critical predictor for antiicing at least, heat balance modeling

relying on high-resolution numerical

modeling of insolation and radiation

can substitute for ESS observation.

However, the use of ESS for spot hazard warning versus general area prediction, and the value of reinitializing

heat balance models by ESS data

require some level of deployment. The

current census of ESS in the United

States, by state, is shown in

Figure 3-DOT-5.

Remote ESSs are generally fixed,

with in situ sensors for the usual surface weather variables as well as road

surface/subsurface temperature probes,

covering water phase and depth, and

chemical concentration/freezing point

depression at the road surface. In some

cases, and potentially over all road

mileage, mobile sensors of the road

condition are deployed. An important

application of the mobile, and potentially remote, road temperature sensing

is thermal mapping. This technique

provides snapshots of complete road

temperature profiles and is used both

to select ESS fixed sites and to spatially predict temperatures based on time

series predictors at the fixed stations.

There are future possibilities for

remote sensing of "skin temperature"

on roads and adjacent surfaces, by

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

and satellites (especially the next generation polar orbiters). This could

make a limited deployment of fixed

sensors more effective and improve the

initialization of heat balance models.

At present, ESS data across the

United States are neither integrated nor

open. The data are not centrally collected, in standard format, available to

all users, nor uniformly used.

However, regional efforts are paving

the way for both openness and integration. So-called mesonets (mesoscale

meteorological networks) within states

and across states, usually under university auspices, are integrating the data

across many observational systems.

The data are used in some cases to validate weather forecasts and analyses,

and in the rare case, but nowhere are

they used, like other surface observations, for ingest into numerical weather

prediction models. In order to address

these issues, the FHWA is participating

in the Committee on Integrated

Observing Systems (CIOS) of the

OFCM. From the FHWA perspective,

the purpose of CIOS involvement is to:

(1) arrive at an efficient allocation of

observations to platforms, including the

ESS; (2) establish further open-system

interfaces for environmental observations with the ITS; and (3) improve the

incorporation of ESS into the general

environmental prediction process. The

motivation is that better environmental

prediction, including the dispersion of

toxic substances in homeland defense

or environmental management, must

consider all interactions between the

land, air and sea domains. It is expected that roadway observing platforms

will become more important over time

and serve both specific road-management and general environmental-management purposes.

The focus of the FHWA remains on

the application of ESS observations to

highway-related decision-making. In

2001, the FHWA sponsored a set of five

Cooperative Program for

Meteorological Education and Training

(COMET) projects that became the

first to add state DOTs to the traditional university and NWS partners. These

projects are ongoing in 2002 and

should be completed in 2003. In five

states (Iowa, Nevada, New York,

Pennsylvania, and Utah), the projects

are improving the use of the ESS data,

through various predictive techniques

and decision support applications.

Figure 3-DOT-5. Census of Environment Sensor Station units deployed in

each state.
SECTION 3 DOT 131

Decision Support

Under previous efforts within the

program, Rroad weather users early

identified requirements as the trinity of

"relevance, accuracy and timeliness".

Those criteria were selected primarily

in reaction to synoptic scale forecasts

that were: (1) not relevant to climatically localized road hazards; (2) not

accurate at such points or at the long

time horizons predicted for; and (3) not

delivered at better than the twice-daily

updates nor at frequent prediction

times in between. Improvements in

that situation, including National

Centers for Environmental Prediction

(NCEP) models at mesoscale resolution and as frequent as hourly updates,

are significant, and largely not in

response to specific road-weather

requirements. The related improvements in regional and private numerical prediction are also helpful, but only

partially driven by road weather

requirements. This is what motivated

the attention away from environmental

prediction to the fusion and presentation of existing information, whatever

it's quality. This was in response to the

evident problem that almost all weather-related transportation decisions do

not rely on one weather information

source, nor on weather information

alone. The gap most in need of attention was between increasingly good

and plentiful information, and the specific decision at hand. This is the area

of FHWA decision support research

and development.

Decision support is where tailoring

occurs. Each decision is specific to a

kind of intervention (traveler information, snow and ice treatment, road closure, modified signal timing, etc.), a

particular place and time, and the characteristics of the decision maker (their

expertise, their location, their information processing equipment). In most

cases, projects to support decisions

about weather threats have also made

some contribution to the environmental prediction inputs. The following

are several important projects undertaken with FHWA support.

The Surface Transportation Weather

Decision Support Requirements

(STWDSR) Project

In 1999 and 2000, decision support

requirements, first generally and then

specifically for winter road maintenance, were studied in the Surface

Transportation Weather Decision

Support Requirements (STWDSR)

project. This project used weather

threat scenarios to identify specific

decisions made in winter road maintenance, their timing, and the expected

confidence of the decisions at various

time horizons. The STWDSR project

became an important contributor to the

OFCM's Weather Information for

Surface Transportation (WIST) needs

analysis, the National ITS Architecture

modifications, and to the Maintenance

Decision Support System (MDSS) prototype project.

The MDSS Project

The Maintenance Decision Support

System (MDSS) project is a multi-year

effort to prototype and field test

advanced decision support components for winter road maintenance

managers. The development of a prototype MDSS is part of the Surface

Transportation Weather Decision

Support Requirements (STWDSR) initiative conducted by Mitretek Systems,

Inc. The documents STWDSR V2.01

and the MDSS Project Plan2 give background information on the project and

operational concept for decision support associated with winter road maintenance. These documents explain the

process used by the FHWA and stakeholder groups (users, vendors, and

researchers) to produce the MDSS prototype.

The MDSS is based on leading diagnostic and prognostic weather research

capabilities (high resolution numerical

forecast models and experimental

algorithms) and road behavior (surface

and subsurface), which are being

developed at six national research centers. It is anticipated that components

of the prototype MDSS system developed by this project will ultimately be

deployed by road operating agencies,

including state departments of transportation (DOTs), and generally supplied by private vendors.

The MDSS project goal is to develop

a prototype capability that: (1) capitalizes on existing road and weather data

sources, (2) augments data sources

where they are weak or where

improved accuracy could significantly

improve decision-making tasks,

(3) fuses data to create an open, integrated and understandable presentation

of current environmental and road conditions, (4) processes data to generate

diagnostic and prognostic maps of road

conditions along road corridors, with

emphasis on the one- to 48-hour horizon (historical information from the

previous 48 hours will also be available), (5) provides a display capability

on the state of the roadway, and

(6) provides a decision support tool

that includes recommendations on road

maintenance courses of action. All of

the above will be provided on a single

platform, with simple and intuitive

operating requirements in a readily

comprehensible display of results and

recommended courses of action,

together with anticipated consequences of action or inaction.

With user needs in mind, a conceptual structure of the prototype MDSS has

been developed. The prototype MDSS

is divided into five primary elements

as shown in Figure 3-DOT-6.

Advanced Transportation Weather

Information System (ATWIS)

The Advanced Transportation

Weather Information System (ATWIS)

project was started in 1995 at the

University of North Dakota and has

become operational under a private

entity (Figure 3-DOT-7). The original

system provided route-specific road

weather information for travelers on

the main routes in North and South

Dakota. Service has since been
132 DOT SECTION 3

expanded into Minnesota and

Montana. For travelers, the primary

decision support is on the routing and

timing of trips and layovers. The primary purpose of the ATWIS research

program is to demonstrate how current

technologies in weather forecasting,

weather analysis, telecommunications,

and road condition monitoring can be

merged effectively to produce a safer

and more efficient transportation system for both commercial and general

travel. ATWIS operates its own

mesoscale numerical model, analyzed

to road conditions on segments of the

Interstate freeway and arterial system

in its states. Information is conveyed

interactively to travelers, primarily via

cellular telephone.

Key areas of interest of this project

include:

• public use and acceptance of road

weather information,

• the added value of highly accurate

weather forecasts,

• information dissemination methods

and the role of telecommunications,

• the need for 24-hour operations,

• the role of road condition monitoring,

• how to generate efficient forecasts,

and

• commercial viability of the system.

ATWIS is currently looking at deployment of the MDSS for maintenance

management decision support as part of

a multi-state pooled fund project.

ATWIS is also the basis for road weather information in regional 511 traveler

information services described below.

FORETELL

With the intent of integrating RWIS

with other ITS services, the FORETELL project was initiated in 1997

with federal, state and private funds in

Iowa, Missouri, and Wisconsin.

FORETELL became operational

through its private operator in 2000.

FORETELL was an MDSS precursor

and focuses on detailed decision support for road maintenance with the

development of heat balance models in

combination with mesoscale numerical

modeling. Internet, telephone and fax

dissemination media also make FORETELL products available to the general

public as traveler information. An

important outgrowth of the FORETELL project has been the inter-state

exchange of weather and other road

condition information in a Condition

Acquisition and Reporting System

(CARS). The CARS has been a vehicle

for promoting more complete weather

information in the ITS center-to-center

data dictionaries and message set standards. CARS is being deployed in several states beside the core FORETELL

states. FORETELL's objectives

include:

• integrating RWIS across state borders,

• assimilating all of the existing

weather and road condition data

sources,

• cutting costs and substantially benefiting the environment by increasing the levels of forecasting detail,

• improving timeliness and accuracy

of road weather information, and

• using multiple media for information dissemination.

In order to evaluate these objectives,

the FHWA also sponsored the first

three-year evaluation of an ITS project,

in an attempt to detect effects despite

annual weather variations. The results

of this analysis are due late in 2003.

Emergency Management

Emergency management, focusing

on hurricane evacuation operations, has

become the second major focus of the

Road Weather Management Program

after winter road maintenance. This

activity has been motivated primarily

by the traffic implications of evacuation for Hurricane Floyd, and the need

for some federal role in coordinating

state evacuation plans. Activities are

focusing on the ring of states from

Texas to Virginia, most liable to the

hurricane threat and in need of evacuation from landfall areas.

The hurricane evacuation activity is

motivated by a weather threat, but then

is devoted to transportation activities

prior to any threat occurring. The

object is to get people away from the

threats of storm surge and coastal

winds before they hit. Inland flooding;

usually following the evolution of the

tropical storm itself, has typically been

the biggest source of fatalities, and can

do the most damage to structures; is

practically a separate problem. The

approach to the hurricane issue has had

to be much different from that of winter

maintenance where the inland weather

threat is immediate and primary.

Hurricane landfall is a major operational and research focus of the

National Weather Service (NWS). The

ability to localize landfall in time and

space, but at long prediction horizons,

is the major factor in all emergency

and transportation management decision making. One problem has been

the tradeoff of resolution for longer

time leads. This has been driven by the

time needed to evacuate growing

coastal populations, but in turn results

in more people evacuated over larger

Figure 3-DOT-6 . Schematic of FHWA’s Maintenance Decision Support System.
SECTION 3 DOT 133

areas with more traffic congestion as a

result. Hurricane Floyd was a prime

example of this problem.

The hurricane evacuation component

of the FHWA program has focused on:

(1) deployment of a transportation/

evacuation planning tool called the

Evacuation Traffic Information System

(ETIS); (2) promoting intra- and interstate evacuation planning and transportation-operations; (3) documenting

the state of the art and the state of the

practice in evacuation traffic management; (4) initiating planning for

demonstration of improved practices;

and (5) enhancing the traffic management role to complement the evacuation and recovery role of the emergency management agencies. The

ETIS was developed originally under

Corps of Engineers auspices but is now

under FHWA sponsorship, and operation by its private developers.

Exercises involving the tool are providing information that can lead to

improved tools and practices. A series

of multi-state workshops were conducted in 2002, leading to further

grants for planning of improved practices and inter-state, multi-agency

coordination. Improved weather information is not a FHWA focus in this

case. However, in 2002 the FHWA

also began participating in sponsorship

of the United States Weather Research

Program (USWRP), which has been a

center of hurricane landfall and intensity prediction research. More attention to the inland consequences of hurricanes may eventually link the emergency, traffic, and maintenance management components of the FHWA

program into a truly integrated

approach to weather threats.

N511 National Traveler Information

Service

Just as dialing 911 is the standard

way to access emergency aid over the

telephone, it was thought that a standardized number for travel information

would be beneficial. Accordingly, a

broad coalition of ITS interests, with

technical support to the FCC docket

submission by the FHWA, achieved in

2001 the allocation of a national 511

(N511) traveler information number.

In 2002, the FHWA sponsored a number of grants to plan for state deployment of the N511 service, and guidelines were issued on service content. A

survey on traveler information conducted by ITS America indicated that

weather and road condition information was highest in demand by travelers. Therefore, road weather information should be a key component of

N511 services. The means of delivering information through N511 is still

being developed, including ways to

serve peak demands for emergency

evacuation information, as part of the

homeland defense or other threat capability. However, components previously developed components for road

weather information previously are

bound to be important. That includes

the route and road-specific information

developed through the ATWIS, FORETELL, MDSS and other projects, and

the capability for open-system information sharing of the National ITS

Architecture. The N511 program also

must find ways to complement NOAA

Weather Radio broadcasts (and eventually an all-hazards warning system),

and use the NWS official watches and

warning information. The N511 capability is just one more way in which

ITS is becoming a significant dissemination means for weather information.

Impacts on Mobility

While the costs of weather to surface

transportation must be are immense, it

has been difficult to quantify specific

costs or the benefits (as avoidable

costs) through better information to

support better treatment and response.

It is likely that the costs to mobility, in

terms of delay due to weather, are the

largest component. Initial estimates of

the economic impact of weather-related delay on trucks in the 20 major metropolitan areas most affected by

adverse weather is on the order of

$2 billion per year. Some delays are

due to well-defined closure events.

These are due to storms that swamp

reasonable treatment activities, but

could benefit from more authoritative

travel-demand management techniques. This leaves the much more

prevalent, and subtle, delays due to

more minor threats, like rain, residual

snow, or visibility impairments that are

difficult to treat in any way. If there

are traffic management strategies to

address them, they probably have to be

based on very good, dynamical, preFigure 3-DOT-7 . Regional Weather Information systems.
134 DOT SECTION 3

dictions of both weather and traffic.

However, it is clear from traffic flow

theory that with heavy volumes, as in

metropolitan areas at peak times, very

small changes in effective capacity (as

due to a change in road friction) or

very small changes in traffic volume

can have large delay effects.

The FHWA is sponsoring closer

analysis of delay effects due to

weather, work zones and incidents.

Paucity of good traffic and road

weather data sets has hindered the

analysis, but in 2001 and 2002,

analyses were conducted for Seattle

and Washington, DC metropolitan

areas. These combined surface

weather observations with traffic

speed data, both empirical and modeled. The results have been consistent in showing about a 12 percent

increase in travel time averaged over

a wide range of weather events. This

research will continue, with more

metropolitan areas to be analyzed,

extension to non-metropolitan areas,

and use of Doppler radar data for

more precise and more dynamic

inference of road-weather conditions. This in turn can lead to a

stronger attack on delays through

traffic management practices, including demand management, possible

routing advisories, and weatheradaptive signal timing. A separate

study performed by the Oak Ridge

National Laboratory estimates 23

percent of the non-recurrent delay on

highways is due to snow, ice and fog.

This amounts to an estimate of

544 million vehicle-hours of delay

per year.

Best Practices

The Road Weather Management

Program is documenting best practices

of maintenance managers, traffic managers and emergency managers in

response to various weather threats.

Best practice case studies demonstrate

the entire information thread, from

threat information to performance

information. This thread begins with

observation of weather, road surface,

traffic and other conditions to identify

threats to transportation system performance. Based upon credible threat

information, managers execute operational techniques that improve transportation outcomes-safety, mobility

and productivity. Examples of successful operational techniques follow.

A maintenance division of the

Montana DOT employed mobile antiicing and de-icing strategies to proactively respond to winter storms. When

performance was compared to a maintenance division that used reactive

treatment after storms, it was found

that labor, material, and equipment

costs for the proactive division were

37 percent lower the reactive division.

Additionally, a higher level of service

was achieved on road sections treated

by the proactive division resulting in

safety and mobility improvements.

On a 19-mile section of Interstate 75

in Tennessee, a Fog Detection and

Warning System collects data from

two ESS, eight fog detectors, and 44

vehicle speed detectors to predict and

detect conditions conducive to fog formation, and alert managers when

established threshold criteria are met.

Traffic managers may select pre-programmed dynamic message sign

(DMS) messages, pre-recorded highway advisory radio (HAR) broadcasts,

and/or alter speed limits via variable

speed limit (VSL) signs based upon

response scenarios proposed by the

system. When visibility is less than

240 feet, the worst-case scenario, the

Highway Patrol activates eight automatic ramp gates to close the affected

interstate section and detour traffic to

US Route 11. Between 1973, when the

interstate opened, and 1994; there were

over 200 crashes, 130 injuries and 18

fatalities on this highway section.

Since the fog detection and warning

system began operating in 1994, safety

has been significantly improved and no

fog-related accidents have occurred.

During the Hurricane Floyd evacuation in 1999, traffic and emergency

managers with South Carolina DOT

and the State Highway Emergency

Patrol (SHEP) had not agreed on a lane

reversal plan for Interstate 26 prior to

hurricane landfall. As a result, there

was severe congestion on this route

with a maximum per lane volume of

roughly 1,400 vehicles per hour.

Managers quickly developed a lane

reversal plan for reentry operations.

DMS and HAR were deployed to alert

travelers of closures and alternate

routes, and westbound lanes were

reversed. Maximum volumes during

reentry exceeded 2,000 vehicles per

hour per lane-a 43 percent increase

over evacuation volumes. The use of

lane reversal and traveler information

techniques improved mobility by significantly increasing roadway capacity.
SECTION 3 DOT 135

The Federal Railroad Administration

(FRA) supports improving the collection, dissemination, and application of

weather data to enhance railroad safety

through the Intelligent Weather

Systems project, as part of the

Intelligent Railroad Systems and

Railroad System Safety research programs. These programs address safety

issues for freight, commuter, intercity

passenger, and high-speed passenger

railroads.

Intelligent Weather Systems for railroad operations consist of networks of

local weather sensors and instrumentation - both wayside and on-board

locomotives - combined with national,

regional, and local forecast data to alert

train control centers, train crews, and

maintenance crews of actual or potential hazardous weather conditions.

Intelligent weather systems will provide advance warning of weathercaused hazards such as flooding; track

washouts; snow, mud, or rock slides;

high winds; fog; high track-buckling

risk; or other conditions which require

adjustment to train operations or action

by maintenance personnel

(Figure 3-DOT-8). Weather data collected on the railroad could also be forwarded to weather forecasting centers

to augment their other data sources.

The installation of the digital data link

communications network is a prerequisite for this activity.

FRA intends to examine ways that

weather data can be collected on railroads and moved to forecasters, and

ways that forecasts and current weather information can be moved to railroad control centers and train and

maintenance crews to avoid potential

accident situations. This research is

estimated to continue for 5-6 years

after it begins. This is one of the partnership initiatives identified in the

NSTC's National Transportation

Technology Plan.

FEDERAL RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION

Figure 3-DOT-8. Track washed out by

flood waters from Hurricane Alberto.
136 DOT SECTION 3
SECTION 3 DOT 137

The Federal Transit Administration’s

(FTA) mission is to "provide leadership, technical assistance and financial resources for safe, technologically

advanced public transportation which

enhances all citizens' mobility and

accessibility, improves America's communities and natural environment, and

strengthens the national economy." In

this context, FTA provides an energy

efficient means of transporting people,

thereby, reducing emissions caused by

transportation and lessening the

Nation's dependence on fossil fuels,

including foreign oil. One-hundred

gallons of fuel can be saved each year

for every person riding the bus instead

of driving. The savings by train and

trolley riders are even greater

(Figure 3-DOT-9).

The United States Department of

Transportation (DOT) has a variety of

research development and demonstration programs and initiatives that are

targeted at reducing the emissions and

improving the efficiency of vehicles

including trucks, buses, marine vessels, airport support equipment, and

other specialty vehicles. The underlying assumption of many of these public-private partnership efforts is to

improve current vehicles without sacrificing vehicle performance or limiting consumer choices in the marketplace.

In particular, the FTA Fuel Cell

Transit Bus Program and the Hybrid

Electric and Electric Bus Program

focus on developing and demonstrating innovative transit bus technologies

that can improve the energy efficiency

and reduce harmful emissions from

transit buses, including greenhouse gas

emissions. Through these efforts, the

benefits and viability of both fuel cells

and hybrid electric drive technology

for transit bus applications are being

demonstrated.

Similarly, the Advanced Vehicle

Technologies Program (AVP) managed

by DOT, is a collaborative program

between the Federal government and

over 500 companies, universities,

national laboratories, state, regional,

and local governments focused on

innovative technologies for medium

and heavy-duty vehicles that can lessen

the transportation sector's dependence

on foreign oil, reduce emissions from

transportation vehicles, and enhance

the development of a domestic

advanced transportation industry. The

technologies developed and demonstrated under the program are closely

related to transit research needs, or

directly develop and demon strate

advanced technologies for transit.

The Transit Cooperative Research

Program is currently researching FTA's

role in avoiding greenhouse gas emissions. Project H-21 is examining how

transit service can contribute to community sustainability and provide

enhanced mobility while addressing

climate change at the community and

regional level.

One example of research for vehicle

emissions is with the Desert Research

Institute (DRI) to develop and test a

new remote sensing device that accurately estimates particulate emissions

from motor vehicles and will quantify

the contributions of ozone precursor

and small particular emissions from

sources outside the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The meteorological and

air quality modeling will attempt to

quantify the level of emissions transported into the area from the Los

Angeles South Coast Air Basin. 

In FTA's national rural and parks

programs coordinated with the

research efforts currently underway

with the Weather Information for

Surface Transportation (WIST) initiative. This research will take advantage

of other related rural ITS weather

resources to integrate transit and emergency services through the "Common

Communication Backbone Concept."

Many rural areas can greatly benefit

from a Joint Operational center that

consolidates transit management,

emergency management, and emergency medical service operations utilizing light rail, ferry, van, and bus

transit services. This integrated management and transit emergency service

will enable rural transit operators to

manage weather-related incidents

more efficiently, while improving the

coordination with travelers and emergency management staffs

(Figure 3-DOT-10).

FEDERAL TRANSIT ADMINISTRATION

Figure 3-DOT-9. Rail Transit in

Southern California.

Figure 3-DOT-10. Weather poses a

significant impact on transit operations in the Washington metropolitan

area. (WMATA Photograph)
138 DOT SECTION 3
SECTION 3 DOT 139

Although no United States Coast

Guard (USCG) cutters or shore units

are solely dedicated to meteorology,

they collectively perform a variety of

functions in support of the national

meteorology program. USCG oceangoing cutters and coastal stations provide weather observations to the

National Weather Service (NWS).

Coast Guard communications stations

broadcast NWS marine forecasts,

weather warnings, and weather facsimile charts and, also, collect weather

observations from commercial shipping for the NWS. The Coast Guard

also operates the LORAN C radionavigation system and the Maritime

Differential GPS (DGPS) Service. The

LORAN C system provides Position,

Navigation, and Timing (PNT) information to a variety of navigation and

non-navigation users throughout the

continental United States and Alaska

(e.g. radiosondes). The Maritime

DGPS Service is an augmentation to

the GPS that improves GPS-only accuracy to better than ten meters and provides DGPS coverage to coastal areas

of the continental United States, the

Great Lakes, Puerto Rico, portions of

Alaska and Hawaii, and portions of the

Mississippi River Basin.

Coast Guard operates three polar icebreakers - USCGC POLAR STAR,

USCGC POLAR SEA, and USCGC

HEALY - to serve our Nation’s security, economic, environmental, and scientific interests. These vessels make

important marine environmental measurements during dedicated science

deployments or in conjunction with

other missions.

USCGC HEALY, a

new icebreaking

research vessel, was

delivered to the

Coast Guard in

November 1999 and conducted successful shakedown tests of the hull,

machinery, and scientific equipment

during January-August 2000

(Figure 3-DOT-11). The first unrestricted science cruise was conducted

in the Eastern Arctic in the summer of

2001. HEALY, has a length of 420

feet, beam of 82 feet, and displaces

over 16,000 tons. Scientific systems

and gear include a bottom mapping

multi-beam sonar system; a sub-bottom profiling system; a conductivitydepth-temperature data system; an

expendable oceanographic probe system; an Acoustic Doppler Current

Profiler; a jumbo coring system; a continuous flow, seawater sampling system; a meteorological measurement

system; and a bow tower for clean air

experiments. To schedule time on

HEALY, see the UNOLS web site,

www.unols.org. For more information,

see the Coast Guard web page for

HEALY, www.uscg.mil/pacarea/healy/.

USCG maintains the International

Ice Patrol (IIP) which uses sensorequipped aircraft to patrol the Grand

Banks of Newfoundland to locate and

track icebergs which pose a hazard to

North Atlantic shipping. Direct observations are supplemented and extrapolated using a numerical iceberg drift

and deterioration model. IIP determines the geographic limits of the iceberg hazard and, twice daily, broadcasts iceberg warning bulletins and ice

facsimile charts which define the limits

of the iceberg threat during the iceberg

season (spring and summer). IIP annually archives data on all confirmed and

suspected targets, and forward these

data to the National Snow and Ice Data

Center. These data can be accessed via

the IIP web page www.uscg.mil/

lantarea/iip/home.html. Archived data

contains all iceberg sighting data along

with the last model-predicted position

of each berg.

The Coast Guard participates with

the Navy and NOAA in conducting the

National Ice Center, a multi-agency

operational center that produces analyses and forecasts of Arctic, Antarctic,

Great Lakes, and coastal ice conditions.

The Coast Guard also collaborates

with NOAA in operating the National

Data Buoy Center (NDBC) which

deploys and maintains NOAA's automated network of environmental monitoring platforms in the deep ocean and

coastal regions. Five Coast Guard personnel fill key technical and logistics

support positions within NDBC. Coast

Guard cutters support the deployment

and retrieval of data buoys, and provide periodic maintenance visits to

both buoys and coastal stations,

expending approximately 180 cutter

days annually. Coast Guard aircraft,

small boats, and shore facilities also

provide NDBC support.

Meteorological activities are coordinated by the Icebreaking Division of

the Office of Aids to Navigation at

Coast Guard Headquarters. Field management of Coast Guard meteorological support services is accomplished as

the Coast Guard Area and District levels.

UNITED STATES COAST GUARD

Figure 3-DOT-11. USCGC HEALEY,

the Coast Guard’s new icebreaking

research vessel, conducting ice trials.
METEOROLOGICAL PROGRAMS

Numerous agencies within the

United States Department of

Agriculture (USDA) require a wide

range of high quality weather and climatological data to successfully carry

out their missions. Some of the diverse

applications that require accurate,

timely, and comprehensive data

include crop monitoring and weather

impact assessment, agricultural yield

and productivity modeling, natural

resource conservation planning, forest

fire potential monitoring, irrigation

scheduling, water supply information,

reinsurance and compliance programs,

crop disaster assistance and emergency

relief programs, integrated past management, crop yield modeling, and

agricultural research studies. The following is a brief description of agency

weather activities.

Office Of The Chief Economist/World

Agricultural Outlook Board

The World Agricultural Outlook

Board (WAOB), in cooperation with

National Weather Service's (NWS)

Climate Prediction Center, staffs and

supports the Joint Agricultural Weather

Facility (JAWF). Created in 1978 as

an operational unit, JAWF meteorologists work as a team, monitoring global weather conditions and preparing

real-time agricultural assessments

(Figure 3-USDA-1). These assessments keep USDA commodity analysts, the Office of the Chief

Economist (OCE), and the Secretary of

Agriculture and top staff well informed

of worldwide weather related developments and their affects on crops and

livestock. In addition to providing

these routine assessments, WAOB

agricultural meteorologists are frequently requested to prepare special

assessments when adverse or anomalous weather conditions (i.e.,

droughts, heat waves, freezes, floods)

are observed in major crop producing

regions. When integrated with economic analyses and information, these

routine and special crop-weather

assessments provide critical information to decision-makers formulating

crop production forecasts and trade

policy. They also help analysts identify potential agricultural markets for

United States products worldwide.

The JAWF serves as the

Department's focal point for weather

data received from the World

Meteorological Organization's (WMO)

Global Weather Observing System.

These data are used at JAWF and other

USDA agencies for a number of agricultural applications. Another major

source of domestic weather and climate data that is used by USDA comes

from the NWS's Cooperative Observer

(COOP) Network. WAOB agricultural

meteorologists convert the weather

data into information to assess crop

development and yield potential of all

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE WEATHER PROGRAMS

Weather is the most important factor influencing the Nation's variability in crop yields and related production. The Nation's food and fiber products are a critical resource impacting our domestic and international economic position and have taken on new dimensions in foreign affairs and national security.

The continued expansion in export markets has reduced stocks and benefited our farm sectors as global consumption of total grains has exceeded production in recent years. The United States Department

of Agriculture (USDA) conducts supporting research that focuses on understanding the interactions of

weather and climate with plants, animals, forests, and forest ecological systems, and assists the Department of

Commerce in determining farmers' needs for weather information and in disseminating that information to them.

SECTION 3 USDA 141

Figure 3-USDA-1. Joint Agricultural Weather Facility Home page.
142 USDA SECTION 3

major commodity crops for the major

producing areas of the world. Special

weekly briefings are provided to the

Secretary of Agriculture and to the

economic and commodity analysts of

USDA. The Senate and House

Agricultural Committees continue to

request periodic agricultural weather

briefings that focus on the severity and

impact of drought, heat wave, and

excessive wetness on major crop areas

around the Nation.

JAWF's flagship publication is the

Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin

(WWCB). First published in 1872 as

the Weekly Weather Chronicle, the

publication has evolved over the past

129 years into one that provides a vital

source of information on weather, climate, and agricultural developments

worldwide. The publication is a shining example of how two major departments within the federal government

can mutually cooperate, combining

meteorology and agriculture to provide

a service that benefits the economic

well being of the nation. The WWCB

highlights weekly meteorological and

agricultural developments on a national and international scale, providing

written summaries of weather and climate conditions affecting agriculture,

as well as detailed maps and tables of

agrometeorological information that

are appropriate for the season. The

WWCB is available in electronic form

over the Internet at the following URL:

www.usda.gov/agency/oce/waob/jawf/.

Drought is the leading hazard in economic losses each year in the United

States. In the summer of 1999, a monitoring tool known as the Drought

Monitor was developed to help assess

drought conditions in the United

States. The Drought Monitor is a collaborative effort between federal and

academic partners, including the

University of Nebraska-Lincoln

National Drought Mitigation Center,

the USDA/OCE/WAOB/JAWF, the

NOAA/NWS/Climate Prediction

Center, and the NOAA/NESDIS/

National Climatic Data Center. A

rotating team of nine lead authors, two

of which work at the JAWF, assembles

the Drought Monitor. Produced on a

weekly basis, the Drought Monitor is a

synthesis of multiple indices, outlooks,

and impacts depicted on a map and in

narrative form. The official Web site

for the Drought Monitor can be found

at enso.unl.edu/monitor. The Drought

Monitor is released each Thursday at

8:30 A.M. Eastern Time.

The WAOB/JAWF opened a field

office in Stoneville, Mississippi in

October 1998. The JAWF Mississippi

Field Office is co-located with the

Mississippi State University Delta

Research Extension Center (DREC).

The purpose of the co-located JAWF

and DREC Data Center is to collect,

quality control, and manage agricultural weather data and to make it available to the entire Delta agricultural

community, including extension service, researchers, and farmers. In a

cooperative effort between USDA,

Mississippi State University,

Mississippi State University Extension

Service, and Meteor Communications

Corporation, Inc., a meteor burst communication facility was established on

Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry

Experiment Station's land in

Stoneville. This master communications facility is currently operational,

and is being used to collect weather

data from numerous meteor burst sites

established in the Mississippi Delta

region. Currently, there are six meteor

burst sites located in the Delta.

Forest Service

Historically, the Forest Service (FS)

has collected meteorological data to

assist in the control of forest fires and

in the management of smoke from prescribed burning. Other activities also

require weather data to ensure sound

management decisions. To support

these needs and requirements, a

national weather program was established to coordinate all FS meteorological activities and to meet the increasing need for diverse weather information. The major objectives of the program are to: (1) improve quality control of weather data, (2) improve the

design and operation of data collection

from networks, (3) increase data

recovery from the weather stations,

and (4) upgrade station maintenance.

Meteorological data collected from

manual weather stations and Remote

Automated Weather Stations (RAWS)

support research of weather effects on

forestry management, forest fires,

smoke management, visibility protection in wilderness areas, and atmospheric deposition. A weather information management system and a library

to archive all FS weather data are

being developed in cooperation with

regional climate centers. The FS monitoring network will provide essential

data for use in Global Change

Research Program (GCRP) work.

The FS operates more than

1,200 RAWS and manual stations,

many in the western United States. Air

temperature, relative humidity, soil

moisture, wind direction and speed,

and precipitation are transmitted via

NOAA's Geostationary Operational

Environmental Satellite (GOES)

telemetry. These data are received via

a direct-readout ground site in Boise,

Idaho, in cooperation with the Bureau

of Land Management. The main use of
SECTION 3 USDA 143

the data is in the calculation of the fire

danger rating for the FS and cooperating agencies. These data are also used

by other resource managers, such as,

road engineers, wildlife biologists, and

hydrologists who monitor precipitation; silviculturalists (who are attempting to maximize tree-planting opportunities); and ecologists, soil specialists,

and fisheries biologists (who monitor

the effects of runoff). Another major

user of RAWS data is the NWS for fire

weather forecasting and flood warnings. FS research includes efforts to:

(1) understand and control forest fire

initiation by lightning, (2) improve the

translation of mid-range forecast elements to describe forestry conditions,

(3) incorporate drought information

into management decision-making,

and (4) better describe how regional

climatic variability affects the use of

daily weather information by foresters.

The FS long-term monitoring network

will provide critical data for use in the

GCRP work.

Natural Resources Conservation

Service

The Natural Resources Conservation

Service (NRCS) continues to operate a

network of 1,400 manual snow courses

and over 600 automated data collection

sites in conjunction with the Snow

Telemetry (SNOTEL) project for the

western United States and Alaska. The

primary objective of the project is to

forecast water supplies and streamflow

for the coming spring run-off season.

These measurements are made in

cooperation with other federal, state,

and local agencies, power companies,

irrigation companies, and the provincial government of British Columbia.

Water-supply forecasts help irrigators make the most effective use of

available streamflow for achieving

their agricultural production goals.

Farmers, who collectively irrigate

more than 10 million acres of land in

the western United States, benefit from

these water supply forecasts. Other

federal agencies and private organizations also use water supply forecast

information to help them carry out

their missions. These forecasts also

help the federal government in administering international water treaties.

NRCS continues to upgrade the

SNOTEL data collection system. The

effort includes upgrading the data collection sites in the existing SNOTEL

system with new state-of-the-art equipment and adding additional sites. The

data collection site upgrades include

replacement of snow pillows, transducers, damaged precipitation gages,

antennas, towers, solar panels, battery

temperature sensors, and deteriorated

shelter houses. NRCS also operates

the Soil Climate Analysis Network

(SCAN). The SCAN stations measure

precipitation, temperature, relative

humidity, wind direction and speed,

solar radiation, atmospheric pressure,

snow water content, snow depth, soil

moisture, and soil temperature. Both

the SCAN and SNOTEL networks use

meteor-burst communications to

obtain the data in near real-time. There

are more than 50 SCAN stations taking

data in 37 states.

Foreign Agricultural Service

The Foreign Agricultural Service's

(FAS) satellite remote-sensing program, operated by the Production

Estimates and Crop Assessment

Division (PECAD), is a critical element in USDA's analysis of global

crop conditions and agricultural production providing timely, accurate, and

unbiased estimates of global area,

yield, and production. The PECAD

mission of alert analysis requires rapid

system response. Working in conjunction with the Farm Services Agency

(FSA), PECAD provides alerts as well

as routine crop condition assessments

for crops in the United States. FAS

provides early warning of environmental changes that affect the production

and quality of commodities and renewable resources.

The FAS/PECAD analysts employ a

proven "convergence of evidence"

approach to crop assessment -- incorporating NOAA AVHRR, LandSat,

and SPOT imagery, crop models, global weather data, United States agricultural attache reports, field travel, and

ancillary data to forecast foreign grain,

oilseed, and cotton production. To

complement the remote sensing image

data sets, weather data are also

processed from 6,912 of the United

Nations' WMO stations and from

approximately 88,500 grid cells of the

Air Force gridded weather data are

processed on a daily basis. Crop models are based on daily data loaded from

meteorological stations and/or Air

Force gridded weather data. Some

models add Vegetative Index Number

(VIN) information. The goal of a crop

model is to provide a number that can

be quantified to yield per acre.

Farm Service Agency

The Farm Service Agency (FSA)

uses agricultural weather data and

related reports in several programs that

provide assistance to farmers and

ranchers for natural disasters and

emergencies. One such program is

The Noninsured Crop Disaster

Assistance Program (NAP) that provides financial assistance to eligible

producers affected by natural disasters.

This federally funded program covers

noninsurable crop losses and planting

prevented by natural disasters. Haying

and grazing of certain Conservation

Reserve Program acreage may be
144 USDA SECTION 3

made available in areas suffering from

weather-related natural disasters.

Furthermore, weather information is

used to support low-interest emergency loan assistance to eligible farmers to help cover production and physical losses in counties declared as disaster areas by the President or designated by the Secretary of Agriculture.

FSA also uses agricultural weather

information in commodity operations

for storage, transportation scheduling,

and distribution of Commodity Credit

Corporation (CCC) commodities.

Risk Management Agency

The primary responsibility of the

Risk Management Agency (RMA) is to

administer the Crop Insurance

Program. This program provides a

safety net by protecting producers

against a wide range of environmental

risks as well as the risk of price fluctuations. Producer participation in the

Crop Insurance Program is voluntary;

however, participation is encouraged

through premium subsidies. Crop

insurance is delivered to producers

through private insurance companies

that share in the risk of loss. The companies are reimbursed for their delivery expenses and receive underwriting

gains in years when crop losses are

low. Weather data or analyses containing the data are used in these insurance

services as well as in program compliance. It is used directly or indirectly in

establishing rates and coverages, high

risk areas, planting and harvesting

dates, crop hardiness areas, new crop

programs, and developing crop models

and current year loss estimates. Some

of the causes of crop losses include

drought, wind, frost, freeze, excess

wetness or heat, etc. The RMA and

reinsured companies use specific

weather data such as temperature, precipitation, and wind to establish if

insurable natural conditions caused the

loss. Furthermore, Insurance Services

and compliance programs use historical and current weather data as an

additional information resource in

determining if losses are reasonable

and if producers and reinsured companies are in compliance with the insurance contracts under the Standard

Reinsurance Agreement (SRA).

Research Education and Economics

The mission of the USDA supporting

research program is to develop and disseminate information and techniques

to ensure high quality commodities

and products while minimizing any

adverse effects of agriculture on the

environment.

The research efforts of the

Agricultural Research Service (ARS)

relate directly to the effects of climate

on agricultural production and the natural resource base. These efforts are

directed toward developing technologies and systems for: (1) managing

precipitation and solar energy for optimum crop production; (2) improving

our understanding of water-plantatmosphere interactions; (3) optimizing the use of energy, water, and agricultural chemicals; (4) reducing plant

and livestock losses from pests and

environmental stress; (5) developing

improved techniques for irrigation and

drainage; and (6) minimizing the

adverse effects of climate and weather,

including atmospheric contaminants,

on the environment.

The Cooperative State Research,

Education, and Extension Service

(CSREES) coordinates research programs in the state agricultural experiment stations, the 1890 Land Grant

Distributions, and cooperating forestry

schools. These institutions conduct a

wide variety of research applicable to

agriculture and forestry.

Meteorological research in these institutions is practically all climatological.

A proportion of each state's program is

consolidated into broad regional

research projects. Animals and plants

are subjected to many climatic stresses

and, therefore, are the focus of this

research. Research on the changes in

levels of ultraviolet (UV) radiation as

part of the GCRP was significantly

expanded through the CSREES competitive grants program in FY 1994.

The work is coordinated with EPA's

UV radiation program and will support

assessment efforts to develop related

national policy on the environment.

Investigations by NASS support

domestic crop estimating programs for

all major commodities. Promising

studies are underway to develop models relating weather parameters and

associated variables to corn ear weight

and wheat head weight. Previous

efforts to develop models for shortterm forecasting have had only limited

success. Research will continue in this

area with the expectation that the relationships between weather variables

and crop yield will improve as better

plant process models become available

and more information, such as soil

moisture, are operationally observed.

Weather data from the NWS observing

network has been an integral part of

NASS's state crop reporting system.
The Department of Energy (DOE)

continues to address its mission areas

of nuclear non-proliferation, energy

resources, environmental quality, and

science and technology. Atmospheric

science research and operational programs have been an integral part of

DOE and its predecessor agencies

since the Cold War era. It is vital to

understand the global atmospheric

domain with its various dynamics and

energy processes impacting energyrelated processes within it. Current

scientific climate approaches endeavor

to couple atmospheric, ocean, and terrestrial domains in order to simulate

earth systems. Enhanced predictive

capabilities are relying on information

acquired from operational and basic

research atmospheric science programs. The goal is to reduce substantial uncertainties in these areas.

DOE administers programmatic

activities throughout its various

offices, such as the National Nuclear

Security Administration (NNSA),

Office of Science (SC), Environmental

Management (EM), and Energy

Efficiency and Renewables (EE). The

Office of Science carries the basic

research mission for the Department

with some aspects of basic and applied

research being carried out in other program offices. These program offices

are responsible for the management of

programs, such as the National

Atmospheric Release Advisory

Capability (NARAC), the DOE component of the United States Global

Climate Research Program (USGCRP),

and various environmental cleanup

activities at former cold war production sites. Additional activities at DOE

sites include support to onsite operations which require a meteorological

monitoring program.

Atmospheric science activities at

DOE facilities range from cutting-edge

basic research to providing daily operational support. Some examples of

basic research conducted at the DOE

laboratories are studies addressing

global/regional climate change, atmospheric chemistry and air quality, and

atmospheric boundary layer studies.

Operational support programs include

daily-customized weather forecasting

services, support to national defense

projects and homeland security, onsite

meteorological monitoring programs,

climate services, and emergency preparedness and response program support.

Some DOE sites maintain 24-hour

weather watches for severe weather

conditions that have the potential to

impact site operations, damage property, or threaten lives. DOE-wide lightning safety initiatives, which are

becoming integral elements of an

Integrated Safety Management System

(ISMS), are supported by DOE operational meteorological programs (e.g.,

Nevada Test Site [NTS], Hanford,

Idaho National Engineering and

Environmental Laboratory [INEEL]).

Several DOE field offices and their

associated sites and facilities cover

large areas (e.g., INEEL, Oak Ridge

Reservation, NTS, Hanford, and

Savannah River Site [SRS]). In addition, several DOE sites are situated in

areas of complex topography and heterogeneous surface characteristics,

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY OPERATIONAL AND RESEARCH

WEATHER PROGRAMS

For almost 60 years, the Department of Energy (DOE) and its predecessors, the Atomic Energy

Commission (AEC) and the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA), have established and supported meteorological operations and atmospheric research at the DOE field offices. The

need for meteorological services began in 1944 with the development, fabrication, and testing of atomic weapons and the national security and safety issues associated with them. Meteorological program

requirements were subsequently augmented, starting in the late-1960's, by the passage of environmental protection legislation under the Clean Air Act, which is enforced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

under 40 CFR enabling regulations, and reinforced by several DOE Orders that specify requirements for meteorological services to protect public health and safety and the environment. Consequently, a meteorological monitoring program has become an even more essential component of a DOE site. Moreover, the acquisition of quality-assured meteorological data and the provision of weather forecasting services from this program is an important element of a DOE

Integrated Safety Management System (ISMS) since it significantly contributes to the implementation of site-wide personnel safety programs and supports multiple evaluations. These evaluations include, but are not limited to the following: protection of facility workers and the public; development of Authorization Basis (AB) safety documentation;

diagnostic and prognostic consequence assessment elements of an emergency management system; preparation of permits to support environmental compliance activities; and, impact analyses of construction and operation of projects and

missions requiring National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) determinations.

SECTION 3 DOE 145
146 DOE SECTION 3

creating mesoscale conditions that

locally influence onsite weather and

atmospheric transport and dispersion. 

For these reasons, and to ensure the

protection of public health and safety

and the environment, onsite meteorological monitoring programs have

been, remain, and will always be an

essential part of DOE atmospheric science programs. Moreover, partnerships have been forged with other federal agencies (i.e., Departments of

Defense [DOD], Transportation [DOT],

Commerce [DOC], Agriculture

[USDA], and the National Aeronautics

and Space Administration [NASA]),

and, in some cases, Interagency

Agreements have been developed,

which have been in place for more than

40 years.

Some DOE sites enhance the spatial

resolution of the National Weather

Service (NWS) observing network by

taking standard surface and upper-air

observations. Many of these sites are

in remote areas where NWS and community weather observations would

otherwise be limited. Weather observations taken at a few DOE field sites

are entered into the database via the

NWS meteorological data distribution

and display system. This distribution

and display system interconnects field

offices and serves as the distribution

system for NWS meteorological products that are centrally produced by the

National Centers for Environmental

Prediction (NCEP). Some DOE sites

employ the National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Advanced Weather Information

Processing System (AWIPS) [e.g.,

NOAA Air Resources Laboratory

(ARL)/Special Operations and

Research Division (SORD), Las

Vegas, Nevada].

An accidental release of radioactive,

chemical, or even biological toxic

material into the atmosphere can have

potentially serious health effects, as

well as environmental consequences.

Meteorological transport and dispersion processes play a key role in determining the fate of radioactive, toxic

chemical, or biological agents released

into the atmosphere. Consequently, a

central theme within the DOE community has been to protect public health,

safety, and the environment on and

around DOE facilities by accurately

measuring and characterizing the

important atmospheric processes.

In recognition of this need, DOE has

established and supported onsite meteorological monitoring programs since

1944 (i.e., Hanford site). Each meteorological program is primarily directed

towards the support of emergency

response programs and in the protection of the environment and safety and

health of the onsite work force and the

public. In addition, research on the

modeling of the transport, dispersion,

deposition, and resuspension of

radioactive, toxic chemical, and biological agent materials is undertaken to

refine the models used in these endeavors. New remote sensing techniques

are being developed, such as the "Best"

Aircraft Turbulence probe at the ARL

Field Research Division (FRD), in

Idaho Falls, Idaho. Onsite weather

forecasting services, each tailored

specifically for the special operational

and emergency management requirements at each DOE site, provide necessary support to the safety and health

programs designed to protect site personnel and the public.

A large majority of the research and

operational support has been provided

by the atmospheric research programs

at the five major field offices directly

involved in national defense programs. Over the years, these programs have grown to address and support many environmental, safety, and

health issues and programs. Due to

the complexity of these activities, it

was recognized that efforts should be

made to coordinate meteorological

operations and research among the

field offices to enhance cost effectiveness and productivity.

The following narrative highlights

meteorological activities at 15 separate

DOE sites:

ARGONNE NATIONALLABORATORY

Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)

is one of DOE's largest research centers. It is also the nation's first national laboratory, chartered in 1946. ANL

is managed and operated by the

University of Chicago for the DOE

Chicago Operations Office. Argonne

occupies two sites, designated as ANLEast in Illinois and ANL-West in

Idaho. The Illinois site is surrounded

by forest preserve on 1,500 wooded

acres about 25 miles southwest of

Chicago's Loop. The site also houses

the DOE Chicago Operations Office.

Argonne-West occupies about 900

acres about 50 miles west of Idaho

Falls in the Snake River Valley. It is

the home of most of the ANL major

nuclear reactor research facilities.

There are three divisions,

Environmental Research (ER),

Decision and Information Sciences

(DIS) and Environmental Assessment

(EAD) at ANL with meteorological

research or operational program support. Two cross-divisional groups are

involved in these programs at ANL:

the Atmospheric Research Section

(ARS) and the Atmospheric

Emergency Preparedness (AEP)

Group. The ARS is composed of scientist with research activities in both

basic and applied science; particular

technical strengths are in the areas of

air-surface exchange, remote sensing,

atmospheric chemistry, and numerical

modeling. About half of the ARS support is currently devoted to activities
SECTION 3 DOE 147

associated with the DOE Atmospheric

Radiation Measurement (ARM)

Program. The AEP is composed of scientists and engineers in two divisions

involved in programs with a greater

emphasis on applied science.

Particular technical strengths include

air pollution meteorology, emergency

preparedness and response, and stochastic systems simulations. More

than half of the AEP support is associated with the DOE PROTECT Critical

Infrastructure Program involving

chemical and biological agents.

ARS has operated and maintains a

60-meter meteorological tower and

supplies meteorological data for emergency response, facility operations,

and regulatory compliance for ANL

operations. Wind and temperature

measurements are taken at the

10-meter and 60-meter levels. Realtime and historical data are available

via the Web (gonzalo.er.anl.gov/ANLMET).

As part of a larger program for the

protection of subway systems from terrorist attacks using chemical agents,

AEP is installing sonic anemometers

as well as temperature and pressure

sensors in the subway tunnels of a

large urban subway system. These

instruments will assist in the understanding of flows in the tunnels, which

are driven by a combination of (a) the

"piston" action of train motion; and,

(b) buoyancy effects and above ground

forcing.

Measurements from these instruments will be correlated with the above

ground measurements to develop and

validate predictive and emergency

response models for flow and dispersion in subway systems.

The AEP group research also focuses

on the analysis of routinely measured

meteorological data to provide atmospheric boundary layer turbulence

information for atmospheric dispersion

calculations. Under the Department of

the Army Chemical Stockpile

Emergency Preparedness Program

(CSEPP), ANL provides support to

improve the collection efficiency and

quality of meteorological data measured at the Army's Demilitarization

towers. The data are used at the emergency operation centers in support of

emergency response exercises and for

use in real-time in the event an actual

accident. The goal of the CSEPP support is to improve the accuracy and

robustness of the data obtained from

the meteorological monitoring stations

and to develop unified quality control

and analyses procedures for the data

collected by the towers.

Key support is also provided to DOT

in applying an ANL-developed, 5-year

meteorological database for over

100 locations in the United States to

conduct statistical analyses of hazardous materials incidents on a national basis. Recent work for DOT has

centered on development of the Table

of Initial Isolation and Protective

Action Distances for the 2000

Emergency Response Guidebook.

Protective Action Distances are given

in the Table for over 200 toxic-byinhalation chemicals and generic compounds for both daytime and nighttime

accidents, and represent the safe distance for 90 percent of hazardous

materials transportation accidents considering variability in meteorology and

spill size. Recent work for DOT has

also involved conducting national risk

assessments for transportation of certain high volume toxic chemicals like

chlorine, ammonia, hydrogen fluoride

and sulfur dioxide.

The Atmospheric Boundary Layer

Experiments (ABLE) is one of several

DOE supported research programs

conducted by the ARS. ABLE is located on the lower Walnut Watershed,

mostly in Butler County east of the city

of Wichita, Kansas. This location is

within the existing boundaries of the

DOE ARM Southern Great Plains

(SGP) Clouds and Radiation Test-bed

(CART) site. The establishment of this

facility offers a virtual atmospheric

observatory and provides essential

research tools for addressing a myriad

of unresolved fundamental questions

in atmospheric research. The ABLE

provides a continuous view of processes in the lower atmosphere over a limited domain within the SGP CART site

(Figure 3-DOE-1).

The initial focus of the ABLE is

measurements of the planetary boundary layer (PBL) where almost all interactions between the atmosphere and

humans take place. Many scientific

issues may be addressed by use of such

a facility, including:

• Natural disaster reduction and public safety;

• Safe and efficient aviation and

other transportation;

• Agriculture;

• Water resource management;

• Effective energy production, use

and environmental protection;

• Space flight operations;

• Defense; and,

• Related areas of Earth Science.

Figure 3-DOE-1.

One of three

ABLE 915 MHz

radar wind profilers with RASS.

The units measure

wind profiles

from 0.1 km to 5

km and virtual

temperature profiles from 0.1 km

to 2.5 km.
148 DOE SECTION 3

Instrumentation at the ABLE site

includes winds, temperatures, moisture, surface net radiation and soil

moisture as the minimum set of atmospheric observations.

The initial set of equipment, which is

be available at the ABLE includes:

• Three 915 MHz RWP-RASS (wind

speed and direction, virtual temperature profiles);

• Three minisodars (wind and turbulence profiles between heights of

10 meters and 200 meters);

• One lidar ceilometer (cloud base

height);

• One balloon-borne sounding system (wind, temperature, moisture

profiles);

• Five surface flux stations (surface

sensible and latent heat, ground

heat storage);

• Five soil moisture sampling stations

(soil moisture, soil temperature);

• One satellite data receiver-processor;

• One data hub/central location for

data collection; and,

• One (extra) instrument pad for visiting scientist instrument accommodation.

BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL

LABORATORY

The Brookhaven National

Laboratory (BNL), under the responsibility of the Brookhaven Area Office,

has been active in both operational

meteorology and atmospheric sciences

for the past 50 years. BNL is now

managed by Brookhaven Science

Associates, which is a joint venture by

Battelle Memorial Institute

Incorporated, The Research Foundation of the State University of New

York at Stony Brook, and six other

core university partners. Meteorological operations and research cover a

wide range of programs encompassing

interpretive and theoretical studies.

BNL is located near the geographical

center of Long Island, New York.

Long Island is glacial in origin and, as

a result, has sandy soil, mostly gentle

undulating contours, and a single

water aquifer for the entire island.

Elevations vary between 20-meters

and 35-meters. The BNL site is rectangular and approximately

5,200 acres in area. Winds are predominantly southwesterly, and plume

dispersion studies show that it is

essential to monitor winds well

beyond laboratory borders. The NWS

New York City Weather Forecast

Office is located at BNL. This office

has an umbrella of coverage that

includes an estimated population of

one million. Nearby, in Bohemia, is

the NWS Eastern Regional

Headquarters that administers a 12-

state region.

The mesoscale meteorological measurements necessary for emergency

response are the responsibility of the

Meteorological Services Group, a support group under the Department of

Applied Science, Environmental

Biology and Instrumentation Division

(EBID).

The Meteorological Services Group

maintains two meteorological towers,

10-meter and 88-meter, and an instrument shelter. By integrating redundant

pairs of standard, approved meteorological sensors throughout the system,

an overall data availability of better

than 99 percent is achieved. The realtime data are merged into the laboratory emergency response network. A

database of 50 years (in digital format

since 1960), one of the longest continuous meteorological time series in the

United States, is archived and is available. A real-time monitoring network

with worldwide web access covers the

eastern end of Long Island. Coastal

weather stations at Smith Point and

Orient Point transmit data each minute.

Pollution-monitoring data buoys are

added during field programs.

The Meteorological Services Group

provides a locally tuned forecast twice

daily during normal working hours.

Weather forecasts and data are available by telephone or the Internet

(www.weather.bnl.gov). During severe

weather events updates are given every

three hours and, in the case of a hazardous material or radiological release,

a member of the Meteorological

Services Group will assist the emergency coordinator with regular forecasts and information on local wind

fields and gustiness.

Areas of meteorological research at

BNL include:

• Instrumentation development for

field studies of atmospheric constituents, air-sea interaction, and

laboratory experiments;

• Gaseous tracer studies of atmospheric transport and dispersion;

• Aerosol formation and behavior;

• Atmospheric pollution studies; 

• Modeling of atmospheric chemical

reactions;

• Acid rain studies both in the field

and in the laboratory;

• Theoretical and observational studies of radiation transfer and fluxes;

and,

• Analysis of data and development

of parameterizations relevant to

global climate change.

The ARM Program provides the

stimulus for a wide range of climaterelated studies. The ARM ocean monitoring program is developing instrumentation and a broad ship- and buoybased observational network in the

tropical western Pacific Ocean. The

Atmospheric Chemistry Program

(ACP) provides the Atmospheric

Chemistry Division's (ACD) concern

with aerosol sources, transport, and

fate in the global atmosphere and the

overall, and little understood, impact

of aerosols on global climate dynamics. The ARM External Data Center is

the center for collection, archival, and
SECTION 3 DOE 149

dissemination of all climate-related

data sets for the ARM program.

An exciting new effort in radar meteorology focuses on algorithms for

cloud detection and cloud mapping

using both the WSR-88D radar network and research radar. BNL is a site

in the National Aeronautics and Space

Administration (NASA) Solar

Irradiance Network and continuous

short wave absorption measurements

are made here. In a related NASA

study, oceanic aerosol optical depths

are measured and used to validate

absorption algorithms in the SeaWiFS

ocean color program.

The Optical Remote Sensing group

within the Department of Advanced

Technology (DAT) is presently modifying one of its Raman lidar systems

for vertical profiling of carbon dioxide.

The Raman lidar instrument is a selfcalibrating sensor that means that data

from a variety of locations in the world

can be compared. With the incorporation of a large (1.25 m) antenna and

advanced filters and detectors, a vertical profile of CO2 concentration with a

precision of 1 part per million (ppm)

(Note: atmospheric mean = 370 ppm)

and maximum height of two to three

km can be produced routinely. These

profiles will support model development and validation. Importantly,

comparison of CO2 concentrations collected throughout the world and over

time will prove invaluable in confirming adherence to the Kyoto protocols.

HANFORD SITE

Beginning in 1944, meteorological

services have been provided to the

Richland Operations Office and the

Hanford Site. The Hanford Site is an

area of 560 square miles within the

semi-arid and sparsely vegetated

Columbia River basin in southeastern

Washington near Richland,

Washington. Since 1965, the Pacific

Northwest National Laboratory

(PNNL) operated for DOE by the

Battelle Memorial Institute, has managed the Hanford Site meteorological

program. Not only has operational

support been provided, but also supporting research into atmospheric

processes has been a key part of the

PNNL support to DOE. Within PNNL,

the Environmental Technology

Directorate provides day-to-day operational meteorological and emergency

response support to the Hanford site.

The Fundamental Sciences Directorate

conducts research into meteorological,

climatological, and atmospheric chemical processes in support of other major

DOE programs such as the

Atmospheric Radiation Measurements

(ARM) program and the Atmospheric

Science Program (ASP).

PNNL plays both management and

developmental roles in the ARM program which is focused on the development of cloud and radiation databases

and data products that are critical to

improved understanding of global and

regional climate change and the

improvement of climate research and

prediction models. PNNL conducts

research into the processes affecting

radiation transfer through the atmosphere and the effects of greenhouse

gases, aerosols, and clouds on regional

and global climate. In addition, carbon

dioxide emissions research is aimed at

providing a scientific basis for forecasting future emissions of carbon

dioxide and other gases of radiative

importance. The PNNL Atmospheric

Remote Sensing Laboratory is a

portable system for studying the vertical structure of atmospheric constituents, particularly clouds, which

govern radiation transfer through the

atmosphere.

In support of the ASP, PNNL uses

ground-based and airborne measurements systems, numerical and conceptual modeling, and data analysis to

conduct research into the vertical

transport and mixing processes that

govern the distribution in the lower

troposphere of trace gases and aerosols

released during energy production or

use and on chemical processes that

govern the transformation and fate of

gaseous and particulate pollutants.

PNNL manages the DOE Research

Aircraft Facility, a Gulf Stream 159

twin turboprop aircraft that supports

research in atmospheric chemistry,

radiation transfer, and aerosol characteristics for DOE.

Through funding from DOE EM, the

PNNL Meteorological and
150 DOE SECTION 3

Climatological Services Project

(MCSP) provide meteorological monitoring and operational support to the

Hanford Site. The monitoring system

consists of an array of 26 10-meter

towers, three 60-meter towers and one

125-meter tower instrumented with

temperature and wind direction and

wind speed sensors. Atmospheric

pressure and precipitation data are also

collected by this monitoring system.

Meteorological data from this network

is transmitted via UHF radio to a computer, which decodes the data and plots

graphics products for immediate display and use by Hanford

Meteorological Station personnel.

Meteorological services include

emergency response functions, weather forecasting for onsite operations and

special projects, and climatological

support. MCSP support to the Hanford

site includes:

• Extensive data acquisition via a

site-wide meteorological monitoring network;

• Weather forecasting services

24-hours/day during Monday

through Friday;

• Weather forecasting services

8-hours/day on weekends and holidays;

• Hourly surface observations, and

six-hourly synoptic observations;

• Monthly and annual climatological

data summaries; and,

• Meteorological input to annual

environmental reports.

PNNL atmospheric sciences staff

operate meteorological, atmospheric

transport and dispersion and dose

assessment, and information display

workstations at the Hanford Site's

Emergency Operations Center (EOC).

Atmospheric sciences staff are

involved in facility planning, exercise

development, and training activities

for Hanford's emergency preparedness

program. Assistance is also provided

to state and local emergency operations facilities. PNNL staff members

have developed MetView software to

graphically display Hanford Site and

regional meteorological data to support

a variety of emergency preparedness

and research applications. Staff members have also developed the Air

Pollutant Graphical Environmental

Monitoring System (APGEMS)-family of software products to improve the

ability to rapidly and accurately estimate the atmospheric transport and

dispersion and human health and environmental consequences of accidental

or unexpected releases on or near the

Hanford Site. The flexible user interface and graphical output capabilities

of APGEMS allow it to efficiently support a range of users including first

responders, experienced hazard assessors, and decision makers.

A hierarchy of atmospheric dispersion models is being developed within

DOE's Chemical Biological National

Security Program (CBNP) covering

transport distances ranging from

around individual buildings, through

the urban area and beyond the urban

area into the surrounding region.

These models will allow individuals in

intelligence, law enforcement and

emergency management to adequately

plan against, train for and respond to

potential terrorist attacks. PNNL scientists, in collaboration with other

government and private scientists, are

conducting atmospheric tracer and

meteorological field studies for evaluating the models being developed

within CBNP. The field studies will

provide valuable information to all

investigating urban dispersion, urban

air quality and atmospheric transport

and dispersion in general.

IDAHO NATIONAL ENGINEERING

AND ENVIRONMENTAL

LABORATORY

Idaho National Engineering and

Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) is

managed by the Idaho Operations

Office and is on 890 square miles of

rolling, arid terrain in southeastern

Idaho at the foot of the Lost River and

Lemhi mountain ranges. The primary

mission of the INEEL for years has

been nuclear reactor research with a

focus on cleanup and environmental

restoration. Meteorological services

and supporting research are provided

to INEEL via NOAA ARL Field

Research Division (FRD). The

Division, under administration from

various agencies, has provided support

to INEEL for over 50 years. Its current

mission to DOE/ID is to support emergency response and operations with

real-time meteorological data, climatological data, weather predictions, dispersion calculations, and consultation.

ARL FRD maintains other capabilities

that are not funded directly by DOE.

ARL FRD designs, arranges, and conducts field studies as needed to evaluate the performance of transport and

dispersion models over local, regional,

and continental scales, and to obtain

high quality databases for model

improvement. An airborne geosciences program is also maintained to

measure fluxes of carbon dioxide,

water vapor, and other atmospheric

constituents that affect climate. These

interactions provide ARL FRD staff

Figure 3-DOE-2. Meteorological

towers record temperature and wind

direction and speed at various levels.
SECTION 3 DOE 151

with additional insights that aid in the

understanding of local meteorological

phenomena.

ARL FRD operates a large meteorological monitoring network to characterize the meteorology and climatology

of the INEEL site. The network consists of 33 meteorological towers that

are deployed both onsite and offsite.

The overall meteorological measurement program is designed to provide

representative data for the INEEL to

meet specific operational and potential

emergency response situations. The

network covers an area of approximately 15,000 square miles. Many of the

towers are 15 meters tall and provide

wind speed and direction at 15-meters

and air temperature at 2-meters and 15-

meters. Instrumentation on 15 of the

15-meter towers also measure relative

humidity at 2-meters, precipitation, and

global solar radiation. Barometric

pressure is provided on 11 of the towers. The other three towers range from

46-meters to 76-meters in height and

are instrumented at multiple levels.

The sensors at all stations are scanned

every second and averaged or totaled

over five minutes (Figure 3-DOE-2).

The data are subsequently retrieved

into the data display and archive system

at the ARL/FRD office through a radio

repeater located at an elevation of

8,930 ft MSL. Continuous wind and

temperature profiles are obtained from

a 915 MHz radar wind profiler and

RASS. A Doppler SODAR supplements the wind profile at lower levels

with higher resolution data.

Meteorological data are quality-controlled through automated and manual

processes.

INEEL meteorological monitoring

and emergency response efforts are

enhanced with the use of an ARL FRD

meteorological data display and visualization program known as INEELViz.

This program has been widely

deployed at 50 sites on and around the

INEEL for access by federal, state, and

Indian tribes via the Internet.

Within INEELViz, meteorological

data are displayed in real-time and

overlaid on maps of the local area that

include political and terrain features.

In addition, the local MDIFF puff dispersion model can be accessed through

the INEELViz front-end and the model

output can be displayed as trajectories

or concentration isopleths on the

INEELViz display screen. The incorporation of RSAC dose conversions

permits the user to also view real-time

dose estimates from the model output.

These features have become very useful enhancements to the INEEL emergency response capability.

Partnerships forged with DOE/ID,

the State of Idaho INEEL Oversight

Program, and the Shoshone-Bannock

Indian Tribes have resulted in additional methods of meteorological data dissemination. Meteorological and background nuclear radiation data from

four public access sites on and surrounding the INEEL are displayed at

nearby kiosks in real-time. Additional

information on nuclear radiation and

meteorological tutorials are presented

at the kiosks. The data are also available on the Internet at

oversite.inel.gov. ARL FRD maintains

its own web site at www.noaa.inel.gov.

LAWRENCE LIVERMORE

NATIONAL LABORATORY

Lawrence Livermore National

Laboratory (LLNL) is located in a

valley in California's Coast Range

Mountains about 25 miles east of

Oakland. LLNL covers approximately

two square miles and is operated by the

University of California for the DOE

Oakland Operations Office. Two

groups are involved in the atmospheric

sciences at LLNL: (a) Environmental

Protection Department (EPD) and

(b) Atmospheric Sciences Division

(ASD).

EPD operates a 40-meter tower and

supplies meteorological data for facility operations, regulatory compliance,

and emergency response. Real-time

and historical data are available at

www-metdat.llnl.gov/.

The ASD (en-env.llnl.gov/asd/) of

the LLNL Energy and Environmental

Sciences Directorate researches the

following issues:

• Transport, diffusion, deposition,

transformation, and atmospheric

effects of accidental releases of pollutants;

• Models for improved representation

of atmospheric processes on building, urban, regional, and global

scales;

• Uptake and removal of carbon dioxide emitted through fossil fuel combustion by the biosphere and oceans

so that the effects of future emissions may be accurately predicted;

• The role of pollutants from fossil

fuel emissions in determining

greenhouse gas and aerosol concentrations and climate forcing;

• The extent to which stratospheric

ozone may decrease as a result of

anthropogenic emissions;

• The natural variability of the climate system; and,

• Interactions between the biosphere

and climate.

ASD functional groups include:

• Atmospheric Chemistry and

Aerosols Group (AC&A);

• Program for Climate Model

Diagnosis and Inter-comparison

(PCMDI);

• National Atmospheric Release

Advisory Center (NARAC); 

• Regional Modeling and Dispersion;

and,

• Urban Modeling and Dispersion.

The mission of the AC&A is to

improve the scientific understanding of
152 DOE SECTION 3

the mechanisms of global environmental and climate change through the

development and diagnosis of state-ofthe-art models that represent key

processes affecting the chemistry and

microphysics of the atmosphere. This

mission is pursued for the purpose of

improving national energy and security policies that impact climate and

environmental change.

PCMDI develops and distributes

software tools to facilitate model diagnosis and inter-comparison, documents

the features of models that are in use

by the world climate community, and

archives extensive collections of

model output data (www.pcmdi.

llnl.gov/). This program also provides

quality global observational products

for application as model validation

data.

One of the shared goals of the last

three groups is to develop new tools

useful to emergency response operations, a key focus area at LLNL since

the mid 1970's.

NARAC is a centralized emergency

response resource supporting federal

agencies (narac.llnl.gov/). Its mission

is to deliver realistic real-time graphical dose and exposure assessments to

emergency decision-makers to assist in

the protection of populations at risk for

releases of radiological and other hazardous material to the atmosphere.

NARAC has developed specific tools

to assist elements of the DOE

Consequence Management assets,

including the Nuclear Emergency

Search Team, Accident Response

Group, Federal Radiological

Monitoring and Assessment Center

(FRMAC) (www.nv.doe.gov/programs/frmac/default.htm), and the

Radiological Assistance Program

(RAP) (Figure 3-DOE-3). Under

DOE direction, NARAC supports

national special security events, such

as the Winter 2002 Olympics.

NARAC also supports DOE sites and

EOCs around the United States

(www.nnsa.doe.gov/).

NARAC's central emergency

response system consists of automated

continuous worldwide meteorological

data acquisition, detailed worldwide

terrain and geographic mapping databases, a suite of atmospheric dispersion models and source models to

assess explosions, fires, spills, or other

types of radiological, chemical, biological releases. The system includes a

high-resolution, terrain-following,

variable-gridded diagnostic meteorological model (ADAPT) and a prognostic model with parameterizations

for urban settings (COAMPS) coupled

with a generalized Lagrangian particle

dispersion model (LODI).

A staff of NARAC emergency

response model experts provides a

24-hour response service. To minimize response time, NARAC has

developed and supplied over 40 federal facilities around the United States

with software that performs meteorological data acquisition, local-scale

stand-alone modeling, and reaches

back to LLNL for detailed simulations.

A new version, called the NARAC

iClient, uses Java and Internet technology to connect to the LLNL modeling

system. NARAC mapped products are

delivered in 5-10 minutes for a computer-linked site and up to 60 minutes

for a non-computer-linked site.

NARAC frequently distributes products over a controlled Web site.

The Regional Modeling and

Dispersion Group is investigates

regional scale processes affecting dispersion. This group works with the

Urban Group to with the goal of developing a seamless set of validated diagnostic and prognostic tools from the

building to urban to regional scales.

Recently in collaboration with Los

Alamos National Laboratory (LANL),

LLNL has developed and demonstrated a prototype prediction capability to

assist in multi-agency smoke and fire

management of wildfires.

The Urban Modeling and Dispersion

Group (urban.llnl.gov/) investigate

urban scale processes via both measurements and models. The Chemical

Biological Non-proliferation Program

(CBNP) within the National Nuclear

Security Agency (NNSA) sponsored

the URBAN field campaign to study

dispersion in Salt Lake City in October

2000. URBAN was coincident with

the DOE's Vertical Transport and

Mixing eXperiment (VTMX), a

region-wide meteorological and tracer

experiment (www.pnl.gov/vtmx/).

Figure 3-DOE-3. Each of DOE’s eight Regional Coordinating Offices maintain a 24-hour response capability for radiological emergencies that may occur

in states served by its region.
SECTION 3 DOE 153

URBAN investigated transport and

diffusion around a single downtown

building, within and through the downtown area, and into the greater Salt

Lake City area. The results are used to

evaluate and improve the atmospheric

dispersion models.

Using the parallelized version of the

LLNL Finite Element Model

(FEM3MP), a 40 million-grid point

computational fluid dynamic simulation of flow around 500 buildings in

downtown Salt Lake City at one-meter

resolution was developed. These

detailed first-of-a-kind results have

been used for emergency planning

decisions.

LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL

LABORATORY

Los Alamos National Laboratory

(LANL) is operated by the University

of California (UC) under the responsibility of the DOE Albuquerque

Operations Office (ALOO), and is

spread across 43 square miles of the

Pajarito Plateau at the foot of the

Jemez Mountains that extend up to

around 900 meters above the plateau.

LANL is about 30 miles northwest of

Santa Fe in north central New Mexico.

The Pajarito Plateau slopes to the eastsoutheast, dropping 400 meters across

the Laboratory, with canyons and

mesas running along the slope of the

plateau. The broad Rio Grande Valley

lies to the east of the laboratory. Los

Alamos has a semi-arid, temperate,

mountain climate.

The operational meteorological program at Los Alamos operates a network of six towers (ranging in height

from 23 meters to 92 meters), a monostatic Doppler SODAR, and three supplemental precipitation stations. Data

from four instrumented meteorological

towers that are located on the Pajarito

plateau drives a diagnostic wind field

for the program's plume modeling

capability. A fifth tower is located in

Los Alamos Canyon to give information on the larger canyons in the area,

and a sixth tower is located on top of

Pajarito Mountain to measure ambient

conditions. The SODAR gives information on winds up to the level of the

Pajarito Mountain tower.

More than 100 instruments, consisting of over 20 different types of sensors, are used to collect data throughout the network. Variables measured

by the program can be grouped into the

categories of wind, SODAR-derived

wind, atmospheric state, precipitationrelated, radiative fluxes, eddy heat

fluxes, subsurface measurements, and

fuel moisture. Data collected by the

network are checked for quality before

its archival, and raw data and real-time

displays of graphs and tables are made

available via the Internet.

The LANL Air Quality Group provides regulatory and environmental
154 DOE SECTION 3

surveillance leadership and services to

meet LANL air quality obligations and

public assurance needs. The group

develops and implements programs to

ensure and address institutional compliance with state and federal laws

related to air quality regulations, DOE

orders for emergency management, air

quality surveillance, dose assessment

activities, and community concerns

related to air quality issues. The group

takes a proactive approach to managing air emissions by providing continuous air monitoring and measurement

of external penetrating radiation onsite

and offsite. The group also coordinates LANL activities to ensure full

compliance with air emission regulations, providing monitoring and modeling for emergency response, and

assisting operating groups in developing and implementing new methods

and systems to reduce emissions to as

low as reasonably achievable. The

monitoring capabilities of the Air

Quality Group (AQG) are supplemented by the Atmospheric and Climate

Sciences Group (ACSG) field team,

which operates various sensor systems

including a unique Raman lidar system

to obtain images of atmospheric water

vapor distributions.

Research within the LANL

Atmospheric and Climate Sciences

Group supports DOE missions in both

the defense and civilian sectors, such

as work in the propagation of verylow-frequency sound ("infra-sound")

waves. Modeling studies contributed

to understanding of propagation and,

in particular, sources of "infra-sound".

Just as it is possible to infer earthquake

epicenters from seismic wave observations, "infra-sound" sources can be

inferred from atmospheric observations. This work is an important component of monitoring compliance with

the proposed Comprehensive Test Ban

Treaty (CTBT). The CTBT work

involves a number of organizations

within DOE and DOD community,

including interactions with other DOE

laboratories within the CTBT Research

and Development program.

Operational issues involve close

work with the Air Force Technical

Applications Center (AFTAC) at

Patrick AFB, Florida, the DOD organization that handles monitoring systems. In addition, several active international collaborations with other

infrasound researchers are ongoing.

The Meteorology Team within the

ACSG at LANL conducts analysis and

modeling on microscale to mesoscale

atmospheric flows and phenomena. In

support of the DOE CBNP, a model for

High Resolution and Strong Gradient

(HIGRAD) applications is being used

to study the effects of radiative heating

and shading around groups of buildings. The objective of this study is to

determine how these processes may

influence the transport of agents within the urban environment. On larger

scales, the team is examining the influence of flow merger and urban roughness on the vertical transport and mixing of pollutants with the Regional

Atmospheric Modeling System

(RAMS) for several western United

States valleys and basins. This project

is in support of the DOE

Environmental Meteorology Program

(EMP) and for the EPA. As part of the

LANL initiative in Coupled

Environmental Modeling, researchers

within the Meteorology Team are

developing a physics-based fire behavior model, FIRETEC, and coupling

this model to the HIGRAD atmospheric dynamics code to examine the

details of the interaction between local

winds and the intense heat generated

by wildfires. Also as part of this initiative, a land surface model is being coupled that includes hydrologic processes

(i.e., SPLASH) to the RAMS

mesoscale model for multi-seasonal

simulations of the water resources of

the upper Rio Grande Basin.

Meteorology team members are also

working on the LANL Urban Security

project, which is linking physical and

urban growth models to address the

needs of cities. In this framework, we

are using the RAMS model to provide

meteorological fields for use by air

chemistry, urban runoff, and other

models. The Meteorology team within

the ACSG conducts analysis and modeling on microscale to mesoscale.

On global scales, research within the

LANL meteorological community

involves the study of climate change

and variability. A major project is the

development of a global coupled

ocean-atmosphere model sponsored by

the DOE Climate Change Prediction

Program. The global model being

developed consists of a Los Alamos

global ocean Global Climate Models

(GCMs) Parallel Ocean Program

(POP), the Los Alamos sea-ice model

(CICE), the National Center for

Atmospheric Research (NCAR)

Community Climate Model (CCM3),

and a "flux coupler" to link the media

consistently. The two GCM's and the

CICE model exchange heat, momentum, and water mass across the air-sea

boundary. A ten-year synchronized

simulation revealed the synoptic

weather events, seasonal cycles and

inter-annual variations.

Observations related to understanding global climate are the focus of the

Tropical Western Pacific (TWP)

Program Office LANL, an element of

the DOE ARM Program. The TWP

Program Office is responsible for the

development and operation of the

TWP CART locale, a large expanse of

tropical-ocean and maritime-continent

lying roughly between 10o S and 10o N

latitude and from 135o E to 150o W

longitude. The maritime continent

area is largely in the southwest and the

open ocean area in the northeast of the

locale. The local climate is characterized by warm sea surface temperatures, deep and frequent atmospheric

convection, high rain rates, strong coupling between the atmosphere and

ocean, and substantial variability associated with El Niño Southern
SECTION 3 DOE 155

Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon.

Scientific questions that need to be

addressed in the TWP can be grouped

under three main headings:

• Radiation budget and cloud forcing; 

• Water and energy budgets; and,

• Ocean-atmosphere interactions.

The program supports a variety of

operations at LANL. The primary

client of the program is the Emergency

Management Group, for which the

program provides a plume modeling

capability. Other clients use the program's data for such activities as operations and planning, hazard and accident analyses, environmental studies,

support for experiments, compliance,

and documentation.

NEVADA TEST SITE

The Nevada Test Site (NTS) is managed and operated by the DOE Nevada

Operations Office (DOE/NV). The

NTS has been the nations' underground

nuclear weapons testing facility and is

now used to support sub-critical experiments and other national defense missions of the United States. The NTS

occupies 1,350 square miles of south

central Nevada and is approximately

75 miles northwest of Las Vegas,

Nevada. The topography of the NTS is

complex with a system of dry lake

beds and mountains. Elevations range

from nearly 2,700 feet (ft) above mean

sea level (MSL) to 7,600 ft MSL. The

climate is arid.

Meteorological services are provided

to DOE/NV by components of the

Department of Commerce (DOC),

NOAA. The DOC has had a presence

on the NTS for more than 45 years

through various Interagency

Agreements (IA). During this time,

NOAA personnel have built a solid

technical reputation in meteorological

operations and emergency response.

Presently, NOAA support is provided

by ARL SORD, recognized for its

expertise in the transport, dispersion,

and deposition of radioactive and toxic

materials. ARL/SORD has developed

a rapid emergency response capability

for the unlikely occurrence of an accidental release of radioactive or hazardous material into the atmosphere.

Both basic and applied research is

carried out on problems of mutual

interest to DOE and to NOAA.

Emphasis is on the maintenance of

meteorological support to national

defense projects and to the stewardship

of nuclear weapons. These capabilities

focus on those facets of meteorology

having a direct bearing on the transport, dispersion, deposition (i.e., fallout), and resuspension of radioactive

and/or toxic materials. Other research

includes documentation and study of

extreme precipitation events, desert

thunderstorms, cloud-to-ground lightning, and environmental issues related

to air quality and visibility.

ARL/SORD provides full meteorological support to all DOE/NV operations on and off the NTS. Meteorology

plays a key role in environmental, safety, and health responsibilities of

DOE/NV. The ARL SORD staff is

responsible for conducting a modern

program in support of nuclear and nonnuclear projects authorized by

DOE/NV. Furthermore, the mission of

ARL/SORD involves technical support to the emergency preparedness

and response activities of DOE/NV.

ARL/SORD operates a comprehensive

meteorological monitoring program

for the NTS, and provides meteorological and climatology services required

to support the DOE/NV and contractor

programs at the NTS and elsewhere, as

necessary.

Personnel at SORD also consult with

senior scientists and engineers at the

DOE National Laboratories, NASA,

private contractors, Desert Research

Institute (DRI), United States

Geological Service (USGS), United

States Forest Service (USFS), and

other NOAA laboratories.

The SORD meteorological monitoring network consists of 29 10-meter

towers and two 30-meter towers. Wind

direction and speed is measured at the

10-meter level on all the towers and

temperature and relative humidity is

sampled at the 2-meter level. Data

from these towers are transmitted via

microwave radio to a central processor

that checks the data, creates data files,

and archives the data every 15 minutes.

The data files are accessed by microcomputer to create graphics products

for operational use and for immediate

display at 15-minute intervals.

SORD also operates two, 915MHz

vertical profilers on the NTS. One

tower is located in the middle of Yucca

Flat and the other tower is located at

the Hazardous Materials Spill Center

(HMSC) in Frenchman Flat near

Mercury, Nevada. In addition, a

NOAA full surface radiation

(SURFRAD) budget station is operated and maintained at the Desert Rock

Meteorological Observatory (DRA)

located in the southern part of the NTS.

Upper-air soundings are taken twice

daily, at 00 and 12 Universal Time

Coordinated (UTC) from the DRA

facility. ARL SORD also operates

mobile upper-air sounding systems and

mobile pilot balloon (PIBAL) equipment to support special projects requiring winds aloft data in real-time.

Large-scale meteorological data and

NCEP weather forecast products are

received via AWIPS, or from the

University Center for Atmospheric

Research (UCAR) and ARL-Silver

Spring, Maryland. Weather products

supplied to DOE contractors, the

National Laboratories (e.g., SNL,

LANL, and LLNL), the NWS, and

Nellis AFB, include real-time cloudto-ground lightning flash graphical

products and local forecast products.

ARL/SORD has also implemented the

RAMS model for the NTS and

Southern Nevada. This model predicts

boundary layer airflow over complex

terrain. The RAMS code accesses the

NCEP predictive model outputs and is

run at the University of Nevada at Las

Vegas (UNLV) Supercomputer Center

on a daily basis.
156 DOE SECTION 3

ARL/SORD provides meteorological

monitoring support and project-specific weather forecast services to NEST,

FRMAC and ARG activities.

Monitoring support includes surface

and upper-air data collection and

analysis. Weather forecast service

entails maintaining a constant weather

watch for conditions that might impact

NEST, FRMAC, or ARG operations

and personnel, issuing site-specific

mesoscale wind, stability, and weather

forecasts, aviation weather support,

and providing consultation to the OnScene Commander (OSC) and to

National Laboratories personnel.

ARL/SORD maintains a web site

(www.sord.nv.doe.gov) that includes

graphical products that display current

meteorological conditions on and

around the NTS, including data from

ARL/SORD vertical profilers, climatological data, cloud-to-ground lightning

information and time-relevant plume

transport and dispersion calculations.

OAK RIDGE RESERVATION

The Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) is

home to four DOE sites: Oak Ridge

National Laboratory (ORNL), the Y-12

Plant, the East Tennessee Technology

Park (ETTP, formerly K-25 Site), and

the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and

Education (ORISE). Managed by the

Oak Ridge Operations Office (OROO),

the ORR encompasses nearly 100

square miles of hilly and heavily vegetated terrain in eastern Tennessee.

Meteorological network systems,

which support day-to-day operations,

are managed and operated at the three

main sites by the University of

Tennessee (UT)/Battelle, BWXT Y-12

and Bechtel Jacobs Company. These

network systems provide data that support environmental management (permitting, facility siting and environmental impact assessment), facility

safety (safety analyses), emergency

management (hazards and consequence assessment), operations (work

planning) and substantial research.

The meteorological data acquisition

program at ETTP has two main towers.

K-1209 is 60 meters high while

K-1208 is 30 meters in height. In addition, two 10-meter supplemental towers are still operating. Lastly, a

NEXRAD radar system, and The

Weather Channel (TWC) are available

to each of the control rooms and emergency response facilities.

The Y-12 Plant has two meteorological towers (i.e., 100-meter and 60-

meter) located at the east and west

ends of the site, respectively, and a

Remtech sodar reporting vertical profile data from 50 meters to 500 meters.

ETTP and Y-12 Plant meteorological

data is fed into the ORR Emergency

Operations Center (EOC) and at emergency control centers for hazard

assessment, consequence assessment,

and protective action recommendations.

The data acquisition program at the

ORNL consists of three (two 30-meter

and one 100-meter) meteorological

towers. Meteorological data is fed to

an ORNL central computer system for

analysis and dissemination.

NOAA Air Resources Laboratory/

Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion

Division (ARL/ATDD) is located in

Oak Ridge near the ORR. The primary

mission of ATDD is atmospheric

research. Substantial research programs at ATDD are undertaken with

the assistance of staff from

ORISE/Oak Ridge Associated

Universities (ORAU) and scientists

from other national laboratories and

organizations in the United States and

abroad. ARL/ATDD also works closely with the ORAU to enhance educational opportunities in atmospheric science.

ARL/ATDD research attention is

focused on the physics of the lower

atmosphere, with special emphasis on

the processes contributing to atmospheric transport, dispersion, and airsurface exchange, and on the development and improvement of predictive

capabilities using the results of this

research. Many other projects are

underway such as surface energy balance and CO2 exchange studies and

long-term studies of CO2 exchange

aimed at process-level understanding. 

Operationally, ARL/ATDD personnel provide meteorological consultation and supplemental data for air quality analyses, environmental reports,

and hazard assessments and consequence assessments. Local climatology data are routinely collected and

distributed. Under NOAA funding,

ARL/ATDD operates a regional network of 15 towers ranging from the

Cumberland Mountains (middle

Tennessee) to the Smoky Mountains

on Tennessee's eastern border. Wind,

temperature, and precipitation data are

recovered every 15 minutes by telemetry and made available to users.

ARL/ATDD incorporates NWS forecast products into the high-resolution,

regional, meteorological model (i.e.,

RAMS) to produce twice daily

12-hour, 24-hour, and 36-hour predictions of surface winds for eastern

Tennessee, and transport trajectory

predictions for the ORR.

PANTEX PLANT

The Pantex Plant covers 15,977 acres

and is located 17 miles northeast of

Amarillo, Texas, in Carson County.

The Plant was a World War II munitions factory and was converted to a

nuclear weapons assembly facility in

1951. Today, it is the nation's only

assembly/disassembly facility supporting the nuclear weapons arsenal.

Pantex Plant is a government-owned,

contractor-operated facility. DOE

oversees operation of Pantex Plant

through the Amarillo Area Office

(AAO), which reports to the

Albuquerque Operations Office.

Mason and Hanger Corporation had

been the operating contractor since

1956. On February 1, 2001, BWXT

Pantex has assumed the Pantex contract.

The Plant is composed of several

functional areas, commonly referred to
SECTION 3 DOE 157

as numbered zones. These include a

weapons assembly/disassembly area, a

weapons staging area, an area for

development of experimental explosives, a drinking water treatment facility, a sanitary wastewater treatment

facility, and vehicle maintenance and

administrative areas. Other functional

areas include a utility area for steam

and compressed air, an explosive testfiring facility, a burning ground for

thermally treating explosive materials,

and landfills. Overall, there are more

than 700 buildings at the Pantex Plant.

The Environmental Protection/

Restoration Department (EP/RD) of

the Environment, Safety and Health

Directorate is tasked with the quality

assurance program for the meteorological data captured by the one on-site

two-level tower located in the northeast corner of the Plant site. The data

from this tower (i.e., 10-meters and

60-meters) are collected and used by

the DOE NARAC site workstation,

located in the Plant EOC. These data

are collected and archived as

15-minute averages plus maximum

and minimum values for each

15-minute period. They are primarily

used for input to the NARAC emergency response models that could be

used for off-normal events involving

radionuclides. Annual dispersion

model calculations of offsite radiation

doses from on site sources, required by

40 CFR 61, Subpart H, National

Emission Standards for Hazardous Air

Pollutants (NESHAP), are accomplished by the EP/RD. EP/RD uses the

EPA-approved CAP88-PC atmospheric transport and dispersion model and

the Pantex meteorological tower data

processed into the STAR format. This

department also maintains the Pantex

Plant climatology database.

Meteorological tower data is also

used by the Risk Management

Department for plume dispersion modeling applied to the Plutonium

Dispersal Consequence Analysis for

the Basis for Interim Operations (BIO)

validation and upgrade reports, other

operations directives, and other safety

analyses.

Routine preventive maintenance on

the meteorological instruments as well

as calibration and certification are

done semi-annually by the United

States Bureau of Land Management

(BLM). The BLM maintenance depot

at Boise, Idaho performs similar work

for the United States Forest Service's

own meteorological towers instruments. This work is done under a contract administered by the Pantex

Emergency Management Department.

The BLM Idaho depot also handles

emergency repairs and replacement of

sensors. Temperature and wind sensors are replaced semi-annually with

calibrated and certified sensors. The

barometer is replaced annually.

During the semi-annual preventive

maintenance visits all of the other

meteorological instruments are

replaced by the BLM technician with

rebuilt/refurbished, calibrated equipment, from the Idaho depot. The maintenance check also includes the telephone line, modem, and backup power

supply.

As a result of a FY 2000 project

meteorological tower data is now displayed on the Pantex Plant Intranet for

use by Plant personnel. During

FY 2001, the potential for replacing

the existing wind sensor on the meteorological tower with a three-dimensional wind sensor was evaluated. In

addition, replacing/upgrading the

NARAC computer and software located at the base of the tower that feeds

data into the NARAC Site System in

the EOC was also considered.

There are no current or projected

supporting meteorological research

activities planned at the Pantex Plant.

ROCKY FLATS ENVIRONMENTAL

TECHNOLOGY SITE

The Rocky Flats Environmental

Technology Site (RFETS) is managed

by the Rocky Flats Operations Office

(RFOO) and is located approximately

16 miles northwest of downtown

Denver, Colorado. One of the smaller

DOE sites, the facility occupies a

10 square mile area along the foothills

of the Rocky Mountain Front Range.

A 61-meter meteorological tower at

the west-end of the site continuously

monitors meteorological conditions at

surface, 10-meters, 25-meters, and

60-meters above ground level. The

data are analyzed, quality assured, and

assembled into data sets for use in

atmospheric modeling, climatology,

and other analyses at the site. Data

from the 61-meter and 10-meter towers

are also transmitted back to the main

site every 15 minutes by telemetry for

use in emergency response modeling.

The Regional Atmospheric Response

Center (RARC) conducts meteorological activities associated with emergency preparedness and response at the

site. An upper air remote sensing

Sound Detection and Ranging/Radio

Acoustic Sounding (SODAR/RASS)

System continuously monitors winds,

temperatures, and atmospheric stability above RFETS.

Through a cooperative agreement

with the Colorado Department of

Public Health and Environment

(CDPHE), meteorological data are

transmitted to the site from five surface

meteorological stations by telemetry

that form a ring around the site perimeter. Another cooperative agreement

with NOAA provides near real-time

data from multiple monitoring sites

throughout the Denver metropolitan

area. These data are all received, quality assured, and combined into a threedimensional observation set for emergency response modeling every

15 minutes, 24 hours per day.

The RARC provides 24-hour consequence assessment support for any

unplanned radiological or chemical

releases from the site. The Center

responds with customized weather

forecasts, plume projections, and dose

modeling results that lead to event

classifications and protective actions
158 DOE SECTION 3

for on-site and off-site populations.

RARC also conducts specialized consequence assessments in support of

emergency preparedness, hazard

assessments, and risk assessments for

RFETS. Weather forecasts are provided for severe weather events, such as

winter storms, windstorms, and severe

thunderstorms.

A customized modeling system has

been developed and implemented at

RFETS to predict the path and impacts

from any radiological emergency at the

site. Called the Computer-Assisted

Protective Action Recommendation

System (CAPARS), the new capability

addresses the need for fast, accurate

plume predictions in a complex atmosphere.

CAPARS provides a variety of

plume, weather, hazard, and related

products with the accuracy and speed

needed for response to an emergency

at RFETS. Eleven integrated major

subsystems form the overall CAPARS

capability.

The State of Colorado has formally

accepted the CAPARS modeling system for emergency response and planning applications at RFETS. A specialized planning version of the

CAPARS system has been developed,

implemented, and applied for emergency planning at the RFETS. Called

the TRAC Risk Assessment/Hazards

Assessment Model, the capability is

designed to support hazards and risk

assessments for RFETS and to form

the basis for an evaluation of the size

and shape of the Emergency Planning

Zone (EPZ) surrounding RFETS.

SANDIANATIONAL LABORATORY

The DOE Kirtland Area Office

(KAO) manages Sandia National

Laboratory (SNL) in Albuquerque,

NM, located between the Rio Grande

Valley and Manzano Mountains. SNL

covers approximately 80 square miles

of flat to mountainous arid terrain.

Meteorological Programs at SNL

include both support and research

activities.

Meteorological services and support

are provided through the EOC in the

Laboratory Services Division (LSD).

The mission is to provide meteorological support for various operations

including:

• Emergency response;

• Environmental surveillance and

characterization; and,

• Regulatory compliance.

The monitoring network consists of

six 10-meter and two 60-meter towers

used to measure wind direction and

speed, ambient temperature, and relative humidity. There are also three precipitation gauges, two barometric pressure sensors, and one solar radiation

pyranometer in the network.

Key research activities are provided

through the Energy and Critical

Infrastructure Center in the Energy,

Information, and Technology Division.

SNL scientists are involved in the

ARM program and the Surface Heat

Budget of the Arctic Ocean (SHEBA).

The ARM project is a combined measurement and modeling program. The

goal is to gain a better understanding

of clouds and their effect on atmospheric radiation, with the final goal of

developing better climate models. The

SHEBA program addresses the interaction of the surface energy balance,

atmospheric radiation and clouds over

the Arctic Ocean.

SAVANNAH RIVER SITE

The Savannah River Site (SRS) is

under the responsibility of the

Savannah River Operations Office

(SR) and operated by the

Westinghouse Savannah River

Company (WSRC). SRS is located in

southwestern South Carolina, along

the banks of the Savannah River. The

SRS covers an area of approximately

300 square miles. It is heavily vegetated with evergreen trees and contains

many streams, a swamp, and a

2,700-acre reservoir built as a cooling

pond for the plant reactors. The topography of SRS is characterized by gently rolling forested hills with an adjacent flood plain near the Savannah

River. The climate at SRS is typical of

the southeastern United States with

long, hot and humid summers and

short mild winters.

The Atmospheric Technologies

Group (ATG) of the Savannah River

Technology Center (SRTC) developed

the SRS meteorological monitoring

and modeling program in the early

1970's. This program supports the

SRS operations in the areas of emergency response consequence assessment, radiological and non-radiological air quality calculations for regulatory compliance, safety analyses, environmental impacts, engineering studies, environmental research and nonproliferation activities.

Meteorological activities include

daily weather forecasting services in

support of operations at SRS, with particular emphasis on severe weather

impacts. Local meteorological data

are obtained from a network of eight

200-foot meteorological observing

towers located near the major production sites. The instrumentation on

these towers includes sensitive bidirectional vanes (i.e., bivanes), cup

anemometers, resistance thermometers

and lithium chloride humidity sensors.

Additional meteorological instrumentation is located at the Central

Climatology Facility located near the

geographical center of the site to measure precipitation, evaporation, barometric pressure, soil temperature, solar

and long wave radiation. Central

Climatology includes a 200-foot tower

instrumented at four levels. A network

of twelve additional rain gauges (that

are read daily) is located within SRS.

Additional local upper-air data are collected from three acoustic Doppler

radars, an airsonde system, and a tethersonde system. Portable towers are

used for case studies.

A collaborative agreement with surrounding counties involves assisting

them to install and operate several

local meteorological towers at nearby
SECTION 3 DOE 159

chemical plants. Data from these towers are being integrated into the SRS

meteorological archiving and display

system the Weather Information and

Display System (WINDS).

The WINDS is the primary consequence assessment system for atmospheric and hydrologic releases from

SRS operations. A suite of atmospheric models linked to real-time site wide

atmospheric monitoring provides

transport, dispersion and consequence

calculations for emergency response.

The WIND system underwent a complete re-engineering to improve the

computer system reliability, performance and serviceability. The re-engineering involved distributing the data

processing and utilizing new data

acquisition hardware and relational

data base software. New workstation

clustering for data management and

PC/NT user workstations for local

model operation and graphical user

interfacing for displays were added.

An advanced non-hydrostatic, threedimensional, prognostic atmospheric

model is run twice daily on the SRTC's

CRAY computer separate domains:

• The Central Savannah River Area

(CSRA);

• Kilometer grid resolution); and,

• The area encompassing South

Carolina and Georgia (i.e., 20-kilometer resolution).

The CSRA model provides forecasts

with a minimum of six-hours useable

forecast fields. The Georgia-South

Carolina model run provides forecasts

with a minimum of 24-hours useable

forecast fields. These forecast fields

are integrated into the WIND system

consequence assessment models.

Additional model runs are conducted

on an expanded domain to include the

entire southeastern United States on an

ad hoc basis when the SRS is threatened by hurricanes.

An aqueous model is also resident on

WINDS and linked to real-time stream

flow monitors operated by the USGS.

This model enables consequence

assessments for emergency response to

site streams and the Savannah River.

Regional, national, and international

meteorological data are received from

a commercial weather data provider

via satellite in real-time. Weather

workstations provide surface and

upper observations, analyzed and forecast weather parameter fields from the

NWS and the European Modeling

Center (EMC). These data are input

into an advanced, three dimensional,

prognostic, atmospheric modeling system for applications locally in the

southeastern United States and globally. Satellite and Doppler radar data are

also available in near real-time.

WASTE ISOLATION PILOT PLANT

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

(WIPP) is operated by Westinghouse

TRU Solutions for the DOE Carlsbad

Area Office (CAO). A cornerstone of

the DOE national clean-up strategy, the

WIPP is designed to permanently dispose of transuranic radioactive waste

generated by defense-related activities

in the Salado salt formation 2,150 feet

beneath the surface. WIPP is located

in Eddy County in southeastern New

Mexico, 26 miles east of Carlsbad, and

occupies 16 square miles of a region

know as Los Medanos.

Geographically, the region is regarded

as a relatively flat, sparsely inhabited

plateau with little surface water.

The WIPP Environmental

Monitoring Section (EMS) performs

meteorological monitoring as part of

the Non-radiological Environmental

Monitoring Program. The primary

meteorological station provides measurement of wind direction and speed,

temperature at two-meters, 10-meters,

and 50-meters, as well as ground level

measurements of barometric pressure,

relative humidity, precipitation, and

solar radiation. The main function of

the station is to generate data for operational support, emergency response

and regulatory dispersion modeling

applications. Parameters are monitored continuously and the data are

stored in the Central Monitoring

System, a computerized system including automated parameter checks, realtime displays in the Central

Monitoring Room, and data archiving.

Meteorological data are compiled and

distributed to stakeholders, including

the NOAA NWS, on a monthly basis.

In addition to the primary meteorological station, the Far Field Station

serves as a secondary meteorological

station and measures wind direction

and speed at 10-meters as well as temperature, barometric pressure at

ground level. System upgrades are

currently being considered for this station.

WIPP also, under a cooperative

agreement with the NWS, maintains a

Cooperative Weather Observing

Station at the Far Field Station. Data

from this station are compiled monthly

and the Record of Climatological

Observations form is submitted to the

Weather Forecast Office in Midland,

Texas. Under the same cooperative

agreement, the Midland office is given

access to real-time data from the primary meteorological station.

WELDON SPRINGS SITE

REMEDIAL ACTION PROJECT

Various facilities at Weldon Springs

in St. Charles County, Missouri, were

no longer needed, and a Remedial

Action Plan (RAP) was developed to

restore the site to its environmental

baseline. This activity is being coordinated under the Weldon Springs Site

Remedial Action Plan (WSSRAP),

under the management of DOE

OROO, and operated by an integrated

Project Management Contractor

(PMC) consisting of MK-Ferguson

and Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc.

WSSRAP, which is approximately

30 miles west of St. Louis, Missouri, is

approaching completion.

The mission of the WSSRAP, which

is concluding this year, has been to

conduct environmental restoration of

the following:

• A 166-acre inactive uranium feed
160 DOE SECTION 3

materials plant (i.e., chemical plant

area);

• A 51-acre raffinate pit area;

• A nine-acre limestone quarry located 4 miles from the main site; and,

• Associated vicinity properties.

Within the scope of remediation is

cleanup of both radiological and chemical contaminants resulting from historical operations that included trinitrotoluene (TNT) and dinitrotoluene

(DNT) production (i.e., 1941-1945),

and uranium processing (i.e., 1956-

1966).

Fourteen interim response actions

were developed and approved by

WSSRAP. Interim response actions

are activities that will not change the

ultimate disposal method but will mitigate or eliminate conditions that pose

immediate or potential threats to worker safety, public health, or the environment. Some of the interim actions

taken were removal of exposed friable

asbestos, overhead piping, polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) electrical equipment, power poles and wires, demolition of all buildings, isolation and capping of Ash Pond, and capping of other

highly contaminated areas.

A meteorological monitoring program had operated at the WSSRAP

since 1994. The program consisted of

a single monitoring station, located at

the eastern edge of the chemical area,

more than 400 feet from the nearest

building and is considered representative of all areas undergoing remediation. The WSSRAP meteorological

station continuously measured and

recorded wind speed and wind direction at 10-meters above ground level,

as well as horizontal wind fluctuation

at 10-meters above ground level, barometric pressure, relative humidity,

solar radiation, and precipitation intensity. With the completion of the remediation mission, the meteorological

monitoring system will be dismantled

this year.

The data collected by this station had

been used to support numerous project

functions at the site, including:

• Meteorological information to support emergency response activities

in the event of an unscheduled

chemical or radiological release;

• Information for atmospheric dispersion modeling to provide an

environmental safety and health

contribution to engineering design

of site facilities;

• Rainfall, temperature, and wind

speed data to support wetland and

lake ecological studies and for support of foliar vegetation absorption

analysis;

• Precipitation data to support the

correlation of aquifer level fluctuations in the quarry and Femme

Osage Slough;

• Environmental reporting including

the annual Site Environmental

Report and the Effluent

Information System/On-Site

Discharge Information System

Report;

• Wind speed data needed for compliance with Occupational Safety

and Health Administration (OSHA)

construction management activities;

• Precipitation data to support the

National Pollutant Discharge

Elimination System (NPDES)

storm water permit application;

• Temperature and relative humidity

data to support environmental safety and health field activities during

periods of extreme heat and cold;

• Groundwater studies to evaluate the

impact of rainfall on contamination

in the underlying aquifer; and,

• Wetland and lake ecological studies

for support of foliar vegetation

absorption analysis.

The site has now been essentially

remediated and all contaminated materials have been permanently disposed

in the 45-acre onsite disposal cell. The

contaminated material in the cell is

covered by at least one-foot of clean

soil, and the cell cap was placed during

2001. The meteorological station is no

longer necessary to support radiological activities or dispersion modeling.

However, it will operate into 2002 in

support of general construction activities and groundwater studies.

This will be the last report from

Weldon Springs Site Remedial Action

Project.

Figure 3-DOE-4. Yucca Mountain (100 miles northwest of Las Vegas,

Nevada) is unpopulated land owned by the Federal Government and adjacent

to the nation's nuclear weapons test site.
SECTION 3 DOE 161

YUCCA MOUNTAIN PROJECT

As part of the DOE Office of

Civilian Radioactive Waste

Management (OCRWM), DOE

Secretary Spencer Abraham made the

decision for the Yucca Mountain

Project (YMP) to support a recommendation of Yucca Mountain for the

nation's first geologic repository for

spent nuclear fuel and other high level

radioactive waste (Figure 3-DOE-4).

The current meteorological program

within the YMP focuses on environmental compliance and operational

health and safety considerations, for

both employees and the general public.

As with a number of DOE sites, the

Yucca Mountain area is one of complex topography and heterogeneous

surface characteristics, creating

mesoscale conditions that locally influence onsite weather. The YMP meteorological program, therefore, includes

four full stations for measuring atmospheric dispersion and general meteorological conditions, as well as nine precipitation stations. These stations

serve to monitor the significant variations in airflow, rainfall, and temperature caused by the area's complex terrain environment. The meteorological

stations are key to the thorough monitoring of these variations that is essential for the YMP ongoing commitment

to environmental compliance and to

the health and safety of employees and

the public.

The YMP meteorological program

also provides essential data for the

studies necessary to evaluate the site's

suitability for a potential repository.

Should the site be deemed suitable and

a repository licensed, built, and operated, water would be the primary means

by which radioactive materials could

be transported to the accessible environment. Thus, movement of water

from the atmosphere to the surface and

on through the mountain is a key concern. The meteorological program

provides essential data for the infiltration model of the mountain. Data

about precipitation, humidity, evapotranspiration, surface water run-on,

solar radiation, air temperatures, and

wind patterns all contribute to the

overall infiltration model. The model

gives special emphasis to the transient,

or temporal, versus steady-state rates

of water movement through the unsaturated zone of rock at Yucca Mountain.

The temporal variation of infiltration

may be short term, due to weather fluctuations that drive episodic flow, or

much longer term, in periods corresponding to climate change. Data

from the meteorological program's

ongoing monitoring programs are supplemented by the program's paleoclimatology studies. Together, they provide essential information for the YMP

modeling of past, present, and future

infiltration rates.

If the potential repository were actually built and operated, continuous

meteorological monitoring and analysis would also be essential for the operational facilities on the surface of the

mountain, at least until the final closure of the repository. Buildings

would be built to withstand the probable maximum flood and wind conditions, and administrative controls

would be in place to suspend operations during severe weather conditions.

An integral part of the emergency

response system would include monitoring the overall environmental situation at the repository site.

In turn, an integral part of the overall

environmental monitoring system

would be the meteorological monitoring system. This system would collect

real-time meteorological information

about the site and provide weather

forecasting and climatological data.

Such data would be essential for management decisions regarding the health

and safety conditions for employees

and the public.

DOE METEOROLOGICAL

COORDINATING COUNCIL

Based on a need to facilitate more

coordination and cooperation among

the meteorological activities at the

DOE field offices, the Meteorological

Coordinating Council (DMCC) (the

Council) was established in December

1994. The mission of the Council,

now in its eighth year, is to coordinate

meteorological support and research to

meet DOE objectives. The objectives

of the council are to:

• Promote cost-effective support for

all DOE facilities;

• Plan for future needs, requirements,

and missions;

• Advocate awareness of atmospheric science applications and benefits

to DOE; and,

• Advocate the use of common methods, procedures, and standards.

Council oversight is provided by a

steering committee consisting of DOE

headquarters and field element representatives. Products of the DMCC

include evaluations of meteorological

requirements contained in DOE orders

and guidance documents, site meteorological program peer reviews, and, as

needed, customized technical assistance. Assist visits have been conducted at DOE/NV, WIPP, Pantex, and

DOE/OR. A follow-up assist visit was

also conducted at WIPP. Additional

assist visits are in the planning stages

and will be conducted over the next

several years.

The DMCC web page has been

broadened and can be accessed at

www.sord.nv.doe.gov.
162 DOE SECTION 3
Bureau of Land Management

BLM is one of five Federal Land

Management agencies which have centralized Wildland fire weather operations at the National Interagency Fire

Center (NIFC), Boise, Idaho. BLM's

Initial Attack Management System

(IAMS) was designed in the mid1980's to provide real time data access

and modeling for the fire management

organization. The IAMS required a

considerable dedicated telecommunications network for data distribution.

In an effort to reduce these inherent

telecommunications costs, the BLM

has moved into a "web server" environment. Many of the capabilities that

were centrally located in the old IAMS

have been moved to other web sites.

Fire Weather Websites: The principal WFMIS inputs remain the same

with Remote Automatic Weather

Station (RAWS) and National

Lightning Detection Network (NLDN)

information (Figure 3-DOI-1). BLM's

new server system is called the BLM

Wildland Fire Management

Information Site (www.nifc.blm.gov).

Additional fire management information is summarized and made available

at the Desert Research Institute

(wrcc.dri.edu and cefa.dri.edu) and the

United States Forest Service Wildland

Fire Assessment System

(//svinet2.fs.fed.us/land/wfas/).

Automated Weather Stations: The

BLM's RAWS Program primarily collects meteorological data for fire

weather forecasting. However, use of

BLM's RAWS data set by other nonfire users has generated funding to permit year around operation of the entire

network. The BLM's Resource

Management and Oregon O&C (WestSide) also operate RAWS networks

which are much smaller and have specific program requirements that differ

from fire management.

Lightning Detection: In 1997, the

BLM began contracting with a private

vendor via the National Weather

Service for lightning location data.

Data are received at the NIFC in Boise,

Idaho, and placed on the BLM WFMIS

for qualified user access. Current

plans are to continue the operation of

the Alaska Automatic Lightning

Detection System as an independent

government-owed and operated system.

Fire Weather Support: The BLM's

Remote Sensing Fire Weather Support

Unit at NIFC provides a full range of

specialized management, maintenance,

data, and support services for the BLM

and numerous other government agencies. This interagency staffed and

funded facility performs work under

long-term interagency agreements

with those agencies within the government having similar equipment and

requirements. Staffing levels within

this group are adjusted to meet the

overall interagency requirements.

Climate Monitoring: In addition to

the meteorological monitoring BLM

conducts primarily to support Wildland

fire management activities, the BLM

also conducts site-specific climate

monitoring at over 200 manual weather station locations on the Public Lands

in the eleven western states and

Alaska. The operation of these sites

ranges from seasonal to annual measurements of precipitation, temperature,

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR WEATHER PROGRAMS

The Department of the Interior's (DOI) Atmospheric Science activities are primarily research; however, budgetary information for the Bureau of Land Management's operational wildland fire weather data

collection system is reported earlier in this Federal Plan. The narrative below describes the full range

of meteorological activity in the Interior Department.

SECTION 3 DOI 163

Figure 3-DOI-1. National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, graphic of

Lightning Ignition Efficiency for lower 48 states.
164 DOI SECTION 3

soil moisture, and other meteorological

parameters necessary to assess local

climatic influences. These data are

primarily used for natural resources

management and planning at the local

level.

Portable Weather Stations: During

the 1999 fire season, the Remote

Sensing/Fire Weather Support Unit

began a 2-year "proof of concept"

effort with a portable weather station

referred to as the Fire RAWS (FRWS).

FRWS are intended for use on or near

the fire line and are rapidly relocated to

points desired by Fire Behavior

Analysts (FBA's) for real time weather

data. Due to the extreme fire season in

both 1999 and 2000, the FRWS was

used extensively and was found to be a

valuable asset for firefighter safety and

fire weather forecasting.

Currently, seventeen FRWS systems

are cached at NIFC for use during the

2002 season. Prescribed fire managers

are encouraged to call for information

pertaining to weather window prescriptions. FRWS collect, store, and

forward data by interrogated voice

radio with new data available every fifteen minutes. Satellite data can be

retrieved from the BLM/NIFC website. Hourly satellite data is available

to Fire Weather Forecasting Staff for

spot forecasts and fire support from all

central locations (GACC's, NIFC,

etc.).

National Park Service (NPS) and Fish

and Wildlife Service (FWS)

The Park Service monitors air quality and visibility in several national

parks and monuments. Gaseous pollutants data are collected on continuous

and integrated (24-hour) bases.

Surface meteorological data are collected and analyzed for hourly averages. Precipitation chemistry is determined on week-long integrated rainfall

samples. Twenty-four hour, average

particle concentrations (mass, elemental analyses, some chemical constituent analyses) are measured twice

weekly. Atmospheric light extinction

is measured continuously and relayed

to a central location for analyses

(Figure 3-DOI-2).

The NPS also conducts and contracts

research to develop and test air quality

models to assess long-range transport,

chemical transformation, and deposition of air pollutants. These models

are used to estimate source contributions to, and to identify source regions

responsible for, observed pollutant

loadings.

Joint Monitoring and Research: The

Fish and Wildlife Service Air Quality

Branch and the NPS Air Resources

Division operate under an interagency

agreement and are collocated in

Lakewood, Colorado. Expertise from

both agencies is pooled to address the

air quality issues that are the responsibility of the Assistant Secretary of the

Interior for Fish and Wildlife and

Parks.

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL

SURVEY

Water Data: The Survey's Water

Resources Division (WRD) collects

streamflow, precipitation, and other

climatological data for a number of

projects concerning rainfall/runoff,

water quality and hydrologic processes. Currently, the Geological Survey

collects hydrometeorological data

from approximately 5130 remote Data

Collection Platforms. The data are

transmitted to Wallops, Virginia, via

GOES and rebroadcast to a domestic

communication satellite (DOMSAT).

Data are received from the DOMSAT

by local readout ground stations

(LRGS) procured by the Geological

Survey under a 1992 contract. The

USGS currently operates 15 LRGS'

which provide near-real-time data to

the Survey's computerized National

Water Information System. 

The USGS also collects precipitation

samples in a number of studies for the

determination of atmospheric contribution to the chemical constituent

loads to runoff, and for defining the

effect of atmospheric deposition on

water quality and the aquatic environment.

Snow and Ice Studies: The USGS is

carrying out a joint research program

with NASA and the University of

Washington, Seattle, Washington,

Figure 3-DOI-2. Visibility impairment causes landscape features and colors to

fade, diminishing the experience of park visitors. Poorest visibility occurs east

of the Mississippi River and in the urban areas of California. NPS monitors visibility conditions and conducts studies to determine the causes of visibility

impairment in many park areas nationwide. Sulfates are usually the largest single contributor to visibility impairment; however, nitrates and organic compounds also contribute significantly in some regions of the country.
SECTION 3 DOI 165

Electrical and Civil Engineering

Departments to measure snowpack

water equivalent or snow depth using

satellite passive microwave observations from the Defense Meteorological

Satellite Program SSM/I sensor.

Unlike observations in the visible

bands, passive microwave observations are independent of cloud cover

and solar illumination and respond to

both snow depth and snowpack grain

size. The satellite observations are

being compared to snowpack data

from a variety of sources:

USDA/NRCS automatic SNOTEL

sites; NOAA/NWS sites; and observations by USGS field teams which

include grain size, density and stratigraphy. The object of the program is to

develop algorithms to extract snow

depth or water equivalent information

from the satellite observations to be

used in near real time water resource

assessments and in climatological

studies based on snow pack distributions determined from the two decade

long satellite record. The investigation

is developing techniques to utilize

algorithms that include the effects of

grain size metamorphoses and to incorporate these algorithms into hydrologic models.

Climatological Research: The

Survey also carries out research in past

climate change, regional hydrology,

the carbon cycle, coastal erosion, volcanic activity, and glaciology. As part

of its glaciology program, the Survey

maintains a benchmark program on

three benchmark glaciers representative of different climatic zones of the

western United States, one in

Washington, one on the south coast of

Alaska and one in the interior of

Alaska. At each glacier the program

measures the winter snow accumulation, summer snow and ice ablation, air

temperature, and runoff in the glacier

basin. Analysis of this 39 year long

record is providing a greater understanding of the climate variability and

its effects on water resources of the

western United States. The record

clearly shows the effects of changing

winter precipitation patterns associated

with El Niño and La Niña events. In

addition, the record from South

Cascade Glacier, in Washington State,

indicates that we are returning to the

cool phase of the Pacific Decadal

Oscillation. Both the snowpack and

glaciology program now incorporate

data supplied by the intelligence community through the coordination of the

Civil Applications Committee (CAC). 

Geomagnetic Data: The Survey's

Geologic Division, through the USGS

Geomagnetism Group in Golden,

Colorado, collects data on temporal

variations of the Earth's magnetic field

from a global network of over 70 geomagnetic observatories. These observatories (which include 14 operated

directly by USGS) all belong to the

INTERMAGNET program. Under

INTERMAGNET, data from a global

network of geomagnetic observatories

are transmitted in near-real-time via

satellites and computer links (E-mail)

to collection and dissemination points

called Geomagnetic Information

Nodes (GIN's). Five GIN's are now

located in Europe, North America, and

Asia. Magnetic field data are key

inputs to the National Space

Environment Forecast and Warning

Program, which is coordinated by the

OFCM, and to the new inter-agency

National Space Weather Program.

Magnetic data are used for nowcasting, forecasting, and modeling of

"space weather" -- particularly the

effects of geomagnetic disturbances.

These effects range from: satellite

computer upsets and early reentry, to

disruption of radio communications, to

degradation of navigation systems

[such as Global Positioning System

(GPS)], and to outages of power distribution grids. The roles and responsibilities of agencies participating in the

National Space Environment and

Warning Program are detailed in the

National Plan for Space Environment

Services and Supporting Research,

1993-1997 (FCMP10-1993) which

was prepared by the OFCM

Committee for Space Environment

Forecasting.

Volcanology and Volcanic Ash

Plumes: The Survey participates in the

Working Group for Volcanic Ash

(WG/VA) of the OFCM. This working

group is preparing A National

Framework for Volcanic Ash Hazards

to Aviation. Through its Volcanic

Hazards Program, the Survey is

responsible for monitoring volcanoes

in the United States; of the approximately 56 historically active volcanoes

in the United States, 44 are in Alaska.

Until the 1980s, the Alaskan volcanoes

had been largely unstudied. Despite

the low population density of much of

the State, Alaska's volcanoes underlie

the heavily traveled air routes of the

North Pacific region.

During recent years, the Survey's

Alaskan Volcano Observatory (AVO)

has expanded its network of real-time

seismic monitoring stations to bring 21

of the State's volcanoes under continuous, real-time surveillance. Data and

information from the AVO monitoring

activities are integrated directly into

the regional operational activities of

the FAA, DOD, and NWS to provide

warnings for pilots and aircraft operators in the Alaskan region.

Internationally, the OFCM's WG/VA

supported expansion of Survey monitoring activities in the remote Pacific

Rim of explosive volcanoes. The 100

historically active volcanoes in Alaska,

Kamchatka, and the Kuriles are monitored through satellite imagery several

times a day. Currently, about 220 aircraft per day - carrying about 20,000

passengers and millions of dollars of

cargo value - fly international Northern

Pacific Routes near these historically

active volcanos. About half these

flights are United States carriers.

AVO, through its working agreement

with the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption

Response Team (KVERT) in
166 DOI SECTION 3

Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia,

also supplies information about eruptive activity in Kamchatka and the

Kuriles to the FAA, the NWS, and

numerous domestic and foreign air carriers.

BUREAU OF RECLAMATION

The Bureau of Reclamation

(Reclamation) activities requiring the

collection and use of meteorological

data include water

supply forecasting,

snowpack water

equivalent assessment, river system

management, reservoir operations, irrigation scheduling, drought status assessment,

flood hydrology, and projects

related to hydroelectric energy

resources. One example of such

an ongoing activity within the

Science and Technology Program

is the Watershed and River System

Management Program (WaRSMP),

which is being developed in partnership with the USGS. This program

provides a data-centered framework

for science-based water resources decision making. Major components are:

• Hydrologic Data Base (HDB),

• Modular Modeling System (MMS), 

• RiverWare river system modeling

framework,

• Stochastic Analysis, Modeling and

Simulation (SAMS) system, and

• Agricultural WAter Resources

Decision Support (AWARDS) and

Evapotranspiration Toolbox (ET

Toolbox) system.

Hydrologic Modeling: SAMS is

being used in WaRSMP to assist water

resource managers in developing likely hydrologic scenarios for water supplies. It allows users to test various

water resources management strategies, including extreme drought and

high flow scenarios which haven't been

encountered in the historical period of

record.

The RiverWare and HDB data-centered decision support system enables

water managers to examine a variety of

observed and forecast hydrologic scenarios using hourly, daily, or monthly

data within the legal and physical constraints on operations of the river system. This model provides a holistic

management tool for watershed and

river systems, in order to meet a variety of competing demands for water.

Each new river system requires considerable

development work

(2-3 years) for RiverWare

and HDB implementation.

However, such a system can provide

for efficient water operations management, and is especially useful during

periods of drought and surplus - as

demonstrated by the recent "Colorado

River Interim Surplus Criteria: Final

Environmental Impact Statement"

(www.lc.usbr.gov/g4000/ surplus/SURPLUS_FEIS.HTML).

Current Reclamation Science and

Technology Program projects under

WaRSMP include:

• Planning and developing HDB,

MMS and RiverWare systems for

the Gunnison, San Juan, Rio

Grande, Yakima, and Truckee river

systems;

• SAMS integration and testing for

the Colorado River Basin;

• Implementing AWARDS systems

to improve the efficiency of water

management and irrigation scheduling for the Tualatin Project,

Upper Columbia project areas, and

Lower Colorado area;

• Developing the AWARDS/ET

Toolbox system in the Middle Rio

Grande and providing 24-hour

water use estimates for input, via

the Corps of Engineers' Hydrologic

Engineering

Center Decision

Support System or

a new HDB, to the

Rio Grande

RiverWare; and

• Implementing similar

AWARDS/ET Toolbox systems

with input to local HDBs and

RiverWare systems in the Upper

Columbia, Lower Colorado, and

possibly the Truckee-Carson

areas.

An additional product of the

WaRSMP is the Hydrologic

Modeling Inventory (HMI)

which provides general technical information and contacts

for a wide variety of water

resources models presently in

use. The HMI is being expanded

and can be accessed on the Web at

www.usbr.gov/hmi.

Decision Support Systems: The

AWARDS/ET Toolbox for the Middle

Rio Grande is a good example of decision support tool development to

enhance river system management. An

AWARDS system was implemented to

meet a critical need for improvement

in calculating and forecasting daily

agricultural and riparian water use

demands along the Middle Rio

Grande. This Internet-based automated information system assists water

managers and users by providing easy

access to daily rainfall and crop water

use estimates. These estimates are

based on real-time data obtained from

NEXRAD radar systems and automated weather stations. The NEXRAD

precipitation products use the NWS'
SECTION 3 DOI 167

Hydrologic Rainfall Analysis Project

(HRAP) grid, which has a resolution of

about 4 km2

.

The ET Toolbox builds on the

AWARDS system, adding GIS land

use to specify crop, riparian, and open

water acreage within each grid cell.

The primary purpose of the ET

Toolbox is to accumulate the grid cells'

daily rainfall and water use estimates

within specified river reaches. These

estimates are presented on the Internet

at yampa.earthsci.do.usbr.gov:8080/

awards/index.html and imported into

RiverWare, which is the river modeling and water accounting system used

by the Upper Rio Grande Water

Operations Model. Figure 3-DOI-3 is

an example of an ET Toolbox pop-up

graph summary of daily water consumptive use for the area from Cochiti

Dam to San Marcial, New Mexico, for

a time period in July-August 2000.

The figure shows the effect of a heavy

rainfall event on 29 July; the effects of

lighter rainfall events can also be

noted.

Rio Grande water operations managers at Reclamation's Albuquerque

Area Office used the ET Toolbox website several times a day to direct critical water releases for the threatened

Silvery Minnow and to meet other irrigation demands during the severe 2000

drought. They found that the ET

Toolbox information was "invaluable"

for their decision making. System

enhancements were made in near real

time to provide specialized support.

Radar Meteorology: A new version

of Reclamation's Snow Accumulation

Algorithm (SAA) was developed

under the auspices of the GEWEX

Continental-Scale International

Program (GCIP) and Reclamation's

Science and Technology Program.

This model uses real-time NEXRAD

Level III radar data and was deployed

in the north-central United States as a

demonstration project during cool seasons from 1998-2001. It provides

graphical distributions of snow water

equivalent (SWE) and snow depth

(SD) estimates on the Internet. The

end goal is to improve snowpack water

equivalent assessments and input SWE

into the river model at the NWS

Missouri Basin River Forecast Center,

which will lead to more accurate

streamflow forecasts.

Recently the SAA was improved by

several major modifications, which

primarily identify different precipitation types (snow, melting snow, rain).

The inclusion of different precipitation

types, led to renaming the SAA as the

Precipitation Accumulation Algorithm

(PAA). The former SAA range correction employed a mean Vertical Profile

of Reflectivity (VPR) recast as a function of range. The PAA restores the

adjustment with a true VPR based on

clearance between the radar beam center and the terrain surface.

In the PAA, precipitation phase in the

radar beam and at the surface is classified into three types: dry snow, melting

snow (slush), and rain, based on hourly

model sounding altitudes of the highest

0o C and lowest +4o C levels. If any

part of the radar beam is between those

altitudes, it is considered contaminated

by bright band effects. If the surface

temperature is warmer than +4o C,

snow depth SD is not accumulated

because rain is assumed. The relationship between equivalent radar reflectivity Ze and rainfall rate R is approxiFigure 3-DOI-3. Example of a Middle Rio Grande Evapotranspiration

Toolbox pop-up graph for daily water consumption use.
168 DOI SECTION 3

mated by the power law Ze = αRβ. The

three precipitation type classes in the

PAA have different α but β remains

constant (2.0). Tests are also being

implemented in the PAA to identify

virga, or precipitation that is not reaching the ground. Realtime products

designed to support the Great Plains

Region are available at yampa.earthsci.do.usbr.gov:8080/awards/Mn/index.html

Improved quantitative precipitation

estimates are expected from PAA -

which will lead to better watershed

precipitation water volume and runoff

estimates for the AWARDS system

(Figure 3-DOI-4). This will provide

water managers with near real-time

estimates of possible sidewash inflows

into the mainstem of river systems (via

a hydrologic runoff model).

Water Conservation Efforts:

Reclamation is a partner with several

large western municipal water

providers in the study of benefits from

the implementation of water conserving landscaping. The study known as

the National Xeriscape Demonstration

Program includes the development of a

numerical evapotranspiration-based

model that will use municipal logistical and climatological data as inputs to

develop benefit estimates for municipalities of the West. Some early suggestions from the study point to inefficient irrigation by homeowners caused

by inefficient systems and operation, in

addition to using high water-consuming landscape plants. More study is

needed on development of "smart"

irrigation scheduling systems and centralized control by water providers.

During abnormal regional climate

conditions, Reclamation meteorologists assist water managers by evaluating environmental information and

providing guidance based on the

NOAA Climate Prediction Center's

(CPC) Weekly Threats Briefing

updates and CPC's seasonal and annual climate forecasts. Special related

studies are done upon the request of

Reclamation water operations managers, policy team leaders, and cooperating agencies.

Instrumentation: Currently,

Reclamation's HYDROMET system

collects data from approximately

400 hydrometeorological data collection platforms (DCPs) which transmit

data in the "real-time" through the

GOES to the Bureau's DRGS in Boise,

Idaho. AGRIMET is another network

of 60 DCPs dedicated to analysis of

crop water use and water conservation

in the Pacific Northwest. Data collected and products created in Boise are

electronically transferred to other

Bureau, Federal and state offices.

MINERALS MANAGEMENTSERVICE

The Minerals Management Service's

Environmental Studies Program gathers offshore environmental data for use

in the management of offshore oil and

gas resources. Currently, MMS is

funding the continued operation of five

offshore meteorological buoys. Two

buoys are located in the Gulf of

Mexico and three in the Pacific Ocean

off California. The MMS also utilizes

data from other buoys funded by

NOAA. The buoys collect air temperature, sea surface temperature, wind

direction, wind speed, wave height,

and wave spectrum data. Many of the

buoys measure relative humidity as

well.

In FY 2002, the MMS completed

data collection from two 915-MHZ

radar profilers with RASS in the Gulf

of Mexico. One profiler was located

about 6 miles off the central Louisiana

coast, while the other was placed in

deeper water about 130 km from shore.

Figure 3-DOI-4. NEXRAD coverage for Experimental Precipitation Accumulation Algorithm (PAA) in northwestern

United States. PAA outputs are based on soundings from the Eta Model and provide an estimate of precipitation from

snow, rain, slush, and virga.
SECTION 3 DOI 169

Data collection started in June 1998

and ended in October 2001. Each profiler site also collected surface wind,

temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure, and sea surface temperature. The profiler data will be synthesized with data from other sources,

such as buoys, as well as with output

from a prognostic model to construct a

data base on marine boundary layer

and atmospheric dispersion characteristics in the Gulf of Mexico.

Upon request by MMS, the oil and

gas industry operators with facilities

located within 100 km of the Breton

National Wilderness Area (NWA) in

Louisiana undertook an aerometric

monitoring program. Six monitoring

stations were established. One was

based on shore; the others were placed

on offshore platforms or buoys. All of

them collected surface meteorological

data. Four of the sites had radar profilers with RASS. Three of the sites also

collected air quality data. Data collection started in October 2000 and ended

in September 2001. The data will be

used to study the effect of air emissions in the area on air quality in the

Breton NWA.

BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS

The Bureau of Indian Affairs collects

atmospheric data to evaluate potentially irrigable Indian Trust lands in the

Southwest. The Bureau also shares

fire weather data with other federal

agencies while participating in fire

weather forecasting at the National

Interagency Fire Center.
Stratospheric ozone depletion has

been recognized as a critical health and

environmental problem for more than a

decade. Under DOS leadership, the

United States worked to negotiate

international agreements to phase out

ozone-depleting substances, which

should lead to a recovery of the ozone

layer in the next century. To date,

these treaties have been signed and ratified by more than 170 countries

(including the United States), representing 99 percent of the world's production of ozone depleting substances.

The IPCC, which is jointly sponsored by the World Meteorological

Organization (WMO) and the United

Nations Environment Program

(UNEP), held its first session in 1988.

This organization serves as a government forum to assess the state of scientific and technical information regarding climate change. The IPCC is currently organized in three working

groups, examining: (1) the state of the

science, (2) impacts and adaptation,

and (3) mitigation. The IPCC released

its first and second assessment reports

in 1990 and 1995, respectively, and a

third assessment report from each of

the working groups was published in

2001. In addition to preparing assessment reports, the IPCC also contributed to international negotiations

through preparation and review of special reports and development of

methodologies requested by the

Framework Convention on Climate

Change (FCCC).

The FCCC was negotiated beginning

in February 1991; the Convention was

open for signature in Rio de Janeiro at

the Earth Summit in June 1992. As of

December 2001, it had been ratified by

186 countries, including the United

States. The first meeting of the

Conference of the Parties to the

Convention was held in Berlin in

March/April 1995. The Convention

calls for all countries to develop inventories of their emissions and sinks of

greenhouse gases and calls upon developed countries and economies in transition to aim to return these emissions

to their 1990 levels by the year 2000.

In December 1997, Parties to the

Convention reached agreement on the

Kyoto Protocol, which establishes targets for the reduction of greenhouse

gas emissions in developed countries

and countries with economies in transition. Although the United States will

not ratify the Kyoto Protocol, the

United States continues to be involved

in addressing climate change both

through the Convention and through

bilateral agreements with Australia,

Canada, Italy, Japan, and other countries. These partnerships will improve

the capability to understand, monitor

and predict climatic variations and

their impacts.

In addition to its primary role in the

fora listed above, DOS is active on the

Committee on Environment and

Natural Resources (CENR) of the

National Science and Technology

Council. The CENR was established

in 1993 to coordinate scientific domestic programs. Furthermore, while the

emphasis on global environmental

issues is a key new component of the

department's focus, traditional DOS

responsibilities, described in earlier

federal plans, continue. These include,

but are not limited to, international

aspects of food policy, disaster warnings and assistance, WMO and UNEP

activities, and international meteorological programs.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE CLIMATE AND ATMOSPHERIC PROGRAMS

The Department of State (DOS) plays an active role in international climate/meteorological policy making as a result of the growing worldwide concern with global environmental issues, including the depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer and climate change. The role of DOS has principally revolved

around preparation and negotiation of the United States position in three fora: (1) the Conference of the

Parties to the Vienna Convention and its Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone

Layer, (2) the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); and (3) negotiation under the

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

SECTION 3 DOS 171
Meteorological support to EPA's

Office of Research and Development,

EPA's Office of Air and Radiation,

EPA Regional Offices, and to state and

local agencies includes: (1) development and application of air quality dispersion models for pollution control,

direct and indirect exposure assessments, and strategy creation; (2) preparation and performance of dispersion

studies and air quality model evaluations; and (3) review of meteorological

aspects of environmental impact statements, state implementation plans, and

pollution variance requests.

Meteorological expertise and guidance

are also provided for the air quality

standard, modeling guideline, and policy development activities of the EPA.

In light of the 1990 Amendments to

the Clean Air Act, air quality models

and the manner in which they are used

are expected to continue to evolve over

the next few years. In the area of pollutant deposition, the evaluation of

nitrogen, oxidant, sulfur, and aerosol

chemistries will help to clarify the

roles of model formulation, cloud

processes, radiative transfer, and

air/surface exchanges in air quality

model predictions, leading to a better

understanding of model predictions

relative to control strategy assessments. Further development and evaluation of existing air quality models

will take place to accommodate the

inter-pollutant effects resulting from

the variety of control programs that are

now or may be in place, such as the

revisions to the National Ambient Air

Quality Standards for ozone and particulate pollution. These inter-pollutant effects include trade-offs among

controls on ozone, sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds, as well as developing predictable methods of forecasting the

impacts on various measures of air

quality.

With respect to the inhalable particulate model development, dispersion

models are being enhanced to accurately predict aerosol growth from precursors over local and regional transport distances. To assist in the evaluation of the contribution of various

sources to regional air degradation,

inert tracer and tagged species numerical models have been developed.

These models will introduce separate

calculations for inert or reactive chemical species emitted from a particular

source or region. The calculations will

proceed to simulate transport and

transformation to a receptor point,

where the contribution of emission

sources can be discerned.

With respect to oxidant air quality

modeling, the roles of biogenic volatile

organic compounds, rural nitrogen

oxides, and atmospheric transport are

being elucidated. A better understanding will be developed of the fundamental aspects of the ozone nonattainment problem, such as differences in

urban and rural rates of and/or sources

of photochemical production and the

interaction through transport of these

ozone precursors. Much of this

research will be performed under the

program previously known as the

North American Research Strategy for

Tropospheric Ozone, now identified as

NARSTO.

Atmospheric research in the areas of

climate and climate change includes

ozone distribution in the global troposphere, the relationship between ozone

distribution and climate (including

temporal and spatial aspects), and

regional climate studies addressing the

interaction of climate with the biosphere. The climatology program

involves both analytical and statistical

climatology as well as support for

regional-scale climate model development. Climate change issues and their

feedbacks with the biosphere are being

stressed.

Research in human exposure modeling includes microenvironmental monitoring and modeling, and development of exposure assessment tools.

Microenvironmental algorithms are

being developed based on field data to

predict air quality in buildings,

attached garages, and street canyons.

These improved algorithms are then

incorporated into microenvironmental

simulation models for conducting

human exposure assessments within

enclosed spaces in which specific

human activities occur. A specific

application involves computer graphics-based solar radiation exposure

modeling. Three-dimensional graphics modeling software is used to display a near-photographic-quality

human model, and to illuminate the

model with a simulated sunlight

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY WEATHER PROGRAMS

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for working with state, local, and other federal

government agencies to provide user-appropriate and scientifically-credible air quality and meteorological programs to support regulatory applications. Applied research and meteorological support are

furnished primarily by EPA's National Exposure Research Laboratory and EPA's Office of Air Quality

Planning and Standards, both located in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. This activity is provided through interagency agreements with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

(NOAA), which assigns approximately 50 research meteorologists to the EPA.

SECTION 3 EPA 173
174 EPA SECTION 3

source. Since the American Cancer

Society reports that over 80 percent of

skin cancers occur on the face, head,

neck, and back of the hands, modeling

human exposure to solar radiation

requires that exposure calculations be

anatomically resolved. The calculation

of light illumination for various receptor points across the anatomy will provide information about different exposures as a function of model posture,

orientation relative to the sun, and sun

elevation. This kind of research will

provide a "dose" factor needed to

develop dose-response functions for

skin cancer, immune system suppression, and cataract formation.

In addition to the above major areas,

dispersion models for inert, reactive

and toxic pollutants are under development and evaluation on all temporal

and spatial scales, e.g., indoor, urban,

complex terrain, mesoscale, regional,

and global. Other efforts include

development of air pollution climatologies; modeling of agricultural pesticide spray drift and of fugitive particles from surface coal mines; modeling

of trace metal deposition to the Great

Lakes, nutrient deposition to

Chesapeake Bay, and mercury deposition to the Florida Everglades; modeling of accidental releases of toxic comFigure 3-EPA-1. Models-3/CMAQ simulation results for July 6, 1999 for the contiguous United States at 32-km horizontal grid spacing showing: (upper left) maximum 1-hour average ozone concentration (ppmV) in each grid cell between

7:00 AM and midnight EDT; (upper right) 24-hour averages of sulfate concentrations (micrograms/m3

); (lower left)

24-hour averages of PM2.5 concentrations (micrograms/m3

) in each 32-km grid cell; and (lower right) noontime EDT visibility (deciview, note insert) in each grid cell.
SECTION 3 EPA 175

pounds forming dense gas clouds;

determination and description of pollutant effects on atmospheric parameters;

and conversely, determination of meteorological effects on air quality.

Atmospheric flow and dispersion

experimental data obtained from wind

tunnel, water channel/towing tank, and

convection tank experiments in the

EPA Fluid Modeling Facility will be

used to continue development and

evaluation of these models in the

FY 2003 period, along with providing

researchers with insight into the basic

physical processes that affect pollutant

dispersion around natural and manmade obstacles. For example, the

transport and dispersion of airborne

agents in the lower Manhattan, New

York area are being simulated in the

wind tunnel to evaluate Computational

Fluid Dynamics modeling systems in

an effort to help build confidence in

modeling assessment source-receptor

relationships for horrific events such as

the one that occurred on September 11,

2001. The convection tank is also

being used to simulate and develop

improved models for open burning and

open detonation of surplus and obsolete military munitions.

Over the past twenty-five years,

numerous air quality simulation models have been developed to estimate

reductions in ambient air pollutant

concentrations resulting from potential

emission control strategies. Separate

models were developed, for example,

for tropospheric ozone and photochemical smog, for acid deposition,

and for fine particles. Distinct models

also existed for addressing urban scale

problems and the larger regional scale

problems. It has been recognized,

however, that the various pollutant

regimes are closely linked chemically,

spatially/temporally in the atmosphere.

The principal purpose of the Models3/Community Multi-scale Air Quality

(CMAQ) modeling project was to

develop a "one atmosphere" flexible

environmental modeling tool that integrates the major atmospheric pollution

regimes in a multi-scale, multi-pollutant modeling system. This system

will enable high-level computational

access to both scientific and air quality

management users for socio-economic

applications in community health

assessments and ecosystem sustainability studies.

After seven years of development,

the Models-3/CMAQ was released in

June 1998 and is being updated annually for use by federal agencies, states,

industry, and academia. The latest

release occurred in June 2002. It is

also intended to serve as a community

framework for continual advancement

and use of environmental assessment

tools. Models-3/CMAQ, configured

for the Windows-NT computer system,

is available on tapes from the National

Technical Information Service (NTIS).

It is accompanied by an Installation

and Operations Manual, a User

Manual, a Science Document, and a

Tutorial providing step-by-step

instructions for use of the modeling

capabilities. Additional information is

available at the Models-3 web site at

www.epa.gov/asmdnerl/models3/.

Figure 3-EPA-1 illustrates

Models-3/CMAQ simulation results

for ozone and fine particulate matter

(PM2.5), sulfates, and visibility for

July 6, 1999 for the contiguous United

States at 32-km horizontal grid dimension, a period of widespread ambient

pollution in the nation.

EPA participation in the interagency

Information Technology Research and

Development (IT R&D) Program is

developing a modeling framework that

supports integration of diverse models

(e.g, atmospheric, land surface, and

watershed) as part of EPA's Multimedia

Integrated Modeling System (MIMS)

project, described at www.epa.gov/asmdnerl/mims/. EPA's IT R&D work also

enables increased efficiency in air quality meteorological modeling through

research on parallel implementation of

the CMAQ modeling system.

The evolving MIMS research seeks

to improve the environmental management community's ability to evaluate

the impact of air quality and watershed

management practices, at multiple

scales, on stream and estuarine conditions. Toward this goal the primary

objectives include (1) developing a

prototype multiscale integrated modeling system with predictive meteorological capability for transport and fate of

nutrients and chemical stressors;

(2) enabling the use of remotely sensed

meteorological data; and 3) developing

a computer-based problem solving

environment with ready access to data,

models, and integrated visualization

and analysis tools for water and air

quality management, local and regional development planning, and exposure-risk assessments. Under the

MIMS project, a variety of research

areas are being pursued such as the

integration of the National Weather

Service Next Generation Radar

(NEXRAD) Stage IV data into watershed modeling applications; enhanced

atmospheric dry deposition models;

multi-scale, spatially explicit watershed modeling tools; and model-coupling technology for integrating media

specific models. The MIMS development extends the open architecture

approach demonstrated in the third

generation modeling system,

Models-3/CMAQ, and is the next generation of modeling frameworks under

the IT R&D program.

EPA also maintains relations with

foreign countries to facilitate exchange

of research meteorologists and

research results pertaining to meteorological aspects of air pollution. For

example, agreements are currently in

place with Canada, Japan, Korea,

China, and Mexico, and with several

European countries under the NATO

Committee on the Challenges of

Modern Society (CCMS).
In carrying out its role, FEMA works

with all of the agencies to assure that

the delivery of meteorology-related

information is conducted in keeping

with established goals and objectives.

As administrator of the National Flood

Insurance Program (NFIP), FEMA

publishes Flood Insurance Rate Maps

for all flood-prone communities,

which serve as the official demarcation

for flood risk. FEMA administers the

National Hurricane Program and, for

regions subject to hurricanes, publishes hurricane evacuation maps based on

model simulation results from the

National Weather Service's National

Hurricane Center.

FEMA's priority interests with

OFCM are in supporting FEMA's predisaster initiatives and in promoting

standards and procedures which will

enhance the ability of the Nation to

mitigate and recover from emergencies

and disasters. These interests extend to

national standards for geographic

information systems (GIS) used for

delivery of meteorological products

and services by other agencies. FEMA

also actively supports the OFCMsponsored Working Group for PostStorm Data Acquisition (WG/PSDA)

and the WG/PSDA's efforts to develop

a National Plan for Post-Storm Data

Acquisition to coordinate and support

the collection, by the federal agencies,

of perishable data after major storms.

These data have potential applications

in post-disaster mitigation activities,

the NFIP flood hazard analysis, the

FEMA National Hurricane Program

hurricane evacuation studies, and other

FEMA's risk analysis activities, such

as the Multi-Hazard Loss Estimation

Methodology (HAZUS). The

Technical Services Division is the

principal contact for hurricane evacuation studies and flood risk analysis as

well as the FEMA contact point for

meteorology-related matters.

(www.fema.gov) (Figure 3-FEMA-1).

FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY

WEATHER PROGRAMS

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is the central agency within the federal government responsible for emergency preparedness training and exercises, mitigation, response, and recovery. Working closely with state and local governments, FEMA funds and provides leadership for predisaster mitigation activities, emergency programs and offers technical guidance and training. FEMA

also coordinates federal disaster relief resources following catastrophic disasters. These Presidentiallydeclared activities ensure a broad-based program to protect life and property and provide recovery assistance after a disaster. The agency was formed in 1979 by Presidential Executive Order 12127, replacing five former

agencies and consolidating the Nation's emergency-related programs, including meteorological emergencies.

SECTION 3 FEMA 177

Figure 3-FEMA-1. FEMA Director Joe Allbaugh addresses the media during

a visit to the National Hurricane Center, Miami, Florida, on June 19, 2001
OPERATIONS

The goal of the National Aeronautics

and Space Administration (NASA)

weather operations program is to provide the specialized meteorological

data and techniques needed by forecasters at Cape Canaveral Air Station

and the Spaceflight Meteorology

Group at Johnson Space Center (JSC)

to support the Space Shuttle and

Expendable Launch Vehicle (ELV)

programs. The greatest challenge is to

observe and forecast the mesoscale

weather events that strongly impact

ground processing, launch, and landing

operations.

This goal requires exploitation of the

latest technology. The Applied

Meteorology Unit (AMU), co-located

with the Air Force's Range Weather

Operations, provides a facility to

develop, evaluate, and, if warranted,

transition new meteorological technology into operations. For instance, the

AMU strives to develop techniques

and systems to help predict and avoid

the impacts of Kennedy Space Center's

(KSC) frequent thunderstorms which

endanger the ground processing,

launch, and landing operations of the

American Space Program-Space

Shuttle, DOD, and commercial. The

AMU has focused special attention on

evaluating mesoscale numerical models.

The AMU functions under a joint

NASA, Air Force, and National

Weather Service (NWS) Memorandum

of Understanding. AMU tasks during

FY 2002 include:

(a) Development and evaluation of

statistical forecast tools for peak

winds.

(b) Evaluation of the Eastern Range

Dispersion Assessment System/

Regional Atmospheric Modeling

System (ERDAS/RAMS).

(c) Development and evaluation of

land breeze forecast methodologies.

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

WEATHER PROGRAMS

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Headquarters Weather Support Office has

continued to improve NASA's weather support capabilities for both manned and unmanned space launch

vehicles. It is expected that these improvements will strengthen and enhance the information provided

to the ground-based decision-makers and astronaut observers to insure that NASA achieves the best

operational posture for Space Shuttle launches and landings. The goal of the operations program is to

provide the specialized meteorological data needed by operational forecasters at Cape Canaveral Air

Station of Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and Johnson Space Center to support the Space Shuttle program. The focus is

on detecting and forecasting the mesoscale weather events which strongly impact Shuttle ground processing, launches,

and landing operations. NASA’s also performs aviation research to improve safety, develop weather information technologies, and increase aviation system capacity. Advanced operations technologies can increase the number of operations per runway in all weather conditions. The research applies to both commercial and general aviation.

SECTION 3 NASA 179
180 NASA SECTION 3

(d) Development and evaluation of

thunderstorm anvil forecast methodologies.

(e) Evaluation and implementation

of a Local Data Integration System

(LDIS) at JSC's Spaceflight

Meteorology Group (SMG) and the

NWS office in Melbourne, Florida.

(f) Comparison of relative humidity

soundings from the Automated

Meteorological Profiling System

(AMPS) with those from the current

Meteorological Sounding System

(MSS) and analysis of the impact of

any differences on Eastern Range

thunderstorm forecast indices.

The KSC Weather Office is improving the KSC weather infrastructure and

conducting research to improve operational processes and facilities. In

FY 2002, KSC completed installation

of five suites of visibility and soil

moisture sensors to the west of KSC to

aid in the forecast of morning fog that

could impact Shuttle landings. The

Weather Office also completed data

gathering for a major field research

program called the Lightning Launch

Commit Criteria (LLCC) program

using an Airborne Field Mill (ABFM)

aircraft and other weather sensors to

collect data necessary to relax the

lightning launch constraints while

making them even safer. LLCC was

cooperatively funded by the Shuttle

program, NASA ELVs and the USAF.

The team includes more than 50 personnel from eleven organizations

including other Governmental agencies, NASA Centers, universities and

their contractors. Data analysis is currently underway and the initial set of

new launch rules is expected by the

end of FY 2003.

The KSC Weather Office, SMG at

JSC, and the AMU continue to work on

Range Standardization and Automation (RSA) and the new Spacelift

Range Systems Contract (SLRS-C).

RSA is a major Air Force program to

modernize the Eastern and Western

Range infrastructure. SLRS-C will

provide sustaining engineering for the

systems RSA provides. Deliveries of

weather sensors, models, and control

and display systems began in FY 2000

and will conclude in 2003. Transfer of

the KSC 50 MHz Doppler Radar Wind

Profiler (DRWP) to the Eastern Range

and modernization of its electronic

components is planned for late

FY 2002 and early FY 2003. KSC is

seeking funding to also improve the

drainage of the DRWP antenna field

that can flood during very heavy rains.

Many issues remain with RSA's

pending changes to the Eastern and

Western Ranges' meteorological infrastructures. Thus, the Air Force and

NASA weather communities continued to expend significant resources to

solve potential major deficiencies

since NASA Kennedy Space Center,

Johnson Space Center, and Marshall

Spaceflight Center depend heavily on

this infrastructure for their weather

support. A major success was the RSA

contractor's decision to discard their

proposed Control and Display system,

and instead partner with NOAA's

Forecast Systems Laboratory to deliver a COTS AWIPS (Automated

Weather Information System). This

will provide Range Weather

Operations a system that is cost effective, and compatible with both future

AWIPS upgrades and with SMG.

The procurement of three

Hypersodars for high-resolution wind

measurements near the Shuttle Landing

Facility flight path was cancelled due to

funding limitations in the Shuttle

Launch Site Equipment budget.

To ensure proper weather support for

a NASA Athena II launch from Kodiak

Launch Complex (KLC) Alaska,

NASA worked with the Air Force

45th Weather Squadron (45WS) to

improve the KLC weather infrastructure. The facility's only meteorological systems were two 10-meter weather towers and a balloon system. NASA

and the Air Force identified a Launch

Weather Officer from 45WS, a weather radar, lightning detection system,

field mills at KLC and Kodiak City

NWS office, and weather reconnaissance aircraft. The equipment was

procured and installed prior to vehicle

and payload delivery, and was critical

to ensuring accurate, timely weather

support to numerous weather sensitive

daily ground processing and launch

day operations.

The Radio Automatic Theodolite

System (RATS) used to provide upper

level winds, temperatures and humidity at the Shuttle Transatlantic Abort

Landing (TAL) sites in Spain,

Morocco, and Gambia, became obsolete when the manufacture announced

cessation of sonde production. A

replacement system, the Global

Positioning System (GPS) based

Sippican W9000, was selected, procured, integrated and tested with the

help of the Eastern Range.

SUPPORTING RESEARCH

The supporting research activities are

sponsored by the NASA's Earth

Science Enterprise (ESE). The mission of NASA's Earth Science

Enterprise is to develop a scientific

understanding of the Earth system and

its response to natural and humaninduced changes to enable improved

prediction of climate, weather, and natural hazards for present and future

generations. NASA brings to this

endeavor the vantagepoint of space,

allowing global views of Earth system

change. NASA is a provider of objective scientific information, via observation, research, modeling, and applications demonstration, for use by decision-makers in both the public and private sectors. NASA has been studying

the Earth from space from its beginnings as an Agency. These efforts have

led to our current activity of deploying

the first series of Earth Observing

System (EOS) satellites that will concurrently observe the major interactions of the land, oceans, atmosphere,

ice, and life that comprise the Earth
SECTION 3 NASA 181

system. In short, the purpose of the

ESE is to provide scientific answers to

the fundamental question:

How is the Earth changing, and

what are the consequences for life

on Earth? 

A fundamental discovery made during the 20th Century, enabled in large

part by NASA's global view from

space, is the existence of a multiplicity

of linkages between diverse natural

phenomena and interactions between

the individual components of the Earth

system. As a result, NASA has worked

with other agencies to develop a new,

interdisciplinary field of "Earth

System Science", with the aim of

investigating the complex behavior of

the total Earth environment in which

the global atmosphere, the oceans, the

solid Earth, the ice-covered regions of

the Earth, and the biosphere all function as a single interactive system

(Figure 3-NASA-1). Earth System

Science is an area of research with

immense benefits to the nation, yielding new knowledge and tools for

weather forecasting, agriculture, water

resource management, urban and land

use planning, and other areas of economic and environmental importance.

In concert with other agencies and the

global research community, ESE is

providing the scientific foundation

needed for the complex policy choices

that lie ahead on the road to sustainable

development. ESE has established

three broad goals through which to

carry out its mission.

1. Science: Observe, understand,

and model the Earth system to learn

how it is changing, and the consequences for life on Earth;

2. Applications: Expand and

accelerate the realization of economic and societal benefits from

Earth science, information and technology; 

3. Technology: Develop and adopt

advanced technologies to enable

mission success and serve national

priorities. These goals are articulated in the ESE Strategic Plan.

NASA and its partners have already

made considerable progress in understanding the Earth system. With satellites launched over the past decade,

ESE has charted global ocean circulation including the waxing and waning

of El Niño, mapped land cover change

over the entire globe, illuminated the

3-D structure of hurricanes, and

explored the chemistry of the upper

atmosphere, as well as the causes of

ozone depletion. With deployment of

the EOS now underway, ESE is opening a new era in Earth observation

from space in which the major interactions of the Earth system are studied

simultaneously to provide a global

view on climate change. With this

knowledge, NASA and its partners will

develop prediction capabilities to

quantify the effects of natural and

human induced changes on the global

Figure 3-NASA-1. NASA’s SeaWiFS captures a “Portrait of America” on September 11, 2001. (Source: GSFC web site).
182 NASA SECTION 3

environment. Operational agencies,

such as National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

and United States Geological Survey

(USGS), who are partners in this

effort, can use these capabilities to

improve weather and climate forecasting, natural resource management, and

other services on which the nation

relies.

STRATEGY FOR ACHIEVING

GOALS

SCIENCE

We know that natural and humaninduced changes are acting on the

Earth system. Natural forces include

variation in the Sun's energy output

and volcanic eruptions, which spew

dust into the atmosphere and scatter

incoming sunlight. Human forces

include deforestation, carbon emission

from burning of fossil fuels, methane

and soil dust production from agriculture, and ozone depletion by various

industrial chemicals. Internal climate

factors such as atmospheric water

vapor and clouds also introduce feedbacks that serve to either dampen or

enhance the strength of climate forcing. We also know the climate system

exhibits considerable variability in

time and space, i.e., both short and

long term changes and regionally specific impacts. For example, we have

observed that over the past twenty

years, the growing season has lengthened in much of the northern latitudes

while Arctic sea ice extent has experienced a net decrease. Behind these net

changes are considerable variations by

region. Recent research has shown

that dust aerosols in the atmosphere

tend to slow the rate of evaporation

and precipitation, while rising temperatures are expected to accelerate them.

Distinguishing trends in the midst of

substantial variability and countervailing forces, and distinguishing natural

from human-induced changes, pose

some of the challenges undertaken by

ESE.

NASA has used the concept of Earth

System Science in developing its program. Researchers have constructed

computer models to simulate the Earth

system, and to explore the possible

outcomes of potential changes they

introduce in the models. This way of

looking at the Earth as a system is a

powerful means of understanding

changes we see around us. This has

three implications for Earth Science.

First, we need to characterize (that is,

identify and measure) the forces acting

on the Earth system and its responses.

Second, we need to understand the

source of internal variability: the complex interplay among components that

comprise the system. Finally, by combining observations, research and

modeling, we create a capability to

predict Earth system change to help

our partners produce better forecasts of

change.

Earth system changes are global phenomena. Yet the system comprises

many micro-scale processes, and the

most significant manifestations are

regional. Thus, studying such changes

requires a global view at regionally

discerning resolutions. This is where

NASA comes in, bringing the unique

capability to study planet Earth from

the vantage point of space. To characterize the forces acting on the Earth

system and its responses, understand

the source of internal variability and

predict Earth system change, NASA

must observe the Earth, conduct

research and analysis of the data,

model the data and synthesize the

information into new knowledge.

Where we are on this knowledge "life

cycle" determines the strategy for our

investment decisions. The ESE is pursuing a targeted research program,

focused on a set of specific science

questions that can be addressed effectively with NASA's capabilities. ESE

formulates comprehensive research

strategies that can lead to definitive

scientific answers and potentially to

effective applications by other entities.

The key Earth Science research topics sponsored by NASA follow from

this view of the Earth as a system.

Thus, they are grouped into categories

of variability in the Earth System,

forces acting on the Earth system,

responses of the system to change,

consequences of change, and prediction of future changes. Complicating

this seemingly linear construct is a set

of feedbacks; responses to change

often become forces of additional

change themselves. This conceptual

approach applies in essence to all

research areas of NASA's ESE and is

particularly relevant to the problem of

climate change, a major Earth Sciencerelated challenge facing our nation and

the rest of the world. The ESE has

articulated an overarching question

and a set of strategic science questions

reflecting this Earth system approach,

which its observational programs,

research and analysis, modeling, and

advanced technology activities are

directed at answering.

How is the Earth system changing, and

what are the consequences for life on

Earth?

• How is the global Earth system

changing? (Variability)

• What are the primary causes of

change in the Earth system? (Forcing)

• How does the Earth system respond

to natural and human-induced

changes? (Response)

• What are the consequences of

changes in the Earth system for

human civilization? (Consequences)

• How can we predict future changes in

the Earth system? (Prediction)

ESE's Research Strategy for 2000-

2010 describes NASA's approach to

answering these questions. The intellectual capital behind ESE missions, and the

key to generating new knowledge from

them, is vested in an active program of

research and analysis. Over 1,500 scientific research tasks from nearly every

state within the United States are funded

by the ESE research and analysis program.
SECTION 3 NASA 183

Scientists from seventeen other

nations, funded by their own countries

and collaborating with United States

researchers, are also part of the ESE

program. These researchers develop

Earth system models from Earth science data, conduct laboratory and field

experiments, run aircraft campaigns,

develop new instruments, and thus

expand the frontier of our understanding of our planet. ESE-funded scientists are recognized as world leaders in

their fields, as exemplified by the

award of the 1995 Nobel Prize in

chemistry to two scientists who first

recognized that chlorofluorocarbons

provided a threat to upper atmospheric

ozone. The research and analysis program is also the basis for generation of

application pilot programs that enable

universities, commercial firms, as well

as state and local governments to turn

scientific understanding into economically valuable products and services.

APPLICATIONS

NASA expects that expanded scientific knowledge of Earth processes and

the utilization of advanced space-based

and airborne observing techniques or

facilities developed by NASA lead to

practical applications beneficial to all

citizens. Examples of these applications include: quantitative weather and

hydrologic forecasts over an extended

range of one to two weeks; prediction

of seasonal or longer-range climate

variations; the prediction of impacts of

environmental changes on fisheries,

agriculture, and water resources; global air quality forecasts and natural hazards risk assessments. NASA ESE has

a role in demonstrating the potential

applications.

ESE continues to build a viable

applications program that bridges

focused research and analysis and mission science investments towards

demonstration of new remote sensing

data products for industry, as well as

regional and local decision makers.

The emphasis is on helping weather

forecasters, natural resource managers,

disaster preparedness managers, and

other decision and policy makers at the

Federal, State and local levels to incorporate Earth science information in to

their own decision support systems.

The baseline Applications program

provides the essential tools and funds

key demonstration projects. A series

of regional workshops have been held

around the nation. These workshops

enable a wide variety of State and local

government users to share the challenges they face and explore the use of

satellite remote sensing tools to

address their challenges.

One result is the establishment of

regular, open, competitively selected

opportunities for these organizations to

propose partnerships with NASA, academia and industry. These partnerships will demonstrate new applications of Earth science data to specific

problems. Successful demonstrations

are expected to lead to new commercial as well as state and local government transactions, while ESE moves

on to the next new demonstration

activity.

TECHNOLOGY

In addition to ensuring a robust science program, this budget contains a

focused Technology Program that supports development of key technologies

to enable our future science missions.

The baseline Technology Program

includes the New Millennium Program

(NMP), Instrument Incubator and

advanced information systems and

computing elements. The Technology

Program also includes a focused

Advanced Technology Initiative

Program that identifies and invests in

critical instrument, spacecraft and

information system technologies.

The ESE will lead the way in the

development of highly capable, remote

and in situ instruments as well as the

information system technologies needed to support its science and applications objectives. Together they will

enable affordable investigation and

broad understanding of the global

Earth system. The ESE emphasizes

the development of information system

architectures. These architectures will

increase the number of users of ESE

information from thousands to millions, with the goal of providing easy

access to global information for science, education, and applications.

Finally, ESE will work in partnership

with industry and operational organizations to develop the capabilities and

infrastructure to facilitate the transition

of sustained measurements and information dissemination to commercial

enterprises.

ESE's technology strategy seeks to

leverage the entire range of technology

development programs offering benefits in cost, performance and timeliness

of future Earth science process and

monitoring campaigns. ESE's strategy

is to establish strong links to other government programs in order to maximize mutual benefit and to use open

competitions for ESE-sponsored technology programs to attract the best

ideas and capabilities from the broad

technology community, including

industry and academia.

Technology investments will be

made in the following areas:

• Advanced instrument and measurement technologies for new and/or

lower cost scientific investigations;

• Cutting-edge technologies,

processes, techniques, and engineering capabilities that reduce

development, operations costs, and

mission risk that support rapid

implementation of productive, economical, and timely missions;

• Advanced end-to-end mission

information system technologies

that will have an impact on the data

flow from origination at the instrument detector through data archiving. These technologies will collect and disseminate information

about the Earth system and enable

the productive use of ESE science

and technology in the public and

private sectors.
184 NASA SECTION 3

The accurate measurement of the spatial and temporal variation of tropical rainfall around the globe remains

one of the critical unsolved problems of meteorology. TRMM, during its three-year mission and broad sampling footprint between 35°N and 35°S, will provide the first detailed and comprehensive dataset on the four dimensional distribution of rainfall and latent heating over vastly under-sampled oceanic and tropical continental regimes. Combined

with concurrent measurement of the atmosphere's radiation budget, estimates of the total diabatic heating will be realized for the first time ever on a global scale.

TRMM will fill many gaps in our understanding of rainfall properties and their variation. These include: (a) frequency distributions of rainfall intensity and areal coverage; (b) the partitioning of rainfall into convective and stratiform categories; (c) the vertical distribution of hydrometeors (including the structure and intensity of the stratiform

region bright band); and (d) variation of the timing of heaviest rainfall - particularly nocturnal intensification of large

mesoscale convective systems over the oceans, and diurnal intensification of orographically and sea-breezed forced

systems over land. TRMM will enable mapping of larger time and space variations of rainfall in quasi-periodic circulation anomalies, such as the Madden-Julian oscillation in the western Pacific and ENSO over the broader Pacific

basin. Furthermore, the critical onset of large annual circulation regimes, such as the Asian summer monsoon, can be

more thoroughly studied.

Cumulus heating is the principal driver of regional and global-scale atmospheric circulations. For example, it

is known that the phase speed of the intraseasonal oscillation (ISO) is highly sensitive to the height of the condensation heating maximum. Diagnostic budgets of sensible heat source (as inferred from research networks of soundings)

are incomplete in their global coverage and inadequate to describe the large day-to-day variations that occur in the

tropics. Nor can these networks completely capture the significant structural variations that occur in heating and cooling profiles between convective and stratiform rainfall regions. Intensive and globally-distributed observations from

TRMM, however, will be crucial for the formulation of reliable cumulus parameterization schemes contained in the

latest generation of global cloud models (GCMs).

Sensitivity tests using assimilation of latent heating estimates in GCMs has revealed the potential for improving the prediction of rainfall events. For example, GCM 24-hour rainfall predictions using initial conditions adjusted from simulated profiles of TRMM latent heating may be improved by as much as 30 percent over NMC and

ECMWF models.

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) is a joint mission

between NASA and the National Space Development Agency (NASDA) of

Japan designed to monitor and study tropical rainfall and the associated

release of energy that helps to power the global atmospheric circulation

shaping both weather and climate around the globe.
SECTION 3 NASA 185

MISSION IMPLEMENTATION

The pursuit of Earth System Science

would be impractical without the continuous, global observations provided

by satellite-borne instruments.

NASA's Earth science research program comprises an integrated slate of

spacecraft and suborbital measurement

capabilities; data and information management systems to acquire, process,

archive and distribute global data sets;

and research and analysis projects to

convert data into new knowledge of

the Earth system (Figure 3-NASA-2).

Numerous users in academia, industry,

as well as federal, state, and local governments use this knowledge to produce products and services essential to

achieving sustainable development.

The ESE top priority continues to be

the commitments to launch the first

series of EOS and selected Earth

Explorer missions that are nearing

completion. In addition, ESE is committed to evolving functioning data

and information systems to support the

processing, archival, and distribution

of data products for these missions.

These satellites will propel the ESE

into a new era of data collection,

research, and analysis for which both

the national and international Earth

science community has been preparing

over the last decade.

PARTNERSHIPS ARE ESSENTIAL

TO SUCCESS IN EARTH SCIENCE

The challenge of Earth System

Science, sustainable development, and

mitigating risk to people, property and

the environment from natural disasters,

requires collaborative efforts among a

broad range of national and international partners. NASA's Earth science

research program constitutes its contribution to the United States. Global

Change Research Program

(USGCRP), an interagency effort to

understand the processes and patterns

of global change. The USGCRP coordinates research among ten United

States government agencies.

NASA is the major partner in the

USGCRP, providing the bulk of the

USGCRP space-based observational

needs. NASA will also participate in

the Climate Change Research Initiative

(CCRI) announced by the President in

June 2001. The CCRI will focus on

answering key gaps in knowledge, will

adopt performance metrics for

Figure 3-NASA-2. Landsat 7 captures an image of Manhattan, September 12, 2001. The picture shows a smoke plume

spreading over large portions of the surrounding urban area. (Source: GSFC web site).
186 NASA SECTION 3

accountability, and will deliver products useful to policymakers in a short

timeframe (2-5 years). NASA has

extensive collaboration with the

NOAA on weather and climate-related

programs. The ESE is the responsible

managing agent in NASA for the

development of the NOAA operational

environmental satellites. NOAA,

NASA, and the Department of Defense

(DOD) are working together to achieve

the convergence of civilian and military weather satellite systems and

extend selectively some observations

required by climate research to the

future operational systems. NASA

collaborates with the USGS on a range

of land surface, solid Earth and hydrology research projects. NASA and

USGS continue to collaborate on the

Landsat-7 program. In addition,

NASA participates in the international

programs of World Climate Research,

the International Geosphere/

Biosphere, and the World

Meteorological Organization.

International cooperation is an essential element in the Earth science program. Earth science addresses global

issues and requires international

involvement in its implementation and

application. Acquiring and analyzing

the information necessary to address

the science questions is a bigger task

than a single nation can undertake.

Furthermore, the acceptance and use of

the scientific knowledge in policy and

resource management decisions

around the world require the engagement of the international scientific

community. Global data and global

participation are needed to devise a

global response to environmental

change. In addition, integrating our

complementary science programs can

result in fiscal benefits to the NASA

program. For this reason, NASA has

sought and nurtured international partnerships spanning science, data and

information systems, and flight missions. Most of the ESE satellite missions have international participation,

ranging from simple data sharing

agreements to joint missions involving

provision of instruments, spacecraft,

and launch services. In the past three

years over 60 international agreements

have been concluded and more than 40

more are pending. In some capacity,

Earth science programs involve international partners from over 35 nations,

including Argentina, Armenia,

Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada,

Chile, China, Denmark, Egypt, France,

Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Japan,

Mongolia, Russia, South Africa,

Ukraine, and others.

In order to structure the scientific

research, the ESE has established

goals, objectives, research focus areas

and programs. The ESE is currently

developing roadmaps for how to

achieve its science objectives. Until

the roadmaps are completed, the

phrase "increase understanding" is

being used as a placeholder in the

research focus areas.

THE EOS PROGRAM

The EOS Program provides a broad

range of systematic and survey type

observations and measurements to

improve our understanding of the

Earth system. This improved understanding, combined with improvements in predictive Earth system models, will provide the government and

the public with the basis for formulating scientifically well founded environmental and resource management

policies.

The EOS Program consists of the following key elements:

(1) Multiple flights to collect measurement sets that contribute to

answering the science questions

using instruments such as spectrometers, sounders, and radiometers.

(2) Data systems and network facilities to command and control spacecraft and instruments; to process

data; and to archive, distribute and

manage NASA's Earth science data.

(3) Algorithm development activities to produce the algorithms and

software needed to generate the

standard data products.

These data products will support the

Earth System Science research needed

to accomplish the ultimate objectives

of the Enterprise. The measurements

to be made by these and other future

Earth science missions as well as current on-orbit missions provide data

products that are used extensively in

the Earth science program. These

activities are providing an everincreasing scientific understanding of

the global environment and the effects

of natural and human sources of

change.

The overall goal of the Earth

Observing System (EOS) Program is

to advance the understanding of the

entire Earth system on a global scale

by improving our knowledge of the

components of the system, the interactions between them, and how the Earth

system is changing. The EOS data will

be used to study the atmosphere,

oceans, cryosphere, biosphere, land

surface, and solid Earth; particularly as

their interrelationships are manifested

in the flow of energy and in the cycling

of water and other chemicals through

the Earth system.

The objectives of the EOS Program

are to develop, launch, and operate

remote sensing missions that will provide long-term observations in the

area of climate as well as terrestrial

and marine ecosystems. The EOS

Program will use these observations

to provide the supporting information

systems necessary to develop a comprehensive understanding of how the

Earth functions as a unified system

and solve practical problems of interest to society.

The key research topics studied by

NASA's ESE fall largely into five categories: variability, forcings, responses, consequences, and prediction. This

conceptual approach applies in essence

to all research areas of NASA's Earth

science program, although it is particularly relevant to the problem of climate
SECTION 3 NASA 187

change, a major Earth science-related

issue facing the countries of the world. 

PROGRAM STATUS/NOTIFICATIONS/PLANS THROUGH 2002

The top priority continues to be the

existing near-term commitments with

the safe and effective implementation

of the EOS first series, including the

launches of Sorce and Icesat in

FY 2002. Aqua was successfully

launched in May 2002. Also in

FY 2002, ESE plans to continue development of NPP and begin/continue

formulation activities for a Landsat

Data Continuity Mission (LDCM),

global precipitation, the observation of

global ocean topography and ocean

surface winds to succeed TRMM,

Jason-1, and SeaWinds on ADEOS II,

respectively.

PROGRAM PLANS FOR 2003

In parallel with deploying EOS,

NASA ESE is looking ahead to determine the important Earth science questions in the next decade that require

NASA's unique capabilities and leadership to be answered. Drawing on

existing reports of the National

Academy of Sciences and the state of

progress in current scientific endeavors, ESE has developed a Research

Strategy for this decade that articulates

a hierarchy of one overarching question, five broad subordinate questions,

and twenty-three detailed questions

that can and should be tackled over this

decade. ESE is in the process of developing roadmaps for each of the

detailed questions. Some of those

roadmaps may indicate the need for

definition of candidate missions.

The opportunity to hand off a

required measurement to an operational agency is one of the criteria that

were used to identify missions funded

in the FY 2003 budget request.

Therefore, a high priority in this timeframe is the National Polar-Orbiting

Operational Environmental Satellite

System (NPOESS) Preparatory

Program (NPP). NPP will serve to

provide continuity with the Terra and

Aqua missions as well as a demonstration of instruments for the converged

weather satellite program. NASA and

the Integrated Program Office (IPO)

jointly fund the NPP mission. The IPO

consists of representatives from the

three agencies participating in

NPOESS - NASA, the NOAA, and the

Air Force. The follow-on to JASON

also falls into this category. Another

priority is the Landsat Data Continuity

Mission (LDCM) to succeed Landsat-7

as required by the Land remote

Sensing Policy Act of 1992 to maintain

the continuity of Landsat-type data

beyond Landsat-7 into the New

Millennium. As with Landsat-7, this

mission is being planned in partnership

with USGS and the private sector.

NASA and USGS plan to implement

LDCM as a commercial data purchase

and have released a request for proposal from industry for Landsat-type data

to meet data continuity requirements.

In FY 2003, there will be a pause in the

development of other proposed satellites, pending a review of the

USGCRP, and its relationship to the

new CCRI.

SPACE WEATHER

The Living With A Star (LWS)

Program (Figure 3-NASA-3) addresses the linkage between three fundamental questions of the NASA solarterrestrial physics program’s the Sun

Earth Connection (SEC) program:

•How and why does the sun vary?

•How does the Earth respond to

solar variations?

•How does solar variability affect life

and society?

The SEC Program strives to understand the physical processes and connections that control the dynamics of

the Sun-Earth connected system. The

system dynamics are driven by violent

solar bursts, long term solar variability,

and instabilities of the magnetized

Earth-space, geospace. LWS is

grounded in service to humanity and

it's technological systems. It is based

on solving the specific problem of

being able to predict solar variations

and the effects of those variations on

humanity and human systems. LWS

will integrate results from existing and

future space missions as they contribute to the SEC system level goals.

The program is based on providing the

understanding necessary to predict

what will happen where and when to

the heliosphere, geospace, and Earth's

climate given observations of conditions on the Sun.

While both existing SEC programs

and LWS are basic research, there are

some significant differences in concept

and approach. The primary difference

is that in addition to the traditional

input from the space science community, LWS derives requirements from

Earth science, human spaceflight,

industry and other federal agencies

(National Space Weather Program,

Office of the Secretary of Defense

Space Weather Architecture, DOD,

NOAA, FAA). The LWS Program has

characteristic features: there is a significant component that deals with

specification models; what is the environment as a function of space and

time. This is an important need for

industry that must build spacecraft that

survive, and to provide anomaly resolution. There is a need for human

spaceflight radiation protection.

Finally, there is the issue of prediction,

which is the more traditional science.

The program priorities are (numbers

indicate priority rank):

(1) Solar influences on Global

Change: Global change is the single

most important environmental problem facing humanity. This issue

involves major national and international policies because of the potential

economic impacts of global change

and/or mitigation actions. Objectives:

Determine how and why the Sun

varies (for assessment of past and

future role in global climate change).

Identify and understand mechanisms by which solar variability
188 NASA SECTION 3

affects terrestrial climate (and possibly weather).

(2) Space environmental "climate"

data (e.g., specification models):

Needed for design of cost-effective

systems with minimal or no sensitivity to space weather.

The goal is to have economical "all

weather" systems; not to be dependent on predictions.

(3) Nowcasting space environment:

For rapid anomaly resolution for

space and communication/navigation

systems--if an anomaly is due to a

known space environmental effect, it

is often possible to get back into

operation rapidly. If it is due to an

unknown cause, it may be necessary

to do detailed failure analysis--requiring extended downtime of the affected system.

Astronauts safety--in the event of

significant radiation, astronauts can

move to shielded areas.

(4) Prediction of:

Solar Proton Events (astronaut/airline flight safety). Goals: (a) reliable

warnings (minimize false alarm rate)

and (b) reliable forecast of "all clear"

periods for EVA's.

Prediction of geomagnetic storms

for applications where effective mitigation is possible (e.g. electric power

grid). Goals--reliable forecasts

(storm is coming) and very reliable

shorter term (~hour) warnings to

minimize unnecessary mitigation by

reducing capacity, etc. which can

reduce system efficiency.

Predictions of space environment

for operation and utilization of space

systems. Goals: (a) reliably forecast

availability/accuracy/sensitivity of

communication and navigation systems susceptible to space weather

(e.g., ionospheric scintillations) and

(b) enable optimization of systems

and the allocation of resources during

times of extreme space weather conditions.

In summary, LWS will characterize

the space environment with the aim

being to help spacecraft designers and

operators, and address astronaut health

and safety. LWS will produce the system knowledge to predict solar effects

on climate, and solar/geospace effects

on human systems in space and on the

ground.

The approach to achieving our goals

is to treat the Sun, heliosphere, and geospace as a system. The key to dealing

with the problem as a system is to

understand that physics-based models

will be the "glue" that holds the system

together. It is assumed that ultimately

reliable and serviceable models combined with key observations of the SEC

system will allow the prediction of what

will happen--where and when. Model

requirements will drive what observations are needed for boundary conditions and "truth" tests of the models.

The present approach to implementing a systems-based program is to

define the management structure along

scientific problem lines. The space

environment research area includes the

effects of solar variability on climate

and global change as well as specification of radiation and density models.

The space storms area includes the

specification of the environment on a

more real-time or nowcasting and

event basis. Included as well is the

ultimate goal of the LWS, the physical

understanding of the end-to-end SunEarth system, enabling reliable predicFigure 3-NASA-3. This image is a picture of the Sun taken by the Extreme

Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope on board the SOHO spacecraft. This particular

image is of the lower corona and is produced by the emission of energetic UV

light by iron particles in the solar atmosphere. Iron only emits this sort of light

if it is very hot. In the case shown here we are looking at gas with a temperature

of around 1. million degrees. Bright regions on the main body of the Sun are

called active regions. When these active regions reach the edges of the solar

disk (the solar limbs) the display a number of interesting features called coronal

loops. The small bright regions which are strewn across the disk of the Sun are

called bright points while the large dark regions are called coronal holes.
SECTION 3 NASA 189

tive capability of storm effects. The

program has the following elements:

(1) a Space Weather Research Network

of solar-terrestrial spacecraft; (2) a theory, modeling, and data analysis program; and (3) Space Environment

Testbeds (SET) for flight testing radiation-hardened and radiation-tolerant

systems in the Earth's space environment. Vital to the success of LWS and

critical to the satisfaction of national

needs is the development of partnerships with national and international

agencies and industry.

Implementation of LWS will proceed

in two phases. The first phase will

include: (1) a geosynchronous spacecraft that will observe the Sun from its

interior (via helioseismology techniques) to the outermost extensions of

its atmosphere where solar activity

produces the variable solar output of

electromagnetic radiation, solar wind,

and energetic particles, and (2) the

Geospace Mission, a set of spacecraft

to understand geospace as a function of

time and the effects of solar events and

local instabilities on its evolution. The

second phase will add a set of heliospheric spacecraft to determine the state

of the solar wind and the propagation

of events.

AVIATION SAFETY PROGRAM

NASA's Aviation Safety Program is

aggressively pursuing several areas

that will provide weather information,

avoidance, and mitigation technologies, and education and training aids.

The following elements are included:

• Aviation Weather Information

(AWIN) develops technologies that

provide high fidelity, timely, and

intuitive information to pilots to

enable the detection and avoidance

of atmospheric hazards

(Figure 3-NASA-4).

• Weather Information Communications (WINCOM) develops

advanced communication technologies and architectural concepts to

provide weather information,

avoidance, and mitigation technologies, icing design and analysis

tools, icing education and training

aids, and accurate and timely

weather information to the cockpit

for both national and international

flight.

• Turbulence Prediction and Warning

System (TPAWS) develops airborne turbulence warning systems

and associated crew procedures to

mitigate upsets from all types of

turbulence encounters, including

clear air turbulence (CAT).

• Aircraft Icing (AI) addresses critical technology gaps in ice prediction, detection, avoidance, and mitigation capability to reduce safety

hazards, aviation system throughput impacts, cost of air travel, and

design cycle time.

The project will:

• develop validated analytical and

experimental tools for design and

certification/qualification of aircraft systems in icing; 

Figure 3-NASA-4. NASA and aviation industry vendors have

developed an initial Aviation Weather Information (AWIN) system which is graphical and intuitive for ease of use. Designed to

replace bulky, text printouts, AWIN will put graphical weather

information in the cockpit.
190 NASA SECTION 3

• develop improved predictions,

forecasting, and resolution of

in-flight icing conditions;

• better understand the effects of

ice contamination on aircraft

performance, stability and control, and handling qualities;

• develop ice protection systems,

including ice sensing, prevention, and removal;

• develop methods for avoiding

in-flight icing hazardous conditions by using remote sensing technologies and flight

deck information management;

and

• develop icing related educational materials and training

aids for pilots, airline operators, and dispatchers.

Synthetic Vision Systems (SVS):

NASA is developing "synthetic" (electronically enhanced) vision for the

pilot (Figure 3-NASA-5). It combines

a very detailed worldwide terrain map

(obtained from Space Shuttle mapping

missions), precise GPS navigation

data, and integrity-monitoring sensors

to provide a 3-dimensional, realistic

view of the world through a cockpit

head-up-display (HUD) or instrument

panel-mounted display. The pilot will

look through the HUD as he or she

looks out the window. This seethrough HUD will make the world

look like a bright sunny day even when

the airplane is approaching a fogged-in

airport at midnight--one that would be

shut down under today's operating

rules. NASA believes that improving

the pilot's situational awareness will

largely eliminate controlled-flightinto-terrain (CFIT) and runway incursion accidents. NASA is also evaluating the use of modified weather radar

and FLIR for runway object detection.

Limited visibility is the single most

critical factor affecting both the safety

and capacity of worldwide aviation

operations. In commercial aviation,

over 30 percent of all fatal accidents

worldwide, and the leading cause of

total fatalities, are categorized as controlled flight into terrain -- accidents in

which a functioning aircraft impacts

terrain or obstacles that the flight crew

could not see. In addition, the largest

general aviation accident category is

'Continued Flight into Instrument

Meteorological Conditions', in which

Figure 3-NASA-5. Four examples of synthetic vision systems which enhance a pilot’s vision through heads-up displays.
SECTION 3 NASA 191

low-experience pilots continue to fly

into deteriorating weather and visibility conditions and either collide with

unexpected terrain or lose control of

the vehicle because of the lack of

familiar external cues. The goal of the

synthetic vision work is to achieve

VMC capability in IMC (to

Category IIIB).

GENERAL AVIATION

NASA's Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) research program will demonstrate technology to

safely guide a small aircraft in near allweather conditions to virtually any

small airport in non-radar, non-towered airspace (Figure 3-NASA-6). The

elements are:

• Higher Volume Operation at NonTowered/Non-Radar Airports will

enable simultaneous operations by

multiple aircraft in non-radar airspace at and around small non-towered airports in near all weather

conditions through the use of vehicle-to-vehicle collaborative

sequencing and self-separation

algorithms and automated flight

path management systems.

• Lower Landing Minimums at

Minimally Equipped Landing

Facilities will provide precision

approach and landing guidance,

through the use of graphical flight

path guidance and artificial vision,

to any touchdown zone at any landing facility while avoiding land

acquisition and approach lighting

costs, as well as ground-based precision guidance systems, such as ILS.

• Increase Single-pilot crew Safety

and Mission Reliability will

increase single-pilot safety, precision, and mission completion

through the use of human-centered

automation, intuitive and easy to

follow flight path guidance superimposed on a depiction of the outside world, software enabled flight

controls, and onboard flight planning/management systems.

• En Route Procedures and Systems

for Integrated Fleet Operations will

provide an analytical assessment of

the impact of automated flight path

management systems designed to

facilitate operations at non-towered

airports and in non-radar airspace

on the integration of SATS

equipped aircraft into the higher en

route air traffic flows and controlled terminal airspace.

Figure 3-NASA-6. General Aviation cockpit display of weather information.
Within the NRC, the Office of

Nuclear Reactor Regulation and the

Office of Nuclear Material Safety and

Safeguards conduct reviews of nuclear

facility siting, design, construction,

and operation. These reviews include

consideration of meteorological factors. The two offices also conduct

rulemaking to establish regulatory

requirements. The NRC Regional

Offices assure that licensing conditions

are followed by NRC licensees.

Together with the NRC Incident

Response Operations, they also carry

out NRC responses to nuclear facility

emergencies.

The Office of Nuclear Regulatory

Research (RES) conducts research in

various categories to identify potential

safety issues, and to prepare the agency

to regulate the use of new technology.

RES also develops regulatory guidance

and participates in the development of

criteria and consensus standards related to the protection of the public health

and safety and the environment.

At the present time, the NRC is a

user of meteorological information,

rather than performing research in this

field. Meteorological data will be used

to assess radiological impacts of routine airborne releases from facilities

and to evaluate the impact of proposed

changes in plant design or operation on

unplanned releases. Information of

this type is also important for developing scenarios of climatological impacts

on the isolation of long-lived nuclear

wastes. The NRC also maintains an

interest in the transport and dispersion

of airborne, hazardous, non-radioactive materials, and the effects of

extreme meteorological events on the

safe operation of nuclear facilities.

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION WEATHER PROGRAMS

The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licenses and regulates all nuclear facilities

subject to the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 as amended. The licensing and operation of these nuclear

facilities require the identification of meteorological and climatological conditions that can affect the

safe operation of the facility, and that provide input to the assessment of the radiological impacts of any

airborne releases from the facility.

SECTION 3 NRC 193

Figure 3-NRC-1. NRC regulates commercial nuclear power plants. The

photo shows an operating nuclear plant

with water vapor rising from the cooling tower on a calm day.
The Division of Atmospheric

Sciences manages NSF's basic atmospheric research support. This research

focuses on new and fundamental

knowledge needed to better understand

the atmosphere and related sciences

and to manage atmospheric science

programs including natural disaster

reduction, space weather, global

change, and air quality.

Natural Disaster Reduction. NSF

supports two interagency programs

under natural disaster reduction and

mitigation: the United States Weather

Research Program (USWRP) and the

National Space Weather Program

(NSWP).

The USWRP is an interagency effort

to perform the research and technology

transfer needed to improve the delivery

of weather services to the country.

Participating agencies include NSF,

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration (NOAA), National

Aeronautics and Space Administration

(NASA), and Navy's Office of Naval

Research (ONR). NSF supports fundamental and applied research to meet

the USWRP objectives. Initial foci

are:

• better understanding and forecasting of hurricane track and intensity;

• better quantitative precipitation

forecasting;

• optimal use of observations in

numerical models; and 

• the societal/economic impacts of

improved weather information.

The total research support for FY 2002

was approximately $14 million. In

FY 2003, support of this research is

expected to be $14 million.

The objective of the NSWP is to perform the research and technology

transfer needed to improve the specification and forecasts of space weather

events that can cause disruption and

failure of space-borne and groundbased technological systems and can

endanger human health. Participating

agencies are: NSF, NASA, NOAA,

Federal Aviation Administration

(FAA), Department of Defense (DOD)

-Air Force and Navy's ONR,

Department of Energy, and

Department of the Interior. In

FY 2002, NSF provided $14 million.

The total funding for FY 2003 is

expected to be the same.

Global Change. Under the United

States Global Change Research

Program (USGCRP), NSF programs

support research and related activities

that advance fundamental understanding of dynamic physical, biological,

and socioeconomic systems as well as

interactions among those systems. In

addition to research on Earth system

processes and the consequences of

changes in those systems, NSF programs facilitate data acquisition and

data management activities necessary

for basic research on global change,

promote the enhancement of modeling

designed to improve representations of

Earth system interactions, and develop

advanced analytic methods to facilitate

fundamental research. NSF also supports fundamental social and economic

research on the general processes used

by governments and other organizations to identify and evaluate different

types of policies for mitigation, adaptation, and other responses to changing

global environmental conditions. The

total NSF FY 2002 USGCRP funding

was $186.85 million; in FY 2003,

funding is expected to be $186.85 million. The Division of Atmospheric

Sciences USGCRP funding for

FY 2002 was $44.0 million with

FY 2003 funding expected to be

$44 million.

Air Quality. NSF supported fundamental research in the area of air quality helps develop improved understanding of the sources, formation, and

atmospheric processing of ambient air

pollutants. Atmospheric oxidant

species (and their precursors), sulfur

dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon

monoxide, fine particles, and acid deposition (and its precursors) are important atmospheric constituents that

influence air quality. Field experiments, laboratory studies, instrumentation development, new methods of

chemical analysis, and improved models of atmospheric chemical transport

and depositional phenomena are examples of air quality research supported

by NSF. These categories provide scientific and technical input for management and control of atmospheric pollutant gases and particles. NSF funding

for FY 2002 was $1.5 million and is

expected to stay the same for FY 2003.

NOTE: NSF budget data is not captured in Tables 2.1-2.5.

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the Federal Government established to promote and advance scientific and engineering progress. The NSF sponsors and funds scientific and engineering research and education projects and supports cooperative research to gain new

understanding of the behavior of the Earth's atmosphere and oceans. NSF does not itself conduct

research but funds research performed by scientists at universities and other entities. In addition, NSF

provides support for the maintenance and operation of the National Center for Atmospheric Research

(NCAR) which is devoted to large-scale atmospheric research projects conducted in cooperation with universities and

other federal, state and/or local organizations. 

SECTION 3 NSF 195
APPENDIX A

MISSION AND STAFFING OF THE

OFFICE OF THE FEDERAL COORDINATOR FOR METEOROLOGY

The mission of the OFCM is to

ensure the effective use of federal

meteorological resources by leading

the systematic coordination of operational weather requirements and services, and supporting research, among

the federal agencies. To discharge its

mission, OFCM has meshed its objectives with the objectives of the agencies that provide the services and perform the research. 

These objectives include:

• Documenting agency programs and

activities in a series of national

plans and reports that enable agencies to revise/adjust their individual

ongoing programs and provide a

means for communicating new

ideas and approaches to fulfill

requirements.

• Providing structure and programs

to promote continuity in the development and coordination of interagency plans and procedures for

meteorological services and supporting research activities.

• Preparing analyses, summaries, or

evaluations of agency meteorological programs and plans that provide

a factual basis for the Executive

and Legislative branches to make

appropriate decisions related to the

allocation of funds.

• Reviewing federal weather programs and federal requirements for

meteorological services and supporting research. This review may

suggest additions or revisions to

current or proposed programs, or

identify opportunities for improved

efficiency, reliability, or cost avoidance through coordinated actions or

integrated programs.

DOC currently has ten positions

assigned to OFCM. DOC also provides administrative support to OFCM

and approximately one-half of

OFCM’s annual operating budget. The

Department of Defense (DOD) currently provides two senior staff officers--one Air Force and one Navy--and

contributes approximately one-fourth

of the annual operating budget. The

Department of Transportation (DOT)

Federal Aviation Administration

(FAA) provides one professional staff

member and also provides approximately one-fourth of the annual operating budget. These three agency representatives are designated Assistant

Federal Coordinators for liaison to

their respective agencies. In all, 13

meteorologists, oceanographers, physical scientists, and administrative and

computer-support personnel are

assigned to the OFCM staff.

BASIS FOR FEDERAL COORDINATION PROCESS

In 1963, Congress and the Executive Office of the President expressed concern about the adequacy of coordination of

federal meteorological activities. In response, Congress directed in Section 304 of Public Law 87-843--the

Appropriations Act for State, Justice, Commerce, and Related Agencies--that the Bureau of the Budget prepare an annual horizontal budget for all meteorological programs in the federal agencies.

The Bureau of the Budget (now the Office of Management and Budget) issued a report entitled "Survey of Federal

Meteorological Activities" (1963). The report described each agency's program in some detail, particularly its operational services, and detailed the relationship between the programs of the various agencies. The report revealed close

cooperation but little evidence of systematic coordination. Based on this study, the Bureau of the Budget issued a set

of ground rules to be followed in the coordination process. It established a permanent general philosophy for assignment and assessment of agency roles in the field of meteorology and set certain goals to be achieved by the coordination process. The Bureau of the Budget tasked the Department of Commerce (DOC) to establish the coordinating mechanism in concert with the other federal agencies. It also reaffirmed the concept of having a central agency--the

DOC--responsible for providing common meteorological facilities and services and clarified the responsibilities of

other agencies for providing meteorological services specific to their own needs.

The implementation of these directives by DOC led to the creation of the Office of the Federal Coordinator for

Meteorological Services and Supporting Research (OFCM) which operates with policy guidance from the Federal

Committee for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research. The principal work in the coordination of meteorological activities and in the preparation and maintenance of federal plans is accomplished by the OFCM staff with the

advice and assistance of the Interdepartmental Committee for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research, and

over 30 program councils, committees, working groups, and joint action groups.

FEDERAL COORDINATION AND PLANNING

APPENDIX A 197
198 APPENDIX A

NATURAL DISASTER

REDUCTION

56th Interdepartmental Hurricane

Conference (IHC) (March 11-15,

2002). OFCM annually hosts the

Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference to provide a forum for the responsible federal agencies, together with

representatives of the user communities such as emergency management,

to review the nation's hurricane forecast and warning program and to make

recommendations on how to improve

the program in the future. The 56th

IHC was held in New Orleans,

Louisiana. The theme for the conference was Hurricane Season 2002: 10

years after Hurricane Andrew. Vice

Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr.,

USN (Ret.), Under Secretary of

Commerce for Oceans and

Atmosphere, provided the Keynote

Address for the Conference. Research

and operations presentations were integrated into each conference session.

The conference reviewed the 2001

tropical cyclone season in the Atlantic

Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean

Sea, and the Pacific Ocean. Sessions

were held on Reconnaissance and

Observations, Advances in Hurricane

Modeling, Products and Services,

Tropical Cyclone Precipitation and

Inland Flooding, Emergency

Management, and Transitioning

Research to Operations (Bridging the

Valley of Death). The Working Group

for Hurricane and Winter Storms

Operations and Research met to work

on IHC action items and changes to the

National Hurricane Operations Plan.

In May, OFCM published the 40th edition of the National Hurricane

Operations Plan which provides the

basis for hurricane reconnaissance for

the 2002 season and details responsibilities of federal agencies; operations

and procedures; products; aircraft,

satellite, radar, and buoy data collection; and marine weather broadcasts.

Conference results included the need

to: (1) continue research in forecasting

the intensity and structure of hurricanes and tropical cyclones, (2) fully

exploit coupled model technology,

which integrates the atmosphere,

ocean, and land as one fully coupled

system, (3) investigate methods to

effectively communicate forecast

uncertainty to the public, (4) facilitate

and expand collaborations and partnerships at the National Hurricane

Center's Joint Hurricane Testbed,

which was established to improve the

transition of successful hurricane

research results into operations, and

(5) place increased priority on transitioning proven remote-sensing observational capability to the operational

weather reconnaissance aircraft. To

that end, the OFCM has provided

$200,000 to support the acquisition of

the next-generation Stepped Frequency

Microwave Radiometer by the NOAA

Aircraft Operations Center. The principal investigator is Dr. Peter Black of

NOAA's Hurricane Research Division.

National Hurricane Conference

(April 1-4, 2002). OFCM participated

in the 2002 National Hurricane

Conference in Orlando, Florida. The

theme of this 24th NHC was Preparing

for Catastrophic Events: 10 Years after

Hurricane Andrew. There were over

1,100 attendees representing a large

cross section of the hurricane emergency planning, response, and recovery communities, including emergency

managers, fire and law enforcement

officials, public works and transportation officials, news media, hospital and

health care officials, engineers, meteorologists and geographers, volunteer

agency representatives, and city and

county commissioners, managers, and

planners. Personnel staffed an OFCM

exhibit and distributed copies of The

Federal Plan for Meteorological

Services and Supporting Research --

Fiscal Year 2002, National Hurricane

Operations Plan, and proceedings

from forums on Risk Management and

The Federal Committee for

Meteorological Services and

Supporting Research (FCMSSR),

established in 1964, provides policylevel agency representation and guidance to the Federal Coordinator to

address agency differences that arise

during the coordination of meteorological activities and the preparation of

federal plans. The Under Secretary of

Commerce for Oceans and

Atmosphere, who is also the

Administrator of the National Oceanic

and Atmospheric Administration

(NOAA), serves as the FCMSSR Chair.

The 15 federal agencies that engage

in meteorological activities or have a

need for meteorological services are

represented on FCMSSR. The

FCMSSR membership includes:

DOC, DOD, DOT, the Departments of

Agriculture (USDA), Energy (DOE),

Interior (DOI), and State (DOS), and

the Environmental Protection Agency

(EPA), Federal Emergency

Management Agency (FEMA),

National Aeronautics and Space

Administration (NASA), National

Science Foundation (NSF), National

Transportation Safety Board (NTSB),

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

(NRC), the Office of Science and

Technology Policy (OSTP), and the

Office of Management and Budget

(OMB).

HIGHLIGHTS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2002

AND PLANS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2003

FEDERAL COMMITTEE FOR METEOROLOGICAL SERVICES

AND SUPPORTING RESEARCH
APPENDIX A 199

Assessments of Natural Hazards and

Weather Information for Surface

Transportation. OFCM also made

arrangements for an opening session

speech by Dr. James R. Mahoney,

Assistant Secretary of Commerce for

Oceans and Atmosphere, and arranged

for a reception for Dr. Mahoney to

meet all NOAA employees who

attended the National Hurricane

Conference. Dr. Mahoney met with

David and Stan Tait, the organizers of

the National Hurricane Conference,

during which he expressed NOAA's

continuing support for the NHC.

Dr. Mahoney also met with Mr. Joe

Allbaugh, Director of the Federal

Emergency Management Agency,

where he highlighted the need for a

strong interagency working relationship between FEMA, NOAA, and the

other federal agencies. During his

presentation, Dr. Mahoney emphasized

that NOAA is focused on three themes:

commitment, partnership, and technological progress. Dr. Mahoney was

also interviewed by the news media.

Post-Storm Data Acquisition. The

OFCM-sponsored Working Group for

Natural Disaster Reduction/Post-Storm

Data Acquisition coordinated efforts to

examine flood damage which occurred

in Arkansas at the end of March 2002

and in Southwest Nebraska during July

2002, and to examine the devastation

that resulted from the F4 tornado

which impacted the La Plata area of

southern Maryland at the end of April

2002. Aerial photography support was

provided by the Air Force's Civil Air

Patrol. The support provided by the

Civil Air Patrol, which was negotiated

by the working group and documented

in a memorandum of understanding,

has proven to be both timely and very

cost effective.

Fire Weather. OFCM staff participated in the August 13-15, 2002,

USDA Forest Service Research and

Development/Atmospheric Science

Research Program Meeting held at

George Mason University, Fairfax,

Virginia. Topics addressed include

National Fire Plan status, smoke management issues, climate change, air

quality, and fire emissions. Work is

ongoing between the National Weather

Service and the USDA Forest Service

in connection with the Fire Consortia

for Advanced Modeling of

Meteorology and Smoke (FCAMMS),

a national initiative under the National

Fire Plan to provide mesoscale meteorological products to fire managers.

There is also ongoing work between

NOAA's Air Resources Laboratory

and the USDA Forest Service in connection with air quality.

Environmental Support to Homeland

Security. Since September 11, 2001,

OFCM has undertaken an important

role in the meteorological community

in relation to environmental support to

homeland security. OFCM formed the

Working Group for Environmental

Support to Homeland Security

(WG/ESHS) to serve as the executive

agent to the Federal Committee for

Meteorological Services and

Supporting Research (FCMSSR) for

homeland security issues. Key players

include NOAA (NWS, OAR, NESDIS,

NOS), Navy, Air Force, Army, DOE,

EPA, FEMA, NRC, FAA, USCG,

FHWA, and DTRA. WG/ESHS meets

frequently to inventory each federal

agency's capabilities to support the

requirements of the Office of

Homeland Security; document and prioritize unmet needs and requirements

for environmental support during crisis

and consequence management; and

develop a coordinated, interagency

concept of operations for providing

environmental support to homeland

security. Areas of leveraging, areas

where we can bring about improvements, and any new requirements are

also explored.

FCMSSR Meeting. The Federal

Committee for Meteorological

Services and Supporting Research met

on November 16, 2001, in the White

House Conference Center. The meeting was specially called to discuss

environmental support to homeland

security and was attended by RADM

Richard West, USN; Brig Gen David

L. Johnson, USAF; and Brig Gen John

J. Kelly, Jr., USAF (Ret.), together

with other high level agency representatives to the federal committee. The

purpose of the meeting was to help

increase awareness of capabilities,

cooperation, and leveraging opportunities among the federal agencies and to

agree on some next steps for specific

accomplishments to improve environmental support to homeland security.

OFCM action items from the meeting

included arranging for representation

from the Justice Department and the

Office of Homeland Security to work

with us on homeland security issues

and to attend future meetings related to

environmental support to homeland

security, establishing an interagency

process for identifying requirements

and establishing priorities for meteorological support to homeland security,

identifying areas for increased leveraging and backup between agencies,

hosting a meeting in a classified environment to discuss single points of

failure within relevant agencies, establishing a working relationship with the

Office of Homeland Security so that

the meteorological community can

make appropriate contributions, and

proceeding with the Workshop on

Effective Emergency Response:

Selecting a Suitable Dispersion Model

for a Given Application. 

Effective Emergency Response.

OFCM conducted a Workshop on

Effective Emergency Response:

Selecting a Suitable Dispersion Model

for a Given Application on

December 5-6, 2001, in Crystal City,

Virginia. The purpose of the workshop

was to address issues associated with

the number and variety of atmospheric

transport and diffusion (ATD) models

existing today in the federal government. In particular, participants considered what models should be used in
200 APPENDIX A

specific situations and how those models are evaluated. The workshop was

attended by approximately 90 individuals including representatives of the

government, private, academic, and

other sectors. Breakout sessions considered planning, response, and recovery applications for four scenarios

(sarin release, explosion of a dirty

nuclear device, plane crash into a

nuclear power plant, and crop duster

release of anthrax). Criteria were identified, together with their relative

importance, for selecting models for

the scenarios. OFCM published the

proceedings of the workshop in March

2002. OFCM formed a Joint Action

Group for Selection and Evaluation of

Atmospheric Transport and Diffusion

Models (JAG/SEATD) to take action

on initiatives resulting from the workshop on effective emergency response.

JAG/SEATD reviewed eight scenarios

which covered a wide range of potential threats and exercised a variety of

model capabilities. JAG/SEATD has

identified 29 operationally relevant

models. The Joint Action Group is

continuing to identify common evaluation procedures; identify gaps and deficiencies in operational capability that

need to be addressed through research

and development; and consider ways

to leverage agency participation in

field experiments (e.g., the Oklahoma

City full-scale field experiment).

JAG/SEATD has published a report on

its findings. The results of this work

contributed to NOAA's FY 2004 initiative regarding Urban Weapons of Mass

Destruction (WMD) Dispersion

Forecasting.

Cooperative Support and Backup.

The Working Group for Cooperative

Support and Backup (WG/CSAB),

which serves as the executive agent for

the Committee for Operational

Processing Centers, completed an

update of the Federal Plan for

Cooperative Support and Backup

Among the Operational Processing

Centers. WG/CSAB is also developing a Catastrophic Backup Action Plan

to identify catastrophic backup shortfalls that exist at the nation's military

and civilian meteorological, oceanographic, and satellite operational processing centers (OPC) that can be

addressed in the short term. The document defines the plans, actions, and

implementation steps required to minimize the impact of a catastrophic failure at one or more of the nation's

OPCs. Eight shortfalls were initially

identified, but the plan is intended to

be a living document that will be

reviewed and updated as required.

Meeting with the Office of

Homeland Security (March 1, 2002).

The Federal Coordinator arranged a

meeting with the Office of Homeland

Security to highlight the federal meteorological community's capabilities

and responsibilities, and the interagency coordination infrastructure to

provide environmental support to the

nation's homeland security efforts.

NOAA's capabilities in support of

Homeland Security were also briefed.

Attendees included:

• ADM Steve Abbot, USN (Ret.),

Deputy Director of the Office of

Homeland Security

• VADM Conrad C. Lautenbacher,

Jr., USN (Ret.), Under Secretary

of Commerce for Oceans and

Atmosphere

• Brig Gen John J. Kelly, Jr., USAF

(Ret.), Assistant Administrator

for Weather Services, NOAA

• RADM Richard West, USN,

Oceanographer of the Navy

• Brig Gen David L. Johnson,

USAF, Director of Weather,

United States Air Force

• Mr. Samuel P. Williamson,

Federal Coordinator for

Meteorological Services and

Supporting Research

• Mr. Scott Rayder, Chief of Staff,

NOAA

• Dr. Richard Spinrad, Technical

Director, Office of the Oceanographer of the Navy

• CAPT Ted I. Lillestolen, NOAA

Corps, Associate Deputy Assistant

Administrator, National Ocean

Service, NOAA

• Mr. Robert Dumont, Senior Staff

Meteorologist, Office of the

Federal Coordinator for

Meteorology 

Meeting with the Office of

Homeland Security (August 22, 2002).

The Federal Coordinator, key OFCM

staff, and members of the JAG/SEATD

met with the Office of Homeland

Security to present the results of the

report of the Joint Action Group for the

Selection and Evaluation of

Atmospheric Transport and Diffusion

Models (JAG/SEATD). The report

was the culmination of seven months

of effort by top-notch agency experts

to evaluate the modeling systems

available to address the potential

threats to homeland security. The

report's recommendations included:

need for research and development to

bridge gaps in understanding and capability (13 research needs are identified

in the report); need for more field tests

to support both R&D and model evaluation; improved observations and

model inputs; need for standard, consensus-based model evaluation procedures; and improved interagency coordination and information exchange.

Attendees included:

• Dr. Parney Albright, Assistant

Director for National Security and

Homeland Defense (OSTP)

• Mr. Michael O'Brien, Senior

Director, Administration and

Support (OHS)

• Mr. Kenneth Stroech, Director for

WMD Programs (OHS)

• Mr. Darrell Morgeson, Director for

Critical Infrastructure Protection

(OHS)

• Mr. John B. McGowan, Director

for Cargo and Port Security (OHS)

• Mr. Samuel P. Williamson, Federal

Coordinator for Meteorological

Services and Supporting Research

(OFCM)
APPENDIX A 201

• Mr. Robert Dumont, Senior Staff

Meteorologist (OFCM)

• Mr. Bruce Hicks, Director, Air

Resources Laboratory (NOAA)

and JAG/SEATD Chair

• Ms. Jocelyn Mitchell, Senior

Level Technical Advisor, Office of

Research (NRC) and JAG/SEATD

Vice-Chair

• CAPT Ted I. Lillestolen, NOAA

Corps, Associate Deputy Assistant

Administrator, National Ocean

Service, NOAA

Annual Federal Plan. OFCM prepared The Federal Plan for

Meteorological Services and

Supporting Research -- Fiscal Year

2003. The Federal Plan is

Congressionally mandated and is a

one-of-a-kind document which articulates the meteorological services provided and supporting research conducted by agencies of the federal government. The Federal Plan helps to

reduce duplication among the agencies. It is a comprehensive publication

that documents proposed programs for

Fiscal Year 2003 and reviews agency

programs in Fiscal Year 2002. The

plan demonstrates to the Congress and

to the Executive Branch how the federal agencies work together to accomplish their missions in an effective and

efficient manner. 

Weather Information for Surface

Transportation. OFCM has continued

its extensive involvement in the area of

Weather Information for Surface

Transportation (WIST). The bottom

line is that improvements in surface

transportation weather support will

result in safer and more efficient operations by all users. OFCM has prepared a report addressing meteorological needs/ requirements for the six core

modes of surface transportation: roadway, railway, transit, marine transportation/ operations, pipeline, and airport ground operations. This activity

has included formation of a joint action

group to address meteorological

requirements for surface transportation; questionnaires; surveys; WIST

symposia conducted jointly with the

Federal Highway Administration

(FHWA); meetings with railroad,

pipeline, and emergency managers;

and participation on panels concerning

public-private partnerships in transportation and Intelligent Transportation Systems. The national needs

assessment report is a culmination of

intensive OFCM efforts in this area.

OFCM personnel participated in the

12th Annual Meeting and Exposition of

the Intelligent Transportation Society

of America, with special attention

given to the road weather management

and traveler information/511 areas.

There was overwhelming positive

response to OFCM at the ITS-A meeting and exposition. A survey performed at the meeting showed that

40 percent of those surveyed believed

that weather was their highest priority.

OFCM personnel also participated in

the Cooperative Program for

Operational Meteorology, Education

and Training (COMET) Review of the

Progress of Surface Transportation/

Weather Research Projects sponsored

by FHWA on September 17, 2002.

Participants included FHWA, COMET,

Desert Research Institute, Iowa State

University, Pennsylvania State

University, State University of New

York, and University of Utah.

Aviation Weather. OFCM has also

continued its extensive involvement in

the area of Aviation Weather Services.

OFCM has undertaken a leadership

role in coordinating the establishment

of a National Training Program to

improve aviation weather training for

users and providers of aviation weather information. Our primary objectives are to coordinate development

and implementation of comprehensive

aviation weather training programs, to

improve awareness of and access to

aviation weather training, and, ultimately, to improve the practical skills

of users and providers of aviation

weather services. In that regard,

OFCM has published the document

Aviation Weather Training: A Report

on Training for Emerging and Recently

Implemented Aviation Weather

Programs. The purpose of the report is

to evaluate how well training is being

addressed for the aviation weather programs/projects in the April 2001

OFCM publication National Aviation

Weather Initiatives Final Baseline

Report. The transition from research

and development to operations is not

complete without training and the

combined efforts of all concerned are

needed to ensure that training is an

integral part of the development

process. OFCM's Joint Action Group

for Aviation Weather also continues to

establish, validate, and prioritize

requirements for aviation weather

services. OFCM is also continuing

efforts concerning volcanic ash and

expects to publish A National

Framework for Volcanic Ash Hazards

to Aviation during FY 2003.

Wind Chill Temperature Index.

Under the leadership of OFCM's federal coordinating infrastructure, United

States federal agencies, Canadian participants, and the academic research

community have taken an important

step towards improving the Wind Chill

Temperature (WCT) Index, which will

provide the citizens of the United

States and Canada better protection of

life and property. The previous wind

chill index attempted to measure the

rate of heat loss by the human body as

wind blows across it at different temperatures and speeds. The index was

developed in the 1940’s during an

Antarctic expedition and was known to

overestimate the effect of wind by at

least ten degrees. This fact provided a

false sense of security, and people were

sometimes not aware or prepared for

the danger of severe winter weather.

OFCM led the improvement effort by

creating a Joint Action Group for

Temperature Indices within its federal

coordinating infrastructure, and this

Joint Action Group pulled together the
202 APPENDIX A

various United States, Canadian, and

academic entities to develop the new

WCT Index based on 21st Century science. NOAA's National Weather

Service, the United States Air Force,

and the Meteorological Service of

Canada implemented the new WCT

Index during the winter season of

2001-2002. This new WCT Index is a

substantial improvement over the previous practice and is based on a human

face model. The index uses wind

speed calculated at the average height

of the human body's face, incorporates

modern heat transfer theory, lowers the

walking speed threshold used in calm

wind situations, and uses a consistent

standard for skin tissue resistance.

Further refinements will include

adjustments for solar radiation for a

variety of conditions.

Strategy for Providing Atmospheric

Information. OFCM conducted a

forum to respond to agency priorities

and to address Leadership and

Management Recommendation 1 of

the National Research

Council/National Academy of

Sciences Board on Atmospheric

Sciences and Climate (BASC) report

The Atmospheric Sciences Entering the

Twenty-First Century, which states:

“The Federal Coordinator for

Meteorological Services and

Supporting Research should lead a

thorough examination of the issues that

arise as the national system for providing atmospheric information becomes

more distributed. Key federal organizations, the private sector, academe,

and professional organizations should

all be represented in such a study and

should help develop a strategic plan.”

The Workshop on Strategy for

Providing Atmospheric Information:

Planning to Exploit our National

Investment in Weather Technology was

conducted December 3-5, 2001, in

Crystal City, Virginia, and included

sessions on handling atmospheric

information in some key meteorological disciplines (climate, urban meteorology, and technological hazards) and

interoperability, compatibility, and

accessibility (observation/instrumentation standards, formatting the information, and communications issues).

Proceedings from the workshop have

been published. OFCM will use the

results of the workshop to form the

basis for strategic guidance as the

United States system for providing

atmospheric information continues to

rapidly evolve. In his concluding

remarks for the workshop, the Federal

Coordinator noted that the highest priority near-term challenge must be to

determine how to effectively acquire

data in support of homeland security.

Collaboration with the United States

Weather Research Program. The mission of the United States Weather

Research Program (USWRP) is to

accelerate forecast improvements of

high impact weather and facilitate full

use of advanced weather information.

The program's vision is to mitigate the

effects of weather-induced disasters;

reduce the costs associated with routinely disruptive weather; create

opportunities for increased productivity through better weather information;

and assist the military in the accomplishment of its mission. The current

USWRP team includes NOAA as the

lead agency, National Science

Foundation, National Aeronautics and

Space Administration, and the United

States Navy. The Federal Coordinator

has contacted additional agencies to

broaden federal participation in the

USWRP in accordance with an action

from the Interdepartmental Committee

for Meteorological Services and
APPENDIX A 203

Supporting Research, direction from

the Chairman of the Federal

Committee for Meteorological

Services and Supporting Research, and

a recommendation from the National

Academy of Sciences/National

Research Council Board on

Atmospheric Sciences and Climate

(BASC). The additional agencies

included Federal Aviation

Administration, Federal Highway

Administration, United States Air

Force, Department of Energy, United

States Department of Agriculture, and

Federal Emergency Management

Agency. This has led to more interaction directly between the leadership of

the USWRP and interested agencies to

discuss in more detail agency specific

needs which may be benefited by the

program. It is expected that several

additional federal participants will join

the USWRP and that the USWRP priorities will be expanded to address

their needs. An OFCM representative

also attends all meetings of the

Interagency Working Group of the

United States Weather Research

Program.

Collaboration with NAS/Board on

Atmospheric Sciences and Climate.

OFCM continued its mutually beneficial interactions with the National

Research Council/National Academy

of Sciences. OFCM conducted a

forum to respond to agency priorities

and to address Leadership and

Management Recommendation 1 of

the National Research Council/

National Academy of Sciences Board

on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate

(BASC) report The Atmospheric

Sciences Entering the Twenty-First

Century. In the June 2000 BASC

Letter Report on the United States

Weather Research Program, BASC

recommended that the FCMSSR

Chairman use that role to bring other

agencies into the program. The

August 8-11, 2000, BASC Summer

Study on Climate Services at Woods

Hole, Massachusetts, was a result of an

earlier FCMSSR/BASC joint meeting,

and resulted in the 2001 publication A

Climate Services Vision: First Steps

Toward The Future. OFCM's

Committee for Climate Analysis,

Monitoring and Services (CCAMS)

has adopted the BASC definition of

climate services to be "The timely production and delivery of useful climate

data, information, and knowledge to

decision makers." The committee is

also following up on recommendations

from the BASC Climate Services

report to "inventory existing observing

systems and data holdings," and to

"promote efficiency by seeking out

opportunities to combine the efforts of

existing observation networks to serve

multiple purposes in a more cost-effective manner." Subsequent to the

November 14, 2000, FCMSSR meeting which was attended by BASC representatives, FCMSSR recommended

communication of weather and climate

information for the BASC 2001

Summer Study, and the report of this

activity is pending. The Federal

Coordinator also participated in the

BASC 2002 Summer Study on Tools

for Tracking Chemical/Biological/

Nuclear Releases in the Atmosphere:

Implications for Homeland Security,"

and participated in the weather modification study conducted by BASC.

Collaboration with CENR/

Subcommittee on Natural Disaster

Reduction. OFCM has been an active

participant in the work of the

Committee on Environment and

Natural Resources (CENR)

Subcommittee on Natural Disaster

Reduction (SNDR). Over the past several months, the focus of this group has

been to define its strategic vision in

coordination with the White House

Office of Science and Technology

Policy and the Office of Homeland

Security. Through OFCM representation on the SNDR, OFCM has helped

craft the subcommittee's charter and

annual operating plan. The major

thrust of these documents is to:

(1) promote effective strategies for

reducing national vulnerability to disaster risks and losses by leveraging

expertise and information across the

federal government and (2) establish

focused outreach to the academic and

private communities. To achieve these

goals, the OFCM is committed to

working with SNDR to provide a

forum for information sharing, development of collaborative opportunities,

and interactive dialogue with the

United States policy community to

advance informed strategies for managing risks associated with natural and

technological disasters.

COOP Modernization Partners'

Forum. The National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

conducted a COOP Modernization

Partners' Forum: Building a National

Observing Capability for the Future in

Rockville, Maryland, on September 18,

2002. NOAA's goal is to upgrade

approximately 8,000 volunteer

Cooperative Observer Network

(COOP) stations nationwide to provide

accurate, secure, hourly temperature

and precipitation data in addition to

daily snowfall and snow depth observations. For the first time, data will be

available in real-time from this network.

The forum was cosponsored by the

National Weather Service Office of

Climate, Water, and Weather Services;

National Climatic Data Center; NOAA

Climate Observations and Services

Program; and Office of the Federal

Coordinator for Meteorology. NOAA

provided customers of the COOP data

with detailed information on the technical proposal for modernizing the COOP

network system architecture, including

observation instrumentation, data communications, archiving, and quality

control. The forum allowed customers

direct exchange with NOAA COOP

management personnel to provide their

input. The Federal Coordinator chaired

a session on the NOAA COOP

Modernization Proposal and Benefits.
204 APPENDIX A

Interagency Task Force on Risk

Management. The purpose of the

Interagency Task Force on Risk

Management is to examine and report

on the role of precaution in risk management decisions by managers or

decision makers in both the public and

private sectors, especially regarding

risks to human welfare, quality of life,

and environmental protection. The

Federal Coordinator represented

NOAA at the June 24, July 19, and

August 7, 2002, meetings of the

Interagency Task Force on Risk

Management. At these meetings,

agencies discussed and are providing

the following relevant information:

precautionary/regulatory risk management standards and guidelines; risk

assessment and management requirements/practices; decision criteria

regarding different risks; and historical

examples where risk management

decisions incorporated too much, too

little, or the appropriate amount of precaution.

Lightning Data User Requirements.

OFCM's Joint Action Group for

Lightning Detection Systems

(JAG/LDS) met several times to obtain

federal agency requirements for lightning data. The requirements will serve

as input to the National Weather

Service contract solicitation to acquire

lightning data on behalf of all federal

agencies.

GOES Users Conference II. The

Federal Coordinator participated in the

GOES Users Conference II,

October 1-3, 2002, Boulder, Colorado.

Goals of the Conference were to

(1) inform users of future capabilities

and potential applications of the

GOES-R Series; (2) determine user

needs for new products, distribution of

GOES data and products, instruments

of opportunity, access to sample data

prior to launch of next series, and education, training and outreach;

(3) assess user and societal benefits of

future systems; and (4) develop methods to improve communication

between NESDIS and the GOES user

community (develop, present, and

refine a process for determining and

updating requirements). The Federal

Coordinator made a presentation on

the role of OFCM in interagency coordination.

American Meteorological Society.

During FY 2002, OFCM joined leading environmental science and service

corporations in supporting undergraduate scholarships in the atmospheric and

related oceanic and hydrologic sciences. The scholarships, awarded for

the junior and senior years, are

designed to encourage outstanding

undergraduates to pursue careers in the

fields covered by the awards. OFCM

plans to continue this support. OFCM

also supports American Meteorological Society endeavors by participating in AMS conferences and workshops and other environmental science

education and outreach programs.

PUBLICATIONS AND OFCM'S

WEBSITE

The following plans and publications

were prepared in hardcopy form and

most have been placed on OFCM's

website (www.ofcm.gov):

• The Federal Plan for

Meteorological Services and

Supporting Research -- Fiscal Year

2002

• National Hurricane Operations

Plan

• 55th Interdepartmental Hurricane

Conference (Minutes)

• Proceedings of the Workshop on

Strategy for Providing Atmospheric

Information: Planning to Exploit our

National Investment in Weather

Technology

• Proceedings of the Workshop on

Effective Emergency Response:

Selecting a Suitable Dispersion

Model for a Given Application

• Aviation Weather Training: A

Report on Training for Emerging

and Recently Implemented Aviation

Weather Programs

• Selection and Evaluation of

Atmospheric Transport and

Diffusion Models

• Weather Information for Surface

Transportation

The following documents are

planned for publication during FY

2003:

• The Federal Plan for

Meteorological Services and

Supporting Research -- Fiscal Year

2003

• National Hurricane Operations

Plan

• 56th Interdepartmental Hurricane

Conference (Minutes)

• Proceedings of the Risk

Assessment/Risk Management

Workshop

• Proceedings of the Workshop on

Weather Support for the United

States Marine Transportation

Service

• National Plan for Post-Storm Data

Acquisition

• A National Framework for

Volcanic Ash Hazards to Aviation

During FY 2002, OFCM continued

to make substantial progress on its use

of the Internet. In addition to information about the office, OFCM has

placed its current publications on its

website, and keeps the website current

with information regarding workshops

and symposia being conducted by the

office. OFCM will continue to make

information available on the Internet

during FY 2003.
Table A.1 Current OFCM Publications

Publication Title Date Number

Federal Plan for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research, Fiscal Year 2002 June 2001 FCM-P1-2001

National Plan for Space Environment Services and Supporting Research: 1993-1997 August 1993 FCM-P10-1993

National Severe Local Storms Operations Plan May 2001 FCM-P11-2001

National Hurricane Operations Plan May 2002 FCM-P12-2002

National Winter Storms Operations Plan November 2000 FCM-P13-2000

Federal Plan for Cooperative Support and Backup Among Operational May 1996 FCM-P14-1996

Processing Centers

National Plan for Stratospheric Monitoring, 1988-1997 July 1989 FCM-P17-1989

National Aircraft Icing Technology Plan April 1986 FCM-P20-1986

National Plan to Improve Aircraft Icing Forecasts July 1986 FCM-P21-1986

Federal Plan for the Coordination of Automated Weather Information May 1988 FCM-P23-1988

System Programs 

Federal Plan for Meteorological Information Management July 1991 FCM-P24-1991

National Plan for Tropical Cyclone Research and Reconnaissance (1997-2002) January 1997 FCM-P25-1997

National Aviation Weather Program Plan September 1992 FCM-P27-1992

National Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)

Data Collection System (DCS) Operations Plan August 1997 FCM-P28-1997

Federal Plan for Marine Environmental Data, Services, and Supporting Research June 1996 FCM-P29-1996

The National Space Weather Program: Strategic Plan August 1995 FCM-P30-1995

The National Space Weather Program: Implementation Plan - 2nd Edition July 2000 FCM-P31-2000

National Aviation Weather Strategic Plan April 1997 FCM-P32-1997

National Aviation Weather Initiatives February 1999 FCM-P34-1999

National Aviation Weather Initiatives, Final Baseline Tier 3 and 4 Report April 2000

Federal Meteorological Handbook No. 1 - Surface Weather Observations December 1995 FCM-H1-1995

and Reports

Federal Meteorological Handbook No. 2 - Surface Synoptic Codes December 1988 FCM-H2-1988

Surface Synoptic Code Tables (Update) July 1990 FCM-T1-1990

Federal Meteorological Handbook No. 3 - Rawinsonde and Pibal Observations May 1997 FCM-H3-1997

Federal Meteorological Handbook No. 10 - Meteorological Rocket Observations December 1988 FCM-H10-1988 

Federal Meteorological Handbook No. 11 - Doppler Radar Meteorological Observations

Part A - System Concepts, Responsibilities and Procedures June 1991 FCM-H11A-1991

Part B - Doppler Radar Theory and Meteorology June 1990 FCM-H11B-1990

Part C - WSR-88D Products and Algorithms February 1991 FCM-H11C-1991

Part D - WSR-88D Unit Description and Operational Analysis April 1992 FCM-H11D-1992

APPENDIX A 205
206 APPENDIX A

Federal Meteorological Handbook No. 12 - United States Meteorological Codes December 1998 FCM-H12-1998

and Coding Practices

Directory of Atmospheric Transport and Diffusion Consequence Assessment Models March 1999 FCM-I3-1999

Federal Directory of Mobile Meteorological Equipment and Capabilities December 1995 FCM-I5-1995

A Guide to WMO Code Form FM 94 BUFR March 1995 FCM-I6-1995

Tropical Cyclone Studies December 1988 FCM-R11-1988

Tropical Cyclone Studies Supplement August 1989 FCM-R11-1988S

Interdepartmental Meteorological Data Exchange System Report, IMDES August 1998 FCM-R12-1998

Federal Meteorological Requirements 2000 October 1990 FCM-R13-1990

U.S. Wind Profiler: A Review March 1998 FCM-R14-1998

Standard Formats for Weather Data Exchange Among Automated Weather November 1994 FCM-S2-1994

Information Systems

Standard Telecommunication Procedures for Weather Data Exchange (under revision) October 1991 FCM-S3-1991

Federal Standard for Siting Meteorological Sensors at Airports August 1994 FCM-S4-1994

55th Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference (Minutes) December 2001

Proceedings of the Workshop on Multiscale Atmospheric Dispersion Modeling June 2000

within the Federal Community

Proceedings of the Aviation Weather User Forum--Aviation Weather: Opportunities July 2000

for Implementation

Proceedings for the Symposium on Weather Information for Surface Transportation:

Delivering Improved Safety and Efficiency for Tomorrow February 2000

Proceedings of the Symposium on Weather Information for Surface Transportation March 2001

-- Preparing for the Future: Improved Weather Information for Decision Makers

Proceedings of the Forum on Risk Management and Assessment of Natural Hazards July 2001

Proceedings of the Workshop on Strategy for Providing Atmospheric Information March 2002

Aviation Weather Training: A Report on Training for Emerging and Recently

Implemented Aviation Weather Programs April 2002 FCM-R16-2002

Proceedings of the Workshop on Effective Emergency Response May 2002

Italics = publication available online at www.ofcm.gov

Table A.1 Current OFCM Publications (cont.)

Publication Title Date Number
APPENDIX B

GOALS AND ORGANIZATION

The World Weather Watch (WWW)

goals are to extend the time, accuracy,

range, and scope of weather prediction

and to understand the physical basis of

climate and climatic change. The ability of the United States and other

nations to use their existing scientific

capability to understand the climate

and to increase their weather predicting skills is limited by the lack of global weather data. Available weather

data are inadequately observed over a

significant portion of the Earth's surface, especially over isolated areas

including the oceans.

Development of the technology and

the systems to obtain these observations, especially over the oceans, presents formidable problems. With the

use of satellites, aircraft, ships, radar,

anchored and drifting buoys, and balloons, however, an integrated system

can be developed to observe and collect comprehensive data about the

atmosphere over the entire globe. This

system is too complex and expensive

to be implemented by a single nation--

a fact clearly recognized by the leaders

of many nations whose international

cooperation in meteorology has been a

tradition for more than a century. In

1961, this continuing need for international cooperation prompted the

President of the United States to propose to the United Nations (UN) the

establishment of an international effort

in weather prediction. The UN

responded by calling upon the World

Meteorological Organization (WMO)

and the International Council of

Scientific Unions (ICSU) to develop

measures to improve weather forecasting capabilities and to advance the

knowledge of the basic physical forces

that determine climate.

The WMO, with 185 Members, is an

intergovernmental organization affiliated with the UN to facilitate international cooperation in the fields of

meteorology, climate, and operational

hydrology. The WMO responded to

the UN request with the concept of the

World Weather Watch, an operational

system to bring the global atmosphere

under improved surveillance and to

provide for the rapid collection and

exchange of weather data as well as for

the dissemination of weather products

from centralized processing centers.

More recently, the WMO is working

towards the design and implementation

of improved observations for a Global

Climate Observing System (GCOS)

through enhancements to the Global

Observing System (GOS) and other

appropriate measures. These efforts

are expected to yield an enhanced GOS

for both operational and research purposes and are part of the effort to

strengthen the WMO's commitment to

improve the understanding of climate

and related environmental matters, as

articulated by the Second World

Climate Conference in 1990 and

repeated at the UN Conference on the

Environment and Development.

The responsibilities of United States

federal agencies in the WWW are as

follows:

• Department of Commerce (DOC).

Represents the United States at

WMO and, through the National

Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration (NOAA), provides

the focal point to coordinate the

United States’efforts in these international programs, implements those

service improvements in the existing

international weather system for

which the United States accepts

responsibility, and develops new

technology.

• Department of State (DOS).

Maintains relations with developing

nations and, through NOAA and the

WMO, assists developing nations in

improving their national weather

services. DOS also develops appropriate multilateral and bilateral

arrangements to further international

participation.

• National Science Foundation (NSF).

Stimulates and supports basic

research by non-government scientists on atmospheric and ocean circulations and modeling. It also promotes the education and training of

atmospheric and ocean scientists at

universities.

• Department of Defense (DOD).

Although the mission of DOD weather services is basically internal, the

nature of DOD's operations is global.

As such, the observation, telecommunications, and data-processing programs of the military weather services provide significant indirect support

to the WWW through DOD's interface with NOAA's National Weather

Service (NWS). Information from

the research and development activities of these services is exchanged

routinely with other similar national

agencies and is often presented at

national forums.

WORLD WEATHER PROGRAM

The Department of Commerce (DOC) was designated by the President, following Senate Concurrent Resolution 67

(1968), to be the lead agency for coordinating United States participation in the World Weather Program (WWP). Until

1983, DOC published a separate report on WWP Plans. Beginning with the 1983 edition of the Federal Plan for

Meteorological Services and Supporting Research, a section on the WWP has been included, obviating the need for a

separate report. The last segment of this narrative includes information on bilateral and regional international cooperative activities which are not under the WWP.

APPENDIX B 207
208 APPENDIX B

• Department of Transportation

(DOT). Through the United States

Coast Guard, provides personnel to

support NOAA's National Data

Buoy Center (NDBC) in developing, operating, and evaluating data

buoy systems. Coast Guard cutters

and aircraft provide operational

support to deploy, service, and

retrieve buoys built for test or operational purposes. DOT's observation and telecommunications programs also provide significant indirect support to the WWW through

DOT's interaction with the NWS.

• National Aeronautics and Space

Administration (NASA). Performs

research, develops aerospace technology required for an effective

global weather system, and provides data from R&D satellites to

the WWW.

THE WORLD WEATHER WATCH

The WWW is an integrated services

system which functions on three levels--global, regional, and national. The

WWW is divided into three essential

elements that are closely linked and

interdependent--the Global Data

Processing System (GDPS), Global

Telecommunication System (GTS),

and GOS.

These elements are coordinated and

closely integrated through three

WWW support functions: (1) the data

management function coordinates,

monitors, and manages the flow of

data and products within the WWW

system to assure their quality and timely delivery. It also includes the definition and use of code forms for data

exchange; (2) the systems support

activity provides guidance, technical

and scientific information, and training

to those involved in the planning,

development, and operation of WWW

components; and (3) the implementation and coordination function assures

the timely completion of the WWW

implementation and effective support

and maintenance of the WWW system.

Global Observing System

The GOS is a coordinated system of

methods, techniques, and facilities for

making meteorological observations

on a worldwide scale. It is a composite system containing surface-based

and space-based (satellite) subsystems.

The main elements of the subsystem

are:

• Regional, basic-synoptic networks,

staffed and automated, for both surface and upper-air observations.

• Fixed observing stations at sea,

composed of fixed and anchored

platform stations, and island and

coastal stations.

• Mobile sea stations, including moving ships.

• Moored and drifting buoys.

• Aircraft meteorological stations,

including automated aircraft reporting systems.

The space-based (satellite) subsystem provides vital support for meteorological and hydrological predictions

and warnings. The use of satellites

enables the routine collection of environmental observations from even the

most remote locations. Two categories

of satellites are used: polar orbiters

and geostationary.

Presently, operational meteorological

satellites in polar orbits are operated by

Russia (the METEOR-3 series) and the

United States. The United States operates the civilian NOAA Polar-orbiting

Operational Environmental Satellite

(POES) series along with the Defense

Meteorological Satellite Program

(DMSP) series of polar-orbiting spacecraft. NASA currently launches satellites for NOAA, alternately, into afternoon and morning orbits to maintain

an uninterrupted stream of global data.

The current primary operational

NOAA polar-orbiting satellites are

NOAA-16 (launched in an afternoon

orbit in September 2000) and

NOAA-15 (launched in a morning

orbit in May 1998). The current primary operational DMSP polar-orbiting

satellites are F-15 (launched in

December 1999) and F-14 (launched in

April 1997). Also, China is operating

its first generation FY-1C satellite

launched in May 1999 in sun-synchronous morning orbit.

Preparations continue with the

Europeans for their assumption of

NOAA's morning polar orbit mission

starting with the launch of Metop-1 in

2005. This complements United States

plans to merge NOAA's POES with the

DMSP to form an integrated system

called the National Polar-orbiting

Operational Environmental Satellite

System (NPOESS) that is expected to

fly at the end of this decade. NOAA,

DOD, and NASA are working together

to implement NPOESS in the context

of an Integrated Program Office (IPO).

NOAA heads the IPO and is responsible for operating the NPOESS and for

relations with national and international civilian users of the system. DOD

has the lead responsibility for

NPOESS acquisition, launch, and system integration. NOAA will facilitate

the development and incorporation of

new, cost-effective technologies to

enhance the NPOESS capabilities.

Operational geostationary weather

satellites are currently operated by

Japan, India, the United States, and the

European Organization for the

Exploitation of (EUMETSAT).

Japan's Geostationary Meteorological

Satellite (GMS) is positioned at

140o

East, India's Indian National

Satellites (INSAT) are at 74o

East and

83o

East, and EUMETSAT's

METEOSATs 7 and 5 are at 0o

and

63o

East. The United States operates

two Geostationary Operational

Environmental Satellites (GOES) - at

75o

West and 135oWest. GOES-8,

launched in April 1994, is operational

at 75o

West and GOES-10, launched in

April 1997, is operational at 135o

West.

China also launched its first pre-operational geostationary environmental

satellite FY2A on June 10, 1997, and

its second FY2B in January, 2001.
APPENDIX B 209

FY2B is located at 105oEast and

FY2A was moved to the backup position at 85.6o

East.

Broadcast of data from both the

NOAA and GOES series of United

States satellites is free, unrestricted,

and does not require any prior notification. Data can be received directly by

any properly-equipped ground station

within the satellites' line-of-sight. The

United States, through NOAA, develops information and products from

these data for further distribution over

the GTS.

The WWW is a flexible system

which can be adapted to changing

technology and operational conditions.

The latest technological and scientific

developments in observations, data

processing, and telecommunications

are under constant review with an eye

towards improving the GOS, GDPS,

and GTS.

Over the last few years, several systems intended to improve the operation

of the GOS have continued to undergo

development and deployment. Among

these systems is the family of automated aircraft reporting systems known as

the Automated Meteorological Data

and Reporting (AMDAR) systems.

This family of systems includes the

Aircraft to Satellite Data Relay

(ASDAR) system and the ARINC

Communications Addressing and

Reporting System (ACARS). ARINC

is Aeronautical Radio Incorporated - a

wholly owned subsidiary of the airlines. ASDAR uses a dedicated onboard processor connected to the aircraft avionics system and transmits

observations automatically via the

meteorological geosynchronous satellites of the International Data

Collection System (IDCS). ASDAR

uses hardware which was developed in

the 1980's and was fitted to the aircraft,

requiring relatively expensive and

time-consuming certification and

installation. It has the important

advantage of using the meteorological

satellite communications facility

which is free for this type of message.

On the other hand, ACARS uses the

plane's own avionics system thus

requiring no certification or alteration

to the airframe. It does, however, use

the airlines' communications system

which could entail communication

costs.

The ASDAR program has continued

to provide valuable observations over

data sparse regions of South America,

the central and southern Atlantic

Ocean, Africa, the Indian Ocean, Asia,

and Eastern Europe. Much of this area

is otherwise not covered by any in-situ

upper air observations. However, this

situation is expected to change in the

near future as many of the existing

ASDAR equipped aircraft will be converted or replaced by other aircraft fitted with conventional AMDAR systems. The program peaked early in

1998 with 21 operational systems.

However, since then there has been a

substantial reduction in the size of the

ASDAR program. This was accomplished in 2 phases with the first 5

British Airways 747 aircraft decommissioned between October 1998 and

August 1999 and the second and final

5 aircraft between January and June

2000. These same aircraft have been

fitted with AMDAR software along

with 45 other aircraft in the B747-400

fleet. KLM decommissioned the first

of its 3 operational units in April 2001. 

Although the program is in decline,

several units have a priority and should

be kept operating for a few more years

as they will still form the main source

of aircraft observations in critical data

void areas. These include units on aircraft from Air Mauritius (2), KLM (2)

and Aerolineas Argentinas (2). The

South African units (2) will eventually

be replaced by AMDAR systems as

will be the 2 units operated by Saudi

Arabia, but not for at least another

year.

During the second quarter of 2001,

data availability indicates 93.3 percent

of observations were received within

60 minutes and 99.5 percent within

115 minutes. An average of 994

reports per day were received.

Concerns regarding data quality of

some aircraft, particularly in temperature, are being addressed.

The United States AMDAR program,

called Meteorological Data

Communications and Reporting

System (MDCRS), began in the early

1980's and is a cooperative effort

among ARINC, the NWS, and the

FAA. It grew slowly in the first

10 years, but has grown rapidly during

the decade of the 1990's. Over

120,000 reports of wind and temperature are sent every day in the Binary

Universal Form for Representation of

Meteorological Data (BUFR) code.

These MDCRS reports are provided by

six airlines: Delta, Northwest, United,

United Parcel Service (UPS),

American Airlines, and Federal

Express (FedEx).

Two additional MDCRS reporting

elements continue under development:

water vapor and turbulence. A new

water vapor sensor, using diode laser

technology is being tested. This new

sensor will replace the current version

being flown on 30 UPS B-757 aircraft

as part of a demonstration program.

Ultimately, this new technology is

hoped to be flown operationally on

commercial aircraft. A new turbulence

algorithm, developed by the National

Center for Atmospheric Research

(NCAR) derives an objective, aircraft

independent measure of turbulence

(eddy dissipation rate-EDR) from aircraft vertical acceleration. The EDR is

included as part of the MDCRS data

stream. The algorithm is currently

installed on 90 United Airlines aircraft

and will be installed on over 400

United, American, Delta, and

Northwest aircraft by FY 2003.

Large quantities of weather reports,

particularly over oceanic and other

data-sparse areas, will be realized via

satellite communications and navigation systems. This source of data is of
210 APPENDIX B

interest to the United States and others

of the international aeronautical community, especially Numerical Weather

Prediction (NWP) Centers including

World Area Forecast Centers

(WAFCs).

The Forty-Ninth Session of WMO's

Executive Council (Geneva, June

1997) established a Panel on Aircraft

Meteorological Data Reporting composed of WMO Members that operate,

or intend to operate, national AMDAR

programs and to coordinate and promote global AMDAR development.

Several countries have developed

AMDAR programs of their own,

focused on obtaining aircraft data over

data sparse areas, including South

Africa, Hong Kong, Russia, Saudi

Arabia, and the Caribbean.

In addition to these aircraft-based

systems, other observation systems are

being deployed to improve the GOS.

For example, there has been deployment of substantial numbers of drifting

buoys. A number of nations, including

the United States, have implemented

experimental or quasi-operational networks or single sites of ground-based

doppler radars called wind profilers to

provide nearly continuous wind soundings. A network of 32 tropospheric

wind profilers is being operated quasioperationally at 404 MHZ primarily in

the central part of the United States.

To improve the methodology used in

developing and deploying observing

systems, NOAA in 1997, established

the North American Atmospheric

Observing System (NAOS) program.

The group has representatives from

several federal agencies along with

representatives from Canada and

Mexico. NAOS objectives are to:

(1) define a cost-effective, requirements-driven "best mix" of observing

platforms and instruments and

(2) reduce observing system risks and

uncertainties. While the initial focus

of the program will be to modernize

the composite upper-air network,

NAOS is expected to guide the

resource-allocation process for most

future observing systems developed

and/or fielded by NOAA. Several

projects of NAOS have been undertaken to assess the utility of the MDCRS

data in numerical models, including

the impact of replacing some numbers

of rawinsonde sites with MDCRS

soundings, an assessment of forecaster

use of MDCRS, and the impact on

short-range forecasting.

Efforts are underway to design and

implement a GCOS, building upon the

WWW, Global Atmospheric Watch,

Integrated Global Ocean Services

System, and other existing systems to

further the knowledge and understanding of climate and the prediction of climate and climate change. Efforts to

date have established planning groups

to address needs and requirements for

atmospheric, oceanic, and land-surface

data. Upper-air and surface-observing

networks have been defined to provide

basic global measurements for the

GCOS. Links to existing organizational structures are being established and

a high priority has been given to making observational enhancements. The

GCOS Upper Air Network (GUAN)

and the GCOS Surface Network

(GSN) have been established.

Global Data Processing System

The purpose of GDPS is to make

available all processed information

required for both real-time and nonreal-time applications. GDPS provides

products and processed information,

based on recent advances in atmospheric science, using powerful numerical computer methods. Members

have real-time, unrestricted access

through the GTS to GDPS products

which allow all countries to benefit

from their participation in the WWW.

The GDPS is organized as a threelevel system. It consists of World

Meteorological Centers (WMC),

Regional/Specialized Meteorological

Centers (RSMC), and National

Meteorological Centers (NMC).

NMCs carry out GDPS functions at the

national level. In general, real-time

functions of the system involve preprocessing of data including real-time

quality control, analysis, and prognosis, including derivation of appropriate

meteorological parameters. The nonreal-time functions include data collection and archival, and additional quality control, storage, and retrieval, to

include cataloging observational data

and processed information for operational and special applications and for

research.

WMCs are located in Melbourne,

Moscow, and Washington; they provide guidance products used for general short, medium, and long-range

weather forecasts on a global scale.

Melbourne specializes in forecast

products for the Southern Hemisphere.

The RSMCs with geographical specialization are located at Algiers,

Algeria; Antananarivo, Malagasy;

Beijing, China; Bracknell, United

Kingdom; Brasilia, Brazil; Buenos

Aires, Argentina; Cairo, Egypt; Dakar,

Senegal; Darwin, Australia; Jeddah,

Saudi Arabia; Khabarovsk, Russia;

Lagos, Nigeria; Melbourne, Australia;

Miami, Florida; Montreal, Canada;

Moscow, Russia; Nairobi, Kenya; New

Delhi, India; Novosibirsk, Russia;

Offenbach, Germany; Rome, Italy;

Singapore; Tashkent, Uzbekistan;

Tokyo, Japan; Tunis, Tunisia;

Washington D.C., United States; and

Wellington, New Zealand.

RSMCs with activity specialization

are found at the European Center for

Medium Range Forecasts; Réunion

Island (France); Toulouse, France;

Miami, Florida and Honolulu, Hawaii,

United States; and Nadi, Fiji.

The regional centers at Bracknell,

Miami, Montreal, New Delhi, and

Tokyo have dual geographical and

activity specialization responsibilities.

These centers provide regional products used for short and medium-range

forecasting of small, mesoscale, and

large scale meteorological systems by

WMCs. Products of RSMCs can be
APPENDIX B 211

used by members at the national level

for further processing or interpretation

to provide assistance or service to

users.

In the World Area Forecast System

(WAFS), two centers (Washington and

London) are designated by the

International Civil Aviation

Organization (ICAO) as World Area

Forecast Centers (WAFC) and act as

back-up for one another. They issue

upper-wind and temperature forecasts

with global coverage to associated

Regional Area Forecast Centers

(RAFC). The regional centers also

prepare and distribute forecasts of

weather elements defined by ICAO as

significant. The RAFC's are expected

to be phased out in 2002, when the

WAFCs assume their responsibilities.

The gradual implementation of the

final phase of the WAFS has begun.

The planned final phase call for the

two WAFCs to prepare and issue computer-based wind and temperature

forecasts as they now do. In addition,

those centers will automate all of the

significant weather elements. While

some of these elements are now prepared automatically, others are developed through forecaster-initiated

graphic interaction.

The dissemination of aeronautical

information via global satellite broadcast began in 1995. The United States

provides the links to two of the three

satellites specified in the system.

Global Telecommunication System

The GTS provides communication

services for the collection, exchange,

and distribution of observational data

and processed information among the

WMCs, RSMCs, and NMCs of the

WWW to meet the member needs for

real-time or quasi-real-time exchange

of information for both operational and

research purposes. The GTS also supports other WMO programs, joint programs with other inter-national organizations, and environmental programs

as decided by the WMO Congress and

is organized on three levels:

• The Main Telecommunication

Network (MTN).

• The Regional Meteorological

Telecommunication Networks

(RMTN).

• The National Meteorological

Telecommunication Networks

(NMTN).

The GTS is supported by the

telecommunications functions of the

WMCs, Regional Telecommunications

Hubs (RTH), RSMCs, and NMCs.

The MTN links the WMCs at

Melbourne, Moscow, and Washington

with the RTHs at Algiers; Beijing;

Bracknell; Brasilia; Buenos Aires;

Cairo; Dakar; Jeddah; Maracay,

Venezuela; Nairobi; New Delhi;

Norrköping, Sweden; Offenbach;

Prague; Rome; Sofia; Tokyo;

Toulouse; and Wellington. It ensures

the rapid and reliable exchange of

observational data and processed information required by the members.

The RMTNs consist of an integrated

system of links which interconnects

RTHs, NMCs, and RSMCs to WMCs.

The RMTNs provide for the collection

of observational data and the selective

distribution of meteorological information to member nations.

In summary, the GTS enables the

NMCs to receive and distribute observational data and meteorological information to meet the requirements of

members. Ongoing WWW activities

include:

• GTS network redesign to take into

consideration new technical opportunities, such as Internet-like services.

• Improvement of the capacity of

MTN links and inclusion of graphics (e.g., Washington-Brasilia,

Washington-Buenos Aires,

Washington-Tokyo).

• Continued implementation of satellite-serviced data collection platforms to enhance the collection of

meteorological data from upper-air

and surface-observing sites.

• Continued implementation of satellite direct-readout stations that are

compatible with polar-orbiting

satellites and the weather facsimile

(WEFAX) component of the geostationary satellites. The need to

convert WEFAX to LRIT and APT

to LRPT formats will have to be

undertaken during the next decade.

Voluntary Cooperation Program (VCP)

From the beginning of WWW, it was

clear that all countries need better

weather observations and improved

communications systems. To help

remedy deficiencies and to fully implement the WWW, the WMO established

a Voluntary Assistance Program in

1967. In 1979, the name of the program was changed to Voluntary

Cooperation Program (VCP).

The WMO-VCP helps the developing countries to implement the WWW

program by providing equipment,

services, and long-term and short-term

study fellowships. Since the inception

of the VCP, the United States has provided short-term fellowships in electronics, communications, operation

and maintenance of weather data collection systems and electrolytic hydrogen generators, and tropical meteorology and river flood forecasting to students from more than 50 countries.

Long-term fellowships, through which

the students receive baccalaureate or

advanced degrees, have been completed by candidates from over 48 countries. The goal of VCP is to eliminate

deficiencies in global observations and

communications. The highest priority

of the VCP is the implementation of

the WWW.

The DOS provides funding for VCP

projects with NOAA administering and

carrying out programs designed to aid

meteorological/hydrological and climate projects in recipient countries.

VCP Projects for 2001 include:

• Implementation and updating of

surface and upper-air observational

programs in the tropics, the

Southern Hemisphere, and Africa

as resources and priorities permit.
212 APPENDIX B

• Support of WAFS applications and

utilization.

• Continued support for the implementation of VCP projects in

Central America and the Caribbean

areas in support of the hurricane

and tropical storm programs.

• Connecting National

Meteorological Services to the

Internet as a low-cost way to collect

and enhance a global data base.

BILATERAL AND REGIONAL

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATIVE PROGRAMS

United States - Peoples Republic of

China Protocol in the Field of

Atmospheric Science and Technology

For more than 20 years, this Protocol

has covered a broad area of research

and operational activities in the field of

atmospheric science and technology.

Program areas include the following:

• Climate Studies (which includes

scientific experiments and research

on monsoons and Tropical Ocean

Global Atmosphere).

• Mesoscale Meteorology (which

includes operational techniques for

forecasting torrential rains).

• Training and Participation.

• Atmospheric Chemistry.

• Satellite Meteorology and Meteorological Satellites.

• Modernization Activities.

The cooperative activities between

the United States and China under this

program have decreased over the past

few years. The main cooperative

activity has been within the Training

and Participation Program with a

dozen Chinese scientists and trainees

working at NOAA facilities for up to

18 months.

United States-Mexico Meteorological

and Hydrologic Program

The United States and Mexico have

signed a cooperative agreement to

enhance the scope of their cooperation

in the fields of meteorology, hydrology, and climatology which began over

50 years ago. The new agreement

facilitates the following activities:

• The international dissemination of

observations from meteorological

and hydrologic observation systems.

• The exchange of meteorological,

hydrologic, and related data and

products between the United States

and Mexico.

• The cooperation necessary to

assure prompt transmission through

telecommunications networks of

these data and products.

Over the past few years, the Mexican

Meteorological Service has undergone

some modernization which included

upgrading upper-air observation systems and installing Doppler weather

radars. This cooperative agreement

will facilitate the exchange of data and

information to the benefit of both

countries.
APPENDIX C

PREVIOUS FEATURE ARTICLES

APPENDIX C 213

2001 FY 2002 Research to Operations: Bridging the Mr. Robert Dumont, OFCM

Valley of Death

2000 FY 2001 The Legacy of Hurricane Floyd--Inland Mr. Robert Dumont, OFCM

Flooding and a Massive Evacuation

1999 FY 2000 Natural Disaster Reduction--Reducing the OFCM Staff in collaboration with

Impacts of Natural Hazards Dr. William Hooke, OAR, and

Ms. Keli Tarp, NOAA Public Affairs

1998 FY 1999 Aviation Weather: Taking A Leadership Role FAA's Aviation Weather Policy Division

(ARW-100) Staff

1997 FY 1998 Owning The Weather--An Army Force Mr. Richard J. Szymber, Army

Multiplier

1996 FY 1997 Space Weather - A New Challenge for Col Jud Stailey, USAF

Meteorologists

1995 FY 1996 The Role of Federal Agencies in International Mr. Blaine K. Tsugawa, OFCM

Aviation Meteorology

1994 FY 1995 Data Continuity in the Climatological Record Dr. Nathaniel B. Guttman, NCDC

Mr. Andrew H. Horvitz, NWS

Mr. Arthur L. Booth, NOAA-EOSDIS

1993 FY 1994 Training and Professional Development in the Mr. Eli Jacks, NWS

Modernized Weather Services Mr. LeRoy Spayd, NWS

1992 FY 1993 Mesoscale Meteorology Mr. Floyd F. Hauth, OFCM

1991 FY 1992 Some Recent Developments in Lightning Dr. Donald R. MacGorman, NOAA

Mapping Systems Dr. Frederick R. Mosher, NOAA

Ms. Jan S. Lewis, NOAA

1990 FY 1991 The Next Generation Weather Radar - Mr. E. Don Sarreals, NEXRAD JSPO 

A System for Locating and Tracking 

Severe Weather

1989 FY 1990 Strategic Plan for the Modernization and Verbatim reproduction of a plan

Associated Restructuring of the required by Congress and submitted

National Weather Service by DOC and OMB

1988 FY 1989 Supercomputers for Meteorological Services (Source or author unknown)

and Supporting Research
APPENDIX D

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

APPENDIX D 215

3D-VAR Three Dimensional VARiational (AF)

4DWX Four Dimensional Weather (Army)

AA Active Army

AASHTO American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (FHWA)

AAU Alaskan Aviation Unit (NOAA/NCEP)

ABCS Army Battle Command System (Army)

ABFM Airborne Field Mill (NASA)

ABL Airborne Laser (AF)

ABLE Atmospheric Boundary Layer Experiment (DOE)

AC Active Component (DOD)

ACARS ARINC Communication Addressing and Reporting System

ACE Aviation Combat Element (USMC)

ACP Atmospheric Chemistry Program (DOE)

ADAS AWOS/ASOS Data Acquisition System (FAA)

ADEOS Advanced Earth Observing System (NASA)

AEC Atomic Energy Commission (DOE)

AESS Allied Environmental Support System (Navy)

AF Air Force

AFB Air Force Base 

AFCCC Air Force Combat Climatology Center

AFCWC Air Force Global Combat Weather Center 

AFFSA Air Force Flight Standards Agency

AFJI Air Force Joint Instruction

AFR Air Force Reserve

AFRL Air Force Research Laboratory

AFSOC Air Force Special Operations Command

AFTAC Air Force Technical Applications Center

AFW Air Force Weather

AFWA Air Force Weather Agency

AFWIN Air Force Weather Information Network

AFWWS Air Force Weather Weapon System

AGFS Aviation Gridded Forecast System (FAA)

AHPS Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Services (NOAA/NWS)

AI Aircraft Icing (NASA)

AIP Airport Improvement Program (FAA)

AIRMAP Atmospheric Investigation Regional Modeling, Analysis, and Prediction (NOAA/OAR)

AIRMoN Atmospheric Integrated Research Monitoring Network (NOAA/OAR)

AIRS Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (NASA)

AL Aeronomy Laboratory (NOAA/OAR)

ALDARS Automated Lightning Detection and Reporting System (FAA)

AMC Army Matériel Command (Army)

AMDAR Automatic Meteorological Data and Reporting

AMIS Automated Meteorological Information System (AF)

AMPS Automated Meteorological Profiling System (NASA)

AMOS Automated Meteorological Observing System (Navy)

AMSU Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit

AMU Applied Meteorology Unit (NASA)

ANG Air National Guard (DOD)

ANL Argonne National Laboratory (DOE)

AOC Aircraft Operations Center (NOAA)

AOML Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (NOAA/ERL)

AOR Area of Responsibility (DOD)

AOT Aerosol Optical Thickness (NOAA/NESDIS)
216 APPENDIX D

APT Automatic Picture Transmission (NOAA/NESDIS)

AR Army Regulation

ARAC Atmospheric Release Advisory Capability (DOE)

ARCS Atmospheric Radiation CART Sites (NOAA/OAR)

ARG Accident Response Group (DOE)

ARGO Global Array of Profiling Floats (NOAA/OAR)

ARGOS French Satellite Data Collection System 

ARINC Aeronautical Radio Incorporated

ARL Army Research Laboratory (Army)

Air Resources Laboratory (NOAA)

ARM Atmospheric Radiation Monitoring (DOE)

ARNG Army National Guard

ARO Army Research Office

ARS Agricultural Research Service (USDA)

Air Traffic System Requirements Service (FAA)

ARSPACE Army Space Command

ARSR Air Route Surveillance Radar (FAA)

ARSST Army Space Support Team

ARTCC Air Route Traffic Control Center (FAA)

ARTYMET Artillery Meteorological (Army)

ARW Aviation Weather Directorate (FAA)

ASD Atmospheric Sciences Division (DOE)

ASDAR Aircraft to Satellite Data Relay

ASOG Air Support Operations Group (AF)

ASOS Automated Surface Observing System

Air Support Operations Squadron (AF)

ASR Airport Surveillance Radar (FAA)

ATC Air Traffic Control (FAA)

ATCCS Army Tactical Command and Control System

ATDD Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division (NOAA/ARL) 

ATEC Army Test and Evaluation Command

ATLAS Autonomous Temperature Line Acquisition System (NOAA/OAR)

ATOS Appalachian Tropospheric Ozone Study (NOAA/AOC)

ATWIS Advanced Transportation Weather Information System (FHWA)

AVHRR Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (NOAA)

AVO Alaskan Volcano Observatory (DOI/USGS)

AVP Advanced Vehicle Technologies Program (FTA)

AWARDS Agricultural Water Resources Decision Support (DOI/BUREC)

AWC Aviation Weather Center (NOAA/NCEP)

AWIPS Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (NOAA)

AWN Automated Weather Network (DOD)

AWOS Automated Weather Observing System (FAA)

AWR Aviation Weather Research (FAA)

AWSS Aviation Weather Sensor System (FAA)

AWTT Aviation Weather Technology Transfer (FAA)

BASC Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate

BCTP Battle Command Training Program (Army)

BE Battlefield Environment (Army)

BER Biological and Environmental Research (DOE)

BFA Battlefield Functional Areas (Army)

BLM Bureau of Land Management (DOI)

BNL Brookhaven National Laboratory (DOE)

BUFR Binary Universal Form for the Representation of Meteorological Data

BUREC Bureau of Reclamation (DOI)

C2 Command and Control (DOD)

C4

I Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (DOD)
APPENDIX D 217

CAAM Computer Assisted Artillery Meteorology (Army)

CAC Combined Arms Center (Army)

CALJET California Land-falling Jets Experiment (NOAA/OAR)

CAMEX Convective and Moisture Experiment (NASA)

CAP Civil Air Patrol

CAPARS Computer-Assisted Protective Action Recommendation System (DOE)

CARDS Comprehensive Aerological Reference Data Set (NOAA/NCDC)

CARS Condition Acquisition and Reporting System (FHWA)

CART Clouds and Radiation Testbed (DOE)

CASPER Computer Aided System For Planning Efficient Routes (FHWA)

CAST Commercial Aviation Safety Team (FAA)

CAWIS Committee for Automated Weather Information Systems (OFCM)

CBIRF Chemical Biological Incident Response Force (USMC)

CBNP Chemical Biological Non-Proliferation Program (DOE)

CBOFS Chesapeake Bay Oceanographic Forecasting System (NOAA/NOS)

CBRNE Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, or High-Yield Explosive (USMC)

CCM3 Community Climate Model-3

CCMC Community Coordinated Modeling Center (AF)

CCMS Committee on the Challenge of Modern Society (EPA)

CDA Command and Data Acquisition 

CDFS Cloud Depiction and Forecast System (AF)

CECOM Communications and Electronics Command (Army)

CEMSCS Central Environmental Satellite Computer System (NOAA/NESDIS)

CENR Committee on Environment and Natural Resources

CEOS Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (NOAA/NESDIS)

CERES Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System (NASA)

CFIT Controlled flight into terrain (NASA)

CGSC Command and General Staff College (Army)

CHAMMP Computer Hardware Advanced Mathematics and Model Physics (DOE)

CIASTA Cooperative Institute for Atmospheric Studies and Terrestrial Applications (NOAA/OAR)

CIDE Communications Interfaces and Data Exchange (OFCM)

CIOS Committee for Integrated Observing Systems (OFCM)

CIRES Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (NOAA)

CIWS Corridor Integrated Weather System (FAA)

CLASS Comprehensive Large Array-Data Stewardship System (NOAA/NESDIS)

C-MAN Coastal-Marine Automated Network

CMAQ Community Multi-scale Air Quality (EPA)

CMDL Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory (NOAA/OAR)

CME Coronal Mass Ejection

CMFC Coordinating METOC Forecast Center (Navy)

COADS Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set (NOAA/NCDC) 

COAMPS Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (Navy)

COARE Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment

COE Corps of Engineers (Army)

COMET Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology, Education and Training

CONUS Continental United States (DOD)

CONUSA Continental United States Armies (Army)

COPC Committee for Operational Processing Centers (OFCM)

COOP Cooperative Observer Program (NOAA/NWS)

CORMS Continuous Real-time Monitoring System (NOAA/NOS)

COSMIC Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (AF)

COTS Commercial Off-the-Shelf

CPC Climate Prediction Center (NOAA/NCEP)

CPHC Central Pacific Hurricane Center (NOAA/NCEP)

CRADA Cooperative Research and Development Agreement

CRN Climate Reference Network (NOAA)

CRREL Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (Army)

CS Climate Services (OFCM) 
218 APPENDIX D

CSD Climate Services Division (NOAA/NWS)

CSEPP Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (DOE)

CSRA Central Savannah River Area (DOE)

CSREES Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (USDA)

CSW Committee for Space Weather (OFCM)

CTA Common Table of Allowances (Army)

CTBT Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (DOE)

CWF Combat Weather Flight (AF)

CWS Combat Weather Squadron (AF)

CWSU Center Weather Service Unit (FAA)

CWT Combat Weather Team (AF)

CXD Combined X-ray Dosimeter (DOE)

CY Calendar Year

DAC Data Assembly Center (NOAA/OAR)

DAMPS Distributed Atmospheric Modeling Prediction System (Navy)

DCO Data Collection Office (NOAA/NWS)

DCP Data Collection Package

DCS Data Collection System (NOAA/NESDIS)

DEPSCoR Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (DOD)

DGPS Differential Global Positioning System (USGS)

DISS Digital Ionospheric Sounding System (AF)

DMCC DOE Meteorological Coordinating Council

DMS Dynamic Message Sign (FHWA)

DMSO Defense Modeling and Simulation Office (AF)

DMSP Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (AF)

DOC Department of Commerce 

DOD Department of Defense 

DOE Department of Energy 

DOI Department of the Interior 

DOMSAT Domestic Communications Satellite

DOS Department of State 

DOT Department of Transportation

DRA Desert Rock Meteorological Observatory (DOE)

DRGS Direct readout ground stations (DOI)

DRI Desert Research Institute

DRWP Doppler Radar Wind Profiler (NASA)

DTC Developmental Test Command (Army)

DTED Digital Terrain Elevation Data (AF)

DTSS Digital Topographic Support System (Army)

DUAT Direct User Access Terminal (FAA)

DURIP Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (Army)

EAC Echelon Above Corps (Army)

ECDIS Electronic Chart Display Information System (NOAA/NOS)

ECMWF European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting

EDAS Eta Data Assimilation System (NOAA/NESDIS)

EDIS Environmental Data and Information Service (NOAA)

ELV Expendable Launch Vehicle (NASA)

EMC Environmental Modeling Center (NOAA/NCEP)

European Modeling Center (NOAA/NCEP)

ENSO El Niño-Southern Oscillation

EO Electro-optical

Earth Observation (NASA)

EOC Emergency Operations Center

EOS Earth Observing System (NASA)

EOSDIS EOS Data and Information System (NASA)

EPA Environmental Protection Agency 
APPENDIX D 219

EPD Environmental Protection Division (DOE)

EPIC Equatorial Pacific Investigation of Climate (NOAA/AOC)

E-PIREPS Electronic Pilot Reports (FAA)

ER Eastern Range (NASA)

ERBS Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (NASA)

ERC Extended Research Checkout

ERDA Energy Research and Development Administration

ERDAS Eastern Range Dispersion Assessment System (NASA)

ERDC Engineering Research and Development Center (Army)

ERL Environmental Research Laboratories (NOAA)

ESD/IPC Environmental Satellite Distribution/Interactive Processing Center (NOAA/NESDIS)

ESE Earth Science Enterprise (NASA)

ESP Energy Spectrometer for Particles (DOE)

Ensemble Streamflow Prediction (NWS)

ESS Environmental Sensor Station (FHWA)

ESSP Earth System Science Pathfinders (NASA)

ETIS Evacuation Traffic Information System (FHWA)

ETL Environmental Technology Laboratory (NOAA/OAR)

ETOS East Tennessee Ozone Study (NOAA/OAR)

ETTP East Tennessee Technology Park (DOE)

EUMETSAT European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites

EUSA Eighth U.S. Army

EUV Extreme Ultraviolet

FAA Federal Aviation Administration

FALOP Forward Area Limited Observing Program (AF)

FAS Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA)

FBA Fire Behavior Analysts (DOI)

FCCC Framework Convention on Climate Change (DOS)

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

FCS Future Combat System (Army)

FDD First Digitized Division (Army)

FDIC Force Development and Integration Center (Army)

FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency 

FHWA Federal Highway Administration

FIRETEC Fire Behavior Model (DOE)

FIRST FAA Icing Remote Sensor Testbed (NOAA/OAR)

FIS Flight Information System (FAA)

FLENUMMETOCCEN Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center, Monterey, California

FMF Fleet Marine Force

FMH Federal Meteorological Handbook (OFCM)

FNMOC Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center (Navy)

FOA Field operating agency (AF)

FORSCOM U.S. Army Forces Command

FOV Field of vision

FRA Federal Railroad Administration

FRD Field Research Division (NOAA/ARL)

FRERP Federal Radiological Emergency Response Plan (DOE)

FRMAC Federal Radiological Monitoring and Assessment Center (DOE)

FRWS Fire RAWS (DOI)

FS-21 Forecasting System 21st Century (AF)

FS Forest Service (USDA)

FSA Farm Services Agency (USDA)

FSL Forecast Systems Laboratory (NOAA/OAR)

FTA Federal Transit Administration

FTE Full-time Equivalent

FTP File Transfer Protocol

FU Forecast Unit
220 APPENDIX D

FWS Fish and Wildlife Service (DOI)

FY Fiscal year 

G-IV Gulfstream IV (NOAA)

GAA GOES Active Archive (NOAA/NESDIS)

GAC Global Area Coverage

GACC Geographic Areas and Coordination Center (DOI)

GACP Global Aerosol Climatology Project (NASA)

GAPP GEWEX Applications Prediction Program (DOI/BUREC)

GAO General Accounting Office

GCCR Global Climate Change Research (DOE)

GCCS Global Command and Control System (DOD)

GCIP GEWEX Continental-scale International Project (DOI)

GCM Global Climate Models (DOE)

GCOS Global Climate Observing System (WWP)

GCPS Global Climate Perspectives System

GCRP Global Change Research Program

GDPS Global Data Processing System (WWP)

GEOSAR Geostationary Earth Orbit Search and Rescue (NOAA/NESDIS)

GEWEX Global Energy and Water-Balance Experiment

GFDL Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (NOAA/ERL)

GHCN Global Historical Climatology Network

G-IPPA Government-Industry Project Performance Agreement (FAA)

GIN Geomagnetic Information Nodes (DOI)

GIS Geographic Information System

GLD Global Lagrangian Drifters (NOAA/OAR)

GLONASS Global Navigation Satellite System (NOAA/NESDIS)

GMS Geostationary Meteorological Satellite-Japan (WWP)

GMSRA GOES Multi-Spectral Rainfall Algorithms (NOAA/NESDIS)

GOES Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (NOAA)

GOOS Global Ocean Observing System

GOS Global Observing System (WWP)

GOSSP Global Observing Systems Space Panel (NOAA/NESDIS)

GPCP Global Precipitation Climatology Program

GPS Global Positioning System

GPS/MET GPS for Meteorology

GRIB Gridded Binary (FM 92-X Ext.)

GRIDS Ground-based Remote Icing Detection System (NOAA/OAR)

GSFC Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA)

GSN GCOS Surface Network (WWP)

GTS Global Telecommunications System (WWP)

GTSPP Global Temperature-Salinity Profile Project

GTWAPS Global Theater Weather Analysis and Prediction System (AF)

GUAN GCOS Upper Air Network (WWP)

HaL Hurricanes at Landfall (NOAA/OAR)

HAR Highway Advisory Radio (FHWA)

HARM Hazardous Atmospheric Release Model (NOAA/OAR)

HCRS Highway Closure and Restriction System (FHWA)

HELSTF High Energy Laser System Test Facility (Army)

HF High frequency (AF)

HFRB High frequency regional broadcast (DOD)

HIGRAD High Resolution and Strong Gradient

HIRS/3 High Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder (NOAA/NESDIS)

HMI Hydrologic Modeling Inventory (DOI)

HMSC Hazardous Materials Spill Center (DOE)

HMMWV High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle (Army)

HPC Hydrometeorological Prediction Center (NOAA/NCEP)
APPENDIX D 221

HPCC High Performance Computing and Communications

HRAP Hydrologic Rainfall Analysis Project (DOI)

HRD Hurricane Research Division (NOAA/ERL)

HRPT High Resolution Picture Transmission (NOAA/NESDIS)

HSA Hydrologic Service Area (NOAA/NWS)

HSM Heat Stress Monitor (Army)

HYSPLIT Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (NOAA/OAR)

HUD Head-up display (NASA)

IAMS Initial Attack Management System (DOI)

IAS International Airspace System (NOAA/NWS)

IAV Interim Armored Vehicle (Army)

IBCT Interim Brigade Combat Teams (Army)

ICAO International Civil Aviation Organization

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

ICSU International Council of Scientific Unions

IDCS International Data Collection System (WWP) 

IEW Intelligence and Electronic Warfare (Army)

IFFA Interactive Flash Flood Analyzer (NOAA/NESDIS)

IGBP International Geosphere Biosphere Programme (WWP)

IHC Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference (OFCM)

IIP International Ice Patrol (USCG)

IMDES Interdepartmental Meteorological Data Exchange System 

IMETS Integrated Meteorological System (Army)

Incident Meteorologists (NOAA/NWS)

INEEL Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (DOE)

INSAT India's National Satellite (WWP)

IPB Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield (DOD)

IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (WWP/DOS)

IPEX Intermountain Precipitation Experiment (NOAA/OAR)

IPO Integrated Program Office

IR Infrared

IRTSS Infrared Target Scene Simulation Software (AF)

ISCCP International Satellite Cloud Climatology Program (NOAA/NESDIS)

ISES International Space Environment Service (NOAA/OAR)

ISIS Integrated Solar Irradiance Study (NOAA/OAR)

ISTEA Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (FHWA)

ITCT Intercontinental Transport and Chemical Transformation (NOAA/OAR)

ITCZ Inter-tropical convergence zone

ITS Intelligent Transportation System (FHWA)

ITS-JPO ITS Joint Program Office FHWA)

ITWS Integrated Terminal Weather System (FAA)

IWEDA Integrated Weather Effects Decision Aid (Army)

IWRS Improved Weather Reconnaissance System (OFCM)

IWRPC Improved Weather Reconnaissance System Program Council (OFCM)

JAAWIN Joint Air Force-Army Weather Information Network (AF)

JAG Joint Action Group

JASL Joint Archive for Sea Level

JAWF Joint Agricultural Weather Facility (USDA)

JCS Joint Chiefs of Staff (DOD)

JCSDA Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation (NOAA/NCEP)

JEES Joint Environmental Exploitation Segment (AF)

JGOFS Joint Global Ocean Flux Study

JHT Joint Hurricane Testbed (NOAA/OAR)

JMFU Joint METOC Forecasting Unit (USMC)

JMIB Joint METOC Interoperability Board (Navy)

JMV Joint METOC Viewer (Navy)
222 APPENDIX D

JPL Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA)

JSAT Joint Safety Analysis Team (FAA)

JSIT Joint Safety Implementation Team (FAA)

JSC Johnson Space Center (NASA)

JSCP Joint Strategic Capabilities Plan (Army)

JTWC Joint Typhoon Warning Center (AF/Navy)

JWIS Joint Weather Impacts System (AF)

KLC Kodiak Launch Center (NASA)

KM Kilometer

KSC Kennedy Space Center (NASA)

KVERT Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (DOI)

LAAS Local Area Augmentation System (FAA)

LAC Local Area Coverage

LAN Local area network

LANL Los Alamos National Laboratory (DOE)

LAPS Local Analysis and Prediction System (NOAA/FSL)

LDAR Lightning Detection and Ranging

LDCM Landsat Data Continuity Mission (NASA)

LDIS Local Data Integration System (NASA)

LLCC Lightning Launch Commit Criteria (NASA)

LLNL Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (DOE)

LLWAS Low Level Wind Shear Alert System (FAA)

LLWAS-RS LLWAS-Relocation/Sustainment (FAA)

LRGS Local readout ground stations (DOI)

LSM Land Surface Model (AF)

LWS Living With A Star (NASA)

MACOM Major Army Command

MAGTF Marine Air Ground Task Force

MAJCOM Major Command (AF)

MAW Marine Aircraft Wing

MB Millibars

MC Meteorological Codes

MCAF Marine Corps Air Facilities

MCAS Marine Corps Air Station

MCCDC Marine Corps Combat Development Command (DOD)

MCD Mesoscale Discussions (NOAA/NWS)

MCO Maintenance and Construction Operations (FHWA)

MCS Mesoscale Convective System (NOAA/OAR)

MCWP Marine Corps Warfighting Publication (DOD)

MDCRS Meteorological Data Communications and Reporting System (WWP)

MDSS Maintenance Decision Support System (FHWA)

MeaPRS MCS Electrification and Polarimetric Radar Study (NOAA/OAR)

MEPED Medium Energy Proton and Electron Detector (NOAA/NESDIS)

MES Marine Environmental Services (OFCM)

MET Mobile Environmental Teams (Navy)

Meteorological Teams (Army)

METMF Meteorological Mobile Facility (Navy)

METOC Meteorological and Oceanographic (DOD)

MHS Microwave Humidity Sounder (NOAA/NESDIS)

MIMS Multimedia Integrated Modeling System (EPA)

MM5 Mesoscale Meteorological Model-Version 5.0 (AF)

MME Mobile Meteorological Equipment (OFCM)

MMS Meteorological Measuring System (Army)

Mineral Management Service (DOI)

MMS-P Meteorological Measuring System-Profiler (Army)
APPENDIX D 223

MOA Memorandum of Agreement

MOBY Marine Optical Buoy (NOAA/NESDIS)

MOCE Marine Optical Characterization Experiment (NOAA/NESDIS)

MODIS Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (NASA)

MOS Model Output Statistics (FHWA)

MPA Magnetospheric Plasma Analyzer (DOE)

MPC Marine Prediction Center (NOAA/NCEP)

MS Monitoring the Stratosphere (OFCM)

MSCP Meteorological and Climate Services Project (DOE)

MSFC Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA)

MSL Mean sea level

MSS Meteorological Sounding System (NASA)

MST Meteorological Support Teams (USMC)

MSU Microwave Sounding Unit (NOAA/NESDIS)

MTN Main Telecommunications Network (WWP)

MTOE Modified Table of Organization and Equipment (Army)

MTPE Mission to Planet Earth (NASA)

MWSS Marine Wing Support Squadron

N511 National 511-Traveler Information Service (FHWA)

NADIN National Airspace Data Interchange Network (FAA)

NAF Numbered Air Force

NAMIS NATO Automated Meteorological Information System (DOD)

NAP Non-insured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (USDA)

NAPP National Aerial Photography Program (USDA)

NAOS North American Atmospheric Observing System (NOAA)

NARAC National Atmospheric Release Advisory Center (DOE)

NARSTO North American Research Strategy for Tropospheric Ozone (EPA)

NAS National Airspace System (FAA)

National Academy of Sciences

NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASDA National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASA)

NASS National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA)

NATCOM National Communications Center (FAA)

NAVICECEN Naval Ice Center

NAVOCEANO Naval Oceanographic Office 

NAVLANTMETOCCEN Naval Atlantic Meteorology and Oceanography Center, Norfolk, Virginia

NAVMETOCCOM Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command

NAVPACMETOCCEN Naval Pacific Meteorology and Oceanography Center, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

NAWPC National Aviation Weather Program Council (OFCM)

NBC Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical (DOD)

NC NOAA Corps Operations

NCA National Command Authority (DOD)

NCAR National Center for Atmospheric Research 

NCDC National Climatic Data Center (NOAA/NESDIS)

NCEP National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NOAA/NWS)

NCO NCEP Central Operations (NOAA/NCEP)

Non-commissioned officer (DOD)

NDBC National Data Buoy Center (NOAA/NWS)

NDI Non-developmental item

NDOP National Digital Orthoquad Program (USDA)

NDRI Natural Disaster Reduction Initiative (NOAA)

NDVI Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NOAA/NESDIS)

NESDIS National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NOAA)

NESHAP National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (DOE)

NESS National Environmental Satellite Service (NOAA)

NEST Nuclear Emergency Search Team (DOE)

NEXRAD Next Generation Weather Radar (WSR-88D)
224 APPENDIX D

NFIP National Flood Insurance Program (FEMA)

NFDRS National Fire Danger Rating System (DOI/BLM)

NGDC National Geophysical Data Center (NOAA/NESDIS)

NGIC National Geomagnetic Information Center (DOI)

NHC National Hurricane Center (NOAA/NCEP)

NHOP National Hurricane Operations Plan (OFCM)

NIC National Ice Center (DOT/USCG)

NIFC National Interagency Fire Center (DOI)

NIPRNET Non-secure Internet Protocol Router Network (DOD)

NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology (DOC)

NITES Navy Integrated Tactical Environmental System

NLDN National Lightning Detection Network (FAA)

NMC National Meteorological Center(s) (WWP)

NMOC Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command

NMP New Millennium Program (NASA)

NMS National Military Strategy (DOD)

NMTN National Telecommunications Network (WWP)

NNDC NOAA National Data Center (NOAA/NESDIS)

NNSA National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE)

NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

NODC National Oceanographic Data Center (NOAA/NESDIS)

NODDS Navy Oceanographic Data Distribution System

NOGAPS Navy Operational Global Atmospheric Prediction System

NOS National Ocean Service (NOAA) 

NOTAMS Notices to Airmen (FAA)

NOWS NVG Operations Weather Software (AF)

NPDES National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (DOE)

NPN NOAA Profiler Network (NOAA/OAR)

NPOESS National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System

NPP NPOESS Preparatory Program (NASA)

NPS National Park Service (DOI)

NRC Nuclear Regulatory Commission 

NRCS Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA)

NRL Naval Research Laboratory

NRVR New Generation Runway Visual Range (FAA)

NSF National Science Foundation 

NSIDC National Snow and Ice Data Center (NOAA)

NSS National Security Strategy (DOD)

NSSL National Severe Storms Laboratory (NOAA)

NSTC National Science and Technology Council

NSTEP National Strategic Training and Education Plan (NOAA/NWS)

NSWP National Space Weather Program (OFCM)

NTCIP National Transportation Communications for ITS Protocol (FHWA)

N-TFS New Tactical Forecast System (AF)

NTIS National Technical Information Service

NTS Nevada Test Site (DOE)

NTSB National Transportation Safety Board 

NV Nevada Operations Office (DOE)

NVG Night vision goggles (DOD)

NWLON National Water-Level Observation Network (NOAA/NOS)

NWP Numerical Weather Prediction

NWS National Weather Service

NWSRFS National Weather Service River Forecast Service (NOAA/NWS)

NWSTC National Weather Service Training Center (NOAA/NWS)

OAR Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (NOAA)

OASIS Operational and Supportability Implementation System (FAA)

OCAP Operating Consortium of ASDAR Participants (WWP)
APPENDIX D 225

OCE Office of the Chief Economist (USDA)

OCWWS Office of Climate, Water, and Weather Services (NOAA/NWS)

OFCM Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology 

OGP Office of Global Programs (NOAA)

OMB Office of Management and Budget

OMEGA Operational Medicine Environmental Grid Application (Army)

ONR Office of Naval Research

OPAREA Fleet Operational Area (Navy)

OPARS Optimum Path Aircraft Routing System (Navy)

OPS-II Operational Weather Squadron Production System, Phase II

OR&F Operations, Research, and Facilities (NOAA/NWS)

ORA Office of Research and Applications (NOAA/NESDIS)

ORAU Oak Ridge Associated Universities (DOE)

ORD Operational Requirements Documents (DOD)

ORISE Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (DOE)

ORPG Open Systems Radar Product Generator (NOAA/OAR)

ORR Oak Ridge Reservation (DOE)

ORNL Oak Ridge National Laboratory (DOE)

ORO Oak Ridge Operations (DOE)

OS-21 Observing System 21st Century (AF)

OSDPD Office of Satellite Data Processing and Distribution (NOAA/NESDIS)

OSEI Operational Significant Event Imagery (NOAA/NESDIS)

OSO Office of Satellite Operations (NOAA/NESDIS)

OSTEP Ocean Systems Test and Evaluation Program (NOAA/NOS)

OSTP Office of Science and Technology Policy

OTH Over the horizon (NOAA/OAR)

OTW Owning the Weather (Army)

OTSR Optimum Track Ship Routing (Navy)

OWS Operational Weather Squadron (AF)

OWSE Operational World Weather Watch Systems Evaluation (WWP)

PAA Precipitation Accumulation Algorithm (DOI)

PAC Procurement, Acquisition, and Construction (NOAA/NWS)

PACS Polar Acquisition and Control Subsystem (NOAA/NESDIS)

PASOS Portable Automated Surface Observing System (AF)

PATMOS Pathfinder Atmosphere (NOAA/NESDIS)

PBL Planetary Boundary Layer (DOE)

PC Program Council (OFCM)

PCMDI Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison (DOE)

PD Project Director (Army)

PECAD Production Estimates and Crop Assessment Division (USDA)

PIBAL Pilot Balloon

PIPS Polar Ice Prediction System (NOAA/NESDIS)

PIRATA Pilot Research Moored Array in the Tropical Atlantic (NOAA/OAR)

PIREP Pilot Report

PMEL Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (NOAA/ERL)

PNNL Pacific Northwest National Laboratories (DOE)

PNT Position, Navigation, and Timing (USCG)

POES Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite (NOAA)

POP Parallel Ocean Program (DOE)

POPS Primary Oceanographic Prediction System (Navy)

PORTS Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System (NOAA/NOS)

PSDA Post-Storm Data Acquisition (OFCM)

PSR Polarimetric Scanning Radiometer (NOAA/OAR)

PUP Principal User Processor

QPF Quantitative Precipitation Forecast (NOAA/NCEP)

R&A Research and Analysis
226 APPENDIX D

R&D Research and Development 

RAFC Regional Area Forecast Center (WWP)

RAMS Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (DOE)

RAMSDIS RAMM Branch Advanced Meteorological Satellite Demonstration and

Interpretation System (NOAA/NESDIS)

RAP Radiological Assistance Program (DOE)

RARC Regional Atmospheric Response Center (DOE)

RASS Radio Acoustic Sounding System (NOAA/OAR)

RATS Radio Automatic Theodolite System (NASA)

RAWS Remote Automatic Weather Station (USDA/DOI)

RC Reserve Component (DOD)

RCC Regional Climate Center (NOAA/NESDIS)

RCTM Road Condition and Treatment Module (FHWA)

RDA Radar Data Acquisition

RDEC Research Development and Engineering Center (Army)

RDTE Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (Army)

REIP Reengineered Enterprise Infrastructure Program (AF)

RFETS Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (DOE)

RFC River Forecast Center (NOAA/NWS)

RMTN Regional Meteorological Telecommunications Network (WWP)

RMWS Remote Miniature Weather Systems (AF)

ROC Radar Operations Center (NOAA/NWS)

RPC Rapid Prototype Center (NOAA/SEC)

RSA Range Standardization and Automation (NASA)

RSMC Regional/Specialized Meteorological Centers (WWP)

RTH Regional Telecommunications Hub (WWP)

RUC Rapid Update Cycle (NOAA/OAR)

RVR Runway Visual Range (FAA)

RWIS Road Weather Information System (FHWA)

SAA Satellite Active Archive

Snow Accumulation Algorithm (DOI/BLM)

SAMS Stochastic Analysis, Modeling, and Simulation (DOI)

SAP Special Access Program

SAR Synthetic Aperture Radar (NOAA/NESDIS)

SARSAT Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking

SATS Small Aircraft Transportation System (NASA)

SAWS Stand Alone Weather Sensor (FAA)

SBIR Small Business Innovative Research Program (DOD)

SBUV Solar Backscatter Ultra-violet Instrument (NOAA/NESDIS)

SCAN Soil Climate Analysis Network (USDA)

SCI Sensitive Compartmented Information (DOD)

SDHS Satellite Data Handling System (AF)

SeaWiFS Sea-viewing Wide Field Scanner (NASA)

SEC Space Environmental Center (NOAA/NCEP)

Sun Earth Connection (NASA)

SEM Space Environment Monitor (NOAA)

SEMSIM Southeastern Michigan Snow and Ice Management (FHWA)

SFMR Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer

SHEBA Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean (DOE)

SHEP State Highway Emergency Patrol (FHWA)

SHRP Strategic Highway Research Program (FHWA)

SIGRID Sea Ice in Gridded Format (NOAA/NESDIS)

SLRS-C Spacelift Range System Contract (NASA)

SMDC Space and Missile Defense Command (DOE)

SMG Spaceflight Meteorology Group (NASA)

SNDR Subcommittee on Natural Disaster Reduction

SNL Sandia National Laboratory (DOE)
APPENDIX D 227

SNODEP Snow depth

SNOTEL Snow Telemetry (USDA)

SOCC Satellite Operations Control Center (NOAA/NESDIS)

SODAR Sound Detection and Ranging (DOE)

SOF Special Operations Forces (Army)

SOLAS Safety of Life at Sea (NOAA/NCEP)

SOPA Synchronous Orbit Plasma Analyzer (DOE)

SORD Special Operations and Research Division (NOAA/ARL)

SPAWARSYSCOM Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command

SPC Storm Prediction Center (NOAA/NCEP)

SR Savannah River (DOE)

SRS Savannah River Site (DOE)

SRTC Savannah River Technology Center (DOE)

SSOB Special Support Operations Branch (DOD)

SSM/I Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (NOAA/NESDIS)

SST Sea surface temperature

SSU Stratospheric Sounding Unit (NOAA)

STIWG Satellite Telemetry Interagency Working Group (OFCM)

STP Solar-Terrestrial Physics

STS Special Tactics Squadron (AF)

STT Small Tactical Terminal (AF)

STWDSR Surface Transportation Weather Decision Support Requirements (FHWA)

SURFRAD Surface Radiation (DOE)

SVS Synthetic Vision System (NASA)

SWA Southwest Asia (DOD)

SWAFS Space Weather Analysis and Forecasting System (AF)

SWE Snow Water Equivalent (DOI/BUREC)

SWO Staff Weather Officer (AF)

Space Weather Operations (NOAA/OAR)

SWR Supplemental Wether Radar (Navy)

SXI Solar X-Ray Imager (AF)

T2 Technology transfer

TACMET-MOD Tactical Meteorological Observing System Modification (AF)

TACWX Tactical weather (DOD)

TAF Terminal Aerodrome Forecast

TAL Transatlantic Abort Landing (NASA)

TAO Tropical Atmosphere Ocean

TAWS Target Acquisition Weather Software (AF)

TCP Transformation Campaign Plan (Army)

TDA Tactical Decision Aid (Army)

TDWR Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (FAA)

TEA-21 Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (FHWA)

TEC Topographic Engineering Center (Army)

Total Electron Content (DOE)

TED Total Energy Detector (NOAA/NESDIS)

TEDS Tactical Environmental Data Server (Navy)

TESS Tactical Environmental Support System (Navy)

TFU Theater Forecast Unit (AF)

TIMEX Thunderstorm Initiation Mobile Experiment (NOAA/OAR)

TIROS Television Infrared Observation Satellite (NOAA/NESDIS)

TOC Tactical Operations Center (Army)

TOE Table of Organization and Equipment (Army)

TOGA Tropical Ocean and Global Atmosphere 

TOVS TIROS-N Operational Vertical Sounder (NOAA/NESDIS)

TPC Tropical Prediction Center (NOAA/NCEP)

TPW Total Precipitable Water (NOAA/NESDIS)

TRACON Terminal Radar Approach Control (FAA)
228 APPENDIX D

TRADOC Training and Doctrine Command (Army)

TRB Transportation Research Board (FHWA)

TRITON Triangle Trans-Ocean buoy Network (NOAA/OAR)

TRMM Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (NASA)

TUAN Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (Army)

TWIP Terminal Weather Information for Pilots (FAA)

TWP Tropical Western Pacific (DOE)

TWR Tactical Weather Radar (AF)

UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (AF)

UCAR University Corporation for Atmospheric Research

UN United Nations 

UNEP United Nations Environment Program (WWP/DOS)

UPOS University Partnering for Operational Support (AF)

USA U.S. Army

USACE U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

USAES U.S. Army Engineer School

USAF U.S. Air Force 

USAFE U.S. Air Forces in Europe

USAFAS U.S. Army Field Artillery School

USAIC&FH U.S. Army Intelligence Center and Fort Huachuca

USAR U.S. Army Reserve

USARAK U.S. Army Alaska

USARC U.S. Army Reserve Command

USAREUR U.S. Army Europe

USARHAW U.S. Army Hawaii

USARIEM U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine

USARJ U.S. Army Japan

USARPAC U.S. Army Pacific

USASMDC U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command

USASOC U.S. Army Special Operations Command

USCENTCOM U.S. Central Command

USCG U.S. Coast Guard 

USDA U.S. Department of Agriculture

USGCRP U.S. Global Change Research Program

USGS U.S. Geological Survey

USHCN U.S. Historical Climatology Network

USIABP U.S. Interagency Arctic Buoy Program (NOAA/NESDIS)

USMC U.S. Marine Corps

USMCC U.S. SARSAT Mission Control Center (NOAA/NESDIS)

USN U.S. Navy

USWRP U.S. Weather Research Program

UTC Universal Time Coordinated (Zulu)

UV Ultra-violet

VA Volcanic Ash 

VAAC Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (NOAA/NESDIS)

VAS VISSR Atmospheric Sounder 

VCP Voluntary Cooperation Program (WWP)

VIN Vegetative Index Number (USDA)

VIRS Visible and Infrared Scanner (NASA)

VISSR Visible and Infrared Spin Scan Radiometer 

VORTEX Verficiation of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment (NOAA/OAR)

VOS Voluntary Observing Ship (WWP)

VPR Vertical Profile of Reflectivity (DOI)

VSAT Very Small Aperture Terminal (AF)

VSL Variable Speed Limit (FHWA)

VTMX Vertical Transport and Mixing Experiment (DOE)
APPENDIX D 229

VTS Vessel Traffic System (NOAA/NOS)

WAAS Wide Area Augmentation System (FAA)

WAFC World Area Forecast Center (WWP)

WAFS World Area Forecast System (WWP) 

WAOB World Agricultural Outlook Board (USDA)

WARP Weather and Radar Processor (FAA)

WaRSMP Watershed and River System Management Program (DOI)

WCT Wind Chill Temperature (OFCM)

WDA Weather Data Analysis (AF)

WEFAX Weather Facsimile (WWP)

WETM Weather Team (DOD)

WFAS Wildland Fire Assessment System (DOI)

WFMIS Wildland Fire Management Information Site (DOI)

WFO Weather Forecast Office (NOAA/NWS)

WG Working Group

WGCV Working Group on Calibration and Validation (NOAA/NESDIS)

WINCOM Weather Information Communications (NASA)

WIDA Weather Impact Decision Aids (AF)

WINDS Weather Information and Display System (DOE)

WIPP Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (DOE)

WIST Weather Information for Surface Transportation

WMC World Meteorological Center(s) (WWP)

WMO World Meteorological Organization 

WMSCR Weather Message Switching Center-Replacement (FAA)

WOCE World Ocean Circulation Experiment (NOAA/NESDIS)

WPDN Wind Profile Demonstration Network (NOAA)

WPSM Warfighter Physiological Status Monitoring (Army)

WRD Water Resources Division (DOI/USGS)

WRF Weather Research and Forecast (NOAA/OAR)

WRS Weather Reconnaissance Squadron (AF)

WSDDM Weather Support to Deicing Decision Making (FAA)

WSP Weather Systems Processor (FAA)

WSR-88D Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (NEXRAD)

WSSRAP Weldon Springs Site Remedial Action Project (DOE)

WST Weather Support Team (Army)

WWCB Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin (USDA)

WWP World Weather Program 

WWW World Weather Watch (WMO)

World wide web

XOW Director of Weather (AF)

YMP Yucca Mountain Project (DOE)