OFFICE OF THE FEDERAL

COORDINATOR OFCM FOR METEOROLOGY

FCM-P1-2005

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

The Federal Plan

for Meteorological Services

and Supporting Research

Fiscal Year 2006

Wildland Fire in the

Urban Environment

Cause Impact Action
THE FEDERAL COMMITTEE FOR

METEOROLOGICAL SERVICES AND SUPPORTING RESEARCH (FCMSSR)

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

Chairman, Department of Commerce

DR. SHARON HAYES (Acting)

Office of Science and Technology Policy

DR. RAYMOND MOTHA

Department of Agriculture

BGEN DAVID L. JOHNSON, USAF (RET)

Department of Commerce

MR. ALAN SHAFFER

Department of Defense

DR. ARISTIDES PATRINOS

Department of Energy

DR. MAUREEN MCCARTHY

Science and Technology Directorate

Department of Homeland Security

DR. MICHAEL SOUKUP

Department of the Interior

MR. RALPH BRAIBANTI

Department of State

MR. RANDOLPH LYON

Office of Management and Budget

MR. CHARLES E. KEEGAN

Department of Transportation

MR. DAVID MAURSTAD (Acting)

Federal Emergency Management Agency

Department of Homeland Security

DR. MARY L. CLEAVE

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

DR. MARGARET S. LEINEN

National Science Foundation

MR. PAUL MISENCIK

National Transportation Safety Board

MR. JAMES WIGGINS

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

DR. LAWRENCE REITER

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

MR. ROBERT WINOKUR, USN (Acting)

United States Navy

Department of Defense

BGEN THOMAS E. STICKFORD, USAF

United States Air Force

Department of Defense

MR. RICKEY PETTY

Department of Energy

MS. NANCY L. SUSKI

Science and Technology Directorate

Department of Homeland Security

MR. JOHN VIMONT

Department of the Interior

MS. REGINA MCELROY

Federal Highway Administration

Department of Transportation

MS. LISA BEE

Federal Aviation Administration

Department of Transportation

DR. JONATHAN M. BERKSON

United States Coast Guard

Department of Homeland Security

MR. JEFFREY MACLURE

Department of State

DR. S. T. RAO

Environmental Protection Agency

MR. JOHN GAMBEL

Federal Emergency Management Agency

Department of Homeland Security

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. ANDREA PETRO

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.

Cause: Lightning strike (Colorado Lightning Resource Page on the National Weather Service Pueblo, Colorado Forecast Office website.

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/pub/ltg/ltg_tree_ht_test.JPG; U.S. Drought Monitor, September 20, 2005 Valid 8 a.m. EDT. Author: Douglas Le Comte, CPC/NOAA. Web

Site: http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html

Impact: Cedar Fire wildfire about to engulf the Scripps Ranch residential community in Southern California (John Gibbins / The San Diego Union-Tribune); An aerial view of the fire burning in Scripps Ranch near I-15 (John Gibbins / The San Diego Union-Tribune). 

Action: Outlook map for national significant fire potential showing either above-average or below-average fire potential during the coming season. (National Seasonal Assessment Workshop Final Report March 28-April 1, 2005. http://www.ispe.arizona.edu/climas/conferences/NASW/west05/NSAWwestproceedings.pdf);

"Portable RAWS on the Burnt Ridge Sheep Camp Complex (Interagency Remote Automated Weather Stations (RAWS) Program website. http://www.fs.fed.us/

raws/)"
The Federal Plan

for Meteorological Services

and Supporting Research

FISCAL YEAR 2006

FEDERAL COORDINATOR

FOR

METEOROLOGICAL SERVICES AND SUPPORTING RESEARCH

8455 Colesville Road, Suite 1500

Silver Spring, MD 20910

301-427-2002

FCM-P1-2005

OCTOBER 2005

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Editors: Frank Estis

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 the support

for meteorological and related research by agencies of the Federal government. OFCM's 2006 Federal Plan

provides Congress and the Executive Branch with a comprehensive compilation of proposed programs for fiscal year (FY) 2006 and a review of agency programs in FY 2005. The Federal Plan's narratives, timelines, and

schedules are current as of August 2005.

The Federal Plan consists of an Executive Summary, three sections, and Appendices. The Executive Summary, which is written as a concise, stand-alone report, provides a high-level view of the Federal resources

dedicated to meteorological programs and the achievements of those programs.

This year's feature article (Section 1) examines the threats that wildland fires pose to life and property.

Threats to the safety of residents and firefighters are paramount, followed by the direct destruction of property

by these often swift-moving blazes. The potential urban environmental impacts of wildland fires include not

only increased urban air pollution and health impacts due to smoke particles, but also possible degraded water

quality through the release of burned debris into public water sources. These fires also hamper local transportation on the ground and in the air, thereby affecting public safety and commerce. Wildland fire is therefore a hazard whose impacts cut across all five of the priority areas identified during the 2004 User Forum on

Urban Meteorology, jointly sponsored by OFCM and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science

and Technology Directorate. These focus areas are severe weather, homeland security (including emergency

preparedness and response), air and water quality, and climate-related conditions. This year's feature article

summarizes the causes of wildland fires, describes their impacts on urban communities, reviews some activities undertaken by Federal agencies to minimize the impacts, and recommends next steps to address these

impacts effectively.

Section 2 of the Federal Plan summarizes the resources requested in the President's FY 2006 Budget, compared with the resources appropriated by Congress for FY 2005. Section 3 contains departmental and agency

narratives on programs for providing meteorological services and supporting research and development. It

also describes relevant research funded by the National Science Foundation.

Appendix A describes the OFCM's coordination, program, and planning activities. Appendix B addresses

the World Meteorological Organization's World Weather Program. Appendix C lists the feature articles published in previous Federal Plans. The acronyms and abbreviations used throughout this year's Federal Plan are

defined in Appendix D. The inside front cover lists the current members of the Federal and Interdepartmental

Committees for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research, which provide guidance and support for

OFCM activities. The inside back cover diagrams the infrastructure through which the OFCM performs its

coordinating mission.

Samuel P. Williamson

Federal Coordinator for Meteorological

Services and Supporting Research

v

THE FEDERAL PLAN FOR METEOROLOGICAL SERVICES

AND SUPPORTING RESEARCH, FISCAL YEAR 2006

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .iii

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

Section 1. LIVING WITH WILDLAND FIRE IN THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

Department of Homeland Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

Department of the Interior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

Department of Transportation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

Environmental Protection Agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

National Aeronautics and Space Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

Nuclear Regulatory Commission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

Agency Funding by Budget Category . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

Agency Funding by Service Category . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

Personnel Engaged in Meteorological Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

Interagency Fund Transfers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

Facilities/Locations for Taking Meteorological Observations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

Section 3. AGENCY METEOROLOGICAL SERVICES AND SUPPORTING 

RESEARCH PROGRAMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

Department of Commerce Weather Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

National Weather Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45

Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75

National Ocean Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87

NOAA Marine and Aviation Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91

Department of Defense Weather Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95

United States Air Force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95

United States Navy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109

United States Army . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121

Department of Transportation Weather Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137

Federal Aviation Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137

Federal Highway Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .147

Federal Railroad Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .157

Federal Transit Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .161
Department of Agriculture Weather Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .163

Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration

Operational and Research Weather Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .169

Department of Homeland Security Weather Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .189

Department of the Interior Weather Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .193

Department of State Climate and Atmospheric Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .203

Environmental Protection Agency Weather Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .205

National Aeronautics and Space Administration Weather Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .209

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Weather Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .219

National Science Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .221

APPENDICES

A. FEDERAL COORDINATION AND PLANNING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .223

B. WORLD WEATHER PROGRAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .237

C. LISTING OF PREVIOUS FEATURE ARTICLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .245

D. ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .247

LIST OF TABLES 

ES-1 Federal Budget for Meteorological Operations and Supporting

Research, FY 2006 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vii

1.1 Specific Causes of Wildland Fires as Defined by USFS and DOI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

2.1 Meteorological Operations and Supporting Research 

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

2.2 Agency Operational Costs, by Budget Category . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

2.3 Agency Supporting Research Costs, by Budget Category . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

2.4 Agency Operational Costs, by Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

2.5 Agency Supporting Research Costs, by Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29

2.6 Personnel Engaged in Meteorological Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30

2.7 Interagency Fund Transfers for Meteorological 

Operations and Supporting Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32

2.8 Facilities/Locations for Taking Meteorological Observations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

3.1 Projected Satellite Launch Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53

A.1 Current OFCM Publications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .233

vi
For Fiscal Year (FY) 2006, the President's budget requests a total of

$3.37 billion for meteorological services and supporting research. Of the

requested total, $2.99 billion is designated for operations and $386 million

for supporting research. Table ES-1

lists a breakout of the FY 2006 budget

proposal.

For FY 2006, 92.8 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 57.2 percent,

DOD 20.5 percent, and DOT 15.1 percent. The other Federal agencies will

share the remaining 7.2 percent.

By comparison, the FY 2006 request

represents an increase of 3.1 percent

above the $3.27 billion appropriated in

FY 2005. Within the three major

departments, DOC requests an

increase of 5.2 percent; DOD an

increase of 0.7 percent, and DOT an

increase of 4.4 percent. The DOC

increase is attributable to requests for

increases by NWS and NESDIS. The

overall DOD increase is mainly the

result of increases in AF and Navy

requested funding. DOT's 4.4 percent

increase is largely attributable to an

increase in FAA’s and FRA’s operations

requests.

The budget requests for the other

departments are as follows:

• Department of Agriculture

(USDA) a decrease of 15.8 percent,

• Department of the Interior (DOI)

no change,

• Environmental Protection Agency

(EPA) no change,

• National Aeronautics and Space

Administration (NASA) a decrease of

7.5 percent, and

• the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) no change.

Figure ES-1 depicts each agency's

proportion of the requested FY 2006

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 $2.98

billion requested for meteorological

operations, DOC, DOD, and DOT

account for slightly over 98.5 percent

of the funds. Overall, operational costs

increased by 4.7 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 (84.0 percent) of the supporting

research budget. Other requests for

supporting research funds are: a

decrease in NASA (7.6 percent), a

decrease in DOT (6.5 percent); an

increase in DOD (12.1 percent); a

decrease in DOC (16.0 percent); and no

change at EPA.

All agencies project a personnel total

of 16,365 full-time equivalent (FTE) to

be employed in Federal meteorological

operations in FY 2006. This figure represents a decrease of 0.5 percent from

the 16,444 FTE employed in FY 2005.

EXEC SUM vii

THE FEDERAL PLAN FOR METEOROLOGICAL SERVICES

AND SUPPORTING RESEARCH

FISCAL YEAR 2006

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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

Research, FY 2006 (in thousands of dollars)

% of Supporting % of % of

Agency Operations TOTAL Research TOTAL TOTAL TOTAL

Agriculture $15,535 0.5 $28,280 7.3 $43,815 1.3

Commerce 1,839,769 61.6 89,939 23.3 1,929,708 57.2

Defense 619,646 20.7 71,803 18.6 691,449 20.5

Homeland Security 25,020 0.8 0 0.0 25,020 0.7

Interior 2,400 0.1 0 0.0 2,400 0.1

Transportation 483,450 16.2 24,506 6.3 507,956 15.1

EPA 0 0.0 9,000 2.3 9,000 0.3

NASA 2,615 0.1 162,600 42.1 165,215 4.9

NRC 120 0.0 0 0.0 120 0.0

TOTAL $2,988,555* 100.0 $386,128 100.0** $3,374,683* 100.0**

* Column total does not equal the same figure in Table 2.1 due to rounding.

** Column total does not exactly equal 100 percent due to rounding for several agencies.
viii EXEC SUM

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

and Supporting Research, FY 2006.

Figure ES-2. Agency Percent of Federal Budget

for Meteorological Operations, FY 2006.

Figure ES-3. Agency Percent of Federal Budget

for Supporting Research, FY 2006.

Total = $3.37 Billion

Total = $2.99 Billion Total = $386 Million

20.5%

1.3%

15.1%

0.3%

4.9%

57.2%

61.6%

DOC

DOD

NASA DOT

0.1% 16.2% 0.5%

20.7%

42.1%

7.3% 18.6%

23.3%

2.3%

6.3%

DOC

NASA DOT

DOD USDA EPA

NASA

DOD

DOT

DOC

USDA

EPA

USDA

DHS

0.7%

DHS

0.8%
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 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.

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 Radar Operations Center, 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. A total of 1,002 units have been

purchased. The NWS has purchased,

accepted, and commissioned 313 sites.

The FAA has purchased 570 units, all

of which have been accepted and commissioned by the NWS. The Navy has

purchased and accepted 72 sites. The

Air Force has purchased and accepted

47 sites. Collectively, a total of 1,002

ASOS sites have been commissioned.

AUTOMATED WEATHER INFORMATION SYSTEMS (AWIS).

The DOC, DOD, and DOT require

AWIS to facilitate the collection, processing, and interpretation of meteorological data. AWIS 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 Joint

Environmental Toolkit (JET); and the

Navy's Naval Integrated Tactical Environmental Subsystem (NITES).

Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS).

In February 1997, the Secretary of

Commerce approved the limited

deployment of AWIPS at over 40 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, currently the NWS

has commissioned all 139 operational

AWIPS systems located at 122

Weather Forecast Offices (WFOs), 13

River Forecast Centers (RFCs), the

Spaceflight Meteorology Group

(SMG), and 4 National Centers for

Environmental Prediction (NCEP).

The NWS successfully completed

the final development phase release of

AWIPS (Build 5) in early 2003, completed deployment of its first Operational Build (OB1) that summer, completed deployments of Operational

Build 2 (OB2) in December 2003,

Operational Build 3 (OB3) in August

2004, and Operational Build 4 (OB4)

in February 2005. Deployment of

Operational Build 5 (OB5) is planned

to begin in June 2005. The Operational Builds continue to deliver new

functionalities and enhancements in

the areas of warning product generation and warning support, hydrological

product generation, data and imagery

display, communications and infrastructure. Of note within the operational builds of AWIPS is an evolution

of the architecture to the Linux open

source operating environment which

was started in 2001, and will continue

through to its planned completion in

early 2007.

WARP.

The FAA's WARP will greatly

enhance the dissemination of aviation

weather information throughout the

National Airspace System (NAS).

WARP automatically creates unique,

regional, WSR-88D-based, mosaic

products, and sends these products,

along with other time-critical weather

information, to controllers through the

Display System Replacement and to

pilots via the Flight Information System. WARP underwent operational

testing and evaluation in early FY 2003

and is operationally fielded at the 21

ARTCCs and the command center.

Others systems used for enhancements, testing, and software support

bring the total to 25 systems.

JET.

The Joint Environmental Toolkit

(JET) will replace several disparate

legacy weather systems with a single,

integrated means of supporting both

garrison and deployed operations,

including a "first-in" weather forecasting capability. Combining forecasting,

product-tailoring, and mission-impact

capabilities in an interactive, network-
x EXEC SUM

centric, standards-based package; JET

accesses, processes, analyzes, tailors,

and integrates terrestrial and space

weather information into command

and control systems to guide

warfighter decision-making. This

effort will eliminate Air Force Weather

Weapon System (AFWWS) redundancies and inefficiencies, reduce the burden on system administrators, and ultimately extend, consolidate, or replace

the following systems: Operational

Weather Squadron (OWS) Production

System Phase II (OPS II), the NewTactical Forecast System (N-TFS), the

Joint Weather Impacts System (JWIS),

and the Army's Integrated Meteorological System (IMETS) weather toolkit. 

NITES.

The Navy continued migration

towards a modular, interoperable suite

of systems to ingest, process, fuse, display, and disseminate METOC information and its impact on tactical operations. The current program consists

of four seamless versions known as

NITES Versions I-IV. NITES will be

fielded through FY 2006. The NITES

Version II Object Oriented Redesign

(OOR) is the basis for the Joint

METOC Segment of the new Global

Command and Control System

(GCCS) V4.0. Navy is reviewing

options to field a follow-on system to

NITES that would support naval tactical operations and be interoperable

with the other services.

NATIONAL POLAR-ORBITING

OPERATIONAL 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 and DOC operational requirements for data from these systems."

Effectively, the directive combines the

current operations and future followon 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 is

called NPOESS, and will be available

to launch after the failure of the last

operational DMSP or POES satellite,

around 2010. Cooperation with foreign governments and international

organizations is being nurtured.

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 contracts

are used for the acquisition of the satellites, launch vehicles, and associated

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

The space segment of NPOESS will

include space platforms and sensors

that will collect and store environmental and other data. This data will be

downlinked to a network of receptor

sites around the world, which will

immediately forward data via fiber

optic communications to the Operational Weather Processing Centers (i.e.

AFWA, FNMOC, NAVO, and NESDIS). This innovative data distribution

scheme is projected to be at least 3

times faster than the required data

latency of 90 minutes. The satellite

will also provide continuous down-link

of data to field terminals 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 NPOESS constellation will

notionally consist of three satellites,

which 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, and charged particle

energies. Other NPOESS instruments

include 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 the French-provided Data Collection System (DCS), which collects
EXEC SUM xi

and processes measurements from

buoys, free-floating balloons, and

remote weather stations, for on-board

storage and subsequent transmission

from the satellite, and the joint Canadian/French Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking (SARSAT) system

that uses NOAA satellites in low-Earth

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.

Additionally, NPOESS will carry

sensors such as the NASA Earth Radiation Budget Sensor and an altimeter.

One of the CMIS missions is to use its

polarimetric data to measure the ocean

surface wind speed and direction, producing data that is comparable to the

Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT)

being flown on EUMETSAT's Metop

for ocean measurements (i.e. surface

stress, surface wind, sea ice coverage). 

FY 2003 was a very full year for

NPOESS. The most significant activity of the year was the award of the

contract to TRW (now Northrup

Grumman Space Technology - NGST)

at the end of 2002. Northrop is the

prime contractor for the entire system,

teamed with Raytheon to provide the

Ground Segment portion. During FY

2003, the major focus was on completion of the VIIRS, CrIS, OMPS instruments and the command and control

and data processing systems, all slated

for first use on the joint IPO/NASA

NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP)

satellite, slated for launch in the

Spring, 2008.

In FY 2000, NASA and NOAA

established the Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation (JCSDA) 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 NPOESS program arranged for

the DoD to participate in this effort,

and the IPO is augmenting the JCSDA

with funding to ensure NPOESS data

is quickly accelerated into weather

operations once it begins flowing.

In FY 2003 and early 2004, the

NPOESS IPO and NASA completed

arrangements with the Kingdom of

Norway for installation of satellite C3

antennae on the island of Svalbard and

fiber optic communications between

the island and the Norwegian mainland. This provides redundant, reliable

high volume communications for command and control and data retrieval.

The site became operational in January

2004 and began taking data passes

from the Navy's Coriolis/Windsat wind

measurement satellite.

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 degrees north and south,

NPOESS data are especially important

toward the poles. COMET is developing a training series to orient forecasters to the products available from the

polar orbiters. COMET is also developing material to help prepare forecasters for the data provided by the

NPOESS series satellites.

The IPO is working with the

NGST/Raytheon team on a daily basis

to ensure ground systems are in place

and operating in time for an NPOESS

Preparatory Project (NPP) launch in

the early 2008 timeframe and that all

systems are ready for an expected 2011

NPOESS launch. In addition to DMSP

and POES activities at NOAA's Satellite Operations Control Center (SOCC)

in Suitland, Maryland, the operational

side of the IPO will get busier with the

additional responsibilities of WindSat

Coriolis, NPP, and NPOESS over the

next several years.

More information regarding the

NPOESS program can be found at

npoess.noaa.gov.

OTHER AGENCY PROGRAMS

For FY 2006, the Department of

Agriculture (USDA) requested $43.8

million for meteorological operations

and supporting research. 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 2006 request of $2.4 million is primarily to support the Bureau of Land

Management's Remote Automatic

Weather Station (RAWS) program.

The Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA) budget request for FY

2006 is $9.0 million, the same amount

as in FY-2005, to provide user-appropriate and scientifically credible airquality and meteorological programs

and models to support regulatory

applications.

NASA’s FY 2006 request is for a

total of $165.2 million--$2.6 million

for operations and $162.6 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.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC's) request for $120,000 in

FY 2006 is for operations. The NRC
xii EXEC SUM

will dedicate these funds to obtain and

analyze meteorological data and information related to siting new nuclear

power plants and safe operation of

nuclear facilities, to the protection of

public health and safety, and protection

of the environment.

FEDERAL COORDINATION (See

Appendix A for complete details.)

NATURAL DISASTER REDUCTION

Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference

The OFCM annually hosts the Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference

(IHC) 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. The OFCM

hosted the 59th IHC in Jacksonville,

Florida, March 7-11, 2005. The theme

of the 2005 conference was The

Nation's Tropical Cyclone ProgramPriorities for the Next Decade. The

conference attendance was 213; for the

sixth consecutive year, attendance has

exceeded 200. The 59th IHC was

cohosted by the Office of the Oceanographer of the Navy. The keynote

address for the conference was given

by Dr. James R. Mahoney, Assistant

Secretary of Commerce for Oceans

and Atmosphere and NOAA Deputy

Administrator. At its November 16,

2004, meeting, the Interdepartmental

Committee for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research

(ICMSSR) strongly supported the 58th

IHC action item to develop a comprehensive strategy for tropical cyclone

research and development to guide

interagency efforts over the next

decade. In response to that action, the

Joint Action Group for Tropical

Cyclone Research (JAG/TCR) was

formed, and the group conducted a

strategic planning session during the

59th IHC to begin developing the

framework for a Strategic Research

Plan for Tropical Cyclones. This effort

will build upon the goals and objectives of the OFCM-sponsored National

Plan for Tropical Cyclone Research

and Reconnaissance (1997-2002) and

the U.S. Weather Research Program

Hurricane Landfall Implementation

Plan, and articulate the interagency

tropical cyclone research priorities for

the next decade. The goal is to complete the plan prior to the 60th IHC in

March 2006.

Post-Storm Data Acquisition

The OFCM will continue to coordinate, as required, timely post-storm

data acquisition surveys in response to

Presidentially declared natural disasters and other agency requirements to

evaluate, for example, the impact on

the coastal ecosystems. These natural

disaster reduction efforts contribute to

the determination of the intensity and

magnitude of storms, and, in many

cases, help to determine the extent of

damage for use in Presidential disaster

declarations. The additional data collected after hurricane landfall is also

used in validating modeling efforts

with both emergency management

models (e.g., FEMA's HAZUS) and

hurricane storm-surge models (e.g.,

NOAA's SLOSH). These models are

used in real-time to assist decision

makers in evacuation decisions and

procedures. Post-storm data are also

used to update FEMA Flood Insurance

Rate Maps. In FY 2005, post-storm

surveys were conducted for Hurricane

Dennis; tornado occurrences during

March in Houston County in Southeast

Alabama, and in Seminole, Miller, and

Mitchell Counties in Southwest Georgia; and Hurricane Katrina.

URBAN METEOROLOGY

The OFCM, in partnership with the

Department of Homeland Security

(DHS) Science and Technology Directorate, conducted a User Forum on

Urban Meteorology, September 21-23,

2004, at the Doubletree Hotel and

Executive Meeting Center in

Rockville, Maryland. The theme of

the forum was Information to Improve

Community Responses to Urban

Atmospheric Hazards, Weather Events,

and Climate. It focused on the following elements of urban meteorology:

severe weather, homeland security, air

quality, water quality, and climate.

This interagency forum was the direct

result of an action item from the October 18, 2002, meeting of the FCMSSR.

The forum's proceedings were completed in March 2005. In accordance

with direction received at the November 16, 2004, meeting of ICMSSR, the

OFCM developed clear guidelines and

direction for establishing an interagency working group to address the

actions that resulted from the forum.

CLIMATE

During FY 2005, the OFCM made

contributions to climate activities in

the following two primary areas: in

connection with the Urban Meteorology User Forum which was held September 21-23, 2004, and the U.S. Climate Change Science Program

(CCSP). The Urban Meteorology User

Forum focused on the following elements of urban meteorology: severe

weather, homeland security, air quality,

water quality, and climate. Results of

the forum were briefed at the November 16, 2004, meeting of the ICMSSR

and, as a result, OFCM was tasked to

develop clear guidelines and direction

for establishing an interagency working group to address actions from the

forum, and to coordinate and develop

an interagency document covering an

urban meteorology program, including

climate. Dr. James R. Mahoney,

Director of the U.S. Climate Change

Science Program, briefed the

FCMSSR at its December 1, 2004,

meeting. Dr. Mahoney noted that
EXEC SUM xiii

many challenges lie ahead for the

CCSP program, particularly those

related to the budget process and delivering the best possible science to

inform decision makers. It was

decided that FCMSSR members will

continue to stay abreast of the CCSP

and will coordinate priorities for

atmospheric requirements through

OFCM for inclusion in the CCSP.

OPERATIONAL PROCESSING

The OFCM Committee for Operational Processing Centers (COPC)

addresses processing and backup capabilities of NOAA's National Centers

for Environmental Prediction and

Office of Satellite Data Processing and

Distribution, the Air Force Weather

Agency, and the U.S. Navy's Fleet

Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center and Naval Oceanographic Office. During FY 2005, the

COPC continued to make progress in

areas such as model development,

observing strategies, database architecture, and backup requirements.

The COPC has begun activities in

the area of High Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC). An

HPCC model run was conducted on

the Weather Research and Forecasting

(WRF) Operational Test Bed Distributed Center computers to demonstrate

the capability of grid computing and to

establish the feasibility of a DOD Joint

Operational Test Bed for the WRF

modeling framework.

At the March 23-24, 2005, meeting

of the COPC, the members endorsed

the establishment of a new OFCMsponsored National Operational Processing Centers (NOPC) Program

Council for higher level organizational

approval and monetary commitment.

ENVIRONMENTAL SUPPORT TO

HOMELAND SECURITY

Atmospheric Transport and Diffusion

Research and Development Plan

In September 2004, the OFCM completed work with applicable agencies

in developing the report, Federal

Research Needs and Priorities for

Atmospheric Transport and Diffusion

Modeling, a FCMSSR action. The

report is the result of a process that

included consultation with subjectmatter experts, including first responders and emergency managers; a careful analysis of research needs and current capabilities to respond to domestic

incidents of national significance; a

capability gap analysis; and the development of strategies to close the gaps.

The report was briefed to the ICMSSR

and FCMSSR at their November 16,

2004, and December 1, 2004, meetings, and both committees endorsed

the report's recommendations.

On July 19, 2005, the OFCM conducted a special session in conjunction

with the 9th Annual George Mason

University (GMU) Conference on

Atmospheric Transport and Dispersion

Modeling to begin to address, with the

broader private and academic communities, the issue of uncertainty in ATD

models-a capstone goal of the Federal

Research Needs and Priorities for

Atmospheric Transport and Diffusion

Modeling report. In addition, the

OFCM developed an ATD implementation strategy for the report's recommendations for which the OFCM has

primary responsibility. The strategy

was sent to the FCMSSR and ICMSSR

members in August 2005 for their

review and comments.

George Mason University Atmospheric Transport and Dispersion Modeling Conference

George Mason University (GMU),

Fairfax, Virginia, conducted its 9th

Annual Conference on Atmospheric

Transport and Dispersion Modeling,

July 18-20, 2005. The OFCM partnered with GMU to sponsor the event.

On July 19, 2005, the OFCM hosted

a session related to the OFCM's ongoing work with the Department of

Homeland Security and other members

of the Federal meteorological community. The main focus of the ongoing

work was to define the concept of

operations and the research and development needs required to support the

National Incident Management System

and emergency responders at Federal,

state, and local levels. The OFCM session topic was Uncertainty in Atmospheric Transport and Diffusion (ATD)

Models. The Federal Coordinator

noted that the session objectives were

to facilitate a discussion of uncertainties in ATD modeling systems that

incorporates academic and private sector inputs, and accounts for uncertainty

in meteorological observations and

models and in dispersion models; and

to help Federal agencies striving to

improve their ATD modeling systems

to implement the recommendations

made by the OFCM JAG for Atmospheric Transport and Diffusion

(Research and Development Plan) in

their publication Federal Research and

Development Needs and Priorities for

Atmospheric Transport and Diffusion

Modeling (2004). He also stated that

the way ahead included: complete the

strategy for ATD modeling improvements and present it to the FCMSSR

(key elements of the strategy are a core

set of ATD modeling systems, recovery of existing ATD data, common

framework for model evaluation, and

ATD test beds); and through partnership and collaboration within the Federal meteorological community and its

customers, the OFCM will continue to

identify shortfalls in urban meteorology, and help to organize improvements across all applicable focus areas

that will better support users in the

urban environment. On August 26,

2005, the OFCM Implementation

Strategy for Federal Atmospheric

Transport and Diffusion Modeling and

Measurement Improvements was forwarded to the FCMSSR members.
xiv EXEC SUM

Homeland Security Environmental

Support Plan

The Homeland Security Environmental Support Plan, an action from

the FCMSSR, will define the mission,

roles, and responsibilities of individual

Federal agencies as they relate to

homeland security and will document

each agency's environmental support

capabilities and/or requirements. The

OFCM worked closely with the Plume

Modeling Subset of the Consequence

Management, Site Restoration/Cleanup (CMS) Subgroup, which is chaired

by the Department of Homeland Security (Emergency Preparedness and

Response), to develop an interagency

concept of operations for an all-hazards dispersion support framework.

The concept of the Interagency Modeling and Atmospheric Assessment Center (IMAAC) was successfully proposed to the Homeland Security Council Deputies and adopted in April 2004. 

While the initial goal was to complete the Homeland Security Environmental Support Plan by the end of FY

2005, successful completion rests with

the completion of the IMAAC concept

of operations, which, at this point, is

still evolving.

ANNUAL FEDERAL PLAN

In October 2004, the OFCM issued

The Federal Plan for Meteorological

Services and Supporting Research-Fiscal Year 2005. The Federal Plan is

congressionally mandated and is a oneof-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 overlap and duplication among the agencies. It is a comprehensive publication

that documents proposed programs for

Fiscal Year (FY) 2005 and reviews

agency programs in FY 2004. 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. The special interest

article in the FY 2005 Annual Federal

Plan, The Rewards of Managing

Weather-Related Risks, focused on the

Federal agencies' meteorological activities related to risk management and

assessments, and the socioeconomic

impacts of natural hazards.

WEATHER INFORMATION FOR

SURFACE TRANSPORTATION

The ICMSSR received an update on

weather information for surface transportation (WIST) at its November 16,

2004, meeting. The ICMSSR supported the Working Group for Weather

Information for Surface Transportation

(WG/WIST) actions to allow all Federal departments and agencies to participate in the development of plans or

projects to meet their WIST needs and

ensure Federal resources are used efficiently; to develop a multiyear, Federal

WIST research program plan to bring

together the Federal weather and surface transportation research communities and provide a vision for the public

and private sectors to use for planning

purposes; and to develop an overarching, multiagency-coordinated WIST

implementation program.

The work of the WG/WIST, jointly

chaired by NOAA and FHWA, was

endorsed in the July 20, 2005, Memorandum of Understanding signed by

VADM Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr.,

USN (Ret.) and Ms. Mary E. Peters.

Timely and accurate surface transportation information will support

improvements in safety and efficiency

in transportation operations.

Most recently, on September 23,

2005, OFCM forwarded to ICMSSR

members the Weather Information for

Surface Transportation (WIST) Initiative Document-First Steps to Improve

the Nation's WIST Capabilities and

Services (September 2005). This Initiative Document represents the initial

recommendations of the WG/WIST

members on key actions and priorities

that should be taken by the responsible

agencies in the OFCM Federal coordinating infrastructure to collaborate on

and address national surface transportation safety, mobility, and productivity issues.

AVIATION WEATHER

In December 2004, the OFCM

issued Aviation Weather

Programs/Projects-2004 Update

which updates the compilation of

activities across Federal agencies that

began with the National Aviation

Weather Initiatives Final Baseline Tier

3⁄4 Report, distributed in 2001, and

serves as a baseline report for the

recently established Joint Planning and

Development Office (JPDO) within

the Federal Aviation Administration

(FAA).

This report updates and extends the

analysis of trends in weather-related

aviation accidents that first appeared in

the National Aviation Weather Program Mid-Course Assessment, published in August 2003, and endorsed

by the FCMSSR, FAA, and the

National Center for Atmospheric

Research (NCAR). The effort to

deliver improved weather risk reduction products and services must be supported and sustained.

Additional accomplishments which

are underway in the area of aviation

weather support include follow-up

activities from the June 21-24, 2004,

2nd International Conference on Volcanic Ash and Aviation Safety. These

include the development and coordination of interagency volcanic ash operations and implementation plans. The

operations plan will identify procedures and agency responsibilities and

contacts for responding to a volcanic

ash release. The implementation plan

will provide the roadmap for further

improved science, new technologies

for observing volcanic ash (e.g.,

NASA's efforts), improved detection

(USGS), NOAA modeling and forecasting (NAAC forecasts for aircraft

avoidance), and education of the inter-
EXEC SUM xv

national community.

SPACE WEATHER

The overarching goal of the National

Space Weather Program (NSWP),

which is administered by an OFCM

program council, is to achieve an

active, synergistic, interagency system;

providing timely, accurate, and reliable

space weather warnings, observations,

specifications, and forecasts by 2007.

The NSWP Strategic and Implementation Plans provide, respectively, broad

guidance and a detailed roadmap for

the NSWP. It was noted at the November 16, 2004, and December 1, 2004,

ICMSSR and FCMSSR meetings,

respectively, that the program is nearing the end of the 10-year period,

which was addressed in the strategic

and implementation plans, and that it

was time to perform an interagency

assessment to look at the progress

toward meeting its goals. It was determined that a comprehensive review of

the NSWP was warranted to quantify

the progress toward meeting the goals

in observations, research, modeling,

transition of research to operations,

and education and outreach; to determine if actions detailed in the NSWP

Implementation Plan are on target and

moving in the direction detailed by the

strategic plan; and to determine

whether the strategic goals should be

adjusted at this time based on emerging and evolving requirements. A

National Space Weather Program

Assessment Study Group has been

formed and the strategy for completing

the assessment completed. 

On September 27, 2005, an Interim

Assessment Letter Report was sent to

the Federal Coordinator and forwarded

to FCMSSR members. The report contained early findings and areas where

further investigation will take place.

PHASED ARRAY RADAR

The Phased Array Radar Project

(PARP) was briefed to ICMSSR at its

November 16, 2004, meeting. The

ICMSSR supported the JAG's continued work to identify and document the

potential needs and benefits that the

phased array radar and an adaptive

radar sensing strategy would address,

and to integrate those identified needs

into a multiagency-coordinated

research and development (R&D) plan

that would focus R&D efforts on meeting each agency's needs. The plan will

also prioritize the most pressing R&D

needs and provide a roadmap to

address those needs within the OFCM

coordinating infrastructure. A summary report was distributed to

ICMSSR members in early October

2005; and the final multiagency-coordinated R&D plan will be completed

by January 2006.

ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH AND

DATA ASSIMILATION/DATA MANAGEMENT

Atmospheric research and data

assimilation/data management were

challenges and issues discussed at the

November 16, 2004, and the December

1, 2004, meetings of ICMSSR and

FCMSSR, respectively. It was noted

that there was a need to tie future

research efforts in science, technology,

and transition mechanisms to operational and societal requirements. It

was agreed that agencies will support

research and development needs and

requirements based on agency priorities and will continue to identify issues

and concerns that are necessary for the

development of capabilities required to

realize societal benefits. Agencies will

also support and facilitate opportunities for the transition of research into

operational applications. Further comments and suggestions will be provided by the agencies to the Federal

Coordinator to assist OFCM in the

planning and development of a vision

and implementation roadmap for the

supporting research enterprise of the

Federal meteorological community for

the next decade.

Also highlighted at the ICMSSR and

FCMSSR meetings were data assimilation and data management challenges

the community faces, as the size of

future data sets increase by orders of

magnitude. Advanced modeling and

data assimilation techniques are critical to improve the quality of analyses

and model results and to maximize the

value of the Global Earth Observation

System of Systems (GEOSS). Agencies were very supportive of the need

for further interagency collaboration

efforts in this area. An action item

stemming from the FCMSSR meeting

was that Federal requirements and

capabilities in key areas, like data management and data assimilation, need to

be surveyed and further addressed.

This interagency work fully supports

NOAA's crosscutting priorities.

In response to the above FCMSSR

action item, the OFCM undertook a

survey of Federal requirements and

capabilities in the area of meteorological data assimilation and related data

management. On September 15, 2005,

the OFCM provided to FCMSSR and

ICMSSR members an interim survey/assessment progress report on its

efforts; the final report which will

examine the gaps in our current data

assimilation/data management capability, articulate the challenges that lie

ahead in meeting future requirements,

and propose a strategy to address these

gaps in capability and future challenges, will be completed during January 2006.

COLLABORATION WITH

NAS/NRC BOARD ON ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES AND CLIMATE

The OFCM continued its mutually

beneficial interactions with the

National Academy of

Sciences/National Research Council

(NAS/NRC). The NAS/NRC Board

on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate

(BASC) conducted a planning meeting

on June 21, 2005, to discuss Mesoscale

Observation Networks for Meeting

Multiple National Needs. In this plan-
xvi EXEC SUM

ning meeting in which the Federal

Coordinator for Meteorology was a

participant, a small group of people

were asked to brainstorm about a general issue that has been identified as a

potential study topic. The Federal

Coordinator helped BASC to better

define the issue and identify whether

an Academy study on the topic would

be valuable. The Federal Coordinator

noted that the multitude of meteorological impacts on the urban environment

alone would warrant the proposed

BASC study, and that all five primary

focus areas within urban meteorology

(severe weather, homeland security, air

quality, water quality, and climate) discussed during the Forum on Urban

Meteorology-Meeting Weather Needs

in the Urban Community, conducted

by OFCM, September 21-23, 2004,

would benefit from improved

mesoscale and urban scale observational capabilities. The Federal Coordinator provided a detailed listing of

possible study tasks and, also, identified potential sources of observational

needs and current capabilities information.

COLLABORATION WITH THE

COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT

AND NATURAL RESOURCES

CENR Principals

The Federal Coordinator continues

to be a participant on the Committee

on Environment and Natural

Resources (CENR), and continues to

assist CENR through review and concurrence of CENR reports and materials.

Subcommittee on Disaster Reduction

The OFCM has been an active participant in the work of the CENR Subcommittee on Disaster Reduction

(SDR). Recognizing that disasters can

be the result of a technological and/or

natural hazard, the subcommittee

changed its name from the Subcommittee on Natural Disaster Reduction

to the Subcommittee on Disaster

Reduction (SDR). Recently, the focus

of this group has been to enhance disaster resilience by composing a 10-

year agenda for science and technology activities that will produce a dramatic reduction in the loss of life and

property from natural and technological disasters. This 10-year agenda

identifies a suite of Grand Challenges

for disaster reduction. It cuts across all

hazards and disaster management

stages and identifies priorities for

research and investment. Addressing

these Grand Challenges will improve

the Nation's capacity to prevent and

recover from disasters. OFCM is committed to working with SDR to provide

a forum for information sharing, development of collaborative opportunities,

and interactive dialogue with the U.S.

policy community to advance

informed strategies for managing risks

associated with natural and technological disasters. The Grand Challenges

document will contribute to U.S. government planning activities on a number of levels, especially in the area of

enhancing the Nation's safety and economic well-being.

AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL

SOCIETY

During FY 2005, the 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. The OFCM plans to continue

this support.

The OFCM also supports American

Meteorological Society (AMS)

endeavors by participating in AMS

conferences and workshops and other

environmental science education and

outreach programs. The OFCM staff

cochaired the 21st AMS Conference on

Weather Analysis and Forecasting held

in Washington, D.C., August 1-5,

2005. In addition, the Federal Coordinator participated in three important

AMS-sponsored activities including:

the AMS Corporate Forum on March

31, 2005, in the Washington, D.C. area,

at which he gave a cross-agency and

international perspective on GOES-R

rebroadcast; The Future of the U.S.

Weather Prediction Enterprise, July

26-28, 2005, in Boulder, Colorado; and

the Golden Jubilee Symposium, September 20-21, 2005, in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, where he

served as the session chair for the role

of air quality models in decision making.

INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT

The Federal Coordinator provided a

comprehensive briefing on the OFCM

and interagency coordination of Federal meteorological activities to Dr. Xu

Xiaofeng and a delegation of 25 individuals from the Chinese Meteorological Administration, on May 24, 2005.

Then on August 24, 2005, the Federal Coordinator hosted and briefed Dr.

Zheng Guoguang, Deputy Administrator of the Chinese Meteorological

Administration. Also, news media

from Japan attended and conducted

interviews at the 59th Interdepart-mental Hurricane Conference in Jacksonville, Florida, March 7-11, 2005.
SECTION 1

INTRODUCTION

The extraordinary natural, climatic,

and geographic diversity of the United

States exposes the Nation to a wide

range of natural hazards. Additionally,

increased population densities and

property development in hazard zones

have dramatically heightened the

Nation's disaster vulnerability. It has

been estimated that weather and climate events have up to a $2.2 trillion

impact on the U.S. economy annually.

Conservative estimates of the comprehensive disaster costs, related to the

annual loss of life and property, disruption of commerce, and response and

recovery, are at least $20 billion.

The sheer diversity of the hazards

and their weather-related determinants

pose an additional challenge for urban

meteorology. The Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorological

Services and Supporting Research

(commonly known as OFCM), in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate, conducted a User

Forum on Urban Meteorology, September 21-23,

2004. During the forum,

hazards in five areas of the

urban environment were

identified: severe weather,

homeland security (emergency response to airborne

hazards), air and water

quality, and climate-related

conditions.

Wildland fire is a hazard

whose impacts crosscut the

aforementioned five hazard

areas of the urban environment. As will be discussed

later in this paper, severe weather phenomena can cause wildland fire (i.e.,

thunderstorms) or increase the risk of

wildland fire (i.e., strong winds).

Wildland fire poses a great threat to

life and property and can result in a

number of potential urban environmental impacts, including increased

urban air pollution and health impacts

due to smoke particles, possible

degraded water quality through the

release of burned debris into public

water sources, and hampered local

transportation, both on the ground and

in the air, thereby affecting public

safety and commerce. Climate also

plays an important role in the wildland

fire hazard (e.g., areas experiencing

climate-induced drought conditions

may be at increased risk for wildland

fires).

The past several decades have seen

an increase in population growth in

formerly rural areas. For example,

many areas in California, Florida, and

Texas have seen up to a 30 percent

increase in population during the

period 2000-2003 (Figure 1-1). This

increase has moved more people into

an expanding urban environment (i.e.,

the urban "sprawl" has spread into

areas where forests and natural landscapes used to exist). The area where

structures and/or other human development meet or intertwine with undeveloped wildland or other forms of vegetative fuels is often referred to as the

wildland /urban interface.

Some examples of these wildland

fires which have affected the urban

environment include the Oakland

Hills, California fire in October 1991

(Figure 1-2) with 25 lives lost and

2,900 structures destroyed; the Cerro

Grande, New Mexico fire in May 2000

where 235 structures were destroyed

and the Los Alamos National Laboratory was damaged; and, more recently,

the wildland fires in Southern California which claimed 22 lives, destroyed

3,600 homes, burned

nearly 740,000 acres of

land, and caused more than

$2 billion in property damage. During an average

year, nearly 70,000 wildfires burn approximately

4.5 million acres.

The impacts of hazard

events such as wildland

fires can be mitigated

through careful planning

and by taking appropriate

actions. Communities

across the Nation can be

better prepared to withstand hazard events

through improved research;

improved data collection,

LIVING WITH WILDLAND FIRE IN

THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT

SECTION 1 1

Article prepared by Ms. Mary Cairns, OFCM staff.

Figure 1-1. Population increases to the coastal/urban areas,

1990-2000. (U.S. Census Bureau)
2 SECTION 1

analysis, data assimilation, prediction,

and interpretation; improved hazard

preparedness and response; and effective public education and warning. It

is important to keep in mind that wildland fire is a natural part of the environment for most of the country.

While detrimental impacts of fire can

be minimized, humans must also learn

to live with fire.

This article summarizes the causes of

wildland fires, presents a description

of the impact wildland fire has on

urban communities, reviews some

activities undertaken by Federal agencies to minimize the impacts, and provides some recommended next steps to

address the spectrum of wildland fire

impacts.

CAUSES OF WILDLAND FIRES

The causes of wildland fire fall into

two distinct categories: human and natural. To understand the impact of

wildland fire, one needs to determine

the causes to be able to predict highrisk areas for fires, to develop firemanagement tools, and to predict the

seasonal variations which contribute to

fire development.

The public may not be aware of all

the possible ways they contribute to

the human-generated wildland fires.

Human-caused ignitions include those

from equipment exhaust, abandoned

campfires, cigarettes, and arson. Table

1.1 lists the various sources of wildland fires.

Though ultimately a very small percentage, fires deliberately started for

fuels management have

resulted in a wildland fire.

The Cerro Grande fire in May

2000 is one recent example of

a prescribed fire which turned

into a wildland fire, enhanced

by adverse weather conditions. The fire resulted in over

200 destroyed structures,

damage to the Los Alamos

National Laboratory, and the

evacuation of 18,000 residents. In the period from

1968-2000, 38 of 3,746 prescribed fires went out of control.

Wildland fires can also be caused by

naturally occurring atmospheric phenomena, specifically lightning from

thunderstorms. Lightning-initiated

wildland fires account for 80 percent

of the overall fires in the western

United States (Figure 1-3). Climatic

events such as El Nino and weather

phenomena such as prolonged heat

waves can lead to fire-prone areas

where fires are easily sustained with

dry fuels.

The causes of most wildland fires are

known, but not everybody realizes the

extent of the impacts wildland fire can

have on the urban environment.

POTENTIAL IMPACTS OF WILDLAND FIRES

There are several direct impacts of

wildland fires. These impacts include:

the loss of life and property; air quality

and health problems; affects on transportation, both air and ground; impacts

on our forest and rangeland ecosystems, water systems, and wildlife; and

impacts on national and local

economies.

The greatest impact of wildland fires

is the loss of life, both within the firefighting community and the general

public. Over the last 100 years, 918

firefighters have lost their lives in

wildfires. In 1918, the Moose Lake

Fire in Minnesota resulted in a total of

450 lives lost. Second to loss of life is

Figure 1-2. A devastating fire

occurred in the hills above Oakland

and Berkeley, California, on October

20, 1991 (the Oakland Hills fire).

Table 1.1. Specific causes of wildland fires as

defined by USFS and DOI. (Brown et al.,

2002)

Prescribed fire: Any fire

ignited by management

actions to meet specific

objectives. A written,

approved prescribed fire

plan must exist, and National

Environmental Policy Act

requirements (where applicable) must be met, prior to

ignition.

The El Nino weather pattern of

1997-1998 disrupted rainfall patterns, leaving many forests dry.

Thousands of deliberately set forest

fires, mainly for cultivation, raged

out of control in Indonesia, Brazil,

and Mexico, burning millions of

hectares of rain forest. Thick clouds

of smoke blanketed vast areas in

Southeast Asia, South America, and

Central America, sending tens of

thousands of people to hospitals with

respiratory illnesses related to the

polluted air.
the loss of personal property. In the

San Diego County fires, 3,600 homes

were destroyed, causing upwards of $2

billion dollars in damage, not to mention the displacement of those families.

In 2003, natural catastrophes caused

insured losses of $15 billion (USD)

across the globe. During that period,

two wildland fires resulted in losses of

$2.1 billion dollars and 18 victims

(dead and missing).

Smoke from wildland fires in the

urban environment can impact air

quality and create health issues (Figure

1-4). Smoke can irritate the eyes and

respiratory system and worsen chronic

heart and lung diseases. The National

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Weather Service (NWS), together with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

and other local air quality offices,

issues air stagnation advisories,

instructing the public of the potential

health impacts and actions to take,

such as avoiding outdoor activity and

remaining indoors whenever possible

during hazardous situations. One personal example occurred during the

2003 fires in San Diego, California.

Cemetery workers were required to

stay at home due to the smoke, postponing a family funeral for several

days.

Wildland fires can impact both surface and aviation transportation. In

1994, a major interstate through Colorado was closed as the fire burned

alongside the hillside next to the pavement. In 2002, the interstate mountain

pass between Sacramento, California,

and Reno, Nevada, was closed for over

a day as the fire "jumped" across the

interstate. Air transportation is

impacted from smoke plumes or

smoke reducing visibilities near major

airports. Under these conditions, commercial airlines may be forced to

reroute or cancel flights, impacting the

Nation's air travel, not to mention the

economic impact on the airlines.

One of the more complex issues to

understand is the impact wildland fire

has on our ecosystems, which includes

our forests, rangelands, water systems,

and wildlife. Wildland fire can destroy

the environment of animals and endangered species (both plant and animal)

and eliminate source areas of rich carbon dioxide needed for the balance of

our atmosphere. Wildland fire also can

directly impact our water supplies.

One example is the impact of heavy

rains in steep terrain that surrounds a

watershed after the steep terrain has

been burned by a wildfire. Sediments

from burned areas can wash down into

rivers that serve as the primary water

sources for cities.

The Buffalo Creek Fire in Colorado

in May of 1996 was followed by substantial flooding and erosion 2 months

later. The fire burned 12,350 acres.

The flooding after the fire killed two

people and, in the 3 months following

the fire, transported approximately

331,000 m3 of coarse sediment into

the Strontia Springs Reservoir. This

reservoir supplies over 75 percent of

the drinking water to the city of DenSECTION 1 3

Figure 1-3. Percent of coarse quality controlled western U.S. Federal wildland

fires caused by lightning for the period 1970-2000.

(http://www.cefa.dri.edu/Publications/fireoccurrencereport.pdf - Figure 11)

Figure 1-4. Smoke from fires in California, October 2003, as seen from

space. At least 22 deaths were

blamed on the wildfires. (Image courtesy of NASA)

Ecosystem: a functional unit consisting of all the living organisms

(plants, animals, and microbes) in a

given area, and all the non-living

physical and chemical factors of

their environment, linked together

through nutrient cycling and energy

flow. An ecosystem can be of any

size-a log, pond, field, forest, or the

earth's biosphere-but it always functions as a whole unit. Ecosystems are

commonly described according to the

major type of vegetation, for example, forest ecosystem, old-growth

ecosystem, or range ecosystem.
4 SECTION 1

ver and experienced a significant

degradation in water quality as a result

of the input of burned material and

sediment. The Denver Water Department, the agency responsible for distributing drinking water from the reservoir, estimates that it spent over $1

million in immediate clean-up efforts

after the fire.

Wildland fires also directly impact

the economy due to large fire suppression costs. Severe fire seasons due to

drought can result in billions of dollars

in damages. The Western fire season,

spring-summer 2000, resulted in

nearly seven million acres burned and

an estimated $2 billion in damage costs

(including fire suppression). In fiscal

year 2005, the U.S. Department of

Agriculture Forest Service (USDAFS) total fire operations budget was

slightly over $1 billion; approximately

$300 million of this was designated to

hazardous fuel reduction. This does

not include the costs incurred by the

U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) land

management agencies, state agencies,

and private sector. Typically, prescribed fire costs range from approximately $70 to $150 per acre for treatment. Suppression costs, by comparison, range from $500 to $8000 per

acre, depending upon the actions

required. Over the last decade, 98 percent of wildland fires are extinguished

during initial attack, however, 80 percent of wildland fire costs are driven

by the 2 percent of wildland fires

which grow into large fires. Preventing wildland fires is obviously

extremely important, especially

human-caused fires. If a wildland fire

begins, early detection and quick initial attack actions are also extremely

important.

Wildland fires can also have economic impacts on private businesses

and industries. Private businesses may

be forced to close down or be

destroyed by wildland fire. The timber

industry can experience a loss of

income from unwanted acreage burned

prior to harvest, and large areas of state

and federal forests can be lost to recreational uses. One industry beginning

to be impacted is the insurance industry. Recently, some companies are not

renewing homeowner policies if the

home does not have the required

defensible space surrounding the

house. This has led to increasing

insurance rates and new government

policies, such as increasing the minimum clearance (defensible space)

requirements around homes in susceptible areas.

WHAT CAN WE DO? 

Wildland fires have direct impacts on

the urban environment. The Federal

agencies have begun to respond to the

need for mitigating the impacts. The

capabilities of current weather/climate

services and products to address the

wildland fire issue are found across the

Federal agencies, state and local governments, industry, and universities.

The following are a series of probing

questions and brief summaries that the

Federal community is tackling in order

to address the needs of the urban users

to further improve the response to the

wildland fire issue:

HOW DO WE IMPROVE OBSERVATIONS AND FORECASTS OF

WILDLAND FIRE?

There are several programs within

NOAA's NWS, the DOI Bureau of

Land Management (DOI-BLM), and

the USDA-FS for the data collection,

analysis, assimilation, and prediction

of wildland fires. There are over 2,200

interagency Remote Automated

Weather Stations (RAWS) strategically

located throughout the United States.

These data are used by NOAA's NWS

forecasters to analyze real-time

weather conditions, by fire managers

to predict fire behavior and monitor

fuels, and by resource managers to

monitor environmental conditions.

The data are also used to monitor air

quality and for research studies. Data

are collected at the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise,

Idaho, via NOAA's Geostationary

Operational Environmental Satellite.

NOAA's NWS supports the wildland

fire community daily through the provision of forecast products and services. The importance NWS places on

these services results from a recognition that decades of fuel accumulation

in our Nation's forests, coupled with

drought, presents our state and federal

fire management partners with larger,

more explosive, and more costly wildland fires than any other period in history. NWS also recognizes that the fire

management agencies in the United

States have begun moving aggressively to deal with these issues through

the efficient management of wildland

fires and the implementation of prescribed burning programs.

To manage and suppress wildfires,

including prescribed fires, fire managers need current and forecast

weather and climate services. For

instance, if a wildland fire starts due to

lightning from thunderstorms, early

detection and quick initial attack

actions are extremely important to

minimize suppression costs and prevent loss of property and lives. Therefore, accurate forecasts of thunderstorm activity and wind

direction/speed enhance the fire manager's ability to detect fires, know

where to enhance fire surveillance, and

respond to the event. The NWS provides continued support to fire managers through their fire weather program which includes the following:

• Daily issuance of our Fire Weather

Planning Forecasts, detailing daily

forecasts of temperature, wind, humidity, dispersion, and other locally critical parameters.

• Provision of Fire Weather Watches

and Red Flag Warnings for critical

weather events that impact firefighter

safety and preparedness.

• Issuance of Spot Forecasts - sitespecific weather for fire managers.
SECTION 1 5

• Incident Meteorologist (IMET)

support-a cadre of over 60 specially

trained forecasters who work directly

with Incident Management Teams.

The DOI-BLM also provides prediction and modeling services. The Predictive Services units reside at the

National Interagency Coordination

Centers throughout the United States.

These units provide decision-support

information needed to implement a

more proactive approach to anticipating fire activity through the prepositioning and integration of fire weather,

fire danger/fuels information, and

intelligence resources. In 2000, 20 fire

weather meteorologists were hired

under the National Fire Plan to team up

with intelligence specialists and wildland fire analysts to form Predictive

Service units at the National Interagency Coordination Center (NICC)

and the Geographic Area Coordination

Centers (GACC).

The interagency coordination centers' primary mission is to provide

resource support for the functional

areas of overhead, crews, aircraft, supplies, and equipment to the field for

wildland fire and other emergency

operations. They also provide daily,

medium-range, and long-range fireweather, fire-danger, and resource outlooks for use in tactical and strategic

planning.

The USDA-FS Fire Consortia for the

Advanced Modeling of Meteorology

and Smoke (FCAMMS) is a Forest

Service research and development initiative that uses high technology for

computing, advanced numerical

weather prediction models, World

Wide Web information delivery, and

new sources of information, such as

the NASA Terra and Aqua satellites, in

a new business partnership framework

for advancing fire practice and science.

These partnerships include not only

federal and state agencies, but also universities (e.g., Washington State University and Jackson State University)

and private industry (e.g., Sun

Microsystems, Inc.). Many of the realtime model predictions are currently

available on-line for use by the fire

community.

Lastly, the Joint Center for Satellite

Data Assimilation (JCSDA) is working

towards the acceleration and improvement of the use of research and operational satellite data in weather and climate prediction models. JCSDA

includes NOAA (NWS, National Environmental Satellite Data, and Information Service, and the Office of Oceanic

and Atmospheric Research), the

National Aeronautics and Space

Administration (Goddard Space Flight

Center), and the Department of

Defense (U.S. Navy and U.S. Air

Force). Data assimilation improvements will lead towards a more accurate prediction of weather for the user

community.

WHAT ADDITIONAL RESEARCH

IS NEEDED TO IMPROVE FORECASTS? WHAT ARE THE GAPS IN

OUR CAPABILITY?

The Joint Fire Science Program

(JFSP) was established in 1998 to provide scientific information and support

for wildland fuel and fire management

programs. The program is a partnership of six Federal agencies, consisting

of the USDA-FS and the following

agencies within the DOI: Bureau of

Indian Affairs, BLM, National Park

Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Geological Survey.

All JFSP projects require scientistmanager partnerships along with

strong emphasis on transferring

research findings to the field.

The National Fire Plan (NFP) was

developed in August 2000, following a

landmark wildland fire season, with

the intent of actively responding to

severe wildland fires and their impacts

on communities, while ensuring sufficient firefighting capacity for the

future. The NFP addresses five key

points: firefighting, rehabilitation, hazardous fuels reduction, community

assistance, and accountability. As it

nears its fifth year, the NFP continues

to provide invaluable technical, financial, and resource guidance and support for wildland fire management

across the United States. Together, the

USDA-FS and the DOI are working to

successfully implement the key points

outlined in the NFP. The program

focus is on short-term, applied

research that provides information and

tools to specialists and managers, helping them make the best possible decisions and develop sound, scientifically

valid plans.

Hazard research is being conducted

as a response to fire management

needs in the areas of atmospheric and

fire-behavior modeling. The USDAFS established five regional modeling

consortia in 2000-2001 to support the

NFP. Each FCAMMS supports

research and operational needs of the

members who include land management agencies participating in the

NFP, NOAA NWS, the EPA, appropriate state and tribal agencies, universities, and other research partners. High

resolution real-time numerical prediction models, as well as smoke-dispersion and fire-behavior models, are

being developed.

Despite current research programs on

fire weather and the fire environment,

additional research and better coordination of existing research is needed.

WHAT IMPROVEMENTS ARE

NEEDED TO ENSURE FIRE MANAGERS AND OTHER USERS OF

THE INFORMATION (1) RECEIVE

THE REQUIRED INFORMATION/

PRODUCTS/FORECASTS AND (2)

MAKE THE RIGHT DECISIONS?

Improvements in the ability to detect

and predict wildland fire in and around

the urban environment will reduce the

impact to the loss of life and property.

Key to these improvements is to ensure

decision makers and the public receive

the required information in a timely

manner. The most aggressive public
6 SECTION 1

warning program for fires is the

NOAA Weather Radio (NWR). The

NWR is a nationwide network of radio

stations broadcasting continuous

weather information direct from a

nearby National Weather Service

Office. NWR broadcasts NWS warnings, watches, forecasts, and other hazard information 24 hours a day. In

addition to the NWR, the communication of warnings to fire managers and

the public through partnering agencies,

the media outlets (television and radio)

and emerging technologies (like cell

phones and PDAs) will help create an

effective, timely warning system.

One aspect of making the right decision is to receive the required information/ products/forecasts. For instance,

having an accurate assessment of the

current fire danger is critical information required by decision makers. The

USDA-FS National Fire Danger Rating System (NFDRS) "is the keystone

of interagency fire danger predictions

and provides quantification of risk elements that are critical for daily decisions regarding firefighter resource

placement, staffing levels, appropriate

suppression responses, and strategic

decisions at local, geographical area

and national levels." The "Gridded"

NFDRS project is a cooperative effort

between the Fire Behavior Research

Work Unit at the Missoula Fire Sciences Lab and the NOAA NWS Forecast Office in Missoula, Montana.

Collaboration continues in efforts to

improve this system and its ability to

provide fire managers more up-to-date

information concerning critical fireprone areas.

Another example of having the

required information/products/forecasts deals with planning actions prior

to the fire season. Fire managers who

have the responsibility to place limited

resources around the country in

advance of the fire season or preposition equipment and personnel require

forecast information to assist in these

decisions. The Climate Ecosystem and

Fire Application Program (CEFA) at

the Desert Research Institute in Reno,

Nevada, along with the National Predictive Services Group, the University

of Arizona, and NOAA's Office of

Global Programs, conduct yearly

workshops for the purpose of creating

a "one-voice" seasonal fire outlook

(Figure 1-5). The outlooks have begun

to provide fire managers with the tools

they need for providing quick response

to wildland fires.

After receiving the required information/products/forecasts, a significant

factor to ensure the public and users of

information make the right decisions is

to make certain they have the proper

knowledge. To this end, the NIFC Prevention and Education website has an

aggressive public awareness program,

including public displays, pamphlets,

and on-line education materials for a

variety of audiences, to include Spanish-speaking personnel. In addition,

wildland fire prevention and education

teams are available to support any geographic area preceding and during

periods of high fire danger or fire

activity, with the purpose of assisting

the local unit in the prevention of

unwanted human-caused wildfires.

Several agencies are also conducting

public awareness programs. California

has a Fire Safe Council, with over 50

public and private organizations

formed to speak with one voice about

fire safety. The council has distributed

fire prevention education materials to

industry leaders and their constituents,

evaluated legislation pertaining to fire

safety, and empowered grassroots

organizations to spearhead the fire

safety program. Members include, in

addition to state and Federal agencies,

the American Red Cross, insurance

companies, and realtor organizations.

"Firewise" is an education information

program for people who live or vacation in fire-prone areas of the United

States. Information is supplied and

approved by the National Wildfire

Coordinating Group, a consortium of

Figure 1-5. The western portion of the map showing the outlook for national

significant fire potential was produced during the workshop ending on April 1,

2005. It highlights areas that managers from a variety of geographic areas in

the Westconsider to have either above-average or below-average fire potential

during the coming season.
SECTION 1 7

wildland fire agencies that includes the

USDA-FS, the DOI, the National

Association of State Foresters, the U.S.

Fire Administration, and the National

Fire Protection Association. "Firewise" is sponsored by the National

Wildland/Urban Interface Fire Program.

SUMMARY AND THE WAY

AHEAD

Clearly there is a need for the Federal

agencies to work towards minimizing

the impact of wildland fires in the

urban environment, both from a public

safety and economic standpoint. The

efforts of the Federal agencies to

address the spectrum of wildland fire

impacts will require the following:

• Continued improvement of fire

weather observations and forecasts.

• Improved coordination of wildland

fire research and the integration of fire

weather and fire environment research.

• A comprehensive National wildland fire weather needs assessment to

document user needs/requirements for

weather information by decision makers in their wildfire and prescribed fire

decision-making processes and a

framework to meet those needs.

• Increased efforts to provide education and training on new products and

services to ensure the information

being delivered is understandable and

meets the needs of decision makers

and the general public.

REFERENCES

1. http://www.marion.ohio-state.edu

/fac/schul/400/0003popchg.png

2. http://www.nifc.gov/stats/index

.html

3. Cerro Grande Prescribed Fire

Investigative Report, National Park

Service, USDOI

4. USDOC/NOAA/NWS Service

Assessment "Southern California

Wildfires October 20 to November 3,

2003"

5. h t t p : / / w w w. f i r e w i s e . o r g /

pubs/theOaklandBerkeleyHillsFire/)

6. Los Alamos Fire Turns Attention to

Burns", June 200, The Forestry

Source, Society of American Foresters.

7. National Fire Plan at

http://www.fireplan.gov/overview/wha

tis.html#

8. http://www.cefa.dri.edu/Publications/fireoccurrencereport.pdf -- Figure 11.

9. Course Assessment of Federal

Wildland Fire Occurrence Data, T.J.

Brown et al., Climate, Ecosystem and

Fire Applications Report 02-04, Desert

Research Institute, University of

Nevada, Reno, NV, 31 pp.

10. Watershed Management Council

(non-profit), Watershed Management

Council Networker, Winter 2000, Vol 9

No. 1, "Studies of Post-Fire Erosion in

the Colorado Front Range Benefit the

Upper South Platte Watershed Protection and Restoration Project, D. Martin, USGS. 

11. “Forest Fires," Microsoft®

Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2005

12. h t t p : / / w w w . m o o s e l a k e -

mn.com/Depot/

13. Economic Statistics for NOAA,

May 2005

14. FARSITE Weather Streams from

the NWS IFPS System, Gibson and

Gorski, 5th Symposium on Fire and

Forest Meteorology, 11-15 January

2004, Seattle, WA, American Meteorological Society, Boston, MA.

15. h t t p : / / w w w. n b c 4 . t v / n e w s

/2583516/detail.html

16. http://www.ispe.arizona.edu/climas/conferences/NASW/west05/NSA

Wwestproceedings.pdf - Figure 1

SECTION 2 9

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) 2005 based on Congressional appropriations, the budget

request for FY 2006, the percent

change, and the individual agencies'

percent of the total Federal funding for

FY 2005 and FY 2006.

DEPARTMENT OFAGRICULTURE

(USDA)

The USDA budget request for FY

2006 is $43.8 million for operations

and supporting research, representing a

15.8 percent decrease from FY 2005.

A large portion of this decline was due

to a reduction in funding for supporting research. USDA has requested a

total $28.3 million for research and

development programs, an $8.4 million decrease from 2005. The FY 2006

amount requested for meteorological

operations is $15.5 million, slightly up

from $15.4 million in FY 2005.

Operational activities include specialized weather observing networks

such as the snow telemetry (SNOTEL)

system operated by the Natural

Resources Conservation Service

(NRCS) and the remote automated

weather stations (RAWS) network

managed 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. The

Forest Service is also the world leader

in developing emissions factors from

fires and modeling its dispersion. The

USDA and the Department of Commerce (DOC) jointly operate a global

agricultural weather and information

center located in Washington, D.C.

This Joint Agricultural Weather Facility operationally monitors global

weather conditions and assesses the

impacts of growing season weather on

crop and livestock production

prospects. This information keeps

crop and livestock producers, farm

organizations, agribusinesses, state and

national farm policy-makers, government agencies, and foreign buyers of

agricultural products apprised of

worldwide weather-related developments and their effects on crops and

livestock. Furthermore, tracking

weather and crop developments in

countries that are either major

exporters or importers of agricultural

commodities keeps the agricultural

sector informed on potential competitors. USDA is also actively involved

in drought monitoring efforts in concert with the National Drought Mitigation Center.

For supporting research, USDA

funds research projects through the

Cooperative State Research, Education

and Extension Service (CSREES) that

study the impact of climate and

weather on food and fiber production.

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. Furthermore, the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) conducts research on how annual variation

in weather adversely effects crop and

animal production, hydrologic

processes, the availability of water

from watersheds, and the environmental and economic sustainability of agricultural enterprises.

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

(DOC)

All reported DOC meteorological

activities are within the National

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The NOAA FY 2006

total congressional request of

$1.93 billion for meteorological programs represents an increase of

5.2 percent over the FY 2005 appropriated funds. NOAA's FY 2006 operations and supporting research requests

for major line office activities are

described below:

WEATHER SERVICES

NOAA's National Weather Service

(NWS) provides weather, hydrologic,

and climate forecasts and warnings for

the United States, it's territories, adjacent waters, and ocean areas for the

protection of life and property and the

enhancement of the national economy.

RESOURCE INFORMATION AND AGENCY PROGRAM UPDATES

The tables in this section summarize budgetary information of the Federal government for Fiscal Years 2005 and 2006.

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 July 2005 and are subject to later changes. The data for FY 2006 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
10 SECTION 2
SECTION 2 11

NWS data and products form a

national information database and

infrastructure which can be used by

other government agencies, the private

sector, the public, and the global community.

The United States is one of the most

severe-weather prone countries on

Earth. Each year, Americans cope with

an average of 10,000 thunderstorms,

2,500 floods, 1,000 tornadoes, as well

as 6 deadly hurricanes. Some 90% of

all Presidential-declared disasters are

weather related, causing approximately 500 deaths per year and $11 billion in damage. According to the

American Meteorological Society,

weather is directly linked to public

safety and about one-third of the U.S.

economy (about $3 trillion) is weather

sensitive.

More and more sectors of the U.S.

economy recognize the impacts of

weather, water, and climate on their

businesses, and are becoming more

sophisticated at using weather, water,

and climate information to make better

decisions. To meet this growing

demand for information and to

improve the timeliness and accuracy of

warnings for all weather-related hazards, the NWS will continue to

enhance observing capabilities,

improve data assimilation to use effectively all the relevant data NWS and

others collect, improve collaboration

with the research community, make

NWS information available quickly,

efficiently, and in a useful form (e.g.,

the National Digital Forecast Database) and include information on forecast uncertainty to help customers

make fully informed decisions.

With about 4,700 employees in 122

weather forecast offices, 13 river forecast centers, 9 national centers and

other support offices around country,

NWS provides a national infrastructure

to gather and process data worldwide

from the land, sea, and air. This infrastructure enables data collection using

technologies such as Doppler weather

radars, satellites operated by NOAA's

National Environmental Satellite,

Data, and Information Service (NESDIS), data buoys for marine observations, surface observing systems, and

instruments for monitoring space

weather and air quality. This data

feeds sophisticated environmental prediction models running on high-speed

supercomputers. Our highly trained

and skilled workforce uses powerful

workstations to analyze all of these

data to issue climate, public, aviation,

marine, fire weather, air quality, space

weather, river and flood forecasts and

warnings around-the-clock. A highspeed communications hub allows for

the efficient exchange of these data

and products between NWS components, partners and customers. NWS

forecasts and warnings are rapidly distributed via a diverse dissemination

infrastructure, including NOAA

Weather Radio. Finally, customer outreach, education, and feedback are critical elements to effective public

response and improvements to NWS

services.

The FY 2006 President’s Budget

Request supports the funding and program requirements necessary to

address established NOAA strategic

goals and sets NWS on a path to

achieve its vision: Produce and deliver

forecasts that can be trusted; use cutting-edge technologies; provide services in a cost-effective manner; strive

to eliminate weather-related fatalities;

and improve the economic value of

weather, water, and climate information.

NOAA requests a total of

$744,830,000 and 4,597 FTE to support the continued and enhanced operations of the National Weather Service.

The total includes $33,433,000 for

Adjustments to Base, $20,946,000 for

Program increases, and $13,475,000

for Terminations.

Adjustments To Base:

NOAA requests an increase of

$33,433,000 and a decrease of 3 FTE

to fund adjustments to base for NWS

activities. The increase will fund the

estimated FY 2006 Federal pay raise of

2.3 percent and annualize the FY 2005

pay raise of 3.5 percent. The increase

will also provide inflationary increases

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

payments, and rent charges from the

General Services Administration.

The above amount includes several

transfers:

• $3,200,000 to reflect the transition of the Tropical Atmosphere

Ocean (TAO)-Array from NOAA

Research to an operational mode in the

NWS. This buoy array, located in the

Pacific Ocean, provides real-time insitu data from the tropical Pacific

Ocean for monitoring, prediction, and

improved understanding of El Niño.

Having demonstrated its viability as a

research activity, NOAA seeks to

transfer the array into operations.

NWS is best position to operate and

maintain the array.

• $500,000 from Office of

Atmospheric Research (OAR) to

return funding for the U.S. Weather

Research Program to NWS.

• $7,390,000 from Program

Support, Facilities Maintenance to

fund WFO maintenance in NWS,

where it has traditionally been appropriated.

• $20,000 to Office of Marine

and Aviation Operations (OMAO) for

partial funding of a NOAA Corps Officer position that benefits NWS.

• $37,000 and 3 FTE to the

Office of General Counsel within Program Support.

NWS - ORF Program Change HighLights for FY 2006:

NOAA requests a net increase of

$20,946,000 and 0 FTE over the FY

2006 base for a total request of

$744,830,000 and 4,597 FTE. These

changes are summarized at the sub

activity level below.

Operations and Research.

A net increase of $18,010,000 and
12 SECTION 2

0 FTE above the base is requested in

the Operations and Research subactivity, for a total of $652,287,000 and

4,415 FTE.

• Local Warnings and Forecasts:

$14,975,000 and 0 FTE in net

increases above the base, for a total of

$602,395,000 and 4,116 FTE, are

requested under the Local Warnings

and Forecasts line item of the Operations and Research subactivity.

•• NOAA requests $5,970,000

and 0 FTE to strengthen the U.S.

tsunami warning program. Lessons

learned from the 2004 Indian Ocean

Tsunami indicate that to mitigate a

similar event in the U.S., the following

actions are required: 1) quickly confirm potentially destructive tsunamis

and reduce false alarms; 2) address

local tsunami mitigation and the needs

of coastal residents; 3) improve coordination and exchange of information to

better utilize existing resources; and 4)

sustain support at state and local level

for long-term tsunami hazard mitigation. This funding will be used to

begin the planned deployment of the

32 deep ocean assessment and reporting of tsunamis (DART) buoys for the

Pacific Ocean Basin and the

Caribbean/Atlantic Ocean region, next

generation DART buoy research and

development, and for upgrades and

operations and maintenance of sea

level monitoring sensors. Funds will

also be used to provide for 24/7 operations at the Richard H. Hagemeyer

Pacific Tsunami Warning Center

(PTWC), the West Coast/Alaska

Tsunami Warning Center

(WC/ATWC), upgrade the operations

of the NWS International Tsunami

Information Center (ITIC), and to

expand the U.S. Tsunami Ready Community efforts on the East and West

Coasts.

•• NOAA requests $4,000,000

and 0 FTE to begin efforts to develop a

nationwide water resources forecasting

capability. Through this capability,

NOAA will provide America with economically valuable water and soil condition forecasts via: 1) a national digital database incorporating assimilation

of all available hydro-meteorological

data and observations; and 2) a community hydrologic prediction system

(CHPS) necessary to advance water

prediction science. This will allow

NOAA's research and development

enterprise and operational service

delivery infrastructure to be integrated

and leveraged with other federal water

agency activities to form the basis of a

national backbone water information

system. The initiative provides the

water modeling capability to support

the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy

mandate for a national water quality

monitoring and prediction system.

Furthermore, the initiative enables

NOAA to deliver a national database

of drought analyses and predictions,

and generate user friendly Geographical Information System (GIS) products

for monitoring drought. The initiative

will provide water users - farmers, utilities, land managers, business owners,

and decision makers - the ability to

assess water availability in real time

and make informed decisions to mitigate impacts of extreme water events,

(e.g., droughts).

This initiative is expected to provide

a return of $12 annually for each $1

invested due to improved decisions

associated with irrigation scheduling

and water supply management

(National Hydrologic Warning Council, May 2002). NOAA's NWS is the

only federal entity positioned to lead

this activity because of its unique capabilities in data acquisition and processing, existing operational water modeling infrastructure, and robust national

service delivery system to provide predictions of water resource variables for

forecast periods of hours to months.

•• NOAA Requests $2,072,000

and 0 FTE, for a total of $6,790,000 to

accelerate nationwide implementation

of ozone air quality (AQ) forecasting

capability from FY 2009 to FY 2008

and to deliver an initial particulate

matter forecasting capability by FY

2011. Of the increase requested,

$1,290,000 is requested in the U.S.

Weather Research Program and

$782,000 is requested in the Air Quality Forecast program, for a total of

$1,290,000 in the U.S. Weather

Research Program (USWRP) and

$5,500,000 in the Air Quality Forecast

program. The effect of poor air quality

on the national economy is estimated

at $150 billion/year from health effects

alone. Accurate air quality forecast

guidance, provided in time to take

action, can lead to significant savings

in these costs. For example, if the public has advance warning of the onset of

poor air quality conditions, mitigating

actions can be taken, such as not jogging or engaging in other outdoor

activity. NWS and OAR are working

closely together to develop and deliver

these new capabilities. This funding

will accelerate benefits to the public.

Accelerating deployment of particulates predictions will provide, one year

earlier than currently planned, the

information needed for people to take

protective actions against a significant

health risk - a risk that is especially

harmful for those with cardiac and respiratory ailments.

•• NOAA Requests and additional $1,115,000 for the U.S. Weather

Research Program (above the amount

requested to accelerate AQ forecasting

- see above) and 0 FTE for a total of

$7,457,000 to accelerate improvements in global weather forecasting

and accelerate hurricane and other

high-impact weather research activities. This increase will restore funding

to the USWRP and The Observing-system Research and Predictability Experiment (THORPEX) requested in FY

2005. Key activities directed to hurricane forecasting and research include

development, testing, and transition to

operations of the hurricane weather

research and forecasting (HWRF)

community model that promises to sig-
SECTION 2 13

nificantly improve predictions of the

intensity and precipitation of hurricanes at landfall. Other activities

include testing and development of

promising hurricane research at the

Joint Hurricane Testbed, which can be

adopted to improve warnings and forecasts by operations centers and numerical assimilation of tropical cyclone

data for use in numerical weather prediction models.

•• NOAA requests an increase of

$1,100,000 and 0 FTE for a total of

$3,500,000 to continue a 10-year plan

to improve U.S. aviation safety and

economic efficiencies by providing

state-of-the-art weather observation

and forecast products responsive to

aviation user needs. This increase will

allow the NWS to procure, install and

operate 50 aircraft based water vapor

data systems. Water vapor information

is critical to depicting weather hazards

and reducing forecast errors. This initiative addresses Federal Aviation

Administration (FAA) joint safety

implementation team (JSIT) recommendations and provides a means for

NWS to improve its aviation weather

forecast services through three major

efforts: 1) increase the number and

quality of aviation weather observations; 2) transition successful NOAA,

National Aeronautics and Space

Administration (NASA) and FAA

applied research efforts to operational

products; and 3) develop and implement new training programs for forecasters, pilots, and controllers. The

aviation program has the FY 2012 goal

of a 10% reduction in National Airspace System (NAS) weather-related

air traffic delays, which would save $1

billion annually in potential economic

losses, while also reducing general aviation weather related fatalities by 25%

or 50 lives annually. The Airline

Transport Association estimates $10

billion lost to the U.S. economy each

year due air-traffic delays.

•• NOAA requests an increase of

$298,000 and 0 FTE for a total of

$6,098,000 for the Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS).

AHPS is NOAA's program to modernize the river forecasting capability and

expand it to new waterways. This

increase will restore funds requested in

FY 2005. With full funding for FY

2006, AHPS will provide enhanced

river forecasts, including web accessible displays of probabilistic information, for 308 additional locations

throughout the Southeast, South, and

West. AHPS priorities are to sustain

current hydrological services, deliver

more precise forecasts with magnitude

and certainty of occurrence information, leverage collaborative research to

infuse new science, and provide better

water information to benefit the public

and the Nation's commerce. Through

AHPS, NOAA's NWS will deliver better forecast accuracy; more specific

and timely information on fast-rising

floods; new types of forecast information; longer forecast horizons; easier to

use products; increased, more timely,

and consistent access to products and

information and expanded outreach.

• Central Forecast Guidance:

$3,035,000 and 0 FTE in net increases

above the base, for a total of

$49,892,000 and 299 FTE, are

requested under the Central Forecast

Guidance line item of the Operations

and Research subactivity.

•• NOAA requests $1,000,000

and 0 FTE to fund focused research,

development, and testing of advanced

data assimilation algorithms and techniques. Expected improvements

include: development of advanced

techniques in global and mesoscale

atmospheric, ocean and land data

assimilation systems; use of new satellite data from the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), the NPOESS

Preparatory Project and European

operational instruments; and increased

use of high resolution surface and

radar observations for initializing high

resolution mesoscale forecasts. Current resources are insufficient to fully

utilize current and future observations

including radar and satellite date, and

inadequate for finer resolution forecast

applications. This investment has the

potential to provide breakthroughs in

storm track prediction performance, as

well as increasing the realism of all

parts of the systems and improving

forecast accuracy across the board.

Outcomes include improved winter

storm warnings, precipitation forecasts, and lead-times for flash flood

and Red Flag warnings.

•• NOAA requests $2,035,000

and 0 FTE to provide for the cyclic

replacement of information technology

(IT) infrastructure at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction

(NCEP) in order to enable the effective

use of increasing volumes of model

guidance, imagery and observational

data and to comply with IT security

requirements and related challenges

which are projected to increase

through the FY06 - FY07 timeframe.

By FY06, current resources devoted to

NCEP IT cyclic replacement will be

insufficient to meet projected data volume demands related to ensemble

model systems for weather and climate

forecasts and the expanding suite of

ocean and coastal model forecasts.

The IT cyclic replacement program for

operational systems will entail replacement of PCs, workstations, servers,

and operating systems to meet data

volume demands and ensure against

interference from hackers and denial of

service attacks.

Systems Operation & Maintenance

(O&M)

A net increase of $2,936,000 and 0

FTE above the base is requested in the

Systems Operation & Maintenance

subactivity, for a total of $92,543,000

and 182 FTE.

• NOAA requests an increase of

$2,936,000 and 0 FTE for a total of

$43,367,000 for NEXRAD Operations

and Maintenance. NEXRAD is the

cornerstone of the NWS Moderniza-
14 SECTION 2

tion and this increase will restore funds

requested in FY 2005 for operations

and maintenance of the NEXRAD system. Specifically, the requested

increase will allow the NWS to implement planned retrofits to WSR-88D

communications lines (copper to fiber

optic) at 8 sites where deteriorating

copper lines make communications

unreliable, thus creating a moderate to

high risk of communications failure

and lost radar data (particularly during

severe weather events). Furthermore,

NWS will be able to perform planned

radar radome and tower maintenance,

eliminating the risk of catastrophic

radar failure due to lack of structural

integrity.

Systems Acquisition

• NOAA requests an increase of

$3,530,000 and 0 FTE for a total of

$3,530,000 to strengthen the U.S.

Tsunami Warning Program. This

budget request completes the Administration's 2-year plan to strengthen the

U.S. tsunami warning program in light

of the December 26, 2004 Indian

Ocean Tsunami. Funds will be used to

complete the planned acquisition of

deep ocean assessment and reporting

of tsunamis (DART) buoys for the

Pacific Ocean Basin and the

Caribbean/Atlantic Ocean region.

Expanded monitoring capabilities

throughout the entire Pacific and

Caribbean basins and significant portions of the mid Atlantic will provide

tsunami warning capability for regions

bordering half of the world's oceans.

COOP Modernization

• NOAA is requesting an

increase of $3,400,000 and 0 FTE with

a total FY 2006 funding of $4,277,000

for the Cooperative Observer Network

Modernization (COOP), to continue

deployment of modernized COOP sites

nationwide as NWS implements the

"NOAA Environmental Real Time

Observation Network" (NERON).

NERON will provide the U.S. with a

network of accurate, near real-time

surface weather data (temperature and

precipitation) obtained with state-ofthe-art measurement, monitoring, and

communication equipment. Qualitycontrolled, higher-density, real-time

surface data will improve temperature

forecasting skills, drought monitoring

resolution, hydrology planning, and

energy optimization for NWS customers. Improved sensors, including

wind data, can provide timely data in

response to homeland security events

or disasters. NERON continues the

COOP modernization, begun in FY

2003, and will result in deployment or

upgrade of up to 8,000 modernized

sites.

• NOAA requests an increase of

$5,650,000 and 0 FTE to complete and

to sustain NOAA Weather Radio

(NWR). Funds will be used to complete NWR broadcast coverage of all

areas in the U.S. identified as at high

risk of severe weather events, by establishing 17 new broadcasting stations.

Additionally, funds will be used to

improve network reliability by refurbishing 400 stations established in the

1970s. NOAA is working with the

Department of Homeland Security, to

make NWR a national all- hazards

warning network of 900 broadcasting

stations and reaching 97% of the

nation's population.

• NOAA requests an increase of

$1,497,000 and 0 FTE to establish a

Coastal-Global Ocean Observing System (C-GOOS) in the NWS. The CGOOS Program fulfills the U.S.

coastal component of the international

GOOS effort and addresses the mandate of the President's Commission on

Ocean Policy and the National

Oceanographic Partnership Program to

bring together government, industry

and academia. In FY 2005 Congress

provided NOS $8,000,000 to add

oceanographic sensors to the existing

NWS marine observational backbone.

In FY 2006, NOAA's C-GOOS will

deploy new buoys, add the capability

to enhance future buoys with biological and chemical oceanographic sensors to allow biological and chemical

water sampling; provide information

on locations of marine endangered or

protected species; and monitor coral

reef health.

• NOAA requests no change to

the $19,285,000 base for Weather and

Climate Super-computing. The cyclical upgrade of the NWS weather and

climate supercomputing capability is

intended to procure the computing and

communications equipment needed to

receive and to process the increasing

wealth of environmental data acquired

by modernized observing systems, and

to support more sophisticated numerical weather prediction models, and

stay current with the available supercomputing technology. Execution of

this program promotes public safety

and the protection of property by providing the NCEP with the computer

systems that are capable of producing

more accurate, NWS climate and

numerical weather prediction (NWP)

guidance products for hurricanes,

severe thunderstorms, floods, and winter storms. Additionally, the supercomputing system more accurately

forecasts large-scale weather patterns

in the medium (3 to 10 days) and

extended range (30 days), plus forecasts of major climate events such as

El Niño and La Niña. In addition, the

computer upgrades will improve the

delivery of products to the field and

provide system users with enhanced

productivity. These products and services will lead to significant economic

benefits for users, like the agriculture,

construction, and transportation industries.

• NOAA requests no change to

the $7,148,000 base for the Weather

and Climate Supercomputing Backup.

Because of the critical need of the

weather and climate output, it is essential that a backup capability be operational, as part of contingency planning.

Automated Surface Observing System

• NOAA requests no change to

the $4,675,000 base for the Automated
SECTION 2 15

Surface Observing System (ASOS).

This acquisition is a tri-agency program involving NOAA, DOD, and

FAA. ASOS provides reliable, 24-

hour, continuous surface weather

observations. Under the product

improvement portion of this acquisition program, NOAA is developing

new ASOS sensor capabilities in order

to meet changing user requirements

and decrease maintenance demands.

FY 2006 funding will complete

enhanced precipitation identifier sensor deployment of 282 units and

acquire and deploy 68 25,000 feet

ceilometers.

• NOAA requests no change to

the $12,894,000 base for the Advanced

Weather Interactive Processing System

(AWIPS)/NOAAPort. AWIPS is the

cornerstone of the modernized NWS.

This system integrates and displays all

hydrometeorological data at NWS

field offices. AWIPS acquires and

processes data from modernized sensors and local sources, provides computational and display functions at

operational sites, provides an interactive communications system to interconnect NWS operational sites, and

disseminates warnings and forecasts in

a rapid, highly reliable manner. This

system integrates satellite and radar

data more fully and provides to the

local field forecaster a capability that

significantly improves forecasts and

warnings. NOAAPort offers the communications capability to provide

internal and external users with open

access to much of NOAA's real-time

environmental data.

Current AWIPS processing, communications, and storage capacity is inadequate to support current and future

system processing demands from the

three sources listed above. These preplanned and ongoing NOAA investments in modeling, satellite instruments, and radar improvements

(NEXRAD Product Improvement)

represent NOAA's commitment to

bring forecasters the data and information required to improve forecast accuracy and warning lead times.

System-wide information technology

investments are necessary to equip

NWS forecast offices with the necessary computer performance and capacity to achieve planned and evolving

operational and strategic requirements.

Planned improvements in the NWS

Tornado Warning Lead Time, Flash

Flood Warning Lead Time and Winter

Storm Warning Lead Time goals can

only be realized through the following

actions: improve AWIPS system

throughput; add new and improved science; and exploit more accurate and

higher resolution data and weather

forecast model information. To

accomplish this, we must improve

AWIPS system's performance and

capacity. Current choke points in system performance and capacity have

been identified in the following areas:

workstation and server performance,

network throughput, and software

architecture.

Improvements in system throughput

can be realized by increasing processing and network capacity. Exploitation

of new science requires radar, satellite

and model data in addition to processing capacity and the ability to quickly

and cost-effectively integrate

improved decision assistance tools into

the AWIPS software. High-resolution

data and model information requires

additional communications bandwidth,

processing and mass storage capacity.

For example, the satellite broadcast

network (SBN) does not have the

capacity to distribute the entire suite of

current Eta-12 data, let alone the

higher resolution models and products

anticipated in FY 2006 such as WRF8. Insufficient resolution is a serious

limitation in providing timely, accurate

forecasts and warnings to the public.

Next Generation Weather Radar

• NOAA requests a decrease

$2,360,000 and 0 FTE for a FY 2006

total of $8,460,000 for Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD). The

total decrease reflects the completion

of contract obligations for open systems radar detection (ORDA) and a

ramp-up in dual-polarization development efforts. The FY 2006 plan provides for the deployment of 101

ORDA units and award of the dual

polarization development and production contract.

• NOAA requests a decrease of

$2,012,000 and 0 FTE for the NWS

Telecommunications Gateway

(NWSTG) Legacy Replacement with

the completion of one-time costs

planned for the deployment of the

NWSTG Legacy Replacement. The

remaining $0.5M is needed to provide

a cyclical information technology

refresh capability and to avoid future

costly NWSTG system upgrades.

NWSTG is the communications hub

for collecting and distributing weather

information to NWS field units and

external users. Replacing the NWSTG

system with up-to-date technology will

reduce current delays in collecting and

disseminating data. In FY 2006, NWS

will conclude the three-year NWSTG

replacement effort at NWS facilities.

Radiosonde Network Replacement

• NOAA requests a decrease of

$1,989,000 and 0 FTE for a FY 2006

total of $4,387,000 for Radiosonde

Replacement Program to reflect the

reduced scope of total radiosonde

acquisition. The FY 2006 Budget will

modernize 84 out of 102 sites, and will

allow a second GPS balloon-borne

instrument (radiosonde supplier contract) to be awarded. The NWS

radiosonde network provides upperair-weather observations; the primary

source of data required by NWS

numerical weather prediction models,

which form the basis of all NWS forecasts for day 2 and beyond. Observations of temperature, pressure, humidity, and wind speed/direction are taken

twice a day at 102 locations nationwide and in the Caribbean using a

radiosonde which transmits the data

via radio signal to a ground receiving
16 SECTION 2

station usually located at a WFO,

where it is processed.

Construction

• NOAA requests an increase of

$6,200,000 and 0 FTE for a total of

$8,500,000 to finalize the design and

implementation of the construction of

the NOAA Center for Weather and Climate Prediction (NCWCP). The FY

2006 funding covers the critical long

lead procurements for data and communications infrastructure that will be

installed in the building during construction and for furnishings, fixtures

and equipment that must be procured

prior to the completion of construction.

Lastly, the funding will be used for

project management tasks supporting

technical oversight of the design and

construction process and the detailed

planning necessary to execute the relocation of critical 24x7 operational systems without service interruption. The

funding is critical to ensure project

continuity for work initiated in FY

2004. Final occupancy of the NCWCP

is scheduled for February 2008.

The NWS has had positive results

from co-locating its facilities with academic institutions or laboratories in

accelerating research into operations

and in improving performance. This

includes accelerated use of global

satellite data through state-of-the-art

data assimilation systems; improved

model forecasts; decreased time to

infuse new science into operations

from 7-10 years to 1-3 years.

NCWCP is a new facility to replace

the current World Weather Building

with a new state-of-the-art facility to

meet the operational requirements of

NCEP, NESDIS's Office of Research

and Applications and Satellite Services

Division, and the OAR's Air Resources

Laboratory. The Department of Commerce, the State of Maryland, and academic community advisors have all

agreed on a shared vision to build a

Center of Excellence for Environmental Research, Education, Applications

and Operations at a location in suburban Maryland near an academic

research institution with the following

objectives: meet NOAA operational

requirements; create research synergy

in weather and climate prediction;

accelerate transition of new science

and technology into operations;

increase interaction between students

and professors; and enhance recruitment opportunities.

FY 2004 funding for the NCWCP

enabled NOAA to support the General

Services Administration to award a

build-to-suit lease for the NOAA

NCWCP during FY 2004 and includes

necessary "above standard" construction costs. The FY 2005 lease award

for NCWCP will ensure occupancy of

the new facility by 2008 when the current World Weather Building lease

expires.

• NOAA requests an increase of

$630,000 for a total of $13,630,000

and 0 FTE for the Weather Forecast

Office (WFO) Construction, to meet

NWS WFO facility requirements.

WFO construction, part of the NWS

modernization and associated restructuring, began in the 1980s. Required

construction elements currently ongoing include the upgrade and modernization of Alaska and Pacific Region

Weather Service Offices, Tsunami

Warning Centers, and associated

employee housing units, upgrades of

Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems, uninterruptible power supply replacements, and

mitigation of all building and fire code

violations. This construction effort is

essential to bring the NWS into full

compliance with federal law and

municipal codes. In FY 2006, WFO

Construction will focus on continuing

to modernize the Alaska and Pacific

Region facilities, as well as HVAC

upgrades and correcting safety code

violations at facilities.

• NOAA requests a decrease of

$11,255,000 and 0 FTE for the Suitland Facility, leaving no funding in FY

2006.

ENVIRONMENTAL SATELLITE,

DATA, AND INFORMATION SERVICES

Proposed funding for FY 2006

includes a decrease in the Polar-Orbiting Satellite Program (POES) of $3.1

million,a net increase in the Geostationary Satellite Program (GOES) of

$52.6 million, and an increase in the

National Polar-Orbiting Operational

Environmental Satellite Systems

(NPOESS) of $16.1 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 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 for the POES program is

decreasing as it approaches the end of

its production cycle with two remaining satellites to be launched. The

GOES request includes a decrease of

$30.4 million for the GOES-N series

of satellites, and an increase of $83.0

million for the next generation GOESR series. The FY 2006 GOES-R funding will begin engineering for several

key instruments and continue the

imager production begun in FY 2005.

Another $16.1 million in funding is

included for NOAA's share of the

NPOESS program - 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 $100.3 million is included

in the budget request to maintain basic

mission satellite services including

maintenance and operation of satellite

ground facilities; provision of satellitederived products, including hazards

support; and conduct of research to

improve the use of satellite data.
SECTION 2 17

Included in the above request is $4.0

million 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 additional $53.7 million is

included in the budget request for the

NOAA Data Centers and Information

Services subactivity base operating

funds.

NOAA OCEAN SERVICE (NOS).

NOS operational oceanographic

observing systems are designed to

measure both oceanographic and meteorological parameters in order to meet

user and partner requirements. As a

result, users of the data and information support a broad cross-cut of the

marine transportation sector, the climate change research sector, weather

and water programs, and ecosystems

research community.

Funding provided through the FY

2005 budget will 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 AI), as well as the continued

implementation of the Ocean Systems

Test and Evaluation Program

(OSTEP), which is a development program for bringing new sensor technology into operations. The FY 2005

budget has allowed for sufficient support to operate the National Water

Level Observation Network

(NWLON) and for continued growth

of the Physical Oceanographic RealTime System (PORTS). Both the

NWLON and PORTS programs have

subsets of operational water level stations with meteorological sensors

installed for various partners and users,

including the NWS.

Under the NOAA-Wide Coastal

Storms Program (CSP), 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 first funded

in FY 2002, a subset of the NWLON in

the Great Lakes was enhanced with

new meteorological sensors and with

continuous GPS. Previously, special,

water level stations were enhanced

with meteorological sensors in the

Gulf of Mexico with funding from the

NWS Southern Region.

In FY 2005, NOS is using some of

the IOOS funding to upgrade and

enhance the NWLON and continues to

work cooperatively with the NWS

National Data Buoy Center to establish

common collection and quality control

procedures and data streams for meteorological and water level data from

NOS and NDBC observing systems.

NOS operational nowcast/forecast

modeling activities are expanding and

rely upon NWS Eta model data

streams as hydrodynamic model drivers. NOS is cooperating with NWS

and OAR in developing a

nowcast/forecast capability for the

Great Lakes.

OFFICE OF ATMOSPHERIC

RESEARCH (OAR).

Requested funding for FY 2006 for

Weather and Air Quality research is

$38.7 million--a decrease of $13.5 million or more than 25 percent from the

FY 2005 enacted level. Increases consist of upward base adjustments of

$2.7 million to partially cover inflationary cost increases, plus a critical

$1.7 million program increase for Air

Quality Assessments. Proposed

decreases include $1.5 million from

Weather & Air Quality Research Laboratories and Joint Institutes and $1.0

million from Weather and Air Quality

Research Programs (Phased-Array

Radar) for amounts provided in excess

of the FY 2005 request. In addition,

terminations totaling $15.0 million are

proposed for: Atmospheric Investigation Regional Modeling Analysis and

Prediction (AIRMAP) ($4.9 million);

New England Air Quality Study ($2.0

million); Targeted Wind Sensing ($2.0

million); Risk Reduction in Water

Forecasts at Mississippi State University ($2.0 million); New England Center for the Study of Atmospheric Sciences and Policy ($1.5 million); FY

2005 hurricane research supplemental

($1.0 million); the "STORM" Program

at the University of Northern Iowa

($0.6 million); Remote Sensing

Research at the Idaho State University/Boise Center Aerospace Laboratory ($0.5 million); East Tennessee

Ozone Study ($0.3 million); and the

Central California Ozone Study ($0.2

million).

Finally, since NOAA proposed transferring the U.S. Weather Research Program (USWRP) to the National

Weather Service (NWS) in FY 2005,

the $0.5 million of USWRP funding

enacted in FY 2005 in the OAR budget

is being proposed for transfer to NWS

in the FY 2006 request. Last year's

requested transfer to NWS of the

Space Environment Center ($5.3 million and 51 FTE) was enacted as

requested.

NATIONAL POLAR-ORBITING

OPERATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL SATELLITE SYSTEM

(NPOESS).

The FY 2006 DOC/DOD budget

request for NPOESS is $644.7 million.

FY 2006 funds will be used for the

continued development of system

architecture, technology development

efforts, and critical sensor and algorithm development. NPOESS is

planned to be launched in FY 2011.

This system will exploit advanced

hardware and software technologies to

produce a more reliable, longer-lived

spacecraft with greater mission capability. In addition to new products,

NPOESS will also provide a signifi-
18 SECTION 2

cant reduction (90 minutes to 30 minutes) in the time required to move from

sensed to processed data.

NOAA MARINE AND AVIATION

OPERATIONS (NMAO).

NMAO supports meteorological

activities by collection of related data

from ships and aircraft. The FY 2006

President’s Budget does not include

any significant increases or decreases

from the FY 2005 appropriation for

NMAO that are related to meteorological data collection.

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE (DOD)

The DOD total budget request for

FY 2006, excluding NPOESS funding,

is $691.4 million which represents a

funding increase of 0.7 percent from

FY 2005. Specific highlights for each

of the military departments are

described below:

U.S. AIR FORCE.

United States Air Force (USAF)

resources for meteorological support fall into several categories:

general operations, investment and

research, Defense Meteorological

Satellite Program (DMSP) operations, and DMSP and National

Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS)

supporting research. The total

USAF request for FY 2006, including DMSP and NPOESS, is $699.0

million.

General Operations: The operations portion (USAF and DMSP) of

the FY 2006 budget request is

$393.5 million and funds day-to-day

environmental support to the DOD,

including the active and reserve

components of the Air Force and

Army, nine unified commands, and

other agencies as directed by the

Chief of Staff of the Air Force. Just

over 4,400 Active and Reserve

Component military and civilian

personnel conduct these activities at

more than 290 locations worldwide.

Approximately 85 percent of personnel specialize in weather; the

remainder includes communications, computer, administrative, and

logistics specialists.

General Supporting Research:

The FY 2006 budget request for

supporting research is $28.7 million. The increase in funding over

FY 2005 is a result of research and

development efforts related to

NPOESS. In 2006, Air Force

Weather begins data ingest, analysis, and modeling research efforts in

preparation for the launch of the

NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP)

satellite and the first fully operational NPOESS satellite in 2010. A

key systems development effort in

FY 2006 is the development of the

Joint Environmental Toolkit (JET).

JET will provide a single common

forecaster interface to the virtual

Joint METOC Database (JMDB) for

use at all levels of the Air Force

Weather support structure. Additionally, it will integrate with joint

and coalition command and control

and mission planning systems by

enabling machine-to-machine

exchange of METOC data and information to meet operational planning

and execution requirements. Final

source selection and contract award

is to take place by October 2005.

DMSP Operations: Though funding for DMSP comes from the

USAF, this system is a major source

of space-borne meteorological data

for all the military services and

other high-priority DOD programs.

DMSP environmental data is also

distributed to the National Weather

Service (NWS), National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS), the Navy's

Fleet Numerical Meteorology and

Oceanography Center (FNMOC),

the Naval Oceanographic Office

(NAVOCEANO), and Air Force

Weather Agency (AFWA) according

to the Shared Processing Program

agreement.

The DMSP operations and maintenance portion of the FY 2006 budget

request is $84.1 million, the majority of which is for on-orbit satellite

operations, long-haul communications, and one dedicated command

and control facility. DMSP funds

for 120 military and civilian personnel associated with the operation

and sustainment of the DMSP command, control, and communications

segment.

DMSP and NPOESS Supporting

Research: The FY 2006 DOD R&D

budget for NPOESS is $305.5 million for the continued development

of system architecture, technology,

critical sensors, and algorithms.

NPOESS, scheduled to be available

in 2010, will exploit advanced hardware and software technologies to

produce a more reliable, longerlived spacecraft with greater mission capability.

U.S. NAVY.

The U. S. Navy FY 2006 budget

request for meteorological programs is

$212.1 million. The request includes

$179.8 million for operational programs and $32.3 million for supporting

research.

The Naval Oceanography Program

(NOP) remains an unique, world-class

program. Focusing support in the

environmentally complex coastal/littoral regions around the globe, Naval

Meteorology and Oceanography

(METOC) personnel (Navy and

Marine Corps) are required to provide

battlespace awareness for the

warfighter by assessing the impact of

atmospheric and ocean phenomena on

sensor and weapon systems. Additionally, and just as important, the Navy

and Marine Corps METOC teams provide for safe flight and navigation in

support of naval, joint, and combined
SECTION 2 19

forces operating throughout the

world's oceans. This is done 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,

the NOP meets these challenges in a

most cost-effective manner, providing

a full spectrum of products and services with only a small percent of the

Federal weather budget.

The NOP 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 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 ocean and the atmosphere, Naval

METOC requires various oceanographic products to provide the requisite meteorological services. In addition to aviation and maritime METOC

support, Navy and Marine Corps

METOC teams provide a variety of

unique services on demand, such as

electro-optical, electro-magnetic and

acoustic propagation models and products, METOC-sensitive tactical decision aids, and global sea ice analyses

and forecasts.

Support to naval operations is provided under the direction of the Commander, Naval Meteorology and

Oceanography Command (CNMOC)

located at the Stennis Space Center,

Mississippi and the Marine Corps

advocate for METOC, the Deputy

Commandant for Aviation, at Headquarters Marine Corps, Washington,

DC. 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, Naval METOC support is

directed towards providing on-scene

capabilities to personnel that directly

furnish environmental data for sensor,

weapon system, and personnel 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.

Naval METOC systems acquisition

is accomplished through the Program

Executive Office for Command, Control, Communications, Computers and

Intelligence and Space (C4I and

Space) in San Diego, California.

Naval METOC Research and Development (R&D) is cooperatively sponsored by the Oceanographer of the

Navy and the Chief of Naval Research.

Naval 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.

Projects initiated by the Navy and

Marine Corps, under sponsorship of

the Oceanographer of the Navy, transition from exploratory development to

operational naval systems. Such

efforts include advances in Naval

METOC forecasting capabilities,

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.

As the Department of the Navy transforms under SEAPOWER 21,

increased emphasis will be placed on

the naval force's capabilities for operational maneuverability, precisionguided weapons employment, indefinite sustainment and protection of joint

forces. The CNMOC Organization is

also currently transforming for efficiency and effectiveness to meet the

future requirements for SEAPOWER

21. The Naval METOC Community

continues to work closely with

research developers and operational

forces to ensure that naval and joint

force commanders will always have

the most accurate, timely, and geo-referenced METOC information available

for successful operations.

U.S. ARMY.

The U.S. Army estimates a requirement for $46.3 million for operational

support and $9.9 million in research

and development in FY 2006. The

total amount of money budgeted for

weather support is estimated because

the costs to support U.S. Air Force

(USAF) Battlefield Weather forces are

normally part of the overall G-3 or G2 operating budget at the MACOM,

Corps, Division, or Brigade level and

do not have their own program element

or budget line. Operational support is

projected to decrease approximately

$24.5 million over the FY 2005 expenditures and research is estimated to

decrease about $5.1 million from the

previous year. Staffing will increase

slightly. A supplemental budget of

over $24 million for the Meteorological Measuring Set - Profiler (MMS-P)

programs in FY 2005 accounts for the

significant difference in operational

funding levels for the Army from FY

2005 to FY 2006. Increases in staffing

are a result of a projected increase in

ARYMET units within FORSCOM.

Army monies for meteorology are
20 SECTION 2

spent in four main areas: support to

U.S. Army Artillery Met Sections

(ARTYMET), support to USAF Battlefield Weather forces at Army locations, research and development

related to the Army mission, and the

development, production, and maintenance of Army meteorological systems.

U.S. Army Major Commands

(MACOMs) with Staff Weather Officers and their associated Battlefield

Weather forces provide the same support and services to AFW personnel

that they normally provide to Army

personnel. This support includes the

use of facilities to house weather operations, medical support, access to

training facilities, office supplies, utilities and maintenance for weather facilities, vehicles and tactical equipment,

and funding for official travel. Eighth

U.S. Army, U.S. Army Europe, U.S.

Army Pacific, Forces Command, and

Training and Doctrine Command all

provide this support to Air Force

Weather (AFW) 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.

Wind data are then passed to the U.S.

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. Eighth U. S. Army,

U.S. Army Europe, U.S. 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 U.S.

Army Artillery School at Fort Sill,

Oklahoma. These personnel train

ARTYMET Teams on the use of the

AN/TMQ-41 Meteorological Measuring Set. ARTYMET team structures

will be changing over the next few

years to support the Army's new modularity concept. FORSCOM is already

making these changes to its artillery

sections, and other MACOMS will follow as their forces transform to the

new units of action. No attempt has

been made to convert the part time

Army National Guard ARTYMET

Teams into full time equivalents.

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.

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 (AFWA) in Omaha, Nebraska,

to serve in a consulting role to AFWA.

The Air Force provides one full time

Staff Weather Officer to serve as a liaison between AFW and the Army Staff.

The Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) will program the

majority of funds for operations support related to logistics (expendables),

instructor/support personnel, and

meteorological system sustainment at

the US Army Field Artillery School

(USAFAS). The Meteorological

Branch at USAFAS (Ft. Sill, OK)

employs 25 instructor and support personnel to conduct training using the

AN/TMQ-41 Meteorological Measuring Set (MMS). A significant increase

in Operational Support Funding is

expected in FY 2006 as USAFAS

begins to field the AN/TMQ 52 Meteorological Measuring Set Profiler

(MMS-P) as a replacement to the

MMS. Within the Operational Support

Funding, the increases are pinpointed

to Logistics (expendables), Instructor

Personnel, and Training Development.

TRADOC programmed monies in FY

2005 to fund a TRADOC Systems

Manager (TSM) position for the

Army's Integrated Meteorological System (IMETS). This position falls

under the TRADOC Program Integration Office - All Source Analysis System (TPIO-ASAS) at the US Army

Intelligence Center and School

(USAICS) at Ft Huachuca, AZ. TPIOASAS will fund this position in FY

2006. TRADOC transferred funds to

Air Combat Command for maintenance/service of the Automated Surface Observing Sensor (ASOS) system

at Fort Rucker, AL. Service costs on

this system are estimated to increase

slightly in FY 2006.

Forces Command (FORSCOM) will

program approximately $14.5 million

in FY 2006 for meteorological operations support. This is an increase of

nearly $1.7 million from the previous

year to support the addition of 6 new

ARTYMET sections. The original FY

2005 plan was for 9 additional

ARTYMET sections under Army modularity. In FY 2005 only 3 new sections came on line. This plan allows

for the other 6 sections to be added in

FY 2006. Over 94 percent of the programmed funds will be used in support

of FORSCOM ARTYMET operations
SECTION 2 21

and the remainder will be spent for

supplies, travel and other contracts for

AFW forces supporting FORSCOM

units.

The Army Materiel Command

(AMC) will fund a variety of activities

for FY 2006, most of which fall into

research and development and systems

acquisition. AMC will fund developmental and testing costs associated

with the Integrated Meteorological

System (IMETS). The IMETS budget

for FY 2005 underwent a $11.9 million

reduction to fund higher priority needs

within the Army. Normal program life

cycle issues reduced the Artillery's

Profiler budget by $11.8 million in FY

2005. However, the Profiler program

received over $24 million in FY 2005

through supplemental funding and was

able to purchase an additional 22 systems with this money. Three profiler

systems are planned for procurement

in FY 2006. Other activities within

AMC include Army Research Laboratory, Battlefield Environment Division,

which will continue to operate an integrated program of both basic and

applied research. The Army Research

Office will continue basic research

activities and will maintain a relatively

stable budget in FY 2006. AMC's

Field Assistance in Science and Technology (FAST) Activity will fund

deployment of new lightweight meteorological systems to test in support of

ARTYMET programs.

As a result of changes in the

USARIEM research program for FY

2005, there was a reduction in expenditures on weather-related research. It

is anticipated that FY 2006 funding for

weather-related research efforts at U.S.

Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine (USARIEM) will

decrease significantly relative to the

FY 2005 Level due to completion of an

SBIR.

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND

SECURITY (DHS)

On March 1, 2004, the Department

of Homeland Security (DHS) assumed

primary responsibility for ensuring that

emergency response professionals are

prepared for any situation in the event

of a terrorist attack, natural disaster, or

other large-scale emergency. This

entails providing a coordinated, comprehensive Federal response to any

large-scale crisis and mounting a swift

and effective recovery effort. DHS will

also prioritize the important issue of citizen preparedness, and educating America's families on how best to prepare their

homes for a disaster and tips for citizens

on how to respond in a crisis will be

given special attention at DHS.

U.S. COAST GUARD (USCG).

All of USCG's funding for meteorological programs is for operations support. For FY 2006, the requested funding level is $25.0 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 changed significantly during recent years.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

(DOI)

The total DOI/BLM weather funding

request for FY 2006 is $2.4 million.

This amount is for meteorological

operations and the support of the

Bureau of Land Management (BLM)

Remote Automatic Weather Station

(RAWS) program. An additional $1.1

million is recovered each year through

reimbursable accounts with participating

agencies. Normal operations and maintenance of the RAWS program is approximately $900,000 yearly. (This includes

travel, transportation, utilities, services,

supplies, equipment and other non-labor

costs.)

Support of the RAWS program by

the BLM will continue in FY 2006, as

part of the Wildland Fire Agencies'

participation in Fire Weather activities

and the National Fire Danger Rating

System (NFDRS). In addition to

upgrading and maintaining fixed-site

RAWS, the BLM will address increasing demand for the use of mobile units

for both fire and non-fire applications.

Continued efforts will be made to

achieve an optimum balance of fixed

and mobile RAWS resources and support. Cooperation between DOI agencies and the USDA Forest Service

regarding combined meteorological

requirements for the National Wildland

Fire support functions is ongoing.

Interagency RAWS activity is coordinated at a working group level with representation by all participants, and will

continue to implement NFDRS standards to ensure the protection of both life

and property from wildland fires.

DEPARTMENT OF

TRANSPORTATION (DOT)

The DOT total budget request for
22 SECTION 2

FY 2006 is $508.0 million which represents a funding increase of 4.4 percent from FY 2005. The meteorological programs for the Federal Aviation

Administration and the Federal Highway Administration, for FY 2006, are

described below.

FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION (FAA).

For 2006, FAA has requested a total

$504.5 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 2005 was $482.4 million. The

$22.1 million increase in FY 2006 constitutes a 4.5 percent increase in total

funding. The changes are comprised

of a) increases in acquisitions of $7.1

million (+8.4 percent) to $91.1 million,

as new systems are required to

enhance support of field operations

and the aviation industry; b) increases

in operations and support of $14.6 million (+3.9 percent) to $386.1 million,

reflecting salary increases throughout

the agency and in associated logistics;

and c) a decrease for aviation weather

research of $0.6 million to a total of

$21.5 million.

The funding changes reflect major

initiatives in the aviation weather programs to bring much automation to the

collection of weather observations

from remote sensors, to the dissemination of weather products, graphics and

decision making information available

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:

• Operation and Supportability Information System (OASIS) 6.2

Operations Support:

• Equipment Maintenance 2.8

• Flight Service Stations (FSS) 3.3

The AWRP will continue research to

understand the geophysical phenomenon 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 understand the impacts of

space weather.

FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION (FHWA).

The total FHWA request for surface

transportation weather programs in FY

2006 is $3.0 million, all of which will

be used for supporting research and

special programs.

In 1999, the FHWA began documenting road weather data requirements,

which have 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 environmental data collection, processing, and dissemination)

as well as the institutional challenges

associated with system implementation.

These institutional challenges

encompassed coordination within state

and local Departments of Transportation (DOTs) as well as across the transportation and meteorological communities. With regard to technical areas

of interest, data collection efforts will

include increased coverage of atmospheric and road condition observations, as well as incorporation of 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 road weather

information.

A new DOT initiative entitled Clarus

- the Nationwide Surface Transportation Weather Observing System - will

develop and demonstrate a regional

road weather observing network and,

ultimately, nationwide data sharing

capabilities. Clarus will allow agencies to share quality controlled environmental data, ultimately improving

forecasts and value-added weather

information products, as well as supporting anytime, anywhere road

weather information for all road and

transit users.

A multi-year effort has been undertaken by the FHWA in cooperation

with six national laboratories to prototype and field test advanced decision

support tools for winter maintenance

managers. The Maintenance Decision

Support System (MDSS) prototype is a

decision support tool that integrates

relevant road weather forecasts, coded

rules of practice for winter maintenance operations, and maintenance

resource data to provide managers with

customized road treatment recommendations. The first functional MDSS

prototype was demonstrated in Iowa in

early 2003 and during winter 2003-

2004. During winter 2004-2005, the

MDSS prototype was successfully

deployed in a third demonstration in

Colorado. The current focus of the

MDSS project is deployment assistance to assure successful technology

transfer to the private sector, who can

incorporate MDSS modules into their

product lines.

The FHWA is researching how Traffic Management Centers (TMCs)

around the country integrate road

weather information into their operations. The FHWA is documenting the

types of road weather information

received by TMCs, the means of information delivery, how information

needs change as the severity of a

weather event increases, and how that

information impacts traffic management decisions. The FHWA is also

conducting empirical studies to quantify the impacts of various weather
SECTION 2 23

events on arterial and freeway traffic

as well as investigating several other

aspects of traffic management with

respect to adverse weather, including

traffic signal timing, traffic simulation

modeling, and freeway operations.

These efforts will help FHWA advance

the state-of-the-practice in weatherresponsive traffic management.

The efforts described above, as well

as future activities captured in the

Road Weather Management Program

plan will be examined within the context of two key reports published in

early 2004 and described below.

In 2002, the FHWA asked the

National Research Council (NRC)

Board of Atmospheric Sciences & Climate to examine what needs to be done

from the research, development, and

technology transfer perspectives to

improve the production and delivery of

weather-related information for the

nation's roadways. In March 2004, the

NRC released a report, Where the

Weather Meets the Road: A Research

Agenda for Improving Road Weather

Services, that recommended the creation of a focused, national road

weather research program led by

FHWA that brings together the transportation and meteorological communities, identifies research priorities,

and implements new scientific and

technological advances. NRC recommendations included making better use

of existing road weather information

and technologies to increase capabilities for transportation research, establishing a nationwide real-time road

weather observing system, developing

observing capabilities to assess the

accuracy of road weather forecasts,

improving environmental sensor technologies, and developing new means

to effectively communicate road

weather information to a wide range of

users.

To strengthen relationships between

the meteorological and surface transportation communities, the FHWA

Road Weather Management Program

also co-sponsored the American Meteorological Society (AMS) Policy

Forum on Weather and Highways in

November 2003, to discuss provision

of weather information to improve

highway operations, development of

strategies to effectively respond to

weather information, and policy issues

related to effective application of

weather services to the management of

the nation's highway system. The

forum brought together nearly 100 representatives from public, private, and

academic sectors at federal, state, and

local levels. The report resulting from

the forum, Weather and Highways:

Report of a Policy Forum, included

several recommendations including

long-term congressional funding to

develop a national road weather

research, development, and applications program; close coordination of

federal and state DOTs to improve the

safety and efficiency of highways during adverse weather; and establishing a

national road weather data collection,

processing, and dissemination system. 

Based upon recommendations in the

AMS and NRC reports, the FHWA has

partnered with the National Oceanic

and Atmospheric Administration

(NOAA) to achieve shared goals for a

safer and more efficient surface transportation system. By working together

the agencies can take advantage of the

other's investments and expertise as

well as promote improved surface

transportation weather training, products, and services. A near-term goal of

the new partnership is the introduction

of new products, services and training

to improve the application of weather

information to surface transportation

operations. Significant investments

beyond current budget levels will be

needed to address all of the recommendations in the two reports.

FEDERAL RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION (FRA).

In 2006, the FRA requested a significant increase in Nationwide Differential Global Positioning System

(NDGPS) funding to accelerate construction of additional NDGPS sites.

Thus, FRA plans to transfer approximately $424,500 to NOAA's Forecast

Systems Laboratory in 2006.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY (EPA)

All of the EPA's funding of meteorological and air quality programs is for

supporting research. The anticipated

funding level in FY 2006 for directed

meteorological research is $9.0 million, which is the same funding level as

in FY-2005.

Currently, increased attention is

being paid to the effects of airborne

toxins and fine particulate matter on

human health, on the effect of climate

change on air quality, and the impact

on ecosystems. In addition, to promote

excellence in environmental science

and engineering, EPA established a

national fellowship program and substantially increased its support for

investigator-initiated research grants.

The 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 the same in FY 2006

as in FY 2005. This program will fund

research in areas including ecological

assessment, air quality, environmental

fate and treatment of toxins and hazardous wastes, effects of global climate

change on air quality, and exploratory

research. The portion of these grants

that will be awarded for meteorological research during FY 2006 cannot be

foreseen, but it is probable that the

grant awards will increase the base

amount of $9.0 million listed above for

directed meteorological research.

In collaboration with NOAA, EPA is

continuing its development and evalu-
24 SECTION 2

ation of air quality 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 urban, mesoscale,

regional, and multimedia models,

which will be used to develop air pollution control strategies, human and

ecosystem exposure assessments, and

air quality forecasting. There will be

increased emphasis placed on meteorological research into regional and

urban formation and transport of air

contaminants in support of the revisions to the National Ambient Air

Quality Standards and homeland security. 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 2006, NASA requests a total of

$165.2 million. The majority of this

funding ($162.6 million) is for supporting research.

The meteorology supporting

research programs lie within the EarthSun System Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD). Due

to recent organizational changes, the

task of extracting meteorology related

funds in the SMD budget has become a

complicated undertaking. The line

items in the Earth-Sun System budget

that support Earth Science are Earth

Systematic Missions, Earth System

Science Pathfinder, Earth-Sun System

Multi-Mission Operations, Earth-Sun

Research, Applied Sciences, Education

and Outreach and Earth-Sun Technology. Estimation of the meteorology

share of this budget was a two step

process. The Earth Science part of the

budget was estimated in the first step

and the meteorology share was estimated, in the second step, to be one

eighth of this sum.

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION (NRC)

The NRC planned expenditure of

$120,000 in FY 2006, is for meteorological operations to continue technical

assistance for the analysis of atmospheric dispersion for routine and postulated accidental releases from

nuclear facilities, and the review of

proposed sites for possible construction of new nuclear power plants.

The meteorological support program

in the NRC is focused primarily on

analyzing and utilizing meteorological

data in atmospheric transport and dispersion models. These models provide

insight on plume pathways in the nearand far-fields for building wake and

dispersion characteristics to perform

dose calculations on postulated

releases to the environment. Meteorological information is used as input to

the probabilistic safety assessment, the

assessment of the radiological impacts

of routine releases from normal operations, the assessment of other (nonradiological) hazards that may impact

safe operation of the facility, and the

assessment of design or operational

changes proposed for the facility.

Additionally, after a hiatus of some

25 years, the nuclear power industry

has expressed an interest in seeking

site approvals for new nuclear power

plants. Three early site permit applications have been received and are currently under review. These reviews

will also consider regional climatology

and local meteorology. In addition to

its internal review activities, the NRC

may seek assistance from other Federal

agencies to support its safety reviews.
SECTION 2 25

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 2006, Operational Costs

requested are $2.98 billion with a

total of $1.85 billion (62.2 percent) for Operations Support,

$1.09 billion (36.8 percent) for

Systems Acquisition, and

$31.4 million (1.1 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 (nonhardware), Systems Development

(hardware), and Special Programs

(for those items that do not easily

fit into the two major categories).

For FY 2006, agencies will obligate a total of $386 million in

Supporting Research funds in the

following manner: $297.6 million

(77.1 percent) to research and

development and $88.5 million

(22.9 percent) to Systems Development.

AGENCY FUNDING BY SERVICE CATEGORY

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 2006 operational funds: basic

meteorology services receiving

57.8 percent; aviation 20.1 percent;

marine 5.3 percent; agriculture/

forestry 0.6 percent; general military

services 15.9 percent; and other specialized services accounting for 0.4

percent. Table 2.5 shows the distribution of supporting research funds

among the services with basic meteorology receiving 25.0 percent, aviation

6.0 percent, marine 8.5 percent, agriculture and forestry 7.3 percent, general military 7.9 percent, and the

remaining 45.2 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.

PERSONNEL ENGAGED IN METEOROLOGICAL OPERATIONS

Table 2.6 depicts agency staff

resources in meteorological operations. The total agency staff resourcesrequested for FY 2006 is 16,365. This

total represents a decrease of 0.5 percent from FY 2005.
26 SECTION 2
SECTION 2 27
28 SECTION 2
SECTION 2 29
30 SECTION 2

TABLE 2.6 PERSONNEL ENGAGED IN METEOROLOGICAL OPERATIONS

(Units are Full Time Equivalent Staff Years)*

% of FY 2006

AGENCY FY 2005 FY 2006 % CHANGE TOTAL

Agriculture 236 234 -0.8 1.4

Commerce/NOAA (Subtotal) 5,717 5,714 -0.1 34.9

NWS 4,654 4,651 -0.1 28.4

NESDIS 870 870 0.0 5.3

OAR 32 32 0.0 0.2

NOS 107 107 0.0 0.7

NMAO 54 54 0.0 0.3

Defense 6,691 6,571 -1.8 40.2

Air Force (Subtotal) 4,714 4,714 0.0 28.8

Air Force Weather 4,594 4,594 0.0 28.1

DMSP 120 120 0.0 0.7

Navy 1,665 1,522 -8.6 9.3

Army 312 335 7.4 2.0

Homeland Security (Subtotal) 108 108 0.0 0.7

USCG 108 108 0.0 0.7

Interior/BLM (Subtotal) 28 28 0.0 0.2

Interior 26 26 0.0 0.2

Reimbursed** 2 2 0.0 0.0

Transportation (Subtotal) 3,662 3,708 1.3 22.7

FAA 3,659 3,705 1.3 22.6

FHWA 3 3 0.0 0.0

EPA 0 0 0.0 0.0

NASA 0 0 0.0 0.0

NRC 2 2 0.0 0.0

TOTAL 16,444 16,365 -0.5 100.0

* Numbers of personnel are rounded to nearest whole number.

** "Reimbursed" are personnel funded by other agencies.
SECTION 2 31

Table 2.7 summarizes the reimbursement of funds from one agency to

another during FY 2005. 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. NESDIS

will transfer a total of $291.0 million to

NASA for procurement and launches

of polar-orbiting ($86.2 million) and

geostationary ($204.8 million) satellites.

Department of Defense. The Air

Force will reimburse DOC a total of

$4.64 million for operations [e.g.,

OFCM support ($170,000), Lightning

Data ($638,000), NCEP operations

($14,000), WSR-88D support

($2,531,000), COMET training development ($200,000), geomagnetic data

($215,000), and IPO support

($162,000)]. In addition, the Air Force

will reimburse NASA $213,000 for a

variety of data and USGS $300,000 for

the purchase of a magnetometer. The

Navy will reimburse DOC $209,000

for basic climatological analysis and

forecasting, and interagency coordination. The Army reimbursements to

DOC/NOAA include $569,000 from

COE to NWS for maintaining precipitation reporting stations The U.S.

Geological Survey will also be reimbursed $500,000 by the Army’s COE

for operations and maintenance of

hydrologic and precipitation reporting

stations.

Department of Transportation. The

FAA will reimburse NOAA $32.2 million for FY 2006. 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, studies, and OFCM support. The

FAA will also reimburse the DOD a

total of $3.3M for supporting research. 

The FRA transferred $141,500 to

NOAA's Forecast Systems Laboratory in

2005 to fund the purchase of weather

sensing equipment which was installed at

the Nationwide Differential Global Positioning System sites constructed in 2005.

In 2006, FRA requested a significant

increase in NDGPS funding to accelerate

construction. Thus, FRAplans to transfer

approximately $424,500 to Forecast Systems Laboratory in 2006.

National Aeronautics and Space

Administration (NASA). The Air

Force will be reimbursed a total of

$1.599 million--$1.444 million for

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

systems at Trans-Atlantic Abort Landing Sites and $155 million for operation and maintenance of weather towers at Edwards AFB, CA. The UCAR

will receive $20,000 for data analysis

to improve lightning launch commit

criteria. The National Data Buoy Center will receive reimbursements of

$133,000 for the operation of two data

buoys.

Environmental Protection Agency

(EPA). NOAA's Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) will receive $6.7 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 2005, the NRC expects to task

DOE laboratories and the National

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center at

a funding level of $120,000.

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.
32 SECTION 2

TABLE 2.7 INTERAGENCY FUND TRANSFERS FOR METEOROLOGICAL

OPERATIONS AND SUPPORTING RESEARCH

FY 2004 Funds ($K)

Estimated or Planned

Agency Funds Agency Funds Supporting

Transferred from: Transferred to: Operations Research

Commerce/NOAA NASA (Polar satellite acquisition) 86,200

NASA (Geo satellite acquisition) 204,800

Defense/Air Force OSDP 53

DOC/NOAA/NWS/NCEP 14

DOC/NOAA/NWS/OS6 200

DOC/NOAA/NWS 638

DOC/NOAA/OFCM 170

DOC/NOAA/NPOESS/IPO 136

DOC/NOAA/NWS/SEC 215

DOC/NOAA/NESDIS/IPO 26

DOC/NOAA/NWS 727

DOC/NOAA/NWS 1804

DOC/NOAA/NWS 138

DOC/NOAA/NWS 517

DOI/USGS 300

NASA 190

NASA 23

NSF 140

Defense/Navy DOC/NOAA/NCDC 44

DOC/NOAA/OFCM 165

Defense/Army DOC/NOAA/NWS 569

DOI/USGS 500

DOD/USAF/ACC 60

Transportation/FAA DOC/NOAA 24,865 7,310

DOD/USAF 2,800

DOD/USN 540

Transportation/FRA DOC/NOAA 141

NASA DOD/USAF/45th SW 1,444

DOD/USAF/Edwards AFB 155

DOC/NOAA/NDBC 133

UCAR 20

EPA DOC/NOAA/OAR 6,700

NRC DOE/PNNL 120
SECTION 2 33

No. of Locations

TYPE OF OBSERVATION/AGENCY (FY 2004)

Surface, land

Commerce (all types) 841

Air Force (U.S. & Overseas) 162

Navy (U.S. & Overseas) 72

Marine Corps (U.S. & Overseas) 13

Army (U.S. & Overseas) 45

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 (Road Wx Obsg Stn) 2,149

Transportation (Auto Sfc Obsg Sys, fielded) 569

Homeland Security (USCG Coastal) 50

Interior 470

Agriculture 1567

NASA (all types) 46

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 288

Homeland Security (USCG Cutters) 232

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) 18

Army, Mobile (U.S. and Overseas) 87

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

Navy, Mobile(U.S. & Overseas) 47

Navy, Ships 29

Marine Corps, Mobile 10

NASA (U.S.) 1

Atmospheric Profilers

Army 9

NASA 1

No. of Locations

TYPE OF OBSERVATION/AGENCY (FY 2004)

Upper air, rocket

Army (U.S. & Overseas) 1

Doppler weather radar (WSR-88D) sites

Commerce (NWS) 123

Air Force (U.S. & Overseas) 26

Army (U.S. & Overseas) 3

Transportation (Off CONUS 12

Doppler weather radar (Not WSR-88D) sites

Air Force (Transportable) 9

Army 2

Navy (Fixed) 9

Marine Corps (Mobile) 10

Off-site WSR-88D Processors (PUPs)

Commerce (NWS) 63

Air Force 59 (+38 OPUPs)

Navy (U.S. and Overseas) 24

Marine Corps (U.S. & Overseas) 9

Army 1

Transportation 25

NASA 1

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, Mobile Units 23

Marine Corps, Mobile units 15

Army (U.S. and Overseas) 4

Transportation (FAA (WSP)) 34

Weather reconnaissance (No. of aircraft)

Commerce (NAMO) 3

Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) 10

Geostationary meteorological satellites (No. operating)

Commerce (planned config of 2) 2

Polar meteorological satellites (No. operating)

Commerce (2 primary, 4 standby) 6

Air Force (2 primary, 3 standby) 5

Navy (WINDSAT AND GFO) 2

TABLE 2.8 FACILITIES/LOCATIONS FOR TAKING METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS

SECTION 3 DOC 35

SECTION 3

NOAA's 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 U.S., it's 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, Great Lakes, coastal

and ocean conditions.

• Observes and reports the weather

and the river and ocean conditions of

the U.S. and it's 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 weatherrelated 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).

• International Convention for the

Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) agreement to which the U.S. is signatory.

This sets international policy for safer

shipping and cleaner seas. The U.S

implements the convention through

Executive Order 12234 of Sept. 3,

1980 -- Enforcement of the Convention for SOLAS. Among the obligations of the agreement is to provide

meteorological warnings and forecasts

to ships at sea using charts and radio

messages.

SERVICES

NWS provides climate, water,

weather and space weather prediction

services; including watches, 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 the nine centers

of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP).

These offices collect data, prepare

local warnings and forecasts, and disseminate information to the public

both nationally and internationally

through NOAA Weather Radio, satellite-based telecommunication systems,

radiofacsimile, the media and the internet. Forecast and warning services

prepared at WFOs are derived in part

from prediction guidance prepared by

the 13 RFCs and the nine NCEP cenDEPARTMENT 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 NOAA Marine and Aviation Operations (NMAO).

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
36 DOC SECTION 3 

ters. These centers are the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center, Storm

Prediction Center, Aviation Weather

Center, Environmental Modeling Center, Tropical Prediction Center, Climate Prediction Center, Space Environment Center, Ocean Prediction

Center, and NCEP Central Operations.

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.

NOAA's NWS Public Weather Service Program provides forecast, warning, and response services to the public, private meteorological firms,

broadcast meteorologists, and NWS

partners who are responsible for public

safety. These partners include Federal,

state, and local emergency managers

and planners. NWS forecasters use

their expertise to routinely modify a

local digital database and 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.

The digital forecast information is

delivered in a variety of formats (e.g.,

gridded binary format (GRIB2) via

anonymous file transfer protocol,

eXtensible Markup Language (XML),

text, tabular, graphics) to meet customer and partner needs. NWS forecasters issue short-duration watches

and warnings for severe weather, such

as tornadoes and severe thunderstorms,

as well as long-duration watches,

warnings, and advisories for hazardous

winter weather conditions, high wind

events, dense fog, and temperature

extremes. NWS forecasters support

several health related programs such as

Air Quality, Heat Health, and the

Ultraviolet (UV) Index. Ground based

ozone concentration forecasts are now

being produced for the northeast U.S.

and a nationwide development effort is

underway. An experimental Heat

Health Watch Warning System

(HHWWS) has been developed for

select cities to provide advance notice

of excessive heat events. Also, a climatological approach to providing UV

alerts for the entire nation is under

development.

The NWS Public Weather Service

Branch serves as the primary focal

point for collaboration with Federal

transportation agencies on weather

issues related to surface transportation;

with federal and private entities on the

Ultra-Violet index program, and with

the World Meteorological Organization on the provision of public weather

services to the international community. Additionally, NWS forecasters

provide meteorological support both

on-site and from WFOs for terrorist

acts and other homeland security concerns, as well as accidental

releases/spills of hazardous chemical,

biological, or radioactive materials.

In 2005, the NWS began creating,

and making readily available, operational forecasts in digital formats. This

information is stored in the National

Digital Forecast Database NDFD).

Output from NDFD is available in the

form of web graphics available over

the Internet, in GRIB2 format (GRIB2)

via anonymous file transfer protocol,

or in XML via an experimental web

service. NDFD data can also be converted to a file format that can be used

with Geographical Information System

(GIS) software. NDFD includes various sensible weather elements such as

temperature, probability of precipitation, weather and sky cover; and also

includes derived elements such as relative humidity and apparent temperature (i.e., wind chill and heat index).

For more detailed information on

NDFD, please see

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/ndfd/.

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 590 public-use

airports in the U.S. and it's territories in

the Caribbean and Pacific. These

offices also produce about 241 individual route-oriented forecasts three times

a day for the 48 contiguous states and

over the Pacific Ocean.

NCEP's Aviation Weather Center

(AWC) and the Alaska Region's Alaska

Aviation Weather Unit (AAWU), and

WFO Honolulu, HI prepare area forecasts three or four times daily describing general aviation weather conditions over the lower 48 states, the Gulf

of Mexico, Caribbean, Alaska, Hawaii

and coastal waters respectively. These

three specialized offices also 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

U.S. 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 FAA Air

Route Traffic Control Centers provide

direct meteorological support to

enroute centers, Terminal Radar

Approach Controls, airport towers, and

Automated Flight Service Stations.

The NWS provides a service to international aviation as one of the International Civil Aviation Organization's

(ICAO'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 four times a day of

globally significant 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
SECTION 3 DOC 37

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 and NCEP share management

responsibility for operating the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centers (VACC) in

the state of Washington and Anchorage, Alaska.

The NWS, working closely with the

FAA's Aviation Weather Research Program, developed new experimental

and operational forecast products

designed to improve aviation hazard

forecasts from zero to six hours into

the future (Figure 3-DOC-1).

New icing and turbulence products

for meteorologists and end users

became operational in FY 2004.

Improved software tools to increase

the number of terminal airports covered by a forecast are also under development.

MARINE WEATHER SERVICES.

The NWS Marine Weather Program

is the lead for the nation's marine and

coastal weather services. Programs

include warnings, forecasts, and advisories for coastal waters, offshore, high

seas, and near-shore and open waters

of the Great Lakes. It leads programs

for tropical cyclone, coastal flood,

severe convective coastal weather, and

coastal hazards such as high surf, rip

currents, and tsunamis. NWS forecasters at 46 coastal and marine WFOs, in

collaboration with NCEP's Ocean Prediction Center and Tropical Prediction

Center, provide a range of weather

services focused on the expanding and

weather-sensitive U.S. coastal population and those responsible for its

safety.

The program develops plans, policy

and procedures for the delivery of

marine and coastal weather products

and services from the coastal WFOs,

the Ocean Prediction Center, the Tropical Prediction Center, and the Central

Pacific Hurricane Center. It ensures

marine and coastal forecast training

needs are met. The program works

with the NWS’s Office of Science and

Technology to prioritize tropical,

marine and coastal science and technology development and approve new

or improved product designs, and with

the Office of Operational Systems to

ensure the collection of marine and

coastal observations and the delivery

of marine and coastal products to

users. The program creates internal

and external partnerships, collects and

validates marine and coastal service

and mission needs, solicits feedback

on products and services and validates

whether these needs are met.

The program works with:

• NOAA's NESDIS, the U.S. Navy

and the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) to

provide ice warning and advisory services through the joint National Ice

Center;

• the Navy, the USCG, the U.S. Maritime Administration, and the Corps of

Engineers to safely operate the nation's

Marine Transportation System;

• the Department of Defense, Federal Emergency Management Agency,

and Corps of Engineers to provide

tropical cyclone services;

• the USCG, Navy, Air Force, and

private entities to disseminate weather

to mariners;

• NOAA's National Ocean Service

(NOS) on the PORTS and TIDES programs; and 

• the World Meteorological Organization to provide services to the international community.

It also works in cooperation with

NOAA's Office of Response and

Restoration, the Department of

Defense, and Department of Homeland

Security for forecasting services for

hazardous material spills, marine area

search, rescue, and recovery operations, and security needs.

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 U.S.
38 DOC SECTION 3 

FIRE/ALL HAZARD WEATHER

SERVICES.

NOAA's NWS offices provide routine pre-suppression and wildfire

weather support to Federal and state

land management agencies. NWS

forecasters provide routine fire

weather forecasts, forecast support for

the National Fire Danger Rating System, and site specific forecasts during

the local fire season over roughly

three-quarters of the Nation.

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, NOAA's

National Centers for Environmental

Prediction'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. Areas where significant

lightning activity accompanied by less

than 0.1 inch of precipitation (dry

lightning) is forecast are also highlighted. Additionally, NWS forecasters provide forecasts in response to

hazardous material incidents or Incidents of National Significance (such as

the Columbia Recovery effort)

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 west coast of

the continental U.S. 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 (CS).

Climate prediction products and

other services relate to the period of

week two out to one year, including

seasonal forecasts and hazard assessments. The NWS's Climate Prediction

Center produces a suite of products

covering these periods. The climate

services program provides the strategic

vision for climate services at NWS,

oversees the program including the

expanded regional and local climate

services programs, and serves as steward of the climate observing system. It

maintains strong ties with other countries; across NOAA lines, specifically

through the NOAA Climate Office;

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.

The 122 WFOs, 13 River Forecast

Centers (RFCs), and NCEP's Hydrometeorological Prediction Center (HPC)

work as a team to provide hydrologic

forecast and warning services which

minimize loss of life and property

damage from flooding and to meet the

water service needs of our Nation.

RFC hydrologists use a modeling system called the NWS River Forecast

System (NWSRFS) to produce forecast time series of discharges or river

stages at approximately 4,000 locations along the nation's rivers. HPC

provides the quantitative precipitation

forecasts serving as the primary forecast input for NWSRFS. RFCs also

provide long-term water supply forecasts used by water managers in the

western U.S., where decisions about

water allocation and use are particularly critical now, with much of the

West still feeling the effects of a longterm drought.

WFOs work cooperatively with the

RFCs to monitor the major river systems around the clock. Using RFC

guidance, advanced Doppler radar

(NEXRAD) and telemetered rain

gauge observations, WFOs continuously monitor the threat of flash flooding and urban flooding to provide

timely flood watches and warnings to

protect life and property.

Partnerships with a variety of Federal, state and local agencies are critical to NOAA's NWS Hydrologic Services Program. For example, the NWS

works very closely with the United

States Geological Service (USGS), the

United States Army Corps of Engineers, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the Bureau of

Reclamation, and the Bureau of Land

Management on a variety of water

related issues including stream gauging, support of flood fighting activities,

river and water supply forecasting, and

water management. River stage observations and stage-discharge relationships provided by the USGS are critical to warning and forecast operations

for the Nation's rivers. The NRCS furnishes snow measurements that are

combined with advanced snow modeling and analysis provided by NOAA's

National Operational Hydrologic

Remote Sensing Center to support

joint NWS-NRCS water supply forecasting in the western U.S.

The NWS is implementing the

Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) to provide hydrologic

forecasts with lead times ranging from

days to months. AHPS builds on the

existing NWS infrastructure, including

AWIPS, NEXRAD, and NWSRFS.
SECTION 3 DOC 39

AHPS also provides Ensemble Streamflow Prediction, a feature that allows

the NWS to quantify forecast uncertainty. This lets decision makers apply

risk-based analyses as they respond to

flooding, and as they try to balance

competing demands on water supply,

especially during periods of drought.

Flash floods, typically caused by

intense, small-scale convection, are the

leading cause of flood fatalities.

Another AHPS capability, known as

Flash Flood Monitoring and Prediction

(FFMP), combines high-resolution

radar rainfall observations with Geographic Information System (GIS)

technology to provide more accurate

and much more precise flash flood

forecasts. The added precision provided by FFMP greatly reduces the

false alarm rate of flash flood forecasts, making them more credible and

leading to better public response,

which will ultimately save lives.

AHPS services are provided as a

suite of Web-based products

(weather.gov/water), that feature userfriendly menus and maps which allow

users to zoom in to areas of interest.

Clicking on an area of interest on the

national map (Figure 3-DOC-2) brings

the user to a map of the NWS WFO

serving that area which provides more

detailed information on river conditions.

AHPS also opens opportunities to

improve NOAA's analysis and forecast

capabilities related to coastal water

conditions, through joint efforts with

other components of NOAA (e.g.,

National Ocean Service, Office of

Oceanic and Atmospheric Research).

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 of

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;

Figure 3-DOC-2. Map showing status of river conditions throughout the Nation. This map is included on the primary

AHPS Web page and it provides access to more detailed local information on river conditions, including observations

and forecasts at specific locations along rivers, as well as expected impacts that could result from flooding.
40 DOC SECTION 3 

• Replace obsolete observing systems;

• Implement new observing technologies and communication systems

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.

NWS Headquarters establishes policy

for observations and standards and

coordinates with other Government

agencies and international organizations.

NOAA's Cooperative Weather

Observer Network (COOP) is the

Nation's largest and oldest weather network (Figure 3-DOC-3). Modernization of the COOP under NOAA’s Environmental Real-Time Observation

Network (NERON) is consistent with

the President's Climate Change

Research Initiative, providing a richer

source of data to improve weather,

water and climate forecasting and to

contribute to climate change research.

The COOP is the primary source for

monitoring U.S. climate variability

over weekly to interannual time

frames. These data are also the primary basis for assessments of centuryscale climate change. The modernized

network will add to NOAA's vision of

an-end-to-end monitoring program

that "takes the temperature" of the

earth's systems.

NATIONAL CENTERS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PREDICTION

(NCEP).

NCEP delivers analyses, guidance,

forecasts and warnings for weather,

ocean, climate, water, land surface and

space weather to the Nation and world.

NCEP provides science-based products and services through collaboration

with partners and users 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.

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.

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 U.S. come from the

SPC. Also, the SPC prepares

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 non-severe 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

Figure 3-DOC-3. Map showing locations of Cooperative Weather Observer

Network (COOP). Interactive web site can be found at

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/coop/wfo-rfcmap.htm
SECTION 3 DOC 41

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 for 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 U.S., the Gulf of

Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, the

Atlantic and Pacific routes in the

Northern Hemisphere and some routes

in the Southern Hemisphere.

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

NASA/NOAA Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation (JCSDA)

designed to accelerate the use of

research and operational satellite data

in NCEP operational models. T h e

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 (USWRP) Hurricane at Landfall project and the community Weather Research and Forecast

(WRF) model. Furthermore, EMC is

participating in the Winter Storm

Reconnaissance Program in the Pacific

through targeted observations aimed at

improving forecasts across the country.

EMC efforts with collaborative development have resulted in improvements

to mesoscale and global models, as

well as advancements in hurricane

track forecasts, climate forecasts and

air quality 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 U.S. Drought

Monitor, a drought outlook, and El

Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO)

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 U.S.

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. 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
42 DOC SECTION 3 

forecasts for international use.

Ocean Prediction Center.

The Ocean Prediction Center (OPC)

provides atmospheric and oceanographic warning, forecast, and analysis

products and services for the North

Atlantic and North Pacific (north of 30

degrees - see Figure 3-DOC-4) as part

of the NWS mission of protecting life

and property and enhancing economic

opportunity. As part of this responsibility, OPC handles U.S. international

meteorological obligations to marine

interests under the International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea

(SOLAS). The OPC provides weather

and sea state warnings and forecasts

for the offshore waters of the U.S. and

the high seas of the Northern Hemisphere north of 30 degrees for planning

and operational purposes. OPC warnings and products go directly to ships

and are vital for the protection of life

and property at sea, and enhancement

of the economy. The OPC also coordinates forecasts with and provides forecast guidance to WFOs with coastal

responsibilities. The OPC, the Tropical Prediction Center (TPC), HPC, and

WFO Honolulu, HI collaborate daily

to produce unified and seamless surface weather analyses covering from

30 degrees South to the North Pole,

and from East Asia across the Pacific

and Atlantic to Western Europe and

Africa.

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

public and marine 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 30 degrees

north latitude and a portion of the

southeast Pacific. TPC warnings and

products go directly to ships and are

vital for the protection of life and property at sea, and enhancement of the

economy. 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. Since

an upgrade to NCEP's main computer

systems and facilities in 1999, and

throughout subsequent upgrades, NCO

has delivered NCEP model forecasts

and products to its users with a high

degree of reliability and timeliness.

Other NWS Offices with National

Responsibilities.

In addition to the NCEP centers,

there are two other offices that provide

National products. They are the Alaska

Aviation Weather Unit and the WFO

Honolulu/Central Pacific Hurricane

Center.

• Alaska Aviation Weather Unit.

The Alaska Aviation Unit (AAWU) Figure 3-DOC-4. United States High Seas Forecast Areas of Responsibility.
SECTION 3 DOC 43

provides wind, temperature, and flight

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

aircraft operations for Alaska and surrounding areas (Figure 3-DOC-5).

• 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 the central north

Pacific from 140 degrees W to 160

degrees E longitude and in the Oakland

Flight Information Region south of 30

degrees 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 30 degrees 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

procedure to support national flood

and water resources forecasting.

Research encompasses the following

areas:

• Improvements to the Ensemble

Streamflow Prediction (ESP) system

and its complementary models in the

NWS River Forecasting System.

Research, development and implementation of improved ESP procedures

which improve forecast accuracy and

Figure 3-DOC-5. Two products available from the Alaska Aviation Weather

Center are an Aviation Weather Clickable map (top, left) and Forecast Surface map (lower, right).
44 DOC SECTION 3 

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.

Research and development at 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). This

applied research is focused on areas

where advanced applications can be

devised and prototyped to improve 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 radio-communicators and

Global Positioning System (GPS) and

Loran users.

• Developing of models to characterize and predict geomagnetic storm

intensity development, spatially and

temporally.

SUPPORT FOR COLLABORATIVE

RESEARCH WITH THE ACADEMIC COMMUNITY AND OTHER

PARTNERS.

The Collaborative Science, Technology, and Applied Research (CSTAR)

program was established to bring

NWS-supported collaborative activities with the academic community into

a structured program and to create a

cost-effective transition from basic and

applied research to operations and

services. The CSTAR Program issues

requests for proposals through which

colleges and universities compete for

1-3 years of research funding. CSTAR

supports shorter-term research activities with colleges and universities

through the NWS/Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology,

Education, and Training (COMET)

Outreach Program. The NWS also

funds specific applied research grants

and cooperative agreements directly in

support of hydrology and meteorology

research needs.

TRAINING.

NOAA's NWS provides training to

its work force to enhance the professional and scientific development of its

staff in support of NOAA's NWS mission and strategic goals. Training deficiencies and requirements are identified and addressed via the National

Strategic Training and Education Plan

(NSTEP) process, described in NWS

Instruction 20-102 and available at

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/directives/020/pd02001002a.pdf.

Training is provided through a variety of in-residence courses and distance learning techniques. Hands-on,

in-residence training can be acquired at

any of the three NOAA's NWS professional training facilities. The NWS

Training Center (NWSTC) in Kansas

City, Missouri, provides technical,

meteorological and hydrologic, and

management/leadership training. The

Warning Decision Training Branch

(WDTB) in Norman, Oklahoma, conducts situational awareness and remote

sensing training with modules that

integrate data for improving the warning decision process.

Finally, the Cooperative Program for

Operational Meteorology, Education

and Training (COMET) in Boulder,

Colorado, offers advanced meteorological and hydrometeorological education to ensure that NWS employees

have access to the latest software,

hardware to improve forecasting techniques. All three facilities also offer

distance learning, Internet modules,

teletraining, webcasts and CD-ROM

based training. NWS employees have

direct access to scientific and managerial training materials through the

DOC/NOAA Learning Management

System (LMS).

The NWSTC, is also working to

expand its leadership training and

development skills through NOAA's

NWS Leadership Academy. The goal

of the Leadership Academy is to

enable NWS and NOAA employees to

become world-class leaders. The

Academy is built on a sequential and

progressive design to help develop

employee professional skills and capabilities to improve employee performance. From entry into the agency to

senior career status, employees can

take advantage of courses and

processes that are part of a powerful

management and leadership learning

environment. Finally, NWS is working to develop an organized curriculum

to supply the necessary knowledge,

skills, and abilities for all positions.
SECTION 3 DOC 45

The National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service

(NESDIS), part of the National

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), manages the U.S. civil

operational environmental satellite

systems, as well as the three NOAA

National Data Centers (NNDCs) that

develop global, national, and regional

databases that support meteorology,

oceanography, geophysics, and the

space environment. 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 the Environmental Data and Information Service (EDIS) formed NESDIS.

NESDIS procures, launches and

operates two types of satellites to provide worldwide environmental data

and information products and services

to Federal agencies, state and local

governments, and private users. These

are the Polar Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) and Geostationary Operational Environ-mental

Satellites (GOES).

Currently NESDIS is operating six

polar orbiters. NOAA-17 and NOAA18 are classified as the primary "operational" satellites and are part of the

new series of polar orbiters, with

improved sensors, that began with the

launch of NOAA-15 in May 1998, followed by NOAA-16 on September 21,

2000, NOAA-17 on June 24, 2002, and

finally, the newest, NOAA-18 on May

20, 2005. The NOAA-12, NOAA-14

and NOAA-15 satellites continue to

transmit data as stand-by satellites.

NOAA-16 will soon also join the ranks

as a stand-by, with the successful

check-out of NOAA 18. NOAA-17

serves as the primary morning satellite

and NOAA-18 the primary afternoon

satellite. The POES satellites are constantly circling the Earth in an almost

north-south orbit, passing close to both

poles. The orbits are circular, with an

altitude between 830 (morning orbit)

and 870 (afternoon orbit) km, and are

sun synchronous. One satellite crosses

the equator at 10:00 a.m. local time,

the other at 2:00 p.m. local time. The

circular orbit permits uniform data

acquisition by the satellite and efficient

control of the satellite by the NOAA

Command and Data Acquisition

(CDA) stations located near Fairbanks,

Alaska, and Wallops Island, Virginia.

Operating as a pair, these satellites

ensure that data for any region of the

Earth are no more than six hours old.

Each satellite orbits 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. NOAA also manages

the command, control, and communications function of the Department of

Defense's (DOD's) Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) constellations.

An agreement 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 U.S.-provided payload

instruments and sensors, beginning in

2006. Thus, upon inception of this

operational arrangement, NOAA will

operate the afternoon mission while

EUMETSAT will support the morning

mission. Under this joint mission,

upgraded instruments will be flown

that will result in improvements for the

user community. For example, the

High Resolution Infrared Sounder

(HIRS) instrument will be upgraded

resulting in improved atmospheric

sounding information. The Advanced

Very High Resolution Radiometer

(AVHRR) global one-kilometer data

will be available enhancing the usefulness of this data for fire detection,

CoastWatch, and any other applications that require higher resolution. It

also provides the opportunity to use

new sensor data from EUMETSAT

instruments, in preparation for future

NPOESS support.

On October 3, 1994, NOAA, DOD,

and the National Aeronautics and

Space Administration (NASA) combined the nation's military and civilian

environmental satellite programs to

create an Integrated Program Office

(IPO) to develop, manage, acquire, and

operate the national polar-orbiting

meteorological satellite system, subsequently designated the National Polarorbiting Operational Environmental

Satellite System (NPOESS). The IPO

is organizationally located within

NOAA and is headed by a System ProNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL SATELLITE, DATA, AND INFORMATION SERVICE
46 DOC SECTION 3 

gram Director responsible to the

NPOESS Executive Committee. This

committee, which consists of the

Under Secretary of Commerce for

Oceans and Atmosphere, the Under

Secretary of the Air Force, and the

NASA Deputy Administrator, 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 costeffective 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 operational satellite and ground

system will be delivered by the shared

system performance prime contractor,

Northrop Grumman, and is expected to

be available late in this decade depending on when the current U. S. polar

satellite assets are exhausted.

NPOESS will provide standard

meteorological, 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 with

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.

The first NPOESS launch is planned

for 2009. However, the NPOESS system is a launch-on-demand system.

Based on this strategy, the first

NPOESS satellite, referred to as C1,

should be available in 2008 to support

any potential on-orbit or launch failure

of existing U.S. polar satellites. However, based on the latest revisions, the

new launch date for C1 is November

2009 (See Table 3.1).

NESDIS is also responsible for operating two Geostationary Operational

Environmental Satellites (GOES),

referred to as GOES East and GOES

West. Each satellite views nearly one

third of the Earth's surface. The GOES12 (East) satellite is positioned at 75

degrees W longitude and the equator

and monitors North and South America

and most of the Atlantic Ocean. The

GOES-10 (West) satellite is positioned

at 135 degrees W longitude at the

equator and monitors North America

and the Pacific Ocean basin. The two

operate together to provide the kind of

continuous monitoring necessary for

effective and extensive data analyses.

GOES East and West circle the Earth

in a geosynchronous orbit, which

means they orbit the equatorial plane

of the Earth at a speed matching the

Earth's rotation. This allows them to

hover continuously over one position

on the Earth's surface.

The geosynchronous plane is about

35,800 km (22,300 miles) above the

Earth, high enough to allow the satellites a full-disc view of the Earth.

Because they stay above a fixed spot

on the surface, they provide a constant

vigil for the atmospheric "triggers" of

severe weather conditions such as tornadoes, flash floods, hailstorms, and

hurricanes. When these conditions

develop, the GOES satellites are able

to monitor storm development and

track their movements.

Additionally, as part of a NOAA

bilateral agreement with Japan, GOES9 has been provided to the Japanese

Meteorological Agency to replace a

Japanese geostationary satellite. This

will ensure Pacific geostationary satellite coverage for Japan, the U.S. and

our allies until the operational readiness of the Japanese Multifunctional

Transport Satellite (MTSAT-1R)

launched in 2005 is determined.

MTSAT-1R will replace GOES-9 as

the primary geostationary environmental satellite in the west Pacific region.

Finally, GOES-11 is being stored in

orbit as a replacement for GOES-12 or

GOES-10 in the event of failure of

either of these systems.

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. The 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
SECTION 3 DOC 47

processes and distributes data from

NOAA and non-NOAA environmental

satellites and generates automated and

interpretive products for various government agencies, private industry and

educational institutions. Key customers include the NWS, DOD, FAA,

NASA, worldwide Meteorological

Watch Offices, EPA and state environmental protection agencies, foreign

meteorological agencies, U.S. airlines,

universities and private sector companies.

OSDPD exploits data from NOAA

polar and geostationary environmental

satellites, foreign (European, Japanese,

and Indian) operational satellites as

well as domestic and foreign research

satellites. The latter includes NASA's

Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission

(TRMM), QuikSCAT, Earth Observing

System satellites (including Aqua,

Terra, and Aura missions), Japan's

ADEOS-II, and the DOD's WindSAT

mission.

OSDPD products are used in real

time in the production of forecasts and

warnings of severe environmental

events such as tornados, thunderstorms, flash floods and hurricanes.

Some OSDPD products, such as calibrated radiances from polar orbiting

sounders, vertical temperature and

moisture profiles, cloud tracked wind

speed and direction, and snow cover,

are routinely integrated into numerical

weather prediction models on a global

scale. These products often provide

key model input parameters where routine in-situ measurements are not

available.

OSDPD satellite products are generated and distributed to a diverse user

community for a broad range of environmental applications. The operational satellite data distribution networks provide user access to real-time

or near real-time environmental data

and information. Quality assurance

procedures are used to systematically

evaluate and characterize the satellite

products and services. This applies to

both the fully automated products such

as remapped GOES channel imagery

and geophysical parameters (e.g., vertical wind profiles, bulk moisture and

atmospheric stability indices, etc) and

POES-derived parameters (e.g., channel brightness temperatures, precipitation estimates, vegetation indices, seasurface temperature, temperature and

moisture profiles, etc), as well as to the

value-added interpretive or analyzed

products used to support disaster mitigation and warning services for various Federal agencies and the international community.

The latter category includes products

such as tropical storm position and

intensity, fire locations and associated

smoke areal extent, quantitative precipitation estimates for flash flood

warnings, and volcanic ash plume

extent and height. OSDPD works

closely with its partners in the customer-supplier chain to ensure the

most effective and timely implementation of its satellite data products and

services. Working with NESDIS

research organizations such as The

Office of Research and Application

(ORA) on the supplier side, and with

government (primarily NWS), educational and other organizations on the

customer side, new and enhanced

product generation algorithms are

tested, evaluated, and implemented

when deemed sufficiently validated

and operationally useful. In partnership with other agencies and internal

NESDIS organizations, new technologies are investigated and periodically

deployed to satisfy emerging user

requirements.

OSDPD distributes these environmental satellite products to the NWS

Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS), National

Centers for Environmental Prediction

(NCEP) and Weather Forecast Offices

(WFOs), and other Federal, state, and

private sector organizations through

dedicated satellite processing and

server configurations, or through the

NOAAPORT satellite point-to-multipoint broadcast facility. The satellite

data and products transmitted via

NOAAPORT include remapped

imagery, satellite precipitation estimates, high-density wind direction and

speed projections at various atmospheric levels, GOES satellite imagery,

and volcanic ash advisory messages.

Over one hundred universities receive

satellite data and products supplied via

NOAAPORT. NOAAPORT also

delivers GOES and POES products in

near real-time to the AWIPS. AWIPS

is the NWS display and analysis workstation used in NWS national centers

and field sites to integrate and display

satellite data, model output, in-situ

observations, and radar and wind profiles used in the production of hydrometeorological analyses and forecasts.

In addition, OSDPD serves as

NCEP's backup for NOAA GOES data

via the Man Computer Interactive Data

Access System (McIDAS) and as a primary source to NCEP of NOAA POES

and non-NOAA geostationary satellite

data. OSDPD also uses various web

sites to disseminate satellite data and

products. For example, one site

(http://www.ssd. noaa.gov) provides

information and products on a multitude of OSDPD operational product

areas including: worldwide tropical

cyclone analyses, volcanic ash analyses, heavy precipitation analyses,

snow/ice cover, and smoke and fire

analyses. High quality imagery and

derived products are extremely popular

during hurricane season. Another

OSDPD web site (http:// www.osei.

noaa.gov) provides satellite imagery of

significant environmental events such

as oil spills, icebergs, hurricanes, and

fires. Satellite data in digital scientific

format are also available from

ftp://gp16.ssd.nesdis. noaa.gov/ and

several data sets are made available in

Geographic Information System (GIS)

format through http://www.gis.ssd.nesdis.noaa.gov/. A variety of geophysical products derived from both NOAA
48 DOC SECTION 3 

and non-NOAA polar orbiting platforms can be found at http://www.

osdpd.noaa.gov/PSB/PSB.html.

NESDIS continues to support the

Cospas-Sarsat Program through provision of satellites, ground stations, and

alert data distribution services. In

2004, Cospas-Sarsat contributed to the

rescue of 1,465 people worldwide and

260 people in the U.S. The CospasSarsat program consists of Russia, the

U.S., India, France, and Canada providing the space segment and 31 other

countries providing ground systems to

relay distress alerts and participate in

the management of the program. NESDIS operates and maintains the U.S.

SARSAT Mission Control Center and

twelve Local User Terminals as ground

stations.

The Local User Terminals receive

121.5/243/406 MHz emergency beacon signals directly from the satellites

and process the information to provide

the location of distress transmissions.

Cospas-Sarsat will 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 respectively responsible

for international aviation and maritime

search and rescue standards. The use

of new emergency beacons

that can use the Global Positioning System (GPS) to

provide an accurate position

continues to increase.

NESDIS, working with its

partners in the U.S. Air

Force, U.S. Coast Guard and

NASA, is developing plans

to augment the CospasSarsat System with search

and rescue instruments on

future Global Positioning

System (GPS) Block III

satellites.

NATIONAL ICE CENTER.

The U.S. National Ice Center (NIC),

under sponsorship of the U.S. Navy,

NOAA, and the U.S. 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 U.S. 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 POES

Advanced Very High Resolution

Radiometer (1.1 km spatial resolution)

and the DMSP Operational Linescan

System (0.55 km spatial resolution).

In areas of extensive cloud cover, the

NIC uses 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 25 km griddled 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 availability and use of

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data

from the Canadian RADARSAT-1.

RADARSAT's ScanSAR wide mode

produces a 500 km wide swath with

100 m 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 working on the transition of real-time passive and active microwave sea ice

products to the NIC operations floor,

conducting an evaluation of current sea

ice algorithms, and the use of satellite

and in-situ 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 icecovered leads. Ice products

are disseminated via the

Internet (www.natice.

noaa.gov) as simple electronic charts in Joint Photographic Experts Group

(JPEG format), GeoTiff and

other GIS-compatible coverages in the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)

digital standard for Sea Ice in

GRIDDED (SIGRID-3) format. Date and time of data

acquisition as well as the per-
SECTION 3 DOC 49

centage of each data type used in all

ice analyses are documented in a metadata narrative.

Another NIC responsibility is oversight of the U.S. 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. 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 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 the 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 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 near-real-time and long-term 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.

THE JOINT CENTER FOR SATELLITE DATA ASSIMILATION

(JCSDA).

The JCSDA was created by a Memorandum of Agreement between

NOAA and NASA, with affiliated partnerships with the U.S. Navy and U.S.

Air Force. This cooperative agreement

will allow NOAA, NASA, and DOD to

work together to take advantage of

their combined science and technology

resources in order to accelerate the use

of existing and new satellite data. The

JCSDA will provide a focal point for

joint research and development of

common models and infrastructure

among its partners. As a result of its

collaborative nature, the JCSDA will

allow NOAA to improve numerical

weather and climate prediction through

the optimal use of data from existing

satellites and to prepare for the incoming flood of new data from advanced

satellite instruments, such as NPOESS,

that will be launched during the next

five to six years. The JCSDA is tasked

with developing new and powerful

techniques to assimilate data into

numerical weather prediction (NWP)

and numerical climate prediction models. JCSDA activities directly support

the missions of NASA, NOAA, and as

DOD as well as those of other organizations who share or rely on NOAA's

environmental assessment, prediction,

and stewardship mission. In addition,

through its partnership and coordination with DOD and other agencies, the

JCSDA will enhance the Nation's ability to respond to increase data reporting and data sharing needs brought on

by the renewed emphasis on homeland

defense and national security concerns. 

The initial projects within the

JCSDA will focus on fully exploiting

uses of current satellite data. As a part

of efforts to facilitate the transition

from research into operations, early

projects will focus on maturing the

process of transitioning these data into

operations and developing tools to support future assimilation projects. Six

initial scientific priorities have been

identified:

• Develop a community-based

radiative transfer model (CRTM) to be

used by the JCSDA partners in their

data assimilation systems. In the next

few years, the accuracy and capability

of the JCSDA CRTM will be significantly improved by including additional physical processes (e.g., atmospheric scattering) and better numerical

techniques and better surface emissivity models to allow more satellite data

which is affected by surface to be properly assimilated.

• Develop the data thinning and configuration technology and methodology that will allow faster and efficient

delivery of advanced satellite data to

major NWP centers in the U.S. and

other international partners.

• Advance the techniques to assimilate satellite data in cloudy and precipitation regions by improving radiative

transfer models and NWP cloud prediction scheme, thereby significantly

increasing the fraction of satellite data

being ingested into the assimilation

systems.

• Improve the use of satellite land

products (e.g., green vegetation fraction, snow cover, snow pack parameters, surface albedo, land, and sea sur-
50 DOC SECTION 3 

face temperature) in NWP models.

• Improve the use of satellite data in

ocean data assimilation by providing

assimilated ocean data sets to the community for research purposes and providing access to and support of an

operational ocean data assimilation

system.

• Assimilate satellite derived

aerosol, ozone and trace gas products

to improve forecasts of visibility and

health index with the state-of-the-art

air quality forecast model including

chemical and biological process.

In addition, the JCSDA has a longterm strategic goal of improving the

transfer of data assimilation research

into operations by fostering common

data assimilation code components,

including techniques for specifying

observation errors, background error

co-variances, and data selection and

reduction.

The JCSDA approach is already generating measurable accomplishments.

Recent accomplishments include:

1. Improved radiative transfer

techniques:

• Microwave land emissivity

model implemented in NCEP operational global data assimilation system

(GDAS).

• Community fast radiative

transfer model implemented operationally in the GDAS.

• More AMSU-A data are used

over land, snow and sea ice conditions

2. Improved uses of current satellite data:

• More AMSU-A data are used

over land.

• Increased use of HIRS,

AMSU-A data in stratosphere.

• SSM/I, TRMM precipitation

products.

• AMSU cloud liquid water.

• GOES-10 IR radiances.

• QuikSCAT winds.

3. More satellite data being used

in NCEP operational models:

• SSM/I, TRMM precipitation

products.

• AMSU cloud liquid water.

• GOES-10 IR radiances.

• QuikSCAT winds.

• MODIS winds.

POLAR SATELLITE PROGRAM.

The primary mission of the Polarorbiting 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-17 and NOAA18.

NOAA polar satellites carry instruments to provide atmospheric temperature and moisture profiles. 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. 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 of emergency

beacons operating at 121.5 or 243 or

406 MHz.

POES satellites carry four primary

instrument systems: the Advanced

Very High Resolution Radiometer

(AVHRR); and the TIROS Operational

Vertical Sounder (TOVS); the Space

Environment Monitor (SEM); and the

Solar Backscatter Ultra-Violet Instrument (SBUV/2). The AVHRR provides data for real-time 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/3 series of instruments, which

began with NOAA-15, measures in six

spectral channels (0.63, 0.86, 1.6, 3.75,

10.8 and 12 μm) with a nominal spatial

resolution of 1.1 km and global resolution of roughly 4 km. Though the

AVHRR/3 measures 6 channels, only 5

are transmitted in the data stream at

any one time; the 1.6 and 3.75 m channels are time shared. The AVHRR/3

provides stored and direct-readout

radiometer data for day and night

cloud cover, sea surface temperatures,

vegetation indices, fire detection, and

snow and ice mapping. TOVS is comprised of the High-resolution Infrared

Radiometer Sounder (HIRS) and the

Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit

(AMSU).

The HIRS/3 is a discrete-stepping,

line scan 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 40 km. Multi-spectral

data from one visible channel

(0.69μm), seven shortwave channels

(3.7 to 4.6μm), and twelve long wave

channels (6.5 to 15μm) 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 1.8μm. 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 1.4μm in the visible

and shortwave IR, and 1.3μm in the

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

of 20.3 km and 18.9 km in diameter,

respectively, at nadir on the Earth.

Each AMSU-A instrument is composed of two separate units:
SECTION 3 DOC 51

(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 degrees (48 km on surface at nadir)

and AMSU-B a field of view of 1.1

degrees (16 km on surface at nadir).

AMSU-A (AMSU-B) samples 30

degrees (90 degrees) Earth views, covering ±48.95 degrees from the subsatellite point. In addition, the specialized 89GHz channel, with the capability to "see" through high and mid-level

clouds to low level precipitation producing clouds, is used to determine the

position and structure of tropical

cyclones on a global scale. T h e

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 42 km, 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 altitudes. 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.

The NOAA-16, NOAA-17, and

NOAA-18 POES carry the SBUV/2.

The SBUV/2 instrument 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 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. 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-17

& 18. A new ozone profile retrieval

algorithm (Version 8) 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-14, NOAA-16, NOAA-17,

NOAA-18, and with the TOVS instruments on NOAA-14, NOAA-15,

NOAA-16, NOAA-17, and NOAA-18.

Experimental ozone products at high

temporal resolution are also being produced from the GOES-8 sounder channels. Monitoring is limited to North

America. Preliminary results show the

GOES total ozone values are comparable to amounts from the Total Ozone

Mapping Spectrometer and groundbased measurements.

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, Command and Data Acquisition (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 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 Argos Data Collection (and

location) Service (DCS) operates on

the NOAA Polar-orbiting Operational

Environmental Satellite (POES) constellation and was established through

a Memorandum of Understanding

(MOU) with France in 1974. NOAA

for the U.S. and the Centre Nationale

d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) for France

are the lead agencies for this international cooperative agreement. CNES

provides for the development and

delivery of the Argos DCS instrument.

NOAA provides spacecraft integration/launch services, downloads stored

mission data via NOAA Command

Data Acquisition facilities and provides pre-processed data delivery.

Data post-processing and delivery to

customers is the responsibility of

CNES, which through a subsidiary

maintains distribution centers located

in Toulouse, France and Largo, Maryland.

The Argos DCS is a space-based,

data telemetry system that provides a

global means to locate and collect

environmental data from fixed and
52 DOC SECTION 3 

moving, low-power transmitters; i.e.,

polar ice flows, ocean buoys, birds,

mammals, etc in near-real time (15

minutes - 3 hours). The Argos DCS

transmits data for operational and

research related environmental applications, e.g. meteorology, oceanography and protection of the environment,

with the majority of users being government/non-profit agencies and

researchers. Argos DCS customers are

engaged in over 1000 programs operating approximately 15,000 data collection platforms in 72 counties.

The Argos DCS program continues

to develop international partnerships

and will incorporate Argos instruments

on other international satellite platforms, such as the European Organization for Exploration of Meteorological

Satellites (EUMETSAT) METOP

satellite series (2005-2010). An instrument upgrade, called the Argos

Advanced Data Collection System (ADCS), incorporates a downlink message capability is scheduled to fly on

the NOAA-N' satellite and the

National Polar-orbiting Operational

Environmental Satellite System

(NPOESS) constellation (2009-2018).

This new capability, is in response to

customer requirements, and will provide the opportunity for new and novel

uses of the Argos DCS

GEOSTATIONARY SATELLITE

PROGRAM.

Two operational geostationary satellites, GOES-12 (75 degrees W) and

GOES-10 (135 degrees W), provide

coverage of virtually the entire western

hemisphere for operational environmental sensing of the Earth. Additionally, GOES-9 is now located over the

western Pacific. The GOES-9 imager

replaced the GMS-5 of the Japanese

Meteorological Agency as of April 1,

2003, which will be replaced by the

Japanese MTSAT-1R in 2005.. The

sounder is operating in an experimental mode. The projected launch schedule and associated instruments for geostationary satellites are shown in Table

3.1. It should be noted that current

plans as of mid 2005 call for GOES-N

to be placed in storage once launched

in CY 2005, with GOES-11 (currently

in storage) to replace GOES-10 in the

west and GOES-12 to remain in the

east.

The GOES satellites host an imager

capable of detecting atmospheric, sea

surface, and land properties in five

spectral bands including the 3.9μm and

12.0μm wavelengths. However,

beginning with GOES-12, the 12.0μm

channel is replaced with a 13.3μm

channel, with the goal of achieving

more accurate cloud height assignments for mid- and upper-level atmospheric satellite wind-velocity estimates. Unfortunately, this trade-off

notably impacts the sea-surface temperature retrievals by eliminating the

capability for daytime split-window

retrievals, increasing the rms error by

about 0.5 degrees C. Also, the spatial

resolution of the water vapor channel

is improved to 4 km from 8 km.

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 atmospheric, land, and

ocean 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 full-disk scans may be

scheduled as a mixture of 15-minute

intervals (routine operations) or 71⁄2-

minute interval (severe storm operations) rapid scans over the contiguous

U.S. To further support mesoscale and

microscale analyses, 1000 km by 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, .55 m to .75 m)

1 km

• Channel 2 (Infrared, 3.8 m to 4.0

m) 4 km

• Channel 3 (Water Vapor, 6.5 m to

7.0 m) 8 km (4 km starting with GOES

M)

• Channel 4 (Infrared, 10.2 m to 11.2

m) 4 km

• Channel 5 (Infrared, 11.5 m to 12.5

m) 4 km

The GOES 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 a lifted index (a measurement of atmospheric stability). Comparable to the imager, the sounder is

capable of providing various scan coverages, such as full Earth imagery, sectored imagery, and local imagery. In

routine operations, GOES-12 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

and provided to retrospective users on

line via Internet and on a variety of

computer media. GOES-12 has the

Solar X-Ray Instrument that provides

near-real time x-ray images of the sun.
SECTION 3 DOC 53

TABLE 3.1 PROJECTED SATELLITE LAUNCH SCHEDULE

POLAR-ORBITING SYSTEM GEOSTATIONARY SYSTEM

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

NOAA-N CY 2005 GOES N CY 2005

METOP-2 CY 2010 GOES O CY 2007

NPP CY2008 GOES P CY 2008

NOAA-N’ CY 2007 GOES Q Cancelled

NPOESS-C1 CY 2009 GOES R CY 2012

METOP-1 CY 2006 GOES S CY 2014

NPOESS-C2 CY 2011 MTSAT-1R CY 2005

NPOESS-C3 CY 2013

METOP-3 CY 2015

NPOESS-C4 CY 2016**

NPOESS-C5 CY 2018**

NPOESS-C6 CY 2019**

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

** Dates are approximate. NPOESS is a launch on demand system.

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

A/DCS - Advanced 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-R+ Series

Advanced baseline Imager (ABI)

Hyperspectral Environmental Suite (HES)

Solar Instrument Suite (SEI)

Space Environment In-Situ Suite (SEISS)

Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM)

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
54 DOC SECTION 3

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 U.S.

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

OSD is the Comprehensive LargeArray Data Stewardship System

(CLASS). The CLASS (www.CLASS.

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 CLASS 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

U.S. which cause flash flooding or

blizzards, wild fires and smoke within

the U.S., 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. 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 AND INTERAGENCY SUPPORT FOR DISASTER

MANAGEMENT

International Charter.

NOAA, on behalf of the U.S., is a

signatory to the International Charter

for Space and Major Disasters, and

serves in the capacity of Emergency

on-Call Officer (ECO) on a rotational

basis with other representatives of

international space agencies. NOAA is

also represented on the Executive Secretariat of the International Charter and

periodically serves as the lead agency

providing secretariat services, policy

leadership, and Charter activities coordination.

The International Charter aims at

providing a unified system of space

data acquisition and delivery to those

affected by natural or man-made disasters through authorized users. Each

member agency (six space agencies

representing Europe, France, Canada,

India, Argentina and the U.S.) has

committed resources to support the

provisions of the Charter and thus is

helping to mitigate the effects of disasters on human life and property. An

authorized user can call a single number to request the mobilization of the

space and associated ground resources

of the six space agencies to obtain data

and information on a disaster occurrence.

World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) Follow-up.

NOAA plays a key leadership role in

the Committee on Earth Observation

Satellites (CEOS) World Summit on

Sustainable Development (WSSD)

Follow-up Program's module addressing Disaster Management and Conflicts. To address the priorities outlined at the WSSD and the specific references to satellite applications,

NOAA and other CEOS members are

putting together a program plan to

increase awareness in the applications

and utilization of Earth observation

data in developing countries for disaster management and conflicts, as well

as to assist in the establishment of

infrastructure and communications in

support of disaster management and

conflicts. The module on Disaster

Management will be initiated this year. 

U.S. Interagency Collaboration.

NOAA is a member (and chair) of

the U.S. Subcommittee on Disaster

Reduction (SDR), which provides a

unique Federal forum for information

sharing; development of collaborative
SECTION 3 DOC 55

opportunities; formulation of scienceand technology-based guidance for

policy makers; and dialogue with the

U.S. policy community to advance

informed strategies for managing disaster risks. This year the SDR, through

the U.S. President's National Science

and Technology Council, released an

interim report entitled Reducing Disaster Vulnerability Through Science and

Technology, which identified critical

opportunities to reduce future loss of

life and property as a result of disasters. The report identifies several

important themes relevant to disaster

reduction and speaks to resources,

opportunities, and gaps in science and

technology needed to support disaster

management. 

IGOS Geohazards Theme.

As Co-Chair of the Integrated Global

Observing Strategy (IGOS) in 2003,

NOAA played a key role in facilitating

the formal adoption and recent publication of the IGOS Geohazards

Report. This report looks at global

geohazards observation requirements

and outlines an integrated implementation mechanism and action plan for

filling the observation gaps over the

coming decade. It also examines the

impacts of geohazards on society, discusses the roles of implementation by

stakeholders, addresses data management issues, and analyses the critical

gaps in capacity building and infrastructure. More information is available at http://ioc.unesco. org/igospartners/Geohazards.htm.

CEOS Disaster Management Support

Group (DMSG) Legacy.

NOAA led the DMSG effort within

CEOS 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. Particular emphasis was placed

on working closely with space agencies, international and regional organizations, and commercial organizations

on the implementation of these recommendations. Hazards addressed

include drought, earthquake, fire,

flooding, landslides, oil spill, sea ice,

and volcanic hazards. The final report

of the DMSG, published in 2002, can

be accessed at

http://www.ceos.org/pages/DMSG/ind

ex.html /.

SUPPORTING RESEARCH PROGRAMS

ATMOSPHERIC WINDS.

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 East and

West wind processing suites are totally

automated and use 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

East and West winds processing suite.

Approximately 20,000 cloud-drift

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 7.0μm and 7.3μm. 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 7.0μm channel peaks

around 450mb and the weighting function of the 7.3μm 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-12 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,
56 DOC SECTION 3 

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 initialization 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.

As of July 8, 2003, the hourly cloudtop information from the GOES

sounder data are being assimilated into

the operational National Centers for

Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Eta

Data Assimilation System (EDAS).

The regional Eta model joins the Rapid

Update Cycle (RUC) model as two

operational models assimilating GOES

sounder cloud information to help

improve the initial moisture and cloud

field. 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 POES AMSU sensor

and is presently operational. 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. Because channel noise

has improved with each successive

sounder instrument it is anticipated

that the GOES sounder moisture and

stability products with a horizontal resolution of approximately 50 km, will

be generated at a high horizontal resolution of approximately 10 km in the

fall of 2003 (Figure 3-DOC-6).

The increased horizontal resolution

offers exciting possibilities for

enhanced use of these products in

mesoscale forecasting. For example, it

improves the depiction of gradients in

the retrieved products, such as moisture and atmospheric stability, which

focuses attention to a local area of

interest. These products can be viewed

at orbit-net.nesdis.noaa. gov/goes and

cimss.ssec.wisc.edu. Digital versions

of these products are available from

POES and GOES computer servers

within OSDPD.

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. Recent

sensors, such as AMSU and TRMM,

among others, are being incorporated

into the NESDIS operational tropical

Figure 3-DOC-6. GOES-12 retrieved total preciptable water products at 50 km resolution (left) and 10 km resolution

(right)
SECTION 3 DOC 57

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. Research is also being performed to improve the forecasts of

tropical cyclone formation and intensity change by making better use of

satellite observations.

PRECIPITATION ESTIMATES.

The Hydro-Estimator (H-E)--a fully

automated adaptation of the semi-manual Interactive Flash Flood Analyzer

(IFFA)--produces estimates of instantaneous precipitation rate based on

GOES infrared data every 15 minutes.

The H-E adjusts its computed rain

rates for moisture availability, subcloud evaporation, orographic uplift,

and other factors using Eta model

fields. The resulting estimates are also

the basis for 0-3 hour nowcasts of precipitation via an algorithm for extrapolating cell movement and development

called the Hydro-Nowcaster. Other

techniques being tested include the

GOES Multi-Spectral Rainfall Algorithm (GMSRA), which uses four of

the five GOES Imager channels for

more precise rain area identification,

and a combined GOES and microwave

rainfall algorithm (developed at

NRL/Monterey) which uses

microwave-based rainfall estimates to

modify its calibration. Real-time

graphics from all three of the above

techniques can be accessed at

http://orbit-net.nesdis.noaa.gov/

arad/ht/ff/index.htm, and real-time validation statistics for these algorithms

are available at http://orbit-net.nesdis.noaa.gov /arad/ht/ff/validation/validation.html.

The H-E is now also available to

NWS field forecasters via AWIPS. In

addition, an improved AMSU-B rain

rate algorithm is being implemented,

and a new precipitation algorithm has

been developed using the AMSR-E is

under development. The AMSU-B

products are available at http://orbitnet.nesdis.noaa.gov/

arad2/MSPPS/index.html, including

global long-term estimates for climate

monitoring and analysis. Finally, the

POES-based microwave algorithms

from the microwave sensors are being

used to produce automated 24-hour

Tropical Rainfall Potential (TRaP)

forecasts worldwide (Figure 3-DOC7). Real-time TraP graphics can be

accessed at http://www.ssd.

noaa.gov/PS/TROP/trap-img.html.

MICROBURST PRODUCTS.

Several experimental microburst and

convective wind gust products are

being tested. These products, including the Wind Index (WINDEX) to

compute maximum possible convective wind gusts and the Theta-e Deficit

(TeD) and Dry Microburst Index

(DMI) to compute the potential for wet

and dry microbursts, respectively, use

sounder data from both GOESEast/West. They are produced hourly

and can be viewed at

http://www.orbit.nesdis.noaa.gov/smc

d/opdb/aviation/mb.html

In addition, a new wet microburst

index product, designated as the Wet

Microburst Severity Index (WMSI) is

being developed and will be implemented in the suite of GOES

microburst products. The WMSI

assesses the potential severity of wet

microbursts by summarizing the physical processes of convective storm

development and downburst generation. The WMSI algorithm incorporates such parameters as convective

available potential energy (CAPE), to

represent the process of updraft formation, and Theta-e Deficit (TeD), to represent down burst development.

LOW CLOUD AND AIRCRAFT

ICING PRODUCTS.

Fog and low clouds are a major

source of air traffic delays and aircraft

accidents. A nighttime, two-channel

IR product from GOES has been

developed to show regions where low

Figure 3-DOC-7. Tropical Rainfall Potential (TRaP) forecast for Hurricane Claudette (left) and corresponding Stage IV

radar/rain gauge estimates (right) for the 24 hours ending 1200 UTC 16 July 2003.
58 DOC SECTION 3

ceilings (<1,000 ft) are likely to be

found. This product is used to signal

deteriorating weather conditions

before they are reported by airport

weather stations. Fog products for the

Continental U.S. and Alaska are available on the Web hourly at: http://orbitnet.nesdis.noaa.gov/

arad/fpdt/fog.html .

Areas of "super-cooled" water

clouds that can result in hazardous aircraft icing are detectable from GOES

by means of an experimental, multispectral product that uses a combination of several IR temperature and visible brightness thresholds. A recent

innovation has combined this icing

image with the GOES cloud-top height

analysis to create an ICing Enhanced

Cloud-top Altitude Product (ICECAP)

(Figure 3-DOC-8). The icing products

are provided hourly day and night for

the Continental U.S., Alaska, and the

East Pacific at http://orbit-net.nesdis

.noaa.gov/arad/fpdt/icg.html.

GEOSTATIONARY SEA SURFACE

TEMPERATURES.

GOES-12 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. Unfortunately, the trade-off of replacing the

12.0μm channel with a 13.3μm channel notably impacts the sea-surface

temperature (SST) retrievals by eliminating the capability for daytime splitwindow retrievals, increasing the rms

error by about 0.5 degrees C. For the

SST determination, the frequent sampling by GOES makes a more complete map of SST possible after clouds

have moved on. 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 product in an experimental configuration since December

1998, from both GOES East and

GOES West. 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.

VOLCANIC ASH AND FIRE MONITORING.

A new technique has been developed

to mitigate the loss of the 12 m IR

band on GOES-12 to help track hazardous volcanic ash clouds. The technique uses IR channels centered at

10.7μm, 13.3μm, and 3.9μm. Several

recent eruptions of Soufriere Hills volcano on Montserrat in the eastern

Caribbean have shown that this new

product is helpful in monitoring ash

cloud emissions, even at night. GOES12 ash product can be viewed for several volcanically active regions at

http://www.ssd. noaa.gov /VAAC/ and

http://orbitnet.nesdis.noaa.gov/arad/fpdt/volc.htm

l. The analysis of Moderate Resolution

Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)

data from the NASA Terra and Aqua

spacecraft has also yielded valuable

information about optimum detection

of volcanic ash using several spectral

bands. A three-channel combination

product based on the 8.6, 11, and 12 m

bands has been developed that provides effective discrimination of ash or

sulfur dioxide gas with minimal false

alarms. This algorithm could be

applied to future products from

NPOESS and GOES-R, which will

Figure 3-DOC-8. Areas of potential aircraft icing observed by GOES Imager

are color-coded according to the estimated maximum cloud top height in

3,000 foot intervals, based on information from the GOES Sounder.
SECTION 3 DOC 59

have similar spectral bands. 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 Camp Spring, Maryland.

GOES infrared and visible images,

aerosol and sulfur dioxide products

from NASA's Total Ozone Mapping

Spectrometer (when applicable), and

operational volcanic ash products for

the Washington VAAC area of responsibility are found at

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/VAAC/washington.html.

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

growth and the associated smoke coverage. GOES East spectral channels at

4μm and 11μm 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 U.S. The continual monitoring from GOES (as often as every

71⁄2 minutes) can assist firefighters to

plan evacuation and suppression activities. Studies with Brazil are underway

to predict smoke transport and air pollution and health alerts for major cities.

An AVHRR fire detection algorithm

has been 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

(Figure 3-DOC-9) used by the NWS

Storm Prediction Center (SPC) in their

fire outlook product and other users of

fire and smoke detection such as the

EPA, Forest Service, state and local

agencies. Real time imagery of GOES

and POES imagery in support of SPC

can be found at: http://www.ssd.noaa.

gov/PS/FIRE/.

A GOES Products and Services Catalog is available on line at http://orbitnet.nesdis.

noaa.gov/arad/fpdt/goescat_v4/. An

up-to-date list and description of operational and experimental products with

links to the real-time products are

available from this web page. The

Polar Products and Services Catalog is

under development.

NPOESS "TEST BED" DATA SETS.

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 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-17. A new

ozone profile retrieval algorithm has

been developed by NASA and is now

incorporated into SBUV/2 processing

systems. Monitoring of global ozone

will continue with the SBUV/2 instruments on NOAA-14, NOAA-16

NOAA-17, and NOAA-18 and with

the TOVS instruments on NOAA-14,

NOAA-15, NOAA-16, NOAA-17 and

NOAA-18. Experimental high temporal ozone products are also being produced from the GOES-12 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 ground-based

measurements.

LAND SURFACE PARAMETERS

FOR USE IN WEATHER FORECAST MODELS.

Satellite-derived fields of land surface characteristics are being produced

operationally for use in NWP models.

These include radiation products delivFigure 3-DOC-9. Probable fires appear as sharp white "spots" in the Reflectivity and Infrared images. These images are considered "raw" data, with no

analysis of fires and/or smoke. To view official analyses by NOAA meteorologists, see the Hazard Mapping System Fire and Smoke Product.
60 DOC SECTION 3 

ered 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 POESbased (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. Plans are in the making to

develop the AMSU-A Snow Water

Equivalent (SWE) product for operational use. 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.

Aerosol retrievals from an improved

and extended unique PATMOS-BUOY

Data set were analyzed to optimize the

procedure used in the aerosol correction of sea surface temperature (SST)

retrievals. Based on the results, a new

aerosol correction algorithm for SST

has been developed and delivered to

OSDPD for the use with NOAA-16-17

and -18 data. The new correction algorithm uses aerosol optical depth in

AVHRR/3 channel 2 (0.83 m), only.

The PATMOS-BUOY match up data

set was also used for an extensive evaluation of the single-channel 3rd generation algorithm for aerosol retrieval

from AVHRR. This aerosol algorithm

has now been implemented in the operational aerosol observations (AEROBS) obtained from the AVHRR

instrument onboard the NOAA 16 and

17 satellites.

The algorithm uses an improved

treatment of atmospheric and surface

effects, and provides aerosol optical

depth data in three channels at 0.63,

0.83 and 1.6μm. The single-channel

3rd generation algorithm has also been

implemented at NASA/LaRC in the

Clouds and Earth's Energy System

(CERES) SSF processing of aerosol

optical depth from the MODIS instruments on the Terra and Aqua satellites.

Aerosol data from this algorithm is

produced in addition to the primary

MODIS multi-channel retrievals. The

single-channel retrievals serve as

backup for the primary product. They

also provide continuity with earlier

NOAA/AVHRR aerosol retrievals, and

facilitate the quantification of

improvements offered by multi-channel retrievals over single-channel ones. 

A comparison of the two aerosol

products shows an overall good agreement on a global scale. This implies

that the simple single-channel algorithm performs well relative to the

more sophisticated and comprehensive

MODIS multi-channel algorithm. The

major differences between the two

products appear to be related to the differences in cloud screening and identification of glint regions that lead to differences in sampling. The lessons

learned from these and follow up comparisons will be applied to improve the

current operational algorithm, and in

the risk reduction of aerosol retrieval

from VIIRS on the NPOESS satellites.

The feasibility of aerosol optical depth

retrieval from GOES over most of

South and North America has also

been demonstrated. A comparison of

GOES-retrieved aerosol optical depth

with that observed at the AERONET

ground stations showed good agreement.

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
SECTION 3 DOC 61

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 NEAR-INFRARED CHANNELS OF THE AVHRR.

The AVHRR flown on POES is recognized as an invaluable resource for

satellite-based 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 shortwave 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 post-launch 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 - 0.68μm), and nearinfrared (Channel 2: 0.72 - 1.1μm;

Channel 3A: 1.58 - 1.64μm) 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) and the Global Observing

Systems Space Panel (GOSSP).

To ensure global access to the results

of the AVHRR calibration 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

U.S., and academia both in the U.S.

and abroad.

CALIBRATION OF GEOSTATIONARY OPERATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL SATELLITE INSTRUMENTS.

The GOES ground-system calibration processing was modified to

accommodate the changes in spectral

locations and field-of-view sizes of the

Imager channels that became effective

with GOES-12. Additional processing

changes are being developed to accommodate the further changes that will be

made to the Imager on GOES-N. The

most notable of these is a tenfold

increase in the time the Imager spends

viewing its blackbody for calibrating

its infrared channels. The increase is

intended to improve calibration precision.

On Nov. 24, 2003, the operational

calibration processing in the GOES

Imager's infrared channels was modified to deal with artificial depressions

in measured brightness temperatures

that occurred in the hours near local

midnight. These depressions, reaching

a maximum of approximately 1K (for a

scene at 300K), were most pronounced

in the infrared channels at the shortest

wavelengths. We believe they were

caused by effects of solar heating in the

calibration measurements. The processing modification, which invokes a

statistical technique to calculate the

calibration coefficients near midnight,

succeeded in minimizing the artificial

brightness-temperature depressions.

In addition to calibration, the product

processing algorithms for several products will have been modified to accommodate the new channel configuration.
62 DOC SECTION 3 

FY 2004 saw considerable progress

in the on-orbit calibration of the

Imager's visible channel. This channel,

lacking an on-board calibration device,

can only be calibrated vicariously, i.e.,

with targets external to the satellite.

Here we report results from two such

targets. From eight years of observations of a stable Earth target (the Grand

Desert in Sonora, Mexico), we estimated that the responsivity of the

GOES-8 Imager's visible channel

degraded an average of 5.8 percent per

year. From routine observations of

approximately 60 stars, we estimated

visible-channel responsivity degradations of 4.86 0.08 percent for the

GOES-8 Imager (from 10/19/95 to

4/1/03) and 5.56 0.18 percent for the

GOES-10 Imager (from 1/4/01 to

11/6/03). The difference between the

GOES-8 degradation rates from the

two methods is a topic of current

research. 

More information on GOES calibration topics, including the GOES-12

Imager channel changes, the correction

for the midnight infrared-channel calibration errors, and the star- and desertbased vicarious calibrations of the visible channel, can be viewed at

http://www.oso.noaa.gov/goes/goescalibration/index.htm 

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 NOAA-NASA 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 used to study the

relationship between the variation in

global mean values of the absorbed

solar radiation and variation in aerosol

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 by ORA 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, as well as precipitation

regimes, 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

being relied on in the NPOESS design

to meet the nation's ocean surface wind

vector requirements.

HIGH-RESOLUTION COASTAL

WINDS AND STORM SIGNATURES

FROM SYNTHETIC APERTURE

RADAR.

ORA scientists are currently developing techniques for deriving high-resolution (1 km or less) winds from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery,

and using these derived winds to study

ocean surface wind signatures of

atmospheric fronts and storms. By

sensing variations in ocean surface

roughness on the centimeter scale,

SAR sensors can image storms, atmospheric waves (such as mountain lee

waves), island and mountain wakes

and vortex streets, gap flows, atmospheric fronts, and barrier jets. Application demonstrations are currently

underway to provide high-resolution

winds, imagery, and other SARderived products to operational agencies for evaluation. By the year 2007,

there will be as many as five wideswath SAR satellites. If data acquisition and sharing arrangements can be

established to obtain access to SAR

imagery from these new sources, frequent routine SAR coverage of U.S.

coastal areas will be possible. This

increased coverage will allow use of

SAR-derived marine and atmospheric

products for operational purposes.

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 SeaViewing Wide-Field-of-View Sensor,

and the recently launched Moderate

Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer.

The Marine Optical Characterization

Experiment (MOCE), MOBY's sister

project, involves the collection from

ship of in-situ measurements of these

and other parameters relevant to ocean

color in the surrounding region. Data

from both sampling platforms furnish

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 for remotely
SECTION 3 DOC 63

detecting and predicting 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 U.S. 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 reefs, and an unknown, but

significant, fraction of reefs in the U.S.

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 thermally-induced coral reef bleaching

conditions over all global tropical

ocean regions, resulting in a series of

special International Workshops on

Satellite Monitoring of Coral Reefs

being convened in June 1999, January

2001, and June 2003. In 2002 NESDIS successfully transitioned two

existing experimental satellite reef

health monitoring products into viable

operational web-based products, in

particular the Coral Reef HotSpot, an

SST anomalies product, and an accumulated heat stress product. In October

2003, NESDIS declared the experimental coral bleaching monitoring

products operational. These operational products include SST anomalies,

HotSpots, DHWs and Tropical Indices

page, and serve as excellent and useful

tool for monitoring the potential coral

bleaching events. Operational supports for these coral bleaching products are provided at NESDIS on a 24-

hour, seven-day basis.

In addition, the proposed Coral Reef

Watch (CRW) program provided support to NOAA's Coral Reef Information Service (CoRIS) promoting U.S.

leadership in the emerging global "Virtual Coral Reef Ecosystem Monitoring

Laboratory," and continues to provide

support solid scientific basis for the

development of future monitoring and

assessment products and/or 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. 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

SST. Data are then mapped (Mercator

Projection) and sectored to predefined

coordinates specified for each of the

CoastWatch regions. 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 U.S. (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 ever-growing 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/. Finally, The CoastWatch AVHRR products have undergone a modernization effort. These

products are now in a new format

(HDF) and use new processing software which has improved the earth

locations of the products. CoastWatch

has recently expanded, making available ocean color and ocean surface

winds, as well as microwave sea-surface temperature, data and products.

NOAA NATIONAL DATA CENTERS (NNDC)

The NESDIS is responsible for the

management of the NOAA National

Data Centers (NNDC). The NNDC's

consist of three data centers: the

National Climatic Data Center

(NCDC) located in Asheville, North

Carolina, the National Geophysical

Data Center (NGDC) located in Boulder, Colorado, and the National

Oceanographic Data Center (NODC)

located in Silver Spring, Maryland

(www.nndc.noaa.gov).

The NOAA National Data Centers

were established to be the Nation's primary repository for NOAA data. Since

their inception, the role of the data centers has expanded in response to the

introduction of new technologies useful to the centers and available to the

users. Originally designed to archive

only NOAA data, these centers now

hold environmental data from a variety

of sources, to include other U.S. government agencies, such as DOD and

NASA, foreign governments, universities and cooperatives, and numerous

commercial research programs.

The three NNDCs are responsible

for the Scientific Stewardship of the

Nation's environmental data, and

developing and operating the associated ingest, monitoring, quality control

processing, access, archive, analysis
64 DOC SECTION 3 

and assessment, creation of climate

data records (CDRs), and other product generation systems in support of

their national and international commitments and users. The NNDCs

archive and provide access to numerous types of data. Each type of data

provides a unique perspective for use

in climate, oceanographic, space

weather, and other geophysical

research. It is often the combination of

many of these data sets that lead to

new discoveries and products that support activities, such as weather forecasting, risk (hazards-public safety and

economic) mitigation, weather impact

assessments, and climate assessments

and predictions.

Data sets are typically divided into

the method of collection: Remote

(Satellites), Airborne, and In-situ (surface: land and ocean). In-situ includes

radar, radiosonde, manual and automated surface observing systems,

fixed and drifting buoys, etc. Observational data must be accompanied by

comprehensive and complete station

history data, referred to as metadata, as

well as other ancillary and auxiliary

documentation describing the data processing procedures (quality control and

assurance) used prior to and after

archiving the data.

Climate monitoring, evaluation, and

prediction are critical to economic sustainability and environmental stewardship, as well as planning and responding to the quality of life changes that

society will encounter in the 21st century and beyond. The challenge facing

the NDCCs is not only ingesting and

processing very large volumes of new

data, but also the convenient and

timely access to the data and information. Millions of paper pages and thousands of feet of microfilm/microfiche

of recorded instrument measurements

and other information dating back hundreds of years are currently under the

stewardship of the NNDCs. Over the

past 50 plus years, many observations

have been stored in digital form. There

is now in place a program to convert

analog records to digital form. The

process will take many years to complete.

The development of a new generation of satellites over the next ten years

{NASA's Earth Observing System

(EOS), Next Generation Geostationary

Operational Environmental Satellite

(GOES), and the Joint

(DOD/NASA/NOAA National Polarorbiting Operational Environmental

Satellite System (NPOESS)}, the Initial Joint Polar System (IJPS)/MetOp,

and the enhancement of the operational

Next Generation weather Radars

(NEXRAD) {dual polarization} present major data management (stewardship and customer access) challenges

to the NNDCs (Figure 3-DOC-10).

To meet these challenges, the

NOAA/NESDIS organization has

developed the Comprehensive Large

Array-data Stewardship System

(CLASS) program that will provide a

significant portion, but not all, of the

funding resources required to improve

and maintain the information technology (IT) infrastructure required to support the mandated scientific data stewardship responsibilities for these

incredibly large volumes of data.

NATIONAL CLIMATIC DATA CENTER (NCDC)

The National Climatic Data Center

(NCDC) is a designated Federal

Records Center. It is the officially designated national archive for weather

and climate data and information and

is the world's largest archive of climate

data. The NCDC produces and maintains numerous data sets, products, and

assessments, and services many thousands of customers with data and products worldwide. NCDC operates

World Data Centers for both meteorology and paleoclimatology. National

and global data sets and assessments

are produced that support economic

and environmental decisions and plans

affected by climate variations and

change. The NCDC describes the climate of the U.S. through monthly and

annual State of the Climate reports.

The NCDC is collocated with the U.S.

Air Force Combat Climatology Center

and the U.S. Navy Fleet Numerical

Oceanography and Meteorology

Detachment. These three organizations make up the Federal Climate

Complex, which together fulfill much

of the Nation's climatological requests.

The vision of the NCDC is: To be the

most comprehensive and accessible

Figure 3-DOC-10. Projected growth of data from major systems that will

require processing and storage.
SECTION 3 DOC 65

source of quality climate and weather

related data and information services

and to be an objective authority on climate monitoring.

The mission of the NCDC is: To provide stewardship and access to the

Nation's resource of global climate and

weather related data and information,

and assess and monitor climate variation and change.

The basic functions performed by

the NCDC necessary to achieve the

mission include: Acquisition (ingest of

observations and data) and Quality

Assurance Processing, providing

Access for new and historical

(archived) data, Archiving of data and

information (long-term data stewardship), and Assessments (climate monitoring).

The NCDC is the "Nation's Scorekeeper" in terms of addressing severe

weather events in their historical perspective. As part of its responsibility

for "monitoring and assessing the climate," NCDC tracks and evaluates climate events in the U.S. and globally

that have significant economic and

societal impacts. Events include

drought, hurricanes, tornados, severe

storms, flooding, and wildfires. The

NCDC is frequently called upon to

provide summaries of global and U.S.

temperature and precipitation trends,

extremes, and comparisons in their historical perspective. Numerous web

pages and reports are available dealing

with these events and with the "state of

the climate" in general. (See

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov

/extremes.html and http://www.

ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/mo

nitoring.html).

The U.S. sustained 62 weatherrelated disasters during the 1980-2004

period in which overall damages and

costs reached or exceeded $1 billion at

the time of the event (Figure 3-DOC11). These disasters do not include any

events that had unadjusted

damages/losses less than $1 billion

dollars, but subsequently may have

reached $1 billion after applying the

Gross National Product (GNP) inflation/wealth index. Fifty-three of these

disasters occurred since 1988 with

total unadjusted damages/costs of

nearly $260 billion. Seven events

occurred in 1998 alone, the most for

any year in the summary period,

though other years have recorded

higher damage totals. (See

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov

/oa/reports/billionz.html).

The NCDC developed visualization

tools that are used with NEXRAD

level II data and NEXRAD level III

products. The NCDC NEXRAD Interactive Viewer and Data Exporter load

NEXRAD volume scan data and

derived products into an OPEN GIS

compliant environment. The applications are launched via Java Web Start

and run on the client machine while

accessing the data remotely from the

archive at the NCDC. The NEXRAD

Interactive Viewer provides tools for

custom data overlays, animations, and

basic queries. The export of images

and movies is provided in multiple formats. The NEXRAD Data Exporter

allows for data export in both vector

polygon (Shapefile, GML, WellKnown Text) and raster (GeoTIFF,

ESRI Grid, HDF, NetCDF, GrADS)

formats. The visualization tools have

been used by NASA researchers in

studying high atmospheric electronic

fields near shuttle launches and by the

National Transportation Safety Board

in the investigation of aircraft accidents.

Operational Programs:

• Long-term stewardship (archive

and access) of the Nation's weather and

climate data, as part of the Federal

Records Retention System. The

NCDC is an approved Agency Records

Center and operates under the NARA

Federal Records Center guidelines and

Figure 3-DOC-11. Billion dollar climate and weather disasters (1980-2004)

summary.
66 DOC SECTION 3 

policies for managing weather and climate data records and information.

• Scientific Data Stewardship functions inherent to the mission of the legislatively designated Nation's Climate

Data Center. These include developing

and operating the associated ingest,

monitoring, quality assessment processing, access, archive, analysis and

assessment, creation of climate data

records, and other product generation

systems in support of national and

international commitments.

• National partnerships with Federal

agencies (such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration,

Department of Defense, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of

Agriculture, Department of Energy,

Department of State, National Science

Foundation, U.S. Geological Survey,

U.S. Global Climate Research Panel),

many state agencies, all NOAA Line

Offices, Regional Climate Centers,

State Climatologists, universities, and

many others. These partnerships contribute to the collection, quality assurance processing, and access to regional

and national observing networks, to

climate monitoring, to the national climate assessments, and to a National

Climate Services Program.

• International partnerships with the

World Meteorological Organization,

International Council of Scientific

Unions, World Data Centers, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,

UNESCO, and other nations through

bilateral and multilateral agreements.

Examples are the World Data Center

for Meteorology (archiving the data

collected by internationally sponsored

research programs and actively

exchanging climate data with foreign

countries to support research and other

activities) and the World Data Center

for Paleoclimatology (assembling,

archiving, and providing access to

global paleoclimatic data derived from

worldwide tree-rings, stalactites and

stalagmites, coral samples, pollen and

macro-fossils, lake and bog sediments,

marine sediments, ice cores, and other

geological and biological sources).

• Maintaining and updating national

and global baseline data sets and climate data records that are used for

monitoring, evaluation, analyses, and

assessments of climate variation and

change on global and regional scales.

Examples of these data sets include the

Global Historical Climatology Network, the U.S. Historical Climatology

Network, the Comprehensive OceanAtmosphere Data Set, the Comprehensive Aerological Reference Data Set,

and the Monthly Climate Data of the

World.

• Customer Service. Customers can

access data, information, and products

through a variety of means, such as

real-time and near real-time digital

access and retrieval of new and

archived historical observations

through E-Commerce web enabled

capabilities (Internet), as well as

through traditional methods, i.e., telephone, e-mail, , facsimile, and traditional post. Digital access, retrieval,

and delivery of data on-line and in a

robotic storage system via the Internet

is the primary and preferred customer

service capability. Data and information can also be delivered on magnetic

media (tape and disk), hard copy

(paper and microfilm), electronic

downloads, and staged for FTP transfers. Many of the NCDC assessments,

peer reviewed journal articles, published papers, and conference reports

are also available on-line.

• Climate Data On-line (CDO) System. The CDO system is NOAA's primary means for distributing and providing access to in situ climate data.

CDO includes both recent and historical data, useful for studies of particular

weather events and for historical

analysis of data for statistical and other

research purposes. The general types

of data currently included in the system, which continues to be populated,

are surface hourly, daily, and monthly

data, hourly precipitation data, and 15-

minute precipitation data. As data

integration efforts continue, the system

will be greatly expanded to include

numerous additional stations and data

types. Also, data summarization and

graphing capabilities are being added

in 2005. There are two methods to

access climate data within CDO:

1) Use the CDO "homepage" -

http://cdo.ncdc.noaa.gov - this provides numerous search and retrieval

mechanisms, such as by region, country, state, climate division, county, and

station; for any required times series.

2) Use the GIS interface - go to

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov and click on

"search by map" on the left-hand side

bar. The GIS tool-set provides an array

of methods to select regions and locations of interest, to overlay various layers of information, etc.

Supporting Research.

The NCDC engages in an active

research program to support the operational programs. Examples are:

• Scientific Data Stewardship Program. This program provides an

approach to maximizing the performance, quality, and utility of climate

observing systems, data, and information so that the scientific integrity and

long term utility of climate records for

a broad range of users will be ensured.

Five fundamental principles provide

the framework for this program: (1)

ensure Observing System quality during the design phase and real-time

monitoring of performance; (2)

develop an end-to end Climate Processing System that includes the timely

ingest, quality assurance processing,

immediate access to new and longterm access to historical records, and

the long-term safeguarding of the climate records for future generations; (3)

provide basic Information Technology

(IT) support; (4) document Earth System Variability through monitoring and

evaluation of present, future, and past

observations; and (5) enable and facilitate future research through periodic

analysis and assessment of new and
SECTION 3 DOC 67

historical records.

Research activities supporting this

program include:

• Digital Access and Retrieval of

Data and Information. Significant

progress has been made to digitally

ingest data in near real-time and make

these data available to users within

hours, instead of days or weeks, from

on-line disk and robotic tape storage

systems. Improved access to the Next

Generation Internet high-speed communication capabilities have accelerated the amount of data delivered

directly from the field to the NCDC at

the time or soon after the time of

observation. Data are now available

from 10 to 400 times faster than ever

before. One example of a very successful NWS/NESDIS/NCDC and

OAR collaboration is the real-time

direct digital ingest and access to

NEXRAD (Weather Surveillance

Radar-88D) Level II data through NGI

connections with about 128 NWS and

DOD sites. The NCDC also receives

on a near real-time daily basis digital

NEXRAD Level III data from a NWS

Central Collection facility. New and

historical data are now accessible digitally by users from on-line disk and

robotic tape storage systems, and a

visualization tool is also available.

• Digital Health of the Network

Monitoring (Observing System Performance Indicators). The purpose of the

network monitoring process is to

improve the quality of new observations and the fidelity of the historical

archives by providing real-time information on the health and status of

NOAA's observing networks (Figure

3-DOC-12). The fully 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. Anomalies and systematic performance problems are evaluated and reported to the network manager. The outcome will be improved

observing system performance and

higher quality data records. In most

cases, these data quality issues can be

identified and corrected before the data

are incorporated into the historical

archives and associated databases. The

COOP Observing Network and the

U.S. Climate Reference Network

(USCRN) are regularly monitored and

the plan is to add other networks, such

as ASOS, Upper Air, etc. The USCRN

program has

a more rigorous operational daily

monitoring system of

hourly performance (See www.ncdc.

noaa.gov/oa/hofn/global-insitu.html).

• Assessments and Reports. A series

of regular reports are released regarding several key climate issues of concern to the nation. For example, the

NCDC releases a monthly and annual

State of the Climate for the U.S. and

the North American Drought Monitoring Report which is a collaborative

effort between Canada, Mexico, and

the U.S. (See

www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/resear

ch/monitoring.html). Continuing

study of the identification and blending

of key parameters from satellite, radar

an in-situ observing systems will lead

to a new generation of quality climate

data records. Understanding and

knowledge, as well as new products

and services for research and practical

economic and environmental uses, will

be derived from this progressive

approach to maximizing the true value

of observations.

• U.S. Climate Reference Network

(USCRN). The Ten Climate Monitoring Principles described in the

National Research Council Report,

Adequacy of Climate Observing Systems (1999), are being used to guide

the design, deployment, and life cycle

management of the USCRN. The

USCRN is the first U.S. observing system built with the primary purpose of

providing climate-quality measurements (Figure 3-DOC-13). Data from

the fully deployed network of approximately 110 stations will quantify the

Figure 3-DOC-12. A network monitoring system provides

real-time information on the health and status of NOAA's

observing networks.
68 DOC SECTION 3 

variance in surface air temperature and

precipitation on a national scale. The

USCRN climate-quality observations

avoid the time-dependent biases typically experienced with other surface

observing networks. The USCRN is

becoming the Nation's benchmark network, by providing a standard to which

satellite, weather radar, and other surface systems (e.g., ASOS, COOP,

mesonets, etc.) observations can be

validated and verified. In essence, the

USCRN is providing the means to

enhance the quality and confidence in

other observations, as well as contribute to rehabilitating existing historical databases and data sets. This will

produce a significant increase in the

volume of climate quality data and

information that can be used in assessing past climate trends and change, as

well as contribute to the present and

future climate monitoring, evaluation,

and forecast tasks. (See

www.ncdc.noaa.gov /crn.html )

• NOAA Operational Model

Archive and Distribution System

(NOMADS). NOMADS is a collaborative approach to provide access and

data analysis capabilities for model

and other data (Figure 3-DOC-14).

The NCDC, in partnership with the

National Centers for Environmental

Prediction and the Geophysical Fluid

Dynamics Laboratory, initiated this

project to address a growing need for

remote access to high volume Global

Climate Model and Numerical

Weather Prediction model data. The

NOMADS team has partnered with

existing and development activities

including CLASS, National Oceanographic Partnership Program's,

National Virtual Ocean Data System,

the Department of Energy's Earth System Grid, and the Thematic Realtime

Environmental Data Distributed Services developed through the National

Science Foundation. NOMADS is a

pilot project that uses a distributed

client-server framework of data servers

together with emerging technologies to

access data stored in heterogeneous

formats at geographically distributed

repositories. NOMADS provides, for

the first time, long-term stewardship of

numerical and climate model runs and

provides the regional modeling community with the data necessary to initialize local models. NOMADS also

provides the tools necessary to intercompare model and observational data

sets from around the world. Currently

there are nine working NOMADS systems across the Nation serving data in

the distributed framework. (See

www.ncdc.noaa.gov /oa/model/modelresources.html )

• Climate Database Modernization

Program (CDMP). Digital databases

of wind speed and direction, precipitation, temperature, and pressure are far

more useful than paper and microfilm

records. These databases support

many disciplines, including economic

research, engineering, risk management, and passive (solar, wind) energy

enterprises. The CDMP addresses

access and utilization issues. The

CDMP's goal is to make non-digital

(paper/film) historical climate data

digitally accessible and retrievable online via the Internet. The conversion of

paper and microfilm records to digital

databases and data sets will provide

access to either optically scanned

images of records or data manually

keyed into digital databases. Many of

these records are being merged with

the more recent digital databases

extending the digitally accessible and

retrievable time series to many

decades, as well as hundreds of years

in some cases. Forty million documents have been imaged and many

thousands of observations manually

keyed or digitized from the merchant

and military ship records, America's

military forts, U.S. cities, lighthouses,

weather ships, and other sources.

However, approximately two thirds of

the paper and film-based climate data

remain to be digitized. The CDMP

provides an unprecedented and unique

opportunity to rescue valuable climate

data dating back into the 1700s that are

in jeopardy of permanent loss due to

the deterioration of the paper and

microfilm media (See

www.ncdc.noaa.gov

/oa/climate/cdmp/cdmp.html) .

• NOAA Paleoclimatology Program. Paleoclimatic data is an important segment of documenting and

reconstructing annual to century scale

records leading to climate records datPlanned sites Existing Sites

Figure 3-DOC-13. U.S. Climate Reference Network existing and planned

sites.
SECTION 3 DOC 69

ing back tens and hundreds of millennia. The incorporation of this program

into the functions and activities of the

NCDC enhances the identification and

understanding of climate change and

variation. The NCDC Paleoclimatology Branch cooperates with many

countries 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 to: conduct original research to

describe the global patterns of annualto-millennial scale climate change,

understand the causes of climate

change, separate man-induced climate

change from natural variability, and

validate the models that are used to

predict future climates. (See

www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/paleo.html)

• Comprehensive Large Array-data

Stewardship System (CLASS).

CLASS is the NOAA implementation

program for an improved architecture

for archiving and servicing large-volume data. Advances in technology,

including faster network access, webbased interfaces, and emerging discovery and analysis tools, will provide a

one-stop capability to access the

NOAA large array data sets. The

CLASS objective is to establish a webenabled browse, order, and retrieval

delivery system that will enhance and

increase the availability and accessibility of satellite, radar, and other data

and derived products to customers

worldwide. The CLASS integrated

storage and web-based access and

servicing system design incorporates

many of the features and capabilities of

the current Satellite Active Archive

system built for the POES data stored

on a robotic system located in Suitland, MD. The CLASS program has

established dual sites, one in Asheville,

NC, and another in Suitland, MD.

There are plans to move the Suitland

site to Boulder, CO, in the second

quarter of FY 2006. A third CLASS

site is also slated for Fairmont, WV,

later in FY 2006.

NOAA Polar-orbiting Environmental Satellite (POES) and Geostationary

Orbiting Environmental Satellite

(GOES) data are currently available

via the CLASS interface. CLASS data

and product enhancements will be

implemented in phases called campaigns. New major campaigns

planned include NEXRAD, National

Polar-orbiting Environmental Satellite

System Preparatory Program (NPP),

National Polar-orbiting Operational

Environmental Satellite System, Earth

Observing System Long Term Archive,

and the European Meteorological

Operational Satellite Program (see

http://www.class. noaa.gov/nsaa/products/welcome). 

• Air Quality Forecasts. NCDC

recently began archiving NOAA's Air

Quality Forecasts. The Air Quality

Forecasts are forecast guidance of oneFigure 3-DOC-14. NOMADS is a pilot project and cooperative effort involving six public and private organizations. NOMADS will provide data access

and analysis capabilities for model and other data.
70 DOC SECTION 3 

hour and eight-hour averaged groundlevel (surface) ozone concentration.

The guidance will be produced twice a

day, for hourly intervals through midnight on the following day (48 model

hours), seven days a week for the

northeastern U.S. initially, and then

gradually will include the entire U.S.

by 2009.

The NOAA National Weather Service will provide the data. These data

provide ground-level ozone forecast

guidance for state and local air quality

forecasters and help the public limit

adverse effects from poor air quality.

This forecast guidance would help

meet a congressionally directed

national air quality forecast capability.

These data will have received a high

measure of quality control through

computer and manual edits (see

www.arl.noaa.gov /ready/aq.html). 

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

ocean observing system activities as

follows:

• NODC performs ocean profile

data management for internationally

coordinated global ocean observing

systems such as the Argo Ocean Profiling Network and the Global Temperature-Salinity Profile Program (GTSPP)

in cooperation with applicable

JCOMM committees. NODC's objectives are (1) to safeguard versions of

the Argo and GTSPP near real-time

and retrospective data and information

and (2) to provide high quality data to

a wide variety of users in a timely and

useful manner. The Argo and GTSPP

data system present an excellent

opportunity to improve ocean and climate forecasting, with consequent benefits for the protection of life and property and effective planning for the

effects of seasonal to inter-annual climate variability.

• NODC produces regular updates

of the World Ocean Database and

World Ocean Atlas. The most recent

version, 2001, includes over seven million profiles of scientifically quality

controlled ocean temperature, salinity,

oxygen, plankton, pigment, and nutrient data. The Atlas presents statistics

and objectively analyzed fields for

one-degree and five-degree squares

generated from World Ocean Database

2001, observed and standard level

flagged data. The ocean variables

included in the atlas are: in-situ temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen,

apparent oxygen utilization, percent

oxygen saturation, dissolved inorganic

nutrients (phosphate, nitrate, and silicate), chlorophyll at standard depth

levels, and plankton biomass sampled

from 0 - 200 m depth. Further information on both products are available

at: www.nodc.noaa.gov /OC5/indprod.html.

• The NOAA Marine Environmental

Buoy Database (http://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.

• NODC is developing a capability

to provide public access to consistently-processed, climate-capable

satellite data sets and applying them to

various scientific problems. The first

products provided in 2003 were

Pathfinder reprocessed 9 km and 4 km

sea surface temperatures. For further

information see www.nodc.

noaa.gov/sog/.

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 

National Geophysical Data Center

(NGDC) (www.ngdc.noaa.gov) staff

archive, assess, and provide access to

satellite and ground-based observatory

data from national and international

programs supporting research in meteorology, climatology, and space

weather as well as solar-terrestrial

physics, snow and ice, marine geology

and geophysics, and solid earth geophysics. The National Snow and Ice

Data Center (NSIDC) is an affiliated

partner with NGDC. World Data Centers for Solar-Terrestrial Physics,

Marine Geology and Geophysics, ,

Glaciology, and Solid Earth Geo-
SECTION 3 DOC 71

physics under the auspices of the International Council of Scientific Unions

are operated by the two national centers. NGDC also hosts the secretariat

for the Scientific Committee for SolarTerrestrial Physics. Research activities

focus on satellite remote sensing to

assess the long-term changes of the

land surface, the space environment,

snow cover, and sea ice.

Long-term archive responsibilities

for the Nation are provided by NGDC

activities. NGDC maintains the

Nation's archive for global tsunami and

related hazard events. This includes

tsunami events, triggers, run-up locations and heights, damage descriptions

and photographs. This information is

essential for researchers focusing

activity on at-risk areas. As part of

NOAA's effort to improve tsunami

research and warning, NGDC is establishing the long-term archive for ocean

bottom pressure and Deep-ocean

Assessment and Reporting of

Tsunamis (DART) data. NGDC also

manages the sole archive of space

weather data from GOES, POES and

DMSP satellites. NGDC maintains the

only archive of raw data records and

VNIR imagery collected on DMSP

satellites for meteorological, oceanographic and Earth surface studies. The

space weather ground-based archives

focus on data used in NOAA's space

weather forecasts, warnings and alerts.

NSIDC manages cryospheric data

from both ground-based and satellite

instruments. These data stewardship

and scientific stewardship activities for

satellite and ground-based data include

processing, management, analysis and

quality assessments.

On line access services to these large

databases continue to evolve at

NGDC. Data discovery, browsing, and

delivery are fairly mature functions.

Data directories are managed by relational database management systems

available to most search engines.

Almost all of the data sets reside in

robotic libraries and are accessible

online, however some data sets are easier to browse, display and use than others. NGDC recently established Web

map-based access to the integrated

hazards databases. Users can select

events either through the map interface

or via a traditional form search and

retrieve tsunami event, run-up, earthquake, photographs, and death and

damage reports. NGDC has several

projects as part of the NESDIS program to digitize and make accessible

the most important records in the huge

historical archive. Interactive displays

of multi-disciplinary data sets and data

mining are under development and

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 environments.

DMSP program prepares calibrated

and geo-referenced records from the

raw data records recorded by the scientific instruments on DMSP satellites.

Data sets include visible, infrared and

microwave imagery, microwave

soundings and in situ measurements of

the space environment. User services

are provided through the Space

Physics Interactive Data Resource

(spidr.ngdc.noaa.gov/spidr/).

Research activities focus on the use of

the visible and infrared imagery

recorded at night, a unique monitoring

capability of DMSP satellites. Starting

in 2004, a major effort was undertaken

to digitize the nighttime visible

imagery to record changes in population and economic vitality over the 30

years of the archive.

GOES, POES and DMSP satellite

data of solar activity and the near Earth

space environment managed by NGDC

provide the long-term monitoring of

space weather conditions. These data

record the Earth's magnetic field, the

electrically charged environment, and

solar x-rays from geosynchronous and

polar sun-synchronous altitudes. Data

from ground-based observatories

recording solar activity, ionospheric

characteristics and geomagnetic variations complement, enhance and provide ground truth for the satellite

measurements. Solar Geophysical

Data containing solar and space

weather data is published monthly.

The space weather program at NGDC

archives measurements of total solar

and solar spectral irradiance for use in

climate studies

(http://spidr.ngdc.noaa.gov/ spidr/).

Tabular listing of ionospheric parameters and ancient solar images are part

of the digitizing and access program.

NATIONAL SNOW AND ICE DATA

CENTER.

The National Snow and Ice Data

Center (NSIDC) at the University of

Colorado, which is affiliated with

NGDC, manages several cryosphericrelated data archives 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.

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 (Figure 3-

DOC-15).

SUPPORTING RESEARCH.

Natural Hazards Reduction.

Severe tsunami events are relatively

rare and frequently the first reaction to

a serious event such as the December

26th Indian Ocean tsunami is to clean-
72 DOC SECTION 3 

up the damage. A global database of

past tsunami events, run-up heights,

death and damage descriptions, and

photographs is an essential research

tool when identifying at risk areas and

likely damage from modeled events.

NGDC maintains the nation's global

tsunami event database. We are collaborating with Humboldt State University on two projects. The first is to

review the completeness and accuracy

of the Pacific events reported in the

database, extending to include paleotsunami events. The second is to

develop a framework for analyzing the

socio-economic impact of tsunamis.

See http://www.ngdc. noaa

gov/seg/hazard/hazards.shtml

Environmental Remote Sensing.

Operational meteorological satellite

systems provide a unique opportunity

to monitor features on or near the

Earth's surface, sometimes on a nightly

basis. 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 dioxide emissions.

More information is available at

dmsp.noaa.gov/dmsp.html. 

Wildfires Monitored from Space.

DMSP Operational Linescan System

imagery 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 operationally by

the Operational Significant Event

Imagery and by firefighters in developing countries. More information is

available at dmsp.noaa.gov/

dmsp.html.

Space Weather.

The space weather program is dedicated to the long-term archive and

analysis of NOAA's space weather

data. This year marks the completion

of an 11-year space weather climatology, covering the ionosphere,

thermosphere and inner-magnetosphere. The project, which is

designed similarly to the

NCEP/NCAR re-analysis project,

provides the user community with

a uniform view of key space

Figure 3-DOC-15. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer

(MODIS) onboard the NASA Earth Observing System of satellites is used to

map snow and ice. The figure above is an image from the MODIS/Terra Snow

Cover Daily L3 Global 0.05 degree CMG data set (www.nsidc.org).

Figure 3-DOC-16. Space Climatology. NGDC researchers use the archive of

POES, DMSP, ground-based observatory, and ground-based indices to drive

physical models of the near Earth space environment. An assimilation of

ionospheric electric fields during the recovery of a major magnetic storm is

shown (top right). Physical model outputs for the Earth’s magnetosphere (bottom left) and electron density (bottom right) all linked to observational data

are shown.
SECTION 3 DOC 73

weather domains. In the coming

years, analysis of this data will

allow for tracking of changes

observed in the near-Earth space

environment. (Figure 3-DOC-16) 

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 arctic, in the sea and in mountainous

regions, as well as the hydrology

of the southwestern U.S. 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. See

www.nsidc.org.

SECTION 3 DOC 75

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 and oceanographic

missions. The activities of OAR laboratories are oriented toward providing

the scientific and engineering understanding, tools, and techniques that

form the basis of improved oceans,

weather, water, and climate services.

Special emphasis is placed on

improving severe weather, flood, 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"

(HL) focus of the United States

Weather Research Program (USWRP)

administered by NOAA's National

Weather Service (NWS). 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 Forecasting."

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 laboratories 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, the Mesoscale

Numerical Weather Prediction Testbed, and the Joint Center for Satellite

Data Assimilation. These testbeds are

operated in partnership with other

USWRP agencies.

OAR's role is to provide directed

research and operational testing, in

partnership with the 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 testbeds 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.

OAR laboratories in Boulder, Colorado, and one in Norman, Oklahoma,

are heavily involved with developing

new environmental observing system

technologies.

The Environmental Technology Laboratory (ETL) in Boulder, Colorado,

develops and evaluates new remotesensing concepts and systems. This

development and the associated environmental research directly support the

Nation's forecasting and warning services.

The Forecast Systems Laboratory

(FSL) in Boulder, Colorado, 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.

FSL Observing Activities.

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.

FSL is also taking a leadership role

in implementing the International

Earth Observation System includes the

development and testing of Remotely

Operated Aircraft (ROA, formerly

referred to as UAVs) for providing
76 DOC SECTION 3 

global weather and climate observations. The FSL is one of several

NOAA Research laboratories collaborating with NASA in support of this

project. The goal of these missions is

to evaluate the utilization of ROAs for

improved U.S. and global observing.

The Altair's integrated sensor package

consists of such components as an

ocean color sensor and passive

microwave sounder developed by the

NOAA's ETL, a gas chromatograph

and ozone sensor developed by the Climate Modeling and Diagnostics Laboratory, a digital camera system provided by NASA, and an electro optical

infrared sensor provided by GA-ASI.

High and medium altitude, long-duration ROAs can fly at remote locations

in dangerous flying conditions for long

periods. This technology provides

many scientific benefits such as sustained global high quality all-weather

profiles of atmospheric composition

(water vapor, aerosol, cloud water and

trace gases), and high altitude vertical

resolution and profiling. It also offers

a rapid response platform for improved

high impact weather forecasts at 1-day

to 2-week lead times, and better climate change detection, attribution, and

prediction in support of policy decisions. 

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 those 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 Observing Activities.

ETL and FSL will continue development of new sensors and innovative

techniques for combining observing

systems synergistically and economically. Efforts include developing tools

and techniques to integrate the data

from surface-based and satellite-borne

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 has demonstrated that tornadoes

can be detected well before touchdown

by listening for their unique infrasonic

signatures. Infrasonic antennas

located in the central U.S. have been

used to detect and locate numerous tornadoes. Verification of these tornadoes

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 designed 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). In addition, FSL continues

to perform research and analysis to

improve aviation forecasts.

ETL is developing an airborne

Polarimetric Scanning Radiometer

(PSR) designed to provide higher resolution measurements of sea state quantities, including surface winds. ETL is

also investigating the possibility of

measuring soil moisture by L-band

radiometers.

Starting in 2003, ETL and CMDL

have been working together establish a

new Arctic Atmospheric Observatory

in North East Canada as a part of the

SEARCH (Studies of Environmental

Arctic Change) Program. The Canadian Observatory is being designed to

mirror many of the cloud, aerosol and

radiation measurements that are

already made in Barrow, Alaska. Since

North East Canada and Barrow, Alaska

are in markedly different Arctic

regimes the long-term measurements

from these sites will be complementary

in providing information to monitor

Arctic atmospheric changes. Longterm data from these sites will be used

to improve short-term and long-term

forecast models, and improve satellite

measurement of meteorological phenomena in the Arctic regions.

ETL is engaging in a comprehensive

observation program to improve operational weather forecast and planned

climate model treatments of boundary

layer forcing processes. This work

centers on development and application of observing technologies for surface fluxes and key boundary-layer
SECTION 3 DOC 77

variables (profiles of temperature,

humidity, wind, and cloud properties).

Ship-based measurement systems have

been developed and are now used routinely on NOAA research vessels to

investigate model accuracies in the

marine boundary layer. Recently,

land-based systems have been developed and deployed. One point of

emphasis is linking observed cloud

properties (obtained with mm-wavelength cloud radars and microwave

radiometers) to cloud effects on surface turbulent and radiative fluxes (this

approach is termed cloud forcing).

Ship-based and satellite retrievals of

cloud and flux properties are being

used. ETL is compiling a large data

base to allow climatologically-oriented

studies of model parameterizations.

Future plans include expanding the

observational capabilities to add scanning mm-radar capabilities for investigation of precipitation initiation (a critical issue in triggering deep convection

in model domains).

The ETL satellite applications group

has developed new techniques for

monitoring atmospheric properties

over the ocean surface including air

temperature and specific humidity.

Retrievals of these quantities were

improved through novel use of satellite

atmospheric sounders in combination

with passive microwave imaging

radiometers. The products are being

applied to improved global estimates

of the flux of heat between the ocean

and atmosphere. ETL is also producing a new satellite-derived sea surface

temperature product through the

blending of infrared and passive

microwave data. The technique takes

advantage of the complementary

strengths of the two sensor types. The

product has significant meteorological

applications through its use as an input

to numerical weather forecast and climate models.

NSSL Observing Activities.

The 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 WSR88D 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. NSSL is

assisting the NWS with the next step,

the development of a generalized dualpolarization solution for their network

of WSR-88D radars.

NSSL researchers are adapting SPY1 radar technology currently deployed

on Navy ships for use in spotting

severe weather (Figure 3-DOC-17).

Early tests and data collections from

the phased array radar system have

proved promising, and the technology

has the potential to improve the

NEXRAD system for all weather radar

applications. Using multiple beams

and frequencies that are controlled

electronically, phased array radar

reduces the scan time of severe

weather from six minutes for

NEXRAD radar to only one minute,

producing quicker updates of data and

thereby potentially increasing the lead

time for tornado warnings well beyond

the current average of 11 minutes.

Other NSSL developed technology

will extend lead times even farther.

Figure 3-DOC-17. The rapid scanning ability of phased array radar has the

potential to significantly increase the average lead times of tornado warnings.
78 DOC SECTION 3 

HIGH IMPACT WEATHER

RESEARCH

The NSSL focuses on research to

better understand severe weather systems and their associated hazards, such

as tornadoes, hail, high winds, heavy

rain and snow, lightning, and ice

storms with the goal of helping the

NWS improve forecasts and warnings.

The parameters of storm development

and intensification are identified and

studied by incorporating observations

from Doppler weather radar, satellites,

remote-sensing 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

2005, NSSL continued to develop

techniques, in cooperation with the

NWS, to forecast and warn of weather

hazards to aviation and the general

public. The Joint Polarization Experiment (JPOLE) was conducted in the

spring of 2003, with the overarching

goals of testing the engineering design

and determine the data quality of the

polarimetric KOUN WSR-88D radar,

demonstrating the utility and feasibility of the radar to operational users,

and collecting data and information

that could be used to perform a

cost/benefit analysis. Knowledge

gained from the Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment (VORTEX) campaigns in the

mid- and late-1990's, 1998's Mesoscale

Convective System (MCS) Electrification and Polarimetric Radar Study

(MeaPRS) and the 2000 Intermountain

Precipitation Experiment (IPEX) provided new understanding of severe

thunderstorms, storm electrification,

winter weather, and tornadoes and led

to improved methods to detect, model,

and predict these storms (Figure 3-

DOC-18).

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 ran through 2002. In

2004 and 2005, the ROC and NSSL

worked together to extend a prototype

research project that provided highresolution Level II WSR-88D radar

data to universities, government users,

and private companies to a national

level.

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.

NSSL is collaborating with NWS and

FSL to integrate some of NSSL's

advanced single and multi-radar display capabilities into 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; and weather satellites, especially Geostationary Operational Environ-mental Satellite

(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

Figure 3-DOC-18. Schematic diagram of a thunderstorm 

(Source: NSSL’s VORTEX Project web site)
SECTION 3 DOC 79

AWIPS system and is being used by a

number of other agencies, not only for

various regions of the U.S., 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 Seattle

NWS 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 the 1990s, 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

pressure system. 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. Followup field programs in FY 2004 and FY

2005 focused on cloud and precipitation processes using special observations from research aircraft and landbased radars. The results are providing

information on how to improve forecasts of storms in the Western U.S.

This activity is also coordinated with

the NWS Office of Hydrologic Development and NCEP's Climate Prediction center for support to hydrologic

resource forecasting to help better

forecast floods and droughts.

MESOMETEOROLOGY AND PRECIPITATION FORECASTING AND

WARNING RESEARCH

NSSL develops techniques to

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 the Severe Thunderstorm Electrification and Precipitation

Study (STEPS) in 2000 were conducted to improve the science behind

the technology. STEPS was designed

to improve 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. Findings from these

research activities lead to supporting

the forecasting of other high impact

weather forecasting events such as heat

waves and air quality forecasting.

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

U.S. The chief aim of the 2002 IHOP

campaign was 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 IPEX campaign held in 2001 should help. The

data are being analyzed by NSSL, SPC

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 (Figure 3-DOC-19).

Data analysis of IPEX continues in

2005.

A crew of NOAA NSSL and

National Center for Atmospheric

Figure 3-DOC-19. The OU Doppleron-Wheels and the NSSL mobile laboratory take measurements of a snowstorm in Idaho during IPEX.
80 DOC SECTION 3 

Research (NCAR) scientists and University of Oklahoma and New Mexico

Institute of Mining and Technology

students and faculty, scrambled to get

in position beneath thunderstorms to

launch balloons to measure temperature, pressure, humidity, and the electric field profile of storms as part of

TELEX, the Thunderstorm Electrification and Lightning Experiment in May

and June 2004. The broad objective of

TELEX is to learn how lightning and

other electrical storm properties are

dependent on storm structure, updrafts,

and precipitation. This information

will point to new ways for the National

Weather Service to use lightning

observations to improve forecasts and

warnings of hazardous weather.

TELEX also took advantage of new

sensors, the KOUN radar in Norman, a

WSR-88D radar modified with polarimetric parameters to provide information about the particle size and water

phase of precipitation and the Oklahoma Lightning Mapping Array

(LMA). The OK-LMA is a network of

ten stations in central Oklahoma that

continuously maps the structure of all

types of lightning in three-dimensions

out to a range of 75 km and in twodimensions out to a range of 200 km. 

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 largerscale 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. (Figure 3-

DOC-20).

The FSL implemented a Rapid

Update Cycle (RUC) at NCEP in 1994

with periodic follow up upgrades

since. The RUC gave a new analysis

of surface and atmospheric conditions

every three hours as well as shortrange 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.

A higher-resolution, higher-frequency version of the RUC was implemented at NCEP in 2005. The 13 km

version of NOAA's Rapid Update

Cycle (RUC13) model became operational at 1200 UTC Tuesday 28 June

2005, at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP). This is

a major milestone for improving the

RUC high-frequency short-range forecasts for NOAA and external users,

especially for aviation and severe

weather forecasting.

The main changes include higher

horizontal resolution (from 20 km to

13 km), improved data assimilation

especially for moisture/cloud fields,

and improved cloud/precipitation

physics. Most notable improvements

are in surface and cloud/precipitation

forecasts, resulting in part from assimilation of new observation types in the

RUC13. The model updates every

hour, incorporating information from

virtually all high frequency data

sources: hourly wind profiles; WSR88D (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 the forecast 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 is to have the WRF model

become a community model and a tool

both for experimental and operational

Figure 3-DOC-20. GFDL’s 3-D model depiction of Hurricane Floyd
SECTION 3 DOC 81

prediction, thus paving the way for

quick realization of research advances

in forecast dissemination to the public

and industry.

The Air Resources Laboratory

(ARL) 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

intensely 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 the Eta model) 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, industrial

enterprises, and nuclear accidents. 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, the U.S. Forest

Service, and The Mediterranean Centre

for Environmental Studies Foundation. 

TROPICAL ATMOSPHERIC

RESEARCH

The Tropical Dynamics and Climate

Program of the Aeronomy Laboratory

(AL) is using precipitation profilers to

study the structure, evolution and variability of precipitating cloud systems

in the tropics and elsewhere. Precipitation measurements can be made with

sufficient vertical resolution to categorize precipitation in deep and shallow

convective systems and in stratiform

conditions. A recent focus of research

with profilers has been to provide

ground validation research in support

of satellite precipitation measurement

missions such as the NASA Tropical

Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM).

These observations have provided

important information on the vertical

structure and temporal evolution of

precipitating cloud systems during

TRMM Ground Validation field 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.

Validation of drop-size distributions

used in algorithms is key to improving

the retrieval of rainfall estimates from

the TRMM satellite data. The profilerbased precipitation research described

above also can be used to provide calibration of NEXRAD scanning radars

as has recently been demonstrated for

Melbourne, Florida. In related activities the Aeronomy Laboratory has

teamed with the ETL in hydrometeorological studies in relation to the PACJET campaign on the west coast and

also is working with ETL on microphysical process studies utilizing profilers in the North American Monsoon

Experiment (NAME).

HURRICANE ANALYSIS AND PREDICTION RESEARCH

The Hurricane Research Division's

mission is to advance the understanding and prediction of hurricanes and

other tropical weather. HRD's research

is based on a combination of models,

theories, and observations, with particular emphasis on data obtained with

research aircraft. The goals of this

research are to:

1. Advance the prediction of tropical

cyclone intensity change by improving

understanding of the processes that

modulate internal storm dynamics and

storm interactions with the atmosphere

and ocean;

2. Improve the prediction of tropical

cyclone tracks by enhancing understanding of the interactions between a

tropical cyclone and its environment

through an optimal analysis of field

observations;

3. Improve the understanding of and

ability to predict tropical cyclone frequency and intensity on intraseasonal,

interannual, decadal and longer time

scales; and

4. Enhance the ability to diagnose

and predict the impact of tropical

cyclones on life and property through

wind, rain, waves, and storm surge.

These goals are accomplished by:

1. Designing and conducting

research experiments in the hurricane

to collect and provide data for research

and applications;

2. Analyzing these data sets and publishing the research in the refereed literature;

3. Developing new technology and

applications based on this research to

improve NOAA's products; and

4. Providing outreach to the public

through the WWW, conferences, presentations, and other means.

Much of HRD's research is based on

the in situ and remotely-sensed observations in the inner core of tropical

cyclones and their surrounding environment. These observations are primarily collected in our annual field

program using the two NOAA turboprop aircraft and jet operated by the

NOAA Aircraft Operations Center

(AOC). The field program is used to

carry out scientific experiments

designed to address the goals stated

above. Data sets gathered by these

experiments, combined with dynami-
82 DOC SECTION 3 

cal and statistical models and theoretical development, range from global to

microscale, forming the cornerstone of

research in HRD. Because of this

extensive field experience, HRD scientists are recognized internationally for

their knowledge of tropical cyclones as

well as their expertise in technological

areas such as airborne Doppler radar,

dropsondes, cloud microphysics, and

air-sea interaction, to name a few.

These assets make HRD unique worldwide, and provide NOAA a unique

capability.

In 2005, NOAA's HRD begin a

multi-year experiment this summer

with the NOAA Aircraft Operations

Center (AOC) called the Intensity

Forecasting Experiment (IFEX).

Developed in partnership with

NOAA's Environmental Modeling

Center (EMC) and National Hurricane

Center (NHC), IFEX is intended to

improve our understanding and prediction of hurricane intensity change by

collecting observations that will aid in

the improvement of current operational

models and the development of the

next-generation operational hurricane

model, the Hurricane Weather

Research and Forecasting model

(HWRF). Observations will be collected in a variety of hurricanes at different stages in their lifecycle, from

formation and early organization to

peak intensity and subsequent landfall

or decay over open waters. There are

several unique aspects of IFEX in 2005

that will help improve our understanding and prediction of hurricane intensity change. Some examples are provided below: 

Hurricane genesis experiment - Take

data to improve our knowledge of the

evolution of tropical waves to tropical

storms. 

SFMR validation - The Stepped-Frequency Microwave Radiometer

(SFMR) evaluation of a unique airborne tool that enables the remote

measurement of surface wind speeds

and rain rates over the water. 

Impact of Saharan air on intensity

forecast models - Recent research has

shown that very dry air originating

from the African continent, called the

Saharan Air Layer (SAL), may be an

important factor in hurricane intensity

change.

Doppler Radar - Mapping of the center wind field from airborne tail

Doppler radar and its transmission to

EMC and NHC in real-time.

High-altitude penetrations of the

hurricane's center -The high-altitude

NOAA G-IV jet will penetrate the

inner core of hurricanes. This capability will be vital once a Doppler radar is

installed on the G-IV, enabling the

three-dimensional mapping of wind

fields from nearly top to bottom of hurricanes.

NSF Hurricane Rainband and Intensity Change Experiment (RAINEX) -

The main goal of RAINEX is to investigate interactions between a tropical

cyclone's inner core and its associated

rainbands, and the role this interaction

plays in determining intensity change.

HRD coordinates its programs with

other NOAA organizations, e.g.,

NOAA's Aircraft Operations Center

(AOC) and the National Center for

Environmental Prediction (NCEP),

and in particular with the Environmental Modeling Center (EMC) and Tropical Prediction Center/National Hurricane Center (NHC). HRD maintains

active research programs with, and

receives funding from other governmental agencies, in particular, the

Department of the Navy's Office of

Naval Research (ONR) and the

National Aeronautics and Space

Agency (NASA).

In program areas where it is beneficial to NOAA, HRD arranges cooperative programs with scientists at the

National Center for Atmospheric

Research, and at a number of universities. The highest priority experiment

in 2004 is the Coordinated Boundary

Layer Air-Sea Transfer (CBLAST)

experiment focused on improving

numerical model parameterization of

the air-sea transfer of energy that fuels

the storms. HRD also integrated two

recent NASA field experiments and a

fifth Convective and Moisture Experiments (CAMEX-5), is being proposed

in 2005. HRD is also working with

U.S. and international partners on

plans for the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Activity (AMMA) in

2006.

Currently, the HRD research staff

consists of 26 full-time employees and

10 employees working under a cooperative joint agreement with the University of Miami (CIMAS).

Under the USWRP and its participating agencies, OAR, NWS, and NESDIS established a Joint Hurricane Testbed (JHT) at the Tropical Prediction

Center in Miami, Florida. It is anticipated that the JHT will continue to

grow in FY 2005 as more resources

become available. This testbed 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 smallscales and to translate this understanding into improved numerical weather

prediction models. Three groups at

GFDL are engaged in weather research

activities: Experimental Prediction,

Mesoscale Dynamics, and Hurricane

Dynamics.

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
SECTION 3 DOC 83

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 weather 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 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 the

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 (SORD), 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 prepared-ness 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.

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 U.S. 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 an 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 also

serves the NWS in this role. Regis-
84 DOC SECTION 3 

tered 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 NCEP

under the auspices of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). 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 an 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 decisionmaking. AL, ARL, CMDL, FSL,

PMEL, and ETL participate in the

research. The Health of the Atmosphere research goals are:

• Characterize regional ozone

episodes - characterize the factors that

cause poor air quality in regions of the

U.S. where excessive levels of groundlevel ozone and fine particle pollution

are occurring. In summer 2002, a

major field investigation was carried

out to characterize air quality in the

New England region. Ground-based

measurements, ship and aircraft measurements, forecasting, and modeling

analyses were applied in the research.

Among the processes investigated

were the role of nighttime chemistry in

the formation of ozone pollution, the

role of the sea-breeze/land-breeze circuit in influencing New England's air

quality, and the role of the marine

boundary layer as a conduit for the

movement of pollutants throughout the

region.

• Document trends in air quality -

help evaluate predicted atmospheric

responses to changes in emissions (i.e.,

the ongoing measurements provided

by the AIRMoN and the ozone profiling networks).

• Develop a better understanding of

the fundamental science underlying the

processes responsible for the formation

and distribution of fine particles in the

atmosphere to improve the atmospheric predictive capability that links

sources of fine particles and their precursors to human exposure and visibility impairment.

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.

This approach was used in the summer 2004 New England Air Quality

Study, which built on the groundwork

laid by the scoping study done as

NEAQS 2002. Observations were

made from an array of platforms that

includes a dozen aircraft, the NOAA

research vessel Ronald H. Brown, and

several ground sites in New England

and Nova Scotia. The research, which

is being led by NOAA and the University of New Hampshire and involves

several U.S. and international partners,

will help provide the solid science to

underpin the region's future efforts to

improve air quality for its citizens.

NEAQS will also help provide the scientific understanding needed for a new

air quality forecasting capability that

NOAA's Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and National Weather

Service are developing in partnership

with the Environmental Protection

Agency. The forecast guidance was

launched in summer 2004 in New England in conjunction with the NEAQS

mission.

The Air Quality Research Subcommittee of the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources (CENR)

provides interagency collaboration at

the U.S. Federal level. NOAA coleads the AQRS. 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 U.S.,

Canada, and Mexico. 

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
SECTION 3 DOC 85

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.

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, 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.

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 within OAR), AOML,

and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, maintains a network of approximately 100 meteorological drifting

buoys in the Southern Hemisphere.

The buoys measure atmospheric pressure at sea-level, air temperature, surface sea water temperature, and surface currents. Observations are

obtained through the ARGOS data collection and platform location system

on-board the NOAA polar-orbiting

satellites. The buoys are a subset of

the Global Drifter Program.

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

prediction 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 maintained by the TAO Project Office

located at PMEL in Seattle, Washington, which has responsibility for project management and logistics. The

mooring array operations are being

transferred to NWS. 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.

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. Planned expansion of the

PIRATA array into the hurricane genesis region of the Atlantic will allow for

a better understanding of ocean-atmosphere interactions on hurricane development and enhanced predictions of

hurricane formation.

ARGO--GLOBAL ARRAY OF PROFILING FLOATS

The ARGO array will deploy a

global array of 3,000 profiling floats to

better understand and forecast climate.

ARGO floats are free-drifting profiling

floats that spend most of their life

"parked" at 1,000 or 2,000 meters

depth, regularly surfacing to make

temperature and salinity profile measurements. Observations are made in

real-time. As of June 2004, 1250

ARGO floats have been deployed. The

Argo array is part of the Global Climate Observing System/Global Ocean

Observing System GCOS/ GOOS) and

is a major contributor to the WCRP's

Climate Variability and Predictability

Experiment ( CLIVAR) and the Global

Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment

(GODAE). Along with satellites,

ARGO helps initiate the oceanic

equivalent of today's operational

observing system for the global atmos-
86 DOC SECTION 3 

phere.

Ocean Reference Stations. The

Ocean Reference Station network is a

planned network of 29 operational

ocean moorings that measure high

quality air-sea fluxes of heat, moisture,

and momentum. These in-situ fluxes

will then be used to make regional

assessments of flux components from

numerical weather prediction models

and satellites. The network currently

has 2 operational moorings; a partnership with the National Science Foundation's ORION program will greatly

enhance the capacity of the network.
SECTION 3 DOC 87

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. Largely through

the Tides and Current Program line,

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 science-based 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. NOS also 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. NOS manages

several observing systems and programs, however three in particular are

heavily linked to the capability of

NOAA to meet weather and water

needs of the nation.

NATIONAL WATER LEVEL

OBSERVATION NETWORK

(NWLON)

NOS manages the NWLON, 175 stations located along the coasts of the

U.S. 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 Nautical Charting Program,

NWS Tsunami Warning System, NWS

storm surge warning/forecast activities,

and the Climate and Global Change

Program. An event triggered or manually 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 when expected elevations are predicted or observed during

coastal storms and hurricanes. This

capability for high-rate data has

recently been enhanced at many stations by the introduction of 6-minute

interval GOES transmissions.

Although not all NWLON stations are

presently equipped with meteorological

sensors, an increasing number of stations are each year. Water level and

meteorological data are automatically

formatted into bulletin format for inclusion into the NOAA AWIPS pipeline.

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, barometric pressure, and visibility, needed

and requested by the mariner to navigate safely. Highway and railroad

bridge mounted "Air Gap" sensors for

water level detection are presently

being developed and are included in

future plans for PORTS®.

The 12 existing PORTS® systems

come in a variety of sizes and configurations, each specifically designed to

meet local user requirements.

PORTS® are partnership programs in

which local operating partners fund the

installation and operation of the measurement systems. The largest of NOS's

existing installations is comprised of

over 26 separate instruments. The

smallest consists of a single water level

gauge and associated oceanographic

and meteorological instruments, i.e.

winds, barometric pressure, etc. (Figure

3-DOC-21). 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 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).

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. The New York/New Jersey Harbor nowcast/forecast model came on

line in 2003, followed by a

Houston/Galveston Bay nowcast/foreNATIONAL OCEAN SERVICE
88 DOC SECTION 3

cast model in 2004. Future operational

models will include the St. Johns River,

FL and the Great Lakes. Also, ongoing

research will enable PORTS® or similar systems to incorporate biological

and chemical sensor systems and forecast models as required and integrate

the information with circulation measurements to provide information on

transports of materials in the ecosystem

essential for effective marine resource

management and homeland security.

THE NOS CONTINUOUS REALTIME MONITORING SYSTEM

(CORMS)

CORMS was designed to operate on

a 24 hour/7 days a week basis to ensure

the accuracy and working status 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 and systems, including the operational nowcast/forecast models, determines data quality, and identifies and

communicates the presence of invalid

or suspect data to real-time users/customers who rely on the data. CORMS

is especially vigilant during storm and

tsunami events to ensure the full set of

products and services is being disseminated in a timely fashion. An advanced

version of this system, CORMS AI, is

presently in developmental stages (Figure 3-DOC-22).

Figure 3-DOC-21. New York/New Jersey PORTS: Bergen Point Composite.
SECTION 3 DOC 89

Figure 3-DOC-22. PORTS sites in the New York and

New Jersey linked by CORMS.

SECTION 3 DOC 91

NOAA Marine and Aviation Operations (NMAO) operates a wide variety

of specialized ships and aircraft to support NOAA mission goals. NOAA's

ship fleet includes oceanographic and

atmospheric research vessels.

NOAA's aircraft fleet includes aircraft

that collect environmental and geographic data essential to NOAA hurricane and other severe weather and

atmospheric research; and aircraft that

conduct aerial surveys for hydrologic

research for forecasting flooding

potential from snow melt.

NOAA SHIPS SUPPORTING

METEOROLOGICAL ACTIVITIES

• NOAA Ship RONALD H.

BROWN, an oceanographic and

atmospheric research platform, is the

largest vessel in the NOAA fleet (274

feet). With its instruments and sensors,

RONALD H. BROWN (Figure 3-

DOC-23) travels worldwide supporting scientific studies to increase our

understanding of the world's oceans

and climate. An advanced meteorological scientific Doppler radar makes the

ship a unique attribute to the research

fleet. 

• NOAA Ship KA'IMIMOANA

(Figure 3-DOC-24) primarily supports

the research programs of NOAA's

Tropical Atmosphere-Ocean (TAO)

Project (real-time data from moored

ocean buoys for improved detection,

understanding and prediction of El

Niño and La Niña). These research

programs are designed to improve our

understanding of the role of the tropical ocean in the world's climate. The

ship deploys, recovers, and services

deep sea moorings that measure ocean

currents, ocean temperatures, and

atmospheric variables, throughout the

equatorial Pacific Ocean. In addition

to data from these moorings, the ship

measures upper ocean currents, surface

salinity, carbon dioxide content, and

takes upper air atmospheric soundings

while underway.

The RONALD H. BROWN and

KA'IMIMOANA annually support the

Tropical Atmospheric Ocean (TAO)

Array by servicing approximately 60

ATLAS and current meter moorings in

the central and eastern equatorial

Pacific.

In FY 2006, the RONALD H.

BROWN will conduct the African

Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis

study to improve understanding of the

West African monsoon and its influence both on the regional environment

as well as its role in Atlantic tropical

cyclone development.

Also in FY 2006, the RONALD H.

BROWN will continue work on the

NOAA Climate Forcing and Air Quality Programs by conducting a combined Air Quality and Climate

Research Study to better characterize

marine/continental chemical and meteorological processes to assess their

impact on air quality in Texas and

radiative forcing of climate. As in previous studies off the New England

region, this may include use of NOAA

NOAA Marine and Aviation Operations

Figure 3-DOC-23. NOAA Ship RONALD H. BROWN

Figure 3-DOC-24. NOAA Ship KA'IMIMOANA
92 DOC SECTION 3 

and other aircraft for data collection.

A new initiative this year will be the

sharing of weather data obtained by

certain NOAA ships with NWS coastal

Weather Forecast Offices (WFO).

What follows is an excerpt from a February 14, 2005, article in the NWS

Focus that explains this new partnership further:

NOAA Agencies Join Forces to Test

Collaborative Communications Concept

The NOAA Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (NMAO) and the

NOAA National Weather Service

(NWS) Southern Region are working

together to test a new communications

project designed to serve the interest of

both line offices. In an excellent example of inter-agency cooperation,

NMAO and the NWS have devised an

information sharing system to benefit

NOAA ships and NWS coastal Weather

Forecast Offices (WFO). "Our ships

are always in need of up-to-date

marine forecasts," said Rear Admiral

Richard R. Behn, NOAA Director,

Marine and Aviation Operations Centers. "In turn, the WFOs are always

searching for real time weather data

from sea because they don't have buoys

everywhere."

NWS Southern Region Marine Services Meteorologist Melinda Bailey

says 13 Southern Region WFOs, from

Brownsville, Texas to Jacksonville,

Fla., will participate in the test project.

"Each of the NOAA ships will have a

file with a complete list of phone numbers and the names of key personnel in

our coastal WFOs. Our specialists

can then provide any type of specialized forecast that may be needed." In

return, the forecast offices will have

access to the NMAO's Ship Tracker

software so they will know where the

ships are. The forecasters will also

have a list of the ship's port, cellular

and satellite phone numbers. National

Weather Service Southern Region forecast offices participating in the project

include Brownsville, Corpus Christi

and Houston, Texas; Lake Charles and

New Orleans, La.; Mobile, Ala.; San

Juan, Puerto Rico; and, Tallahassee,

Tampa, Key West, Miami, Melbourne

and Jacksonville, Fla.

NOAA's Office Marine and Aviation

Operations currently has 18 ships plying the waters of the Pacific and

Atlantic Oceans and the Gulf of Mexico. The fleet includes ships that provide hydrographic survey, oceanographic, atmospheric and fisheries

research in support of the National

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration mission to predict and understand

the Earth's environment and conserve

and manage coastal and marine

resources.

The test is scheduled to run through

the end of year, at which time the

results will be evaluated. "If we find

the program works well from both the

standpoint of the Office of Marine and

Aviation Operations and the National

Weather Service, we will expand it to

include all coastal offices in the United

Sates," added Behn.

Another advancement this FY was

the development of the NOAA Shipboard Environmental Data Acquisition

System (SEAS). SEAS will provide

real-time meteorological and oceanographic data to NOAA users from

ships at sea through the use of

INMARSAT C satellite data transmissions. Along with ships of the NOAA

fleet, meteorological observations

made onboard merchant vessels of the

NOAA voluntary observing ships

(VOS) program, are a substantial component of global weather forecasting

and climate studies. SEAS equipped

vessels are an essential part of the

NOAA VOS program and provide as

many as 80,000 observations per year.

SEAS records weather information in

the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) MET transmission format

(BBXX) and transmits it in real-time

via satellite. All of NOAA's research

ships carry SEAS equipment, with the

exception of the two small Class 5 vessels (COBB and RUDE). Most of

NOAA's ships submit at least one

SEAS report a day and some submit up

to eight reports a day (one every three

hours).

NOAA AIRCRAFT SUPPORTING

METEOROLOGICAL ACTIVITIES

NOAA aircraft support a broad range

of meteorological activities and projects with its fleet of aircraft based at

MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa,

Florida. Four of its14 aircraft are dedicated to this purpose throughout the

year, providing valuable information to

NOAA and the nation.

The NOAA Gulfstream, G-IV(SP)

(N49RF), provides scientists with a

platform for the investigation of

processes in the upper troposphere and

lower stratosphere (Figure 3-DOC-25).

With a ceiling of 45,000 ft, the G-IV is

a critical tool for obtaining the data

necessary to improve hurricane track

forecasts and for research leading to

improvements in hurricane intensity

forecasts. The G-IV is also being used

for air chemistry studies where a high

altitude capability is required. In 2005,

hurricane researchers studying the role

of Saharan dust on tropical storm

development and intensity will also

use this aircraft.

The NOAA G-IV annually supports

Hurricane Synoptic Surveillance missions where the aircraft flies in the

environment surrounding the storm at

a high altitude releasing GPS dropsonFigure 3-DOC-25. NOAA Gulfstream G-IVSP
SECTION 3 DOC 93

des at pre-selected locations. The data

from these vertical atmospheric soundings are transmitted from the aircraft to

the NCEP computer site where they are

incorporated into the hurricane computer models to improve hurricane

track forecasts. The dropsonde (Figure

3-DOC-26) directly measures temperature, pressure, and humidity as it falls

through the atmosphere to the surface,

and computes wind speed and wind

direction using a full-up GPS receiver

(which is new in 2005). Recent estimates of the improvement in hurricane

track predictions utilizing this aircraft

and dropsonde are between 20 and 30

percent, resulting in a savings of $10

million or more per hurricane in warning and preparedness costs.

The NOAA G-IV also annually supports the Winter Storms Reconnaissance Program in an effort to improve

forecasts released 24 to 96 hours

before winter storms in the U.S. This

aircraft, in conjunction with the Air

Force Reserve's WC-130s, utilize the

GPS dropsondes to collect data on

developing severe winter storms over

the Pacific Ocean that will seriously

impact the continental U.S. and

Alaska. During one month of the twomonth season, both aircraft operate in

tandem, one from Alaska and the other

from Hawaii, to collect data both north

and south of the jet stream simultaneously. General improvement in forecast accuracy of up to 20 percent has

already been seen, and even higher

percentage improvements on individually targeted events have been realized

from this program. Typically, during

the final month of the program, the

NOAA G-IV operates independently

from either the base in Alaska or

Hawaii as the case may dictate.

A recent additional mission for the

G-IV was the support of the THORPEX Regional Campaign (TReC).

THORPEX is a global atmospheric

research program designed to accelerate improvements in the accuracy of 1

to 14-day weather forecasts for the

benefit of society and the economy.

TReC was a regional study that took

place in the North Atlantic, and the GIV contributed with a month-long program, operating from bases in Newfoundland and Ireland.

NOAA's Aeronomy Lab, located in

Boulder, CO, is presently expanding its

air chemistry capabilities on the G-IV

beyond just ozone measurements with

the addition of a proton transfer reaction mass spectrometer (PTR_MS).

The PTR_MS provides in-situ measurements of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and an instrument to

measure carbon monoxide (CO).

Beyond just their dedicated research,

lab scientists also hope to piggyback

on missions during the 2005 hurricane

season.

Also during the 2005 hurricane season, scientists from NOAA's Hurricane

Research Division will be utilizing the

G-IV in an investigation of the Saharan

dust layer over the Atlantic. The Saharan Air Layer (SAL) has been investigated fairly extensively during the past

several decades, but its role in influencing Atlantic tropical cyclone activity has not been thoroughly examined.

This experiment is designed to utilize

the G-IV to study the mechanisms by

which the SAL's embedded mineral

dust, thermodynamic properties, and

low-level wind surge affect Atlantic

tropical cyclone genesis and intensity

change. 

NOAA's atmospheric and oceanographic research, as well as its reconnaissance operations, are supported by

two WP-3D Lockheed Orion aircraft

(N42RF and N43RF) which carry a

full array of state-of-the-art environmental research instrumentation (Figure 3-DOC-27). The aircraft research

and navigation systems provide

detailed spatial and temporal observations of a wide range of atmospheric

and oceanic parameters. NOAA's Aircraft Operations Center (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 provided

storm data to the National Hurricane

Center (NHC) in near real-time, transmitting flight level data, GPS dropsonde messages, as well as radar

images via its multiple aircraft-satellite

data links. With the Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometers

(SFMR) coming online operational

during FY 2004, increasing emphasis

is being placed on utilizing the NOAA

WP-3Ds to map the surface wind fields

in and around hurricanes and tropical

storms. Real-time surface wind speed

maps are critical to providing more

accurate forecasts of the locations of

hurricane and storm force winds.

Figure 3-DOC-26. GPS dropsonde

Figure 3-DOC-27. NOAA WP-3

Orion
94 DOC SECTION 3 

The AOC aircraft also augment the

Air Force Reserve reconnaissance aircraft during particularly active storm

periods when tasking requirements

exceed their available resources.

Each year, one of the NOAA WP3Ds participates in a Hurricane Awareness Tour targeting, alternately, the

Gulf and East coast regions of the U.S.,

those areas that are most vulnerable to

land-falling storms. This educational

outreach effort is directed at both-middle-grade school children, the age

group most likely to see, learn and convey a message home, as well as the

general public. These tours are operated in concert with the participation of

officials from NHC, the Red Cross,

FEMA and other local and state emergency management personnel. This is

becoming an increasingly more popular and successful venture as coastal

populations grow and the threat of an

increasing number of storms place

more people in harm's way.

The NOAA WP-3Ds annually support both a summer and winter operation in support of a NESDIS satellite

validation program. Operating in

regions of high winds and heavy precipitation, one of the WP-3Ds,

equipped with microwave scatterometers and radiometers provide underflight validation of NOAA satellite

QuickScat and WindSat sensed ocean

surface wind vectors. Traditional venues for these operations have been

Alaska or Newfoundland in the winter

and the Atlantic and Caribbean regions

during the summer hurricane season.

Every other year one of the NOAA

WP-3Ds participates in an intensive air

chemistry program, usually in concert

with a number of other Federal agencies and universities. During July

2004, N42RF took part in a multi-platform experiment based from

Portsmouth, NH. This New England

Air Quality Study (NEAQS) employed

a number of aircraft, ground stations,

and also the NOAA Ship Ronald H.

Brown. The NEAQS project area covered the entire northeastern corridor

from Cleveland east and north into

Canada. Packed completely with an

impressive array of in-situ chemical

samplers and three instrument pods

mounted beneath the wings of the aircraft, measurements of a wide range of

chemical constituents were made at

low levels over the urban and rural

landmass as well as the marine boundary layer. Additionally, atmospheric

profiles were made from the surface to

the maximum altitude capability of the

aircraft (~25,000 ft). This work will

continue in the summer of 2006, during a similar experiment in the Houston area. It should be no surprise that

the experiment will be called the Texas

Air Quality Study, or TexAQS.

During the winter of 2005, one of the

NOAA WP-3Ds completed the Atmospheric Rivers (AR) Project over the

Pacific northeast of the Hawaiian

Islands. As part of the NOAA weatherclimate program, this project focused

on documenting the flow of moisture

moving in a northeasterly direction

toward the U.S. mainland - measurements that are critical to both the

global water cycle and to storm prediction.

A study of the pre-cold-frontal lowlevel jet (LLJ) that precedes landfalling extra-tropical storms approaching the West Coast of the U.S. is scheduled for next winter. This LLJ plays a

critical role in the transport of water

vapor into the coastal mountains where

orographic enhancement of precipitation can generate disastrous floods.

A NOAA AC690A Turbo Commander (N53RF) and a NOAA AC-500

Shrike (N51RF) have been utilized frequently over past years to conduct

important snow surveys in the northern

and western continental U.S., Alaska,

and southern Canada. (N53RF will be

retired during FY 2005 and be replaced

by a refurbished JetProp Commander -

N45RF) (Figure 3-DOC-28). During

these survey flights, snow waterequivalent estimates are obtained and

sent to the National Operational

Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center

(NOHRSC) up to three times a day

from each aircraft, and after further

processing the information is distributed to NWS field offices within five

minutes of receipt from each aircraft.

These data are used by the NWS to

forecast river levels and potential flood

events resulting from snowmelt water

runoff. Hydroelectric power interests

and other water supply managers also

use the data to regulate water storage

and delivery.

Figure 3-DOC-28. NOAA JetProp

Commander - N45RF.
SECTION 3

SECTION 3 DOD 95

METEOROLOGICAL AND

SPACE ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES

Air Force Weather (AFW) provides

high-quality, mission-tailored terrestrial and space environment observations, forecasts, and services to the

United States Air Force (USAF),

United States Army (USA), and a variety of United States Government

(USG) departments and

agencies. See Section 3,

United States Army, for

details of AFW support

to the Army.

AFW ORGANIZATION

AFW is functionally

organized under the

Director of Weather

(AF/XOO-W), Directorate of Operations and

Training (AF/XOO),

Deputy Chief of Staff for

Air and Space Operations (AF/XO), Headquarters Air Force (HAF). The Director of Weather oversees Air Forcewide training, organizing, and equipping of AFW organizations to include

the following functions:

• Development of doctrine, policies,

requirements, and standards for

weather support.

• Evaluation of weather support

effectiveness.

• Management of weather officer,

enlisted, and civilian career fields.

• Development and implementation

of mid- to long-range plans for the

organization, equipment, manpower,

and technology necessary to meet

future Air Force and Army weather

requirements.

• Advising Air Staff and subordinate

headquarters weather functional managers regarding manpower, career field

management, personnel utilization,

training, operations policy and procedures, and technology acquisition.

• Advocating and fielding standardized weather equipment.

AFW, a Total Force capability,

employs over 4,400 Active and

Reserve Component (AC and RC) military and civilian personnel supporting

Air Force and Army conventional and

special operations forces (SOF) at

more than 290 locations worldwide.

The majority of AFW personnel are

focused on two distinct, yet related

functions: characterizing the past, current, and future state of

the natural environment

and providing responsive weather and

weather impact information directly to decisionmakers. Environmental

characterization is typically accomplished in

large, centralized units

focused primarily on

global and regional

scales of weather,

whereas support to decision-makers is primarily

the realm of personnel

embedded in operational units. Normally, these personnel are assigned to

weather flights under the operations

support squadron of a flying wing, a

weather squadron collocated with a

supported Army unit, or a weather

squadron providing a unique capability such as space launch support.

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
96 DOD SECTION 3

These weather squadrons may include

geographically separated detachments

and operating locations. 

The centerpiece of global-scale collection and production is the Air Force

Weather Agency (AFWA), Offutt AFB,

Nebraska, a field operating agency

(FOA) reporting directly to the Air

Force Director of Weather. AFWA

provides timely, accurate, relevant, and

consistent terrestrial and space weather

products necessary to effectively plan

and conduct military operations at all

levels of war. AFWA also provides

dedicated support to SOF and the

National Intelligence Community

(NIC). The agency consists of a global

processing center collocated with a

functional management headquarters,

two subordinate centers (the Air Force

Combat Climatology Center (AFCCC)

and the Air Force Combat Weather

Center (AFCWC)), and 11 detachments and operating locations. AFWA

also provides backup support to five

national weather centers. AFCCC,

Asheville, North Carolina, provides

centralized climatological database

services, produces specialized

weather-impact information for DOD

and allied nations, and warehouses and

distributes atmospheric science-related

technical information. From Hurlburt

Field, Florida, AFCWC transitions

technology to support tactical-level

weather operations while developing

operational concepts, tactics, techniques, and procedures.

Eight operational weather squadrons

(OWS) form the backbone of regionally focused weather operations, providing a variety of weather forecast

products and support to units assigned

and/or deployed into their area of

responsibility (AOR). These AORs are

depicted in Figure 3-DOD-1. OWSs

produce and disseminate terminal

aerodrome forecasts (TAFs), weather

watches, warnings, and advisories,

planning and execution area forecasts,

and other products using the OWS Production System Phase II (OPS II).

OWSs also provide theater-scale, tailored environmental information to

guide development of mission execution forecasts (MEF) by AC and RC

weather personnel embedded in operational units. Moreover, OWSs provide

flight weather briefings to aircrews

operating within their AOR without

home station support or as requested

by base or post-level weather forces.

When collocated, OWS personnel also

support the commanders and staffs of

numbered air forces (NAFs) and air

and space operations centers (AOCs).

Figure 3-DOD-1. Areas of responsibility (AOR) for Air Force Weather's operational weather squadrons (OWS) overlaid

on geographic combatant commander AORs.
SECTION 3 DOD 97

At base and post level, weather

forces take and disseminate local

observations and develop tailored

MEFs based on centrally produced

guidance. These personnel also act as

"eyes forward" for OWSs. Weather

personnel deploy with a New Tactical

Forecast System (N-TFS), hand-held

Kestral observing kits, and the TMQ53 semi-automated observing system

for semi-permanent sites. This equipment, coupled with adequate communications to receive weather data,

including satellite imagery, provide the

essential capability required for

deployed weather forces to meet operational requirements.

The RC is composed of the Air Force

Reserve (AFR) and the Air National

Guard (ANG), and AFW continues to

reengineer these forces to more closely

align with AC weather operations. Air

Force reservists augment the AC at all

levels. To augment OWSs, Air Force

Reserve Command recently organized

two operational weather flights

(OWF), each with just over 20 traditional reserve positions. The OWF traditional reservists perform at least one

weekend of drill monthly and 2 weeks

of duty each year unless mobilized to

the active force. Approximately 50

additional weather personnel serve as

AFR individual mobilization augmentees (IMAs) assigned to various

active AFW organizations at all echelons, typically in staff or scientific

roles. IMAs normally train 1 day each

month and for an additional 2 weeks

each year.

The ANG traditional program consists of 33 weather flights, ranging in

size from 13 to 25 personnel, who meet

monthly to train for their wartime mission. These flights provide weather

information to Army National Guard

and United States Army Reserve units

as well as ANG flying units. In addition, the ANG performs peacetime

weather operations at locations where

the ANG is responsible for airfield

support. The Weather Readiness

Training Center (WRTC) at Camp

Blanding, near Starke, Florida, is also

operated by the ANG to provide Army

tactical skills training.

CHARACTERIZE THE ENVIRONMENT

To characterize the environment

across the globe, AFW continually

improves the core processes of collection, analysis, and prediction.

Collection

AFW collects terrestrial and space

environmental measurements from

ground-, sea-, air-, and space-based

sensors across the globe. While openly

shared foreign data greatly improves

the coverage of measurements across

the globe, the Department of Defense

retains an assured global weather collection capability. In regions where

air, space, and land operations are

occurring, environmental data may be

insufficient; consequently, AFW maintains a capability to deploy in-theater

to establish an environmental data collection network.

AFW personnel take observations

essential for effective military operations and for weather analysis and

forecasting. Weather personnel at both

Air Force and Army locations (garrison and deployed) make observations

available to local users and transmit

them to military and civil locations

throughout the world. United States

and foreign rawinsonde reports are primary sources of upper air observations

and are supplemented with military

and civilian pilot reports. The Army's

Forward Area Limited Observing Program (FALOP) and the Army artillery

meteorology (ARTYMET) program

augment Air Force observations in the

tactical environment. Weather data is

also received from DOD-operated 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

(WMO) channels.

The Observing System 21st Century

(OS-21) program will provide a muchneeded, 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 configuration is intended for

tactical operations and continues the

improvements begun under the Manual

Observing System and Tactical Meteorological Observing System Modification programs. AFW began fielding

the fixed-base automated observing

system and will continue to do so

through 2006. The remaining configurations will be upgraded or replaced

after fielding of fixed-base automated

systems nears completion.

Weather radar data is vital to the production of timely severe weather warnings. DOD, the Federal Aviation

Administration (FAA), and Department of Commerce (DOC)/National

Weather Service (NWS) operate and

maintain WSR-88Ds within the Continental United States (CONUS), and the

Air Force operates and maintains those

that are overseas. The Air Force is

transitioning to the network-connected

open architecture Open Principal User

Processors (OPUPs) at installations

with stand-alone legacy PUPs and at

all CONUS OWSs, allowing these

regional forecasting centers real-time

access to WSR-88D radar data at locations for which they have remote forecasting responsibility. Tactical

weather radars (TWR) and Ellason

weather radars (EWR) provide a

deployable weather radar capability for

worldwide military contingency operations.

The Air Force Reserve Command's

53d 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 tem-
98 DOD SECTION 3

perature, moisture, wind, pressure, and

visually observed information at the

aircraft location as well as vertical profiles of the atmosphere collected by

dropsondes. Hurricane Hunter aircraft

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 (Figure 3-DOD-2). In addition to the tropical cyclone reconnaissance, the 53

WRS collects meteorological information to improve wintertime West Coast

forecasts and to support scientific field

programs when possible.

The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP), which provides

cloud, upper air, and space environmental data, is a vital source of global

weather data used to support combat

operations. On-board sensors provide

AFWA and the Navy's Fleet Numerical

Meteorology and Oceanography Center (FNMOC) with visible, infrared,

and microwave imagery, temperature

and moisture sounding data, electrically-charged particle fluxes, and other

specialized space environment data.

The DMSP also supplies direct, realtime readout of regional imagery and

mission-sensor data to DOD landbased and shipboard terminals located

worldwide (Figure 3-DOD-3).

The present DMSP satellite series

(Block 5D-2) uses the Operational

Linescan System (OLS) to provide visible and infrared imagery to distinguish between clouds, ground, snow,

and water. The DMSP also flies the

Special Sensor Microwave Temperature (SSM/T) and water vapor

(SSM/T-2) sounders. 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 Special Sensor

Microwave Imager (SSM/I) observes

rainfall, ocean surface wind speed,

cloud and soil moisture, ice conditions,

and other environmental data. The

Special Sensor for Ions and Electrons

(SSIES), Special Sensor Magnetometer (SSM), and the Precipitating Electron and Ion Spectrometer (SSJ), each

providing vital inputs to space weather

models, measure the space environment on the topside of the ionosphere

in situ. The Block 5D-3 spacecraft and

sensor suite began service in 2004 with

the launch of DMSP Flight 16. These

spacecraft 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 upper-atmospheric 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 programs beginning in

2010, and is a joint DOD, DOC, and

National Aeronautics and Space

Administration (NASA) program. A

ground terminal system will also provide a direct readout capability for

regional/local 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 2008.

In addition to DMSP polar-orbiting

data, 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

Meteosat-5, -7, and -8 geostationary

satellites; and GOES 9, currently filling the Far East geostationary orbit

until AFW transitions to the Japanese

Multi-functional Transport Satellite

(MTSAT). NESDIS receives test data

files from India's INSAT-3A and

KALPANA-1 (formerly METSAT-1)

geostationary satellites. AFWA plans

to accept this data via the Shared Processing Program (SPP) once data

geolocation is improved to the appropriate level. AFWA currently receives

data from NASA's Tropical Rainfall

Measuring Mission (TRMM), Quick

Scatterometer (QuikSCAT), and Moderate Resolution Imaging SpectroraFigure 3-DOD-2. Aircraft radar

shows the eye of Hurricane Claudette

is 25 nautical miles wide and the wall

cloud is weakest in the northeast

quadrant (53 WRS website)

Figure 3-DOD-3. DMSP captures

Aurora Borealis, over the midwest;

the aurora was pushed toward the

equator by a November 4, 2003 geomagnetic storm. (AF Weather website)
SECTION 3 DOD 99

diometer (MODIS) via the SPP.

AFW implemented the Joint METSAT Imagery, Software, and Terminals

(JMIST) capability to receive real-time

visible, infrared, and microwave

imagery and other non-imagery

weather data from both polar-orbiting

and geostationary satellites. JMIST

employs network and satellite communications, direct read-out terminals,

and client applications to provide

ready access and manipulation capabilities for advanced low-orbiting satellite

imagery from numerous agencies, to

include the US Air Force, US Navy,

and NASA.

Space environmental information is

obtained through a combination of

ground- and space-based systems. For

the near-Earth environment, groundbased systems provide highly accurate

point source verification and specification, whereas space-based systems

enable global coverage and theaterwide situational awareness.

AFWA operates the Solar Electrooptical Observing Network (SEON), a

system of ground-based telescopes at

Sagamore Hill, Massachusetts; Holloman AFB, New Mexico; Palehua,

Hawaii; San Vito, Italy; and Learmonth, Australia (Figure 3-DOD-4).

This network provides 24-hour observations of solar phenomena at optical

and radio wavelengths.

A worldwide (primarily Northern

Hemisphere) network of ground-based

ionosondes and other sensors provide

ionospheric data. AFW manages 17

automated Digital Ionospheric Sounding Systems (DISS) to measure electron density profiles in the ionosphere.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

(JPL) operates a complementary global

network of sensors deriving ionospheric line-of-sight Total Electron

Content (TEC) from GPS signals and

provides this data to AFWA's Space

Weather Branch. In addition, the

United States Geological Survey

(USGS) operates a network of groundbased magnetometers, primarily in the

Northern Hemisphere, which provides

the Space Weather Branch with critical

measurements of the geomagnetic field

and its variances. AFWA receives JPL

and USGS data from NOAA's Space

Environment Center (SEC), Boulder,

Colorado.

From space, the GOES meteorological satellites provide real-time solar Xray, charged energetic particle, and

geomagnetic data through the SEC.

The Solar X-Ray Imager (SXI), which

became operational January 30, 2003,

aboard GOES-12, monitors solar emissions in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV)

and X-ray portions of the solar spectrum and provides near real-time display at AFWA and the SEC. DMSP,

NOAA, and other DOD geostationary

satellites provide charged energetic

particle data in low-Earth and geosynchronous orbits.

Additionally,

AFW leverages

space-based data

from NASA and

other agencies.

For example,

NASA's

Advanced Composition Explorer

satellite provides

real-time solar

wind data critical

for forecasting

geomagnetic disturbances and their

impact to warfighter communications.

Analysis and Prediction

Effective analysis of collected terrestrial and space weather data enables

identification of environmental features and conditions that may affect air,

space, and land operations and thus

require subsequent monitoring. From

that analysis, detailed forecasts are

developed through a combination of

computer models and skilled human

intervention.

AFWA's Global Weather Center

Division is AFW's main production

capability for global space and terrestrial weather analyses and forecasts.

Worldwide conventional weather data

are relayed to 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.

The Satellite Data Handling System

(SDHS) facilitates the interaction

between forecaster and machine.

The Division's Meteorological Satellite (METSAT) Applications Branch

analyzes imagery, develops techniques, inserts technology, and recommends improvements to METSAT

products. The branch produces rapid

response, tailored METSAT imagery

and evaluation for DOD contingency

operations and generates automated

METSAT imagery products for webbased distribution to DOD users. The

branch also tracks and classifies tropical cyclones 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

back up for both JTWC satellite operations and the DOC's Washington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center. In addition, the METSAT Applications

Branch produces worldwide snow and

ice cover analyses to update and refine

the snow depth database and generates

customized snow depth and dust event

Figure 3-DOD-4. Solar optical and radio telescopes at Learmonth, Australia.
100 DOD SECTION 3

analyses for contingency areas.

During Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, branch imagery specialists provided high-resolution analyses of oil

fire initiation points for smoke plume

dispersion forecast model products.

These smoke plumes impacted both air

and land 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.

The Division's Space Weather

Branch employs a suite of state-of-theart space weather models to specify

current solar and global characteristics,

extrapolate space weather phenomenon to areas of the globe where observations are not currently available, and

to forecast future conditions. These

models use available observations and

include both climatology-based and

physics-based algorithms. More

detailed descriptions of both the available observations and current models

can be found in Chapter 2 of the

National Space Weather Program

Implementation Plan, Second Edition,

available from the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology.

The Global Theater Weather Analysis and Prediction System (GTWAPS)

is the hardware enclave (IBM Scalable

Parallel Computing and pSeries®

servers) used to run most meteorological models at AFWA. The key software component of GTWAPS is a theater analysis and forecast model,

Mesoscale Model version 5 (MM5),

which provides fine-scale forecasts

(Figure 3-DOD-5).

During Operations ENDURING

FREEDOM and IRAQI FREEDOM,

AFWA initiated various model window

locations and resolutions as mission

requirements dictated. The highly

responsive nature of the MM5, and the

way 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 the continuing global war on

terrorism. MM5 is routinely provided

by AFWA to the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Prediction

(NCEP), where it is a backup to their

Eta model.

On-going modernization initiatives

at AFWA include the Space Weather

Analysis and Forecasting System

(SWAFS) and the Weather Data Analysis (WDA) program. SWAFS will

integrate additional space weather data

sources and execute next-generation

space weather models for DOD and

NIC operations. WDA will continue

the modernization of AFWA as a key

component of the Air Force Weather

Weapon System (AFWWS). The

reengineered AFWA will provide standards-compliant hardware and software tools, a central 4-D database, and

a classified processing environment to

modernize the AFWWS communications and data processing infrastructure. WDA provides a significant

increase in the database capability by

standing up Joint DOD-approved

METOC database segments, promoting interoperability among data sharers. WDA, through the use of the

METOC segments and the Joint

METOC Broker Language for web

services, will improve the interoperability with DOD command and control (C2) and command, control, communications, computer, intelligence,

surveillance, and reconnaissance

(C4ISR) systems by providing a common interface to request the wide

range of weather information. In addition, WDA-developed components (to

include the Consolidated Dissemination Capability) are reusable within the

OWS. This reusability will allow

OWS-unique data to become part of

the overall AFWWS 4-D database.

The Air Force Combat Climatology

Center (AFCCC) is collocated with the

National Climatic Data Center to facilitate cooperation and data exchange.

AFCCC collects, quality assures, and

assesses worldwide surface and upper

Figure 3-DOD-5. Joint Air Force and Army Weather Information Network

(JAAWIN) provide reachback capability for deployed weather forces. This 3-

hour forecast of surface winds over Southwest Asia was generated from

AFWA’s 45-km MM5 (AFWA Website)
SECTION 3 DOD 101

air observations, satellite-derived

soundings, numerical model output

such as global gridded surface and

upper air model data, a global 3-

dimensional cloud analysis (worldwide merged cloud analysis), a global

analysis of snow cover, and other specialized environmental data sets.

AFCCC exploits these data to generate

standard climatic summaries of meteorological phenomena for points

around the globe, such as Operational

Climatic Data Summaries and Wind

Stratified Conditional Climatologies.

Modeled climatologies are produced

using the Advanced Climate Modeling

and Environmental Simulations model.

Analysts are available to develop tailored products to meet new requirements. AFCCC employs the Atmospheric Slant Path Analysis Model

(ASPAM) to produce vertical profiles

for any point on Earth for any time

since 1985.

The Air Force Director of Weather is

the DOD’s Air and Space Natural

Environment Modeling and Simulation Executive Agent (ASNE MSEA).

The Director executes this responsibility through the ASNE MSEA office, a

division within AFCCC (AFCCC/SM).

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 natural

environment. AFCCC/SM sponsors

research and development and fields

technology at AFCCC, the designated

center providing tailored atmospheric

data for modeling and simulation. In

cooperation with the National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) and the

Defense Modeling and Simulation

Office (DMSO), AFCCC/SM also

sponsors ongoing research to develop a

similar capability to provide tailored

on-demand representations of the

space environment.

OWSs are AFW's regional/theater

analysis and forecast centers for Air

Force and Army operations. OWSs

generate a variety of products: hazard

charts; drop zone, range, and aerial

refueling track forecasts; fine-scale target forecasts; airfield forecasts; and

weather warnings, watches, and advisories for Air Force and Army installations within their AOR. OPS II, a

component of the Forecasting System

21st Century (FS-21) program to provide necessary computer hardware and

software throughout the AFWWS, is

the OWS's primary production tool. A

hybrid of software, databases, servers,

and workstations, OPS II facilitates

production and dissemination of

weather information to supported

forces. 

Provide Actionable Environmental

Impacts Information to Decision Makers

To provide actionable environmental

impacts, AFW continually improves

the core processes of tailoring and integration.

Tailoring. Once centralized weather

units create a depiction of the past, current, and future state of the natural

environment, AFW forces directly supporting decision-makers tailor the

information to identify impacts to

operations, personnel, weapons and

weapons systems, and tactics. These

weather forces then help decision makers mitigate these effects through

appropriate actions such as routing a

flight to a new target, selecting a different weapons load, or adjusting the

time of attack.

N-TFS, another component of FS-21,

provides garrison and deployed

weather forces with the meteorological

tools 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, C2,

and support forces worldwide. Additionally, N-TFS ingests data from Air

Force and indigenous observing

sources, which then are forwarded to

OWSs/AFWA for further dissemination and incorporation into centrally

produced models.

AFW is currently working toward a

single workstation that integrates both

the Army's Integrated Meteorological

System (IMETS) and the Air Force's

N-TFS while providing the necessary

interface capability for C2 systems.

The Joint Environmental Toolkit (JET)

is expected to enhance warfighter

awareness of the natural battlespace

environment by ensuring accurate,

timely, relevant, and consistent terrestrial and space weather and weather

impacts information is available and

accessible by appropriate personnel

and processes. JET will fulfill this role

by providing a single common forecaster interface to the virtual Joint

METOC Database (JMDB) for use at

all levels of the AFWWS support

structure. JET integrates with Joint

and coalition C4ISR/Mission Planning

(MP) systems by enabling machine-tomachine exchange of METOC data

and information to meet operational

planning and execution requirements.

Furthermore, JET enhances the accuracy and utility of terrestrial/space

weather and oceanographic information and operational impacts by

enabling the forecaster and/or forecast

process to incorporate Geographic

Information System (GIS) capabilities

(to include a standard high-resolution

topographic database), forecasting

rules of thumb, and operational thresholds into weather and weather impact

products. In July 2004, two contractors were selected for a 15-month flyoff. The down select to one contractor

is projected for October 2005, with

fielding of the first increment to begin

in late 2006. Expected delivery of all

JET capabilities is FY 2013.

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 (e.g., mission

planning systems), include Target
102 DOD SECTION 3

Acquisition Weapon Software (TAWS)

(Figure 3-DOD-6), Infrared Target

Scene Simulation (IRTSS), and TriService Integrated Weather Effects

Decision Aid (TS-IWEDA). The Air

Force Research Laboratory (AFRL),

the Navy's Space and Naval Warfare

Systems Command, the Navy

Research Laboratory (NRL), and the

Army Research Laboratory (ARL) are

developing these modular programs. 

TAWS provides a joint mission-planning tool to combine platform,

weapon, target, background, and

weather impacts to depict 3-dimensional target acquisition and lock-on

range and recognition range versus

time. This includes prediction of environmental impacts on night vision goggles and low light-level systems used

by air, naval, and ground forces to execute nighttime operations.

IRTSS uses detailed terrain information and multispectral imagery with

TAWS weather inputs to generate forecast target scene images for mission

rehearsal.

The TS-IWEDA uses environmental

data with force, mission, and/or individual weapons rules of engagement or

performance parameters to automatically generate mission-impact forecasts for large-scale planning efforts

such as Air Tasking Order preparation.

TAWS, IRTSS, and TS-IWEDA integrate environmental impacts into the

mission execution forecasts for C2 and

MP systems throughout the military

planning and execution cycle.

The TDA program continues adding

weapons systems and targets at the

request of users from the Services.

Additional decision aids in development or in coordination include the

Airborne Laser (ABL) Atmospheric

Decision Aid (ADA) to support ABL

development and operations and a

common radio frequency (RF) system

performance prediction capability

based on US Navy software.

AFWA's Special Support Operations

Branch (SSOB) generates a myriad of

products ranging from air refueling

forecasts, to detailed mission control

forecasts, to weather impacts for SOF

operations, and distributes this information via secure media to support

worldwide Joint SOF operations. The

branch also provides tailored meteorological information for end-to-end

planning at US Special Operations

Command (USSOCOM), Service

component special operations commands, and theater special operations

commands. The SSOB is continually

involved in global military operations,

including Operations ENDURING

FREEDOM and IRAQI FREEDOM.

Additionally, the SSOB includes the

American Forces Network Weather

Center, which provides worldwide,

broadcast-quality public weather services and planning forecasts through the

American Forces Radio and Television

Service to over 1,000,000 DOD and

Department of State personnel and

family members stationed overseas.

AFWA's NIC Weather Branch provides detailed global cloud analyses

and forecasts to the intelligence community. The branch provides worldwide mission-tailored planning and

execution forecasts for NIC agencies at

security levels up to Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information

(TS/SCI). The branch also serves as

the focal point for AFWA Special

Access Program (SAP) requirements;

ensures the NIC and other SCI and

SAP meteorological requirements are

integrated into AFWA programs; monitors and evaluates accuracy and timeliness of centralized weather services

to the NIC; and interfaces with the

DOD and NIC regarding weather services and the exploitation of weather

information.

As the sole source of DOD space

environmental information, AFWA

partners with NOAA's SEC to meet the

nation's military and civilian space

weather needs. AFWA's Space

Weather Branch provides a suite of

automated and manually tailored

analyses and forecasts (including advisories and warnings) of space weather

phenomena that affect military operations and National Intelligence ComFigure 3-DOD-6. Target Acquisition Weapon Software (TAWS) integrate

meteorological conditions and environmental parameters to enhance the mission planning process and increase aircrew situational awareness for mission

execution.
SECTION 3 DOD 103

munity (NIC) activities. Similarly, signal fades due to space weather effects

on UHF satellite communications

(SATCOM) links provide valuable

planning information to improve command and control capabilities. Further

examples of model output informational products include Single-Frequency GPS Receiver Error maps (Figure 3-DOD-7), UHF Satellite Communication Scintillation maps (Figure 3-

DOD-8), HF Illumination maps (Figure 3-DOD-9), and Radar Auroral

Clutter maps. These products assist

warfighters in determining and mitigating space weather impacts to their

systems as well as in exploiting enemy

space weather susceptibilities for possible asymmetric advantage.

The Air Force provides meteorological and space weather 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 (KSC). The Air Force also provides tailored forecasting for NASA's

manned and unmanned launches and

for commercial launches from KSC.

In addition, the Air Force provides specialized meteorological information

for the Air Force Western Range at

Vandenberg AFB, California; the

Pacific Missile Range, which includes

Point Mugu and San Nicholas Island,

California, and Barking Sands,

Hawaii; White Sands Missile Range,

New Mexico; Kwajalein Missile

Range, Republic of the Marshall

Islands; and other DOD research and

test facilities as directed.

The Air Force also provides agrometeorological support to the United

States Department of Agriculture's

Foreign Agricultural Service and other

similar users. The output includes

diagnostic soil hydrology and other

meteorological information pertinent

to crop growth and yield estimation as

well as to trafficability and rudimentary flooding estimations.

Integration Tailored environmental

information and operational impacts

are of little use to decision-makers if

the information/impacts are not integrated into the shaping, planning, execution, and sustainment of air, space

and land operations. AFW employs a

blend of information technology (IT),

including automated machine-tomachine interfaces, and personnel

Figure 3-DOD-7. Single-Frequency GPS Receiver Error Map (visualized by

HQ AFWA) 

Figure 3-DOD-8. UHF Satellite Communications Scintillation Map (visualization by HQ AFWA)
104 DOD SECTION 3

embedded at the right echelons with

decision-makers, to integrate accurate,

relevant, and consistent weather and

weather impacts information into decision-making processes. Since timeliness is critical to effective integration;

AFW operations rely on robust,

assured communications for dissemination. 

AFWA receives alphanumeric

weather data, parses it 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 dedicated

circuits, NIPRNET, and satellite

broadcast facilities.

High-speed communications

between large DOD and civilian processing centers facilitate sharing of

data, high-resolution satellite imagery,

and output from numerical weather

prediction models. Additional circuits

provide a subset of these data to

OWSs.

Forecaster-developed products and

gridded data sets are distributed from

AFWA via the Weather Product Management and Distribution System to

base/post-level weather forces around

the globe using the DOD's Non-Secure

Internet Protocol Router Network

(NIPRNET) and Secure Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNET).

Alphanumeric data, including surface,

upper-air, space weather, and pilot

reports, are also collected and distributed via the Automated Weather Network (AWN), Very Small Aperture

Terminal (VSAT) satellite communications system, and the NIPRNET. The

AWN, consisting of data collection,

message creation, and dissemination

software, is a global communications

network used for alphanumeric terrestrial and space weather data. The

AWN supports DOD as well as federal

and foreign meteorological, space, and

aviation centers.

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

forecasts, satellite imagery, forecasterin-the-loop (FITL) products, and text

bulletins, and includes links to all

OWS websites. Additional products

are available to classified users via

JAAWIN-Secret (JAAWIN-S) and

JAAWIN-Sensitive Compartmented

Information (JAAWIN-SCI).

Joint Weather Impacts System

(JWIS) offers another means of making tailored weather information available to DOD users. JWIS provides a

link to weather information from both

Air Force and Navy sources for

exploitation by command and control

systems and applications. AFW successfully demonstrated a JWIS-based

machine-to-machine (M2M) weather

information transfer to command and

control applications during Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment 2004.

Although IT continues to enhance

the integration of weather and weather

impact information into decision-making processes, well-trained weather

professionals are still essential. Designated AFW personnel serve on the

staffs of operational Air Force, Army,

and Joint force units worldwide. In

this capacity, they identify weathersensitive areas of the operation and

provide expert advice to help mitigate

weather impacts on personnel, platforms. weapons and weapons systems,

and tactics. The ultimate goal is to

identify opportunities for an asymmetric advantage over our foes, i.e., when

enemy force capabilities are more

severely degraded by weather than

those of friendly forces.

For Air Force operations, these

weather professionals are normally

assigned to a flight under an operations

support squadron in a flying wing;

however, individuals from the weather

flight are integrated into flying

squadron mission planning and execution processes. In this capacity, they

infuse critical weather information at

key points in the decision cycle to help

aircrews maximize wartime capabilities, enhance flight safety, and optiFigure 3-DOD-9. HF Illumination Map (visualized by HQ AFWA).
SECTION 3 DOD 105

mize training effectiveness. Weather

experts are also assigned to weather

specialty teams (WST) in air and space

operations centers (AOCs). This

cross-cutting team integrates allsource actionable environmental information at key decision points of air and

space operations planning, execution,

and assessment. Armed with this

information, decision-makers can balance operational risks against mission

need to optimize timing, tactics, target

and weapons selection, and other factors affecting air and space operations.

Finally, AFW experts are integrated

into a variety of other unique mission

areas, such as space launch support and

research, development, test, and evaluation (RDTE) activities. In each

capacity, these specialists enable the

supported organization to minimize or

alleviate weather impacts to the mission. For instance, to avoid potentially

devastating storms, space launch

weather personnel may advise decision-makers to adjust launch timing,

while RDTE weather personnel may

identify potential weather sensitivities

to system developers to ensure a safe,

effective design.

Likewise, Army weather requirements are incorporated into AFW's

overall mission concept. AFW forces

are integrated with Army intelligence

staffs, and the Army trains and educates Air Force personnel on Army

organizations, concepts of operations,

and the weather sensitivities. AFW

forces are currently habitually aligned

with echelons above corps, corps, divisions, separate brigades, aviation

brigades, armored cavalry regiments,

ranger regiments, and special forces

groups (as well as subordinate battalions deployed at forward operating

bases). Over the next few years, AFW

support to the Army will undergo significant transformation as the Army

transitions from a division-centric

force based on large standing organizations to a brigade-centric force based

on smaller, modular organizations.

RESEARCH INITIATIVES

The overarching objective of the Air

Force meteorological and space environmental research and development

(R&D) program is to provide capability 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 as well as the National Space

Weather Program Implementation

Plan, Second Edition. AFW also

strives toward improvements through

cooperative research and development

agreements with for-profit companies.

AFW has begun efforts to integrate the

Utah State University Global Assimilation of Ionospheric Measurements

(GAIM) model. The initial operational

capability based on GAIM is planned

for 2006.

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 Land Surface Model (LSM)

and MM5 for use by Air Force and

Army operations. 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 lowlevel 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. WRF, the next generation community model expected to

replace MM5, is another area of

AFWA participation in research.

AFWA is closely collaborating with

the National Center for Atmospheric

Research (NCAR), NOAA's NCEP,

NOAA's Forecast Systems Laboratory

(FSL), the University of Oklahoma's

Center for the Analysis and Prediction

of Storms, and others in WRF development. AFWA is preparing to initially

implement WRF operationally in 2005

and will continue with sponsorship and

funding of development at NCAR and

FSL, test and evaluation of real-time

runs of the WRF prototype, and will

lead the LSM Working Group while

participating in others.

Through a joint Air Force-Navy

effort, AFWA and FNMOC were

awarded a $3 million grant from the

DOD High Performance Computing

Modernization Office in 2004 to establish an operational test and evaluation

center for the WRF modeling framework. Additionally, each organization

gained status as a DOD High Performance Computing Distributed Center.
106 DOD SECTION 3

The WRF Operational Test Center

(OTC) will greatly enhance DOD's

ability to efficiently incorporate stateof-the-science modeling technologies

into operations. The end result will be

never-before-seen predictive accuracy

of fine-scale weather features crucial

to DOD operations. A cutting-edge

IBM supercomputer suite, split into

two identical subsystems, was installed

at each weather center. The distributed

WRF OTC subsystems will be virtually integrated using high-speed communications networks, allowing operational simulations with real-time

weather data from each center. After

rigorous test and evaluation, the specialized WRF configurations that perform optimally for DOD and Serviceunique mission needs will be implemented at AFWA and FNMOC.

Atmospheric Optical Turbulence

Electro-optical (EO) systems are

adversely affected by optical distortions caused by 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 capability whose

performance is highly dependent on

the variations of the meteorological

conditions that produce optical 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 to support new EO

systems.

United States Weather Research Program (USWRP)

USWRP's mission is to accelerate

forecast improvements for high-impact

weather phenomena and to facilitate

full use of advanced weather information. AFW first entered into discussions with USWRP in 2001 to explore

expanded participation in the program.

The program currently focuses on

land-falling hurricanes, heavy precipitation, and socio-economic impacts.

AFW is eager to leverage future efforts

in the areas of observing, assimilation

strategies for data-sparse regions, and

urban forecasting to increase warfighters' abilities to anticipate and exploit

the weather. AFW is already committed to the USWRP-affiliated community development of the WRF model

and will continue its USWRP involvement during the coming fiscal year. 

University Partnering for Operational

Support (UPOS)

AFW continued to collaborate

through the UPOS program with Johns

Hopkins University Applied Physics

Laboratory, the University of Alaska at

Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, and

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 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 UPOS tropospheric weather

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 forecasts, solar disturbance prediction, and

neutral density effects on Low-Earth

Orbit (LEO) spacecraft. Working

closely with the DMSP System Program Office (SPO) at the Space and

Missile Systems Center (SMC) 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

ground-based scintillation detectors;

total electron content sensors; DISS;

SEON; and the Operationalized Space

Environment Network Display suite of

web-based products. AFRL also conducts user-supported R&D for

NPOESS, the Defense Modeling and

Simulation Office (DMSO), the

National Reconnaissance Office

(NRO), the Ballistic Missile Defense
SECTION 3 DOD 107

Office (BMDO), the DOD High Performance Computing Modernization

Office, and NASA. 

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

(CCMC), the Constellation Observing

System for Meteorology, Ionosphere,

and Climate (COSMIC), and the previously mentioned UPOS.

In conclusion, through a continuous

process of review and definition, the

Air Force documents its requirements

for research aimed ultimately at providing timely, accurate, relevant, and

consistent 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. Space weather research

will continue with a strong program in

2006 at the AFRL, as well as in leveraged programs such as UPOS, to facilitate the transition of required capabilities to operational use at minimum

expense.

SECTION 3 DOD 109

METEOROLOGICAL SERVICES

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. Environmental support 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 U.S. Developing METOC forecasts and determining potential effects on platform, sensor and weapons systems require:

• collection of METOC data through

tactical and dedicated sensors (including satellites);

• fusion and analysis of atmospheric

and oceanographic data; and

• integration of meteorological and

oceanographic information in tactical

decision aids and mission planning

systems.

The Office of the Oceanographer of

the Navy, Chief of Naval Operations

(CNO) N7C, is an Echelon I Staff that

reports to the Deputy CNO for Warfare

Requirements and Programs (N6/N7).

The Commander, Naval Meteorology

and Oceanography Command, is an

Echelon III Command that reports to

the Commander, Fleet Forces Command (CFFC). While operational

requirements are coordinated through

CFFC, it is the Chief of Naval Operations, through the Oceanographer of

the Navy, who continues to sponsor

operational Navy METOC support

services and related research and

development (R&D). The Navy

METOC organization provides meteorological support 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 United States Navy is building

upon its strengths, thus enabling an

asymmetric war fighting advantage

over its adversaries. One of these

strengths is the Navy's ability to apply

Meteorology and Oceanography to its

battle problems and challenges in order

to leverage the environment for an

advantage. The Naval Meteorology

and Oceanography Command provides

that advantage for the Navy through

the application of its scientific disciplines: oceanography, meteorology,

geo-spatial information and services

and precise time and astrometry.

In 2004, the Naval Meteorology and

Oceanography Command aligned

internally from a geo-centric to knowledge-centric organization designed to

directly and measurably enhance

warfighting capabilities.

The Command is aligned along the

following warfare and warfare support

areas:

• Antisubmarine Warfare (ASW)

• Naval Special Warfare

• Mine Warfare (MIW)

• Intelligence, Surveillance and

Reconnaissance (ISR)

• Fleet Operations (Strike Warfare

and Expeditionary Warfare)

• Navigation

• Precise Time and Astrometry

• Maritime Operations

• Aviation Operations

In the new Command structure, the

Commander, Naval Meteorology and

Oceanography Command now directly

measures, applies and adjusts

resources across the enterprise toward

specific warfighting needs. Collection

and production are centralized at the

Fleet Numerical Meteorology and

Oceanography Center (FNMOC) in

Monterey, California, and the Naval

Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO), located at Stennis Space

Center, Mississippi. Service delivery

is uniformed, minimized, decentralized and located at the Naval Warfighting Command nodes. The Command's

personnel are located at its headquarters at Stennis Space Center near Bay

St. Louis, Mississippi, and at several

field activities located around the

world.

Warfare centers, laboratories, and

systems commands, through sponsorship by the Chief of Naval Research

and the Oceanographer of the Navy,

conduct METOC research and development. 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 has developed and implemented a

comprehensive framework to transition research to operations. The Naval

Research Laboratory (NRL) and the

Program Executive Office (PEO), C4I

and Space (PMW 180) are the primary

activities that manage naval METOC

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 PEO C4I and Space

Program Office (PMW-180) is the

Navy's program manager for METOC

system development and acquisition.

FLEET NUMERICAL METEOROLOGY AND OCEANOGRAPHY CENTER

The U.S. Navy's Fleet Numerical

Meteorology and Oceanography Center (FNMOC; see https://www.fnmoc

.navy.mil/) plays a significant role in

the National capability for operational

weather and ocean prediction through

its operation of sophisticated global

and regional meteorological and

oceanographic models, extending from

the top of the atmosphere to the bottom

of the ocean. Through close collaboraUNITED STATES NAVY
110 DOD SECTION 3

tion with the Naval Oceanographic

Office (NAVOCEANO), FNMOC is a

key component in the Navy's operational weather and ocean prediction

program. This program provides information that helps give Naval forces an

asymmetric advantage in speed, access

and persistence in any combat operation for which they may be called

upon. Users of FNMOC's products

include all branches of the Department

of Defense (DOD), the intelligence

community, and other government

organizations such as the National

Weather Service, private companies, a

number of colleges and universities,

and the general public.

FNMOC is well known for its long

and productive history of implementing, evaluating, operating, maintaining

and improving complex Numerical

Weather Prediction (NWP) models

specifically to meet the requirements

of the U.S. Navy. These requirements

include the need for a particularly

accurate representation of coastal

meteorology and the air-sea heat fluxes

and wind stresses required to drive the

Navy's ocean models. In support of

this need, FNMOC acquires and

processes over six million observations

per day-creating one of the world's

most comprehensive real-time databases of meteorological and oceanographic observations-for real-time

fusion and assimilation into its models.

In addition, FNMOC is designated as

the DOD center for global Numerical

Weather Prediction. FNMOC uniquely

satisfies the military's requirement for

an operational global NWP capability

based on software certified to DOD

information assurance standards and

operated in a secure classified environment protected from outside intrusion

by DOD certified firewalls. This

requirement is driven by the importance of weather and ocean conditions

on modern military operations, the

need to utilize classified weather

observations to guarantee the very best

weather and ocean predictions in theaters of conflict, and the imperative to

produce and disseminate weather and

ocean products to military decision

makers without fear of interruption or

compromise as a result of cyber terrorists or cyber warfare.

FNMOC employs four primary models, the Navy Operational Global

Atmospheric Prediction System

(NOGAPS), the Coupled

Ocean/Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS), the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics - Navy (GFDN)

model, and the Wave Watch III model

(WW3), along with a number of specialized models and related applications. NOGAPS is a hydrostatic,

global spectral model that drives

nearly all other FNMOC models and

applications in some fashion, and

forms the basis for the FNMOC global

Ensemble Forecast System (EFS).

COAMPS is a high-resolution, nonhydrostatic regional model, multiply

nested within NOGAPS, which has

proven to be particularly valuable for

forecasting weather and ocean conditions in highly complex coastal areas.

GFDN is a moving-nest tropical

cyclone (TC) model, nested within

NOGAPS that is used to forecast TC

tracks globally. WW3 is a spectral

ocean wave model that is employed

both globally (driven by NOGAPS)

and regionally (driven by COAMPS)

in support of a wide variety of naval

operations. Other models support and

supplement the main models with predictions of ocean thermal structure,

ocean currents and other data. All of

the models are configured, scheduled

and operated under the central control

of FNMOC Operations. COAMPS,

however, can also be configured,

scheduled and operated remotely by

users in the field as an on-demand

modeling service. This is done over

the Web via the FNMOC Centralized

Atmospheric Analysis and Prediction

System (CAAPS). In general,

FNMOC strives to treat the air-ocean

environment as a fully integrated system, from the top of the atmosphere to

the bottom of the ocean, placing special emphasis on the air-ocean interface.

FNMOC's complex and robust operational prediction capability is

designed to deliver, in conjunction

with NAVOCEANO, twenty-four hour

Figure 3-DOD-10. At sea with USS PRINCETON (CG 59) -- Waves crash

over the bow of the guided missile cruiser while receiving nearly 100,000 gallons of JP-5 jet fuel from aboard the aircraft carrier USS NIMITZ (CVN 68)

during an underway replenishment (UNREP) off the California coast.
SECTION 3 DOD 111

year round support organized along the

following Business Lines:

• Anti-Submarine Warfare

• Naval Special Warfare

• Mine Warfare

• Intelligence, Surveillance and

Reconnaissance 

• Fleet Operations (including Strike

Warfare and Expeditionary Warfare)

• Navigation (including support for

Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarines)

• Aviation Safety

• Maritime Safety

For example, some FNMOC products consist of detailed forecasts of

wind stresses and heat fluxes to drive

very high-resolution ocean models at

NAVOCEANO that provide ocean

thermal structure and currents in support of anti-submarine and mine warfare operations, or near-shore wind,

sea and surf forecasts that directly support Fleet Operations through ship-toobjective maneuver. In many cases,

the outputs of the FNMOC models

feed directly into applications models,

tactical decision aids and other products that provide direct support to various weather-sensitive activities associated with the Business Lines identified above. These include optimum

path aircraft routing, optimum track

ship routing, issuance of high-winds

and high-seas warnings,

hurricane/typhoon sortie decisions,

covert ingress/egress of Special Operations Forces, ballistic missile targeting,

cruise missile launch and targeting,

radar performance prediction in support of ship self defense, naval gunfire

operations, understanding the threats

posed by airborne

nuclear/biological/chemical agents,

search-and-rescue at sea, and many

other activities.

FNMOC also provides a wide-range

of meteorological and oceanographic

observations and satellite imagery to

complement its models and applications products. These include ondemand extracts from its global observational database, a full range of

Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Special Sensor

Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) products,

ERS and QuikScat scatterometer wind

products, a comprehensive view of

tropical cyclones via the FNMOC TC

Web Page, and various experimental

satellite products fielded for evaluation

in conjunction with the Naval

Research Lab (e.g., satellite imagery

that enhances the visualization of airborne sand and dust). FNMOC also

hosts the U.S. Global Ocean Data

Assimilation Experiment (GODAE)

Monterey Data Server in support of the

GODAE. This system serves as a onestop shop for meteorological and

oceanographic data and model products required to support global ocean

modeling R&D. It also functions as

one of two Argo Global Data Assembly Centers (GDACs), hosting the

complete collection of quality-controlled Argo temperature/salinity profiling float data.

Many of FNMOC's products are distributed to users over the Web via the

PC-based METCAST system, and subsequently displayed and manipulated

on the user's PC with the Joint

METOC Viewer (JMV) software. This

includes all standard meteorological

and oceanographic fields, synoptic

observations, and satellite imagery.

For those who require only graphical

display of model-predicted meteorological or oceanographic fields,

FNMOC provides a Web-based capability called MyWxMap (i.e., "My

Weather Map"). MyWxMap, requiring

only a Web browser for access, allows

the user to select and quickly display

predicted meteorological and oceanographic fields for any user-defined

geographical area.

All of FNMOC's production capabilities are fielded on a collection of computer hardware and software constituting a DOD Major Automated Information System and designated as the Primary Oceanographic Prediction System (POPS). POPS is organized into

two subsystems: the Analysis and

Modeling Subsystem (AMS) and the

Applications, Transactions, and Observations Subsystem (ATOS). AMS is a

cluster of SGI and IBM supercomputers on which the major NWP models

run. ATOS is a large suite of IBM

Linux clusters that ingests, decodes

and quality-controls data; does satellite

data processing; hosts many of the

applications models and products mentioned above; and supports data distribution via a services oriented architecture and Web portal. Note that

FNMOC also hosts two DOD High

Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP) Distributed

Centers, which are integrated closely

with POPS.

In addition to its primary role of

focused support to the warfighter,

FNMOC also plays a key role in the

U.S. national program for weather prediction. In this regard, FNMOC's tropical cyclone track predictions, widely

recognized as among the best in the

world, have proven to be especially

valuable, with the National Hurricane

Center (NHC) relying on them heavily.

FNMOC also provides an important

and physically separate backup for

some of the models run at the National

Weather Service's National Centers for

Environmental Prediction (NCEP). In

addition, FNMOC serves as the Alternate Joint Typhoon Warning Center

(AJTWC), providing the backup for

the JTWC located in Pearl Harbor,

Hawaii. And finally, the subset of

FNMOC products made available to

the general public via the Internet is

used widely by both commercial and

recreational marine interests.

FNMOC benefits greatly from collocation with its supporting R&D activity, the Marine Meteorology Division

of the Naval Research Laboratory

(NRL/MRY). NRL/MRY is a worldclass research organization, with focus

on weather-related support for the

warfighter. FNMOC and NRL/MRY

share space, data, software and com-
112 DOD SECTION 3

puter systems, and together with the

nearby Naval Postgraduate School represent one of the largest concentrations

of weather-related intellectual capital

in the nation. Collocation and close

cooperation between research and

operations, such as exists between

NRL/MRY and FNMOC, is the optimum arrangement for transitioning

R&D quickly and cost-effectively into

new and improved operational weather

prediction capabilities. In addition,

both FNMOC and NRL/MRY are

working to leverage strategic partnerships and community modeling efforts

such as the Weather Research and

Forecasting (WRF) and Earth Systems

Modeling Framework (ESMF) programs.

NAVAL OCEANOGRAPHIC

OFFICE

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 runs and disseminates

products from the world's first operational global ocean model - Naval

Research Laboratory (NRL) Layered

Ocean Model (NLOM) as well as a

number of regional and coastal circulation and wave models. NAVOCEANO

also runs the Polar Ice Prediction System (PIPS) ice model.

A key ingredient to ocean model performance is real-time data for assimilation and evaluation. NAVOCEANO is

the Navy's primary processing facility

for NOAA polar-orbiting satellite data

and is nationally recognized for satellite-derived sea-surface temperature

and satellite altimeter-derived sea-surface topography and wave height.

NAVOCEANO's global sea surface

temperature data are critically important to successfully running NOGAPS

and COAMPS. Additionally, NAVOCEANO houses a DOD Major Shared

Resource Center, enabling transition 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

https://www.navo.navy.mil.

NAVAL ICE CENTER

The Naval Ice Center (NAVICECEN), located in Suitland, MD, provides tailored ice forecasts and analyses to DOD. The Navy (through NAVICECEN), NOAA, and the U.S. Coast

Guard, jointly operate the National Ice

Center (NIC). The NIC provides ice

analyses and forecasts for the Arctic

and Antarctic regions, coastal U.S.

waters, and the Great Lakes to civilian

and military activities.

METOC SUPPORT TO THE

NAVAL WARFIGHTING AREAS

ANTI-SUBMARINE WARFARE

(ASW)

The Naval Meteorology and

Oceanography Command provides

Anti-Submarine Warfare commanders

with critical environmental knowledge

that defines the battlespace and helps

warfighter planning and operations.

The need for this real-time infusion of

environmental knowledge is especially

important in modern warfighting as

ASW is increasingly likely to occur in

littoral regions where conditions can

change rapidly and dramatically.

Contributions to ASW consist of an

unequaled expertise in oceanography

and meteorology, a variety of high-tech

sensing tools, powerful supercomputers and highly skilled personnel all

working together to form a flexible

network of warfighter support.

Characterizing the Battlespace.

There are several environmental factors that together define the ASW battlespace and help warfighters determine the right platform, weapons, targets, settings, tactics and timing necessary for maximum effectiveness.

Naval oceanographers monitor and

analyze these variables and provide

data directly to decision-makers. These

environmental factors include: 

• acoustics and ambient noise; 

• bathymetry; 

• temperature and salinity; 

• bottom-mapping; 

• tides and currents.

The Naval Meteorology and

Figure 3-DOD-11. Navy pilot discusses current weather conditions displayed

on large plasma screens with the forecaster prior to take-off.
SECTION 3 DOD 113

Oceanography Command is effectively

aligned to provide skills and resources

for ASW mission success. Important

supporting assets are:

• Skilled Personnel Deployed

Worldwide. Military and civilian personnel are deployed worldwide to provide a flexible support team to

warfighters. Littoral Warfare Teams

combine on-scene and reach back personnel to collect, consolidate and interpret data from a variety of sources and

sensors for delivery to decision-makers.

• High-Performance Computing.

With the Major Shared Resource Center, advanced models, high bandwidth

data transfers and supporting databases

information can be processed and

delivered quickly to warfighters.

• Advanced Sensing Technology.

Gliders, Autonomous Unmanned Vehicles (AUVs), Underwater Unmanned

Vehicles (UUVs) and towed sensors

define the battlespace for ASW

warfighters and aid planning and operations. The unmanned sensors can

improve littoral surveying, especially

in denied areas, while providing realtime data over extended periods.

• Comprehensive Data Collection.

Data that supports warfighting is collected from multiple sources including:

Fleet Survey Teams on T-AGS 60

ships and Hydrographic Survey

Launches (HSLs), buoys, satellites,

remotely operated unmanned sensors

and other sources. 

• ASW-Specific Training. Naval

oceanographers are trained on tactical

oceanography as it relates to ASW.

NAVAL SPECIAL WARFARE

The Naval Meteorology and

Oceanography Command actively

contributes to Naval Special Warfare

success by providing a broad array of

environmental knowledge, giving

warfighters tactical advantages in the

forward battlespace. Environmental

expertise in the highly-dynamic littoral

and riverine environments are especially crucial to Special Forces who are

often leading the fight in the global

war on terrorism in remote regions of

the world. 

Naval Special Forces are playing a

prominent role in military operations

in Afghanistan and Iraq. The environmental information and expertise provided by Naval Oceanography is an

integral part of the mission planning

and execution process. Near real time

intelligence allows NSW forces to use

the environment for optimum effectiveness - enabling them to accomplish

missions safer and more efficiently

while providing critical go/no go recommendations.

Environmental Factors.

Because Naval Special Forces often

operate in near-shore, highly-dynamic

areas, there are numerous environmental factors that impact mission accomplishment. These include: surf conditions; tides; currents; sea and swell

heights; bathymetry; sea temperature;

visibility; sediment characteristics;

weather conditions; hazardous marine

life; and lunar illumination. 

Resources and Skills.

Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command resources and skills that

contribute to Naval Special Warfare

include:

• Data collection from a variety of

sources and sensors, both on-scene and

remote.

• Computing power of the Major

Shared Resource Center and highspeed transmissions that deliver complex models and data to warfighters

real-time.

• Tactical decision aids, satellite

imagery with overlays, global and tactical level models and riverine models

to improve decision-making of

warfighting commanders.

• Global to tactical scale predictions

of tide, surf, and current conditions

that characterize the battlespace.

• Personnel with scientific expertise

and data and imagery analysis skills

providing direct support to the NSW

Mission Support Center and NSW

commanders.

• Reach back cells that work with on

scene personnel to refine data, provide

expert analysis and deliver products to

warfighters.

• AUVs, UUVs, towed sensors and

gliders that can collect data in hard to

access and denied areas providing

intelligence to NSW warfighters over

extended periods of time.

• Versatile survey ships, HSLs, aircraft, buoys and other data collection

platforms deployable around the

world. 

MINE WARFARE

Environmental conditions strongly

impact mining and mine countermeasures operations. All aspects of mine

warfare, from mine laying to mine

hunting and mine sweeping operations

are significantly affected by environmental conditions, especially in coastal

regions where temporal and spatial

variability of the environment are the

greatest. Knowledge of the littoral

battlespace is necessary for successful

mission planning of mine warfare sensors and timely execution of tactics to

support mining operations. The Naval

Meteorology and Oceanography Command provides ongoing support for the

Navy's Mine Warfare forces to neutralize threats and to allow for assured

access of maritime assets in these

strategic regions in interests.

The Naval Oceanographic Office's

(NAVOCEANO) bottom mapping and

imaging information, oceanographic

models, weather forecasts, warfare

support teams and mine warfare environmental databases play a vital role in

eliminating mine hazards. During

Operation Iraqi Freedom environmental data collected from mine countermeasures vessels, survey ships, tactical

aircraft, buoys and satellites were critical in developing realistic mine clearance timelines which expedited the

clearance of waterways leading to Iraqi

ports.
114 DOD SECTION 3

Mine Warfare efforts are a primary

focus of the Meteorology and

Oceanography Command. Key aspects

of this command-wide focus are: 

• Oceanographic Expertise. NAVOCEANO scientists are continually

developing advanced methods to provide near real-time engagement to the

warfighter. NAVOCEANO's scientific

expertise, modeling and image analysis tools, on-scene participation and

the computing power of the Major

Shared Resource Center provide a

major contribution to in-theater mine

warfare planning and operations.

• Mobile Mine Warfare Teams

(MMTs). Specially trained environmental teams from Oceanography

community are deployed on vessels intheater to provide analysis of the meteorological, oceanographic and geologic conditions in the battlespace.

They also contribute weather forecasts,

interpret bottom-mapping side scan

sonar imagery, analyze water properties, bathymetry, tides and currents and

provide timely and expert advice to

Mine Warfare commanders on the optimization of mine warfare sensors and

weapon systems.

Important Oceanographic contributions to Mine Warfare include: 

• Mine Warfare Environmental

Decision Aids Library (MEDAL).

NAVOCEANO's databases are an integral component to the mine warfare

tactical decision aid, MEDAL. These

databases incorporate in-situ data from

the battlespace with existing information to help mine warfare forces effectively plan and conduct operations. 

• Weather Forecasts. Oceanography

community personnel provide near

real-time weather forecasts to assist

mine warfare commanders determine

mine countermeasure methods to

employ and to provide early warning

of severe weather that could affect the

performance of Naval personnel and

assets.

• Bottom Mapping. Oceanography

personnel interpret acoustic imagery

acquired from tactical units and Underwater Unmanned Vehicles (UUVs) intheater and/or transmitted to NAVOCEANO where it is assimilated with

historic data to provide near real-time

description of the seafloor, including

seafloor characteristics, water depths,

and image mosaics of the seafloor.

These data assist mine warfare units

determine mine clearance rates and

distinguish between mines, other manmade objects and natural features.

• Tides, Currents, Optics and Salinity. Oceanographic experts from the

MMTs supply warfighters with accurate tidal, current and salinity data during mine countermeasure operations.

This information is crucial in determining deployment windows for

UUVs, man/mammal diving operations and for determining sensor performance.

INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE

AND RECONNAISSANCE (ISR)

The Naval Meteorology and

Oceanography Command collects and

disseminates environmental data providing direct support to the Intelligence Community and warfighters,

such as special operations forces and

expeditionary strike groups.

The command's data collection capabilities are far-reaching - collection

platforms, such as ships, buoys, satellites, gliders, UAVs and AUVs can

retrieve ISR data worldwide, even in

remote and denied areas.

Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command contributions to the

Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Community:

• Meso- and micro-scale oceanography and meteorology.

• Long-range forecasting of oceanographic conditions critical to the Intelligence Community.

• Collection and analysis of environmental data that is an important part of

Intelligence Preparation of the Battlespace (IPB).

• Target Area METOC (TAM)

analysis.

• Better characterization of littoral

ocean areas and special operation and

expeditionary warfare support through

Surf Eagle, which processes intelligence data to produce materials tailored for the warfighter.

• Comprehensive network of sensors for collecting data from all areas

of the world - from the oceans to

atmosphere. Collection platforms

include AUVs, UUVs, towed sensors,

gliders, survey ships, launches, buoys

and satellites.

• Computing power, models and

high-quality imagery for integration

and real-time dissemination of ISR to

Intelligence Community and

warfighter commands.

• Personnel deployed in-theater or

remotely to collect, process, analyze

and interpret intelligence data in coordination with Intelligence Community.

FLEET OPERATIONS

The Naval Meteorology and

Oceanography Command is actively

engaged with Fleet forces to provide

valuable environmental knowledge to

aid warfighter decision-making.

Skilled and combat-certified personnel

are integrated with the Fleet, where

Figure 3-DOD-12. A Landing Craft

Utility (LCU) approaches the well

deck of the amphibious assault ship

USS TARAWA (LHA 1) while the

Chilean Leander-class frigate CS

LYNCH (PFG 07) operates in the

waters astern of the ship during the

Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) naval

exercise last year.
SECTION 3 DOD 115

they provide in situ observations, run

tactical decision aids and interpret

environmental data to provide decision

support to fleet commanders.

The onboard personnel work with

reachback cells, manned with subject

matter experts, to analyze and forecast

environmental conditions from launch

point to target to determine optimum

fleet maneuvers, ingress and egress

routes, amphibious landing points and

times, flight operations, weapons load

outs and target selection.

Major contributions to Fleet Operations, Expeditionary Warfare and

Strike Warfare include:

• Collecting, processing, interpreting and delivering environmental data

coming from multiple sources.

• Characterizing the battlespace

from the atmosphere, to the deep

oceans, to the shore.

• Personnel that are warfare-qualified meteorology and oceanography

specialists deployed on vessels to support planning and operations. 

• Reachback teams that work with

onboard personnel to refine data,

develop models, conduct forecast

analyses and deliver high-quality

information to fleet commands.

• Supercomputing capabilities,

satellites, and high-bandwidth data

transfers that quickly process and

deliver information to key decisionmakers.

• Battlespace preparation in highly

variable littoral regions where factors

such as tides, surf, currents and

obstructions can have significant

affects on fleet objectives.

• Tactical decision aids for optimizing impacts of the environment on specific platforms, sensors and weapons. 

• Decision aid libraries, targeting

models, radar models and databases.

• Support for Ship to Objective

Maneuvers (STOM).

Each Strike Group will retain a

highly trained cadre of meteorologists

and oceanographers who forecast for

the 4.5 acres of US sovereign territory

that moves freely in any ocean, at anytime, around the globe; in addition to

flight deck weather, they forecast the

target area METOC which varies

greatly considering the tremendous

reach of Naval Aviation along the

world's dynamic coastlines.

NAVIGATION

The Naval Oceanography Program is

effectively aligned to provide comprehensive oceanographic and navigation

knowledge to warfighters. On-scene

and reach back personnel, high-tech

surveying capabilities, complex models and high-speed data transmissions

form a flexible network of near realtime support for navigation. Whether

it's assisting mine detection and clearance, ensuring safe passage for submarines and surface ships, or providing special operations forces with

advantages in the forward battlespace,

Navy Oceanography is engaged to efficiently collect, understand, and apply

navigation information to effect advantageous outcomes across strategic,

operational, and tactical scales of naval

warfare.

Key components of Navy Oceanography's success are:

• Knowledgeable Personnel. Littoral

Survey Teams, comprised of military

and civilian oceanographers, are

deployed globally aboard T-AGS 60

ships and various other platforms to

provide quick-response navigationquality surveys. These teams work in

coordination with reach back cells and

embedded personnel to deliver environmental information to decisionmakers.

• Airborne LIDAR Bathymetry.

Using airborne laser bathymetry, Navy

Oceanography can provide navigationquality charts for large areas of coastline. These rapid-response surveys are

important for warfighter planning and

operations in littoral regions, especially where knowledge is limited or

non-existent. The Navy's airborne

charting and mapping system combines hydrographic and topographic

data with digital imagery to produce

more complete characterizations of littoral regions for improved coastal navigation.

• Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

(AUVs). The Subsurface Autonomous

Mapping System (SAMS) and Seahorse are Navy Oceanography's two

programmable, redirectable, freeswimming AUVs. SAMS can conduct

physical oceanographic data collection

or side-scan sonar bottom-mapping

surveys. It has full ocean depth capabilities and can collect 10-12 hours of

side-scan data for 40 nautical miles, or

up to 16 hours of oceanographic data

over 65 nautical miles. The Seahorse

AUV is designed to collect high-quality, precision located environmental

data from littoral regions. It is capable

of pre-programmed independent operations over 72 hours, covering 300

nautical miles.

• Fleet of Multi-purpose Survey

Ships. Navy's fleet of 7 survey ships

and hydrographic survey launches are

deployed around the world to make in

situ observations and work with reach

back personnel to provide near-realtime support for tactical navigation. 

• Navigation and Oceanographic

Products. These include: High-resolution bathymetry; navigation-quality

charting (for digital or paper products);

bathymetric databases; gravity and

bathymetry surveys at sea to support

SSBN operations; surveys to locate

hazards and determine physical bottom

conditions; surveys of harbors and

approaches.

PRECISE TIME AND ASTROMETRY

The U.S. Navy and Department of

Defense require precise time and

astrometry for communications,

weapons targeting, and precision navigation. The United States Naval

Observatory (USNO) is the sole

provider to the defense community of

this information, which is vital to mod-
116 DOD SECTION 3

ern warfare. Key support areas are:

• Time. USNO is the official source

of time for the Department of Defense

and Navy. It determines, maintains,

and disseminates precise time and time

interval reference values, ensures uniformity, provides timing data for navigation, precise positioning and C3, and

maintains the Master Clock. An active

research program to develop even

more precise clock systems ensures

that USNO will be able to continue to

meet the most stringent timing requirements.

• Astrometry. USNO is a world-recognized leader in astrometry. The

Astrometry Department determines

fundamental positions, motions and

distances of celestial objects and ascertains the real-time relative positions of

these objects to establish reference

frames in the sky. Astrometry is

required by the Navy and the Department of Defense for navigation systems, precise positioning, and communications.

• Earth Orientation. USNO provides

real-time data about the Earth's orientation and rotation, which are necessary for a variety of high-precision

applications, both military and civilian.

Earth orientation and rotation parameters impact navigation, precise positioning, astronomy, geodesy, communications, and time-keeping.

Impact on warfighter operations:

• Precise timing and Earth orientation parameters are key enablers for

precision strike. Accurate and precise

parameters are necessary for the

Global Positioning System (GPS),

which is used for navigation and

weapons systems guidance. 

• Precise atomic clocks are used as a

time standard for satellites and other

communications platforms.

• Precise timing is required for communications in network-centric warfare ensuring interoperability of

warfighter support systems, such as

tactical data links, Global Information

Grid (GIG), FORCEnet synchronization, ISR Battle management, and

other C4I systems.

• Astrometry is used as reference for

guidance systems and to navigate and

orient space-based platforms.

The defense, scientific, commercial,

and civilian communities use USNO

astronomical catalogs and expertise.

AVIATION OPERATIONS

A key task of the Naval Meteorology

and Oceanography Command is to

support Naval aviation around the

world, with a particular emphasis on

mission accomplishment and safety of

flight. Meteorologists analyze current

environmental conditions and computer models to provide forecasts that

enable safe flight operations, provide

optimum flight routing, and meet tactical objectives 24 hours a day, 7 days a

week. These forecasts are essential to

protect lives and property of the Navy

and Department of Defense and result

in mission accomplishment for the

"warfighter." An accurate forecast is

often the critical factor in mission success. Routine weather conditions such

as cloud cover, dust, and precipitation

often have major impacts on the type,

effectiveness, and delivery tactics for

many of today's sophisticated

weapons.

Highly

trained

meteorologists

assigned

to globally dispersed

activities

provide:

•

Flight

Weather

Briefings

(DD 175-

1).

• Horizontal

Weather

Depictions (HWD)

• Local area and point weather

warnings for Navy airfields.

• Terminal Aerodrome Forecasts

(TAF) disseminated every 6 hours. 

• In-theater analysis, forecasts, advisories for aircraft.

Several of the state of the art systems

used include: 

• Optimum Path Aircraft Routing

System (OPARS). A computerized

flight planning system for determining

the most fuel-efficient altitude and

flight path that saves millions of dollars a year on fuel costs. 

Leading Environmental Analysis and

Display System (LEADS) and Navy

Integrated Tactical Environmental

Subsystem (NITES) Aviation Forecasting Systems. Primary display, analysis,

and production systems used by our

forecasters.

• Automated Surface Observing

System (ASOS) and Remote Automated Weather System (RAWS). Primary airfield environmental observing

systems.

• Naval Flight Weather Briefer

(NFWB). An automated web-based

system used to request, produce and

disseminate flight weather briefings.

Figure 3-DOD-13. Navy Mobile Environmental Team (MET)

Leader experiences a dust storm at sea aboard the USS GUNSTON

HALL (LSD 44).
SECTION 3 DOD 117

MARITIME OPERATIONS

The Naval Meteorology and

Oceanography Command provides

timely and accurate weather and ocean

products to ensure safe and efficient

ship operations. Key components of

Maritime Operations mission are ship

routing, forecasts and warnings and

support for ice operations.

Significant contributions to maritime

safety and efficiency include:

• Optimum Track Ship Routing

(OTSR). OTSR is an enroute weather

forecasting service to support transoceanic transits and coastal operations

of Navy and naval support ships.

Meteorology and oceanography personnel advise Commanding Officers

and Ship Masters at sea, providing

weather advisories and storm evasion

recommendations to avoid hazardous

weather. OTSR services also include

sortie recommendations for potentially

damaging weather conditions in port.

Additionally, OTSR provides climatologic outlooks for preliminary transit

and mission planning.

• Delivery of tropical cyclone forecasts, warnings and other products.

Established by the U.S. Pacific Command and jointly manned with U.S. Air

Force personnel, the Joint Typhoon

Warning Center (JTWC) located in

Pearl Harbor Hawaii is an internationally recognized tropical cyclone forecasting agency.

• Ship weather forecasts (WEAX).

• Aviation weather forecasts for

ship-based helicopters (AVWX).

• High wind and seas warnings, special weather advisories and local area

warnings.

• Ice analysis and forecasting by the

National Ice Center, a joint operation

of the Naval Ice Center, U.S. Coast

Guard and NOAA.

• Operational Weather Briefs for

other Maritime Operations to include

Navy and U.S. Coast Guard Search

and Rescue (SAR). 

• Joint Operational Area Forecasts

(JOAF) for Commanders operating in

Littoral regions.

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 supporting

Marine Corps and other military operations. The Marine Corps METOC

support infrastructure is designed to

readily deploy and operate in austere

expeditionary environments. 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.

Within the FMF, Marines deploy and

employ as scalable, tailorable, combined-arms teams known as Marine

Air Ground Task Forces. 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)
118 DOD SECTION 3

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 Rapid Response Planning Process. 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.

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 FacilityReplacement (MetMF(R)) - The highest level of METOC support to the

MAGTF and ACE-specific operations

is the deployment of the MetMF(R).

The MetMF(R) provides a METOC

support capability similar to that found

in garrison METOC facilities, is normally deployed as part of MWSS to a

Forward Operating Base (FOB), and is

the only realistic option for large-scale

MAGTF operations. Once established

ashore, the MWSS may detach small

METOC support teams 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(R)

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(R) is also

capable of serving as host for an intheater Joint METOC Forecasting Unit

(JMFU) during joint operations and

exercises.

METOC 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 are 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.

Each MWSS within the MAW is

structured and organized to provide

one MST that 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 deploys with rugged, ancillary environmental collection and data

processing equipment. During operations they organically collect METOC

products, data, and information from

the nearest deployed MetMF(R), 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

Figure 3-DOD-14. The transportable Marine Corps Meteorological Mobile

Facility Replacement (METMF(R)) houses meteorological support equipment

for a Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF) established at an expeditionary

airfield.
SECTION 3 DOD 119

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 Unified Combatant Commanders in the conduct of

consequence management operations.

Within the S-2 (Intelligence) section,

permanently assigned METOC forecasters provide 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 https://www.doctrine.quantico.usmc.mil/.

Figure 3-DOD-15. CH-53 Sea Stallions from Marine Heavy Helicopter

Squadron 769 set course for their next destination after receiving fuel from

Marine Wing Support Squadron 473 at Forward Operating Base Salerno,

Afghanistan.

SECTION 3 DOD 121

ARMY TRANSFORMATION

The United States Army is undergoing a historical transformation from a

division-centered Army poised to fight

a cold war, to a smaller, brigade based

Army ready to engage in any conflict

around the globe. Not only is today's

threat to our security more complex

and more unpredictable than that of the

past, but it is one that could also arise

anywhere in the world. Speaking to

this threat, the 2005 Army Posture

Statement addresses four major areas:

• restructure from a division-based

to a brigade based force,

• rebalance the active and reserve

forces,

• stabilize the force, and

• reengineer the Army's business

processes to facilitate the implementation of the first three areas.

Modularity (transforming from a

division-centric to a brigade-centric

force) is the most visible aspect of

Army transformation to the weather

community at large. Modular units

will be more compact and more

deployable than the current division

sized units. Implementing a modular

force will provide the Army more time

to train, provide predictable deployment schedules, and will provide the

continuous supply of landpower

required by the Combatant Commanders and civil authorities. The force,

above the brigade level, will be supported by similarly modular supporting

brigades that provide aviation, fires,

logistics, and other support.

Transformation to a modular Army

dictates changes in both weather support requirements and how weather is

provided to units of action. Resized

weather teams will rely more on "reach

back" capabilities to obtain pertinent

meteorological data. The Army and

Air Force are working together to

determine the optimal weather team

sizing, equipment and communications

capabilities required to support these

new Brigade Combat Teams.

OPERATIONAL EQUIPMENT

AND SUPPORT MISSIONS

Although it is transforming to a

modular force, the existing weather

support structure within the U.S. Army

is a mix of Army and USAF personnel

and equipment according to Army-Air

Force agreement (Army Regulation

(AR) 115-10/Air Force Joint Instruction (AFJI) 15-157, Weather Support

for the U.S. Army, 30 June 1996). This

joint regulation describes the Service

responsibilities and those of Major

Army Commands (MACOMs) within

the Army for providing weather support. The U.S. 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.

Air Force (AF) Major Commands

(MAJCOMs) provide operational

weather services to war fighting

MACOMs in combat, contingencies,

and peacetime training. U.S. Army

Forces Command (FORSCOM), U.S.

Army Europe (USAREUR), U.S.

Army Pacific (USARPAC), U.S. Army

Special Operations Command

(USASOC), Eighth U.S. Army

(EUSA), and U.S. 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 U.S. Army Reserve (USAR)

and Army National Guard (ARNG),

collectively designated the Reserve

Component (RC). In addition, during

exercises and contingencies, the ANG

may augment the active Army Battlefield Weather forces.

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 U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC) contractors. DTC operational support is

established 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 weather forces for tactical operations. The Integrated Meteorological

System (IMETS) is the U.S. Army's

tactical weather communication, intelligence, and information system providing digital weather support to the

commanders and staffs of tactical

units, from Echelons Above Corps

(EAC) to aviation battalions. The

Communications and Electronics

Command (CECOM) and Army

Research Laboratory (ARL) provide

fielding and technical support to Program Director (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

support artillery operational requirements.

ARTYMET Crews in the Active

Component (AC) and RC sections currently use the Meteorological MeasurUNITED STATES ARMY
122 DOD SECTION 3

ing 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 (Figure 3-DOD-16), to

USAF BWTs, and to the Chemical

Officer for use in smoke and in

Nuclear, Biological and Chemical

(NBC) defense operations. The U.S.

Army Field Artillery School

(USAFAS), Fort Sill, OK develops

requirement documents and is the

combat and training developer for

meteorological equipment used for

Field Artillery support.

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.

In addition, an Army Intelligence Officer at the Air Force Weather Agency

(AFWA) at Offutt AFB, NE, serves as

a consultant to AFWA for Army

weather requirements.

ARMY OPERATIONAL SUPPORT

PROVIDED BY THE AIR FORCE

Under AR 115-10/AFJI 15-157, the

AF provides the Army with the necessary manpower and unique tactical and

fixed weather equipment to meet Army

tactical and garrison active component

(AC) and reserve component (RC)

support requirements. Army support

manpower requirements are sourced

from AF active, reserve, and ANG

weather forces. While direct support

of the Field Artillery remains an Army

responsibility, and is supported by

Army ARTYMET teams, AF Battlefield Weather forces provide supplemental information to artillery crews in

contingencies for areas beyond direct

ARTYMET observation capabilities.

The AF assigns AF weather personnel

to the war fighting 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

(OWSs) and post-level weather organizations 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 (Figure 3-DOD17). Peacetime garrison activities

include supporting flying operations at

Army Airfields and severe weather

watch, warning, and advisory services

for aircraft and post resource protection. Per Army-AF agreement, the AF

is responsible for installation, operation, and maintenance of standard AF

meteorological and observing equipment at Army Airfields. Tactically, the

Army is responsible for vehicles, tactical communications, and weather

effects criteria. The Army's IMETS is

fielded for these purposes and is operated by AFW personnel. 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 hosted on an Army vehicle,

uses Army tactical communications

and Army weather effects software.

IMETS baseline software is hosted on

Army Common Hardware and is

Defense Information Infrastructure

Common Operating Environment

(DIICOE) and Joint Technical Architecture - Army (JTA-A) compliant.

The Army provides other tactical

equipment to AF BWTs through an

Army Table of Organizations and

Equipment (TOE). The following

paragraphs describe weather activities

within Army MACOMs.

EIGHTH U.S. ARMY

Eighth United States Army (8th U.S.

Army) 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

observations to support all tactical

Figure 3-DOD-16. Accurate wind profiles are essential for the Artillery to

engage their targets. Photo courtesy U.S. Army.
SECTION 3 DOD 123

units and operations.

Two 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 USAF

weather organizations supporting

Army air, ground, or special operations.

USAF weather personnel assigned to

the 607th Weather Squadron (607 WS)

provide fixed and tactical weather support to 8th U.S. Army units. The 607

WS provides garrison and tactical

weather observing, advisory, mission

forecast, special support, and staff

weather officer (SWO) services during

contingency, exercise, and armistice

operations. 607 WS organizations provide direct, on-site support at eight 8th

U.S. Army installations and at

deployed locations. Support is focused

on air, ground, special operations, and

other combat and combat support missions. In late FY 2002, 607 WS transferred armistice theater forecast

responsibility to the 20th Operational

Weather Squadron (20 OWS) at

Yokota Air Force Base in Japan. The

8th U.S. Army Battlefield Weather

forces are primarily responsible for

providing observations and tailored

mission execution forecasts based on

20 OWS overarching forecasts. Lead

METOC support during exercises and

contingencies remains with the 607

WS detachment supporting

USFK/CFC through the Combined

METOC Forecast Unit, in close coordination with the 20th OWS. In FY

2006, 607 WS provides 76 trained

weather personnel and requires fixed

and tactical weather sensing, data processing, and communications equipment. 8th U.S. Army provides USAF

weather 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 (June 1996).

UNITED STATES ARMY EUROPE

AND SEVENTH ARMY

United States Army Europe

(USAREUR) and 7th Army require

and use Army resources to provide

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.

The Air Force's 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) OWS at Sembach AB, Germany, provides operational-level forecast products for the European Command Area of Responsibility, to

include all USAREUR units. Detachment and operating locations located at

V Corps and its aviation assets, 1st

Infantry Division and its aviation

brigade, 1st Armored Division and its

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.

Figure 3-DOD-17. Reliable wind forecasts are necessary to ensure safety during airborne operations.(Photo courtesy U.S. Army).
124 DOD SECTION 3

The mission of 7 WS and its 11

detachments and operating locations is

to provide weather operations support

to the Army's garrison and war operations. Additionally, 7 WS conducts

weather operations and planning to

meet future Army transformation and

modularity initiatives. 7 WS will

match the deploying weather force

structure to the mission that

USAREUR is called upon to execute.

7 WS will tailor its assigned weather

forces to meet requirements of the new

USAREUR structure and utilize

"reachback" capabilities to the maximum extent possible to minimize the

fielded footprint without compromising weather operations.

Seven IMETS have been fielded

within USAREUR (V Corps, two divisions and their aviation brigades, and

two separate brigades. The IMETS is

geared to interface as a module of the

Army Battlespace Control System

(ABCS) to inject weather decision

products into the common battle picture for Army commanders. IMETS

Light was fielded in Oct FY 2005 to

Aviation Brigade weather teams, and

an upgrade (version 6.4) is expected to

be fielded in FY 2006. This version

will improve standard data ingest capability and increase the value of weather

information available in ABCS.

USAREUR provides supporting

USAF weather forces with tactical

vehicles, MTOE and Common Table

of Allowances (CTA) equipment and

operating funds (expendables, maintenance, etc.). Four ARTYMET sections

collect upper air observations for direct

use by field artillery units. The Forward Areal Limited Observing Program consists of Army personnel taking limited observations at forward

areas in the battlespace. USAREUR

G2 has funded purchases of handheld

weather sensors for use in FALOP

training and equipping Army teams to

provide limited weather data at Forward Operating Bases and Forward

Arming and Refueling Points. These

additional "eyes forward" provide critical information that benefits flight

safety as well as the theater weather

sensing strategy without having to forward deploy more people to austere

locations.

U.S. ARMY SPECIAL OPERATIONS

COMMAND (USASOC)

Weather support to USASOC allows

commanders to improve efficiency,

effectiveness and safety of operations

for USASOC units. The 10th Combat

Weather Squadron (10 CWS) personnel use tactical weather kits to collect

limited weather data and provide limited scope meteorological observations

from permissive, semi-permissive and

uncertain environments in direct support of Army Special Operations

Forces (ARSOF). The 10 CWS Combat Weathermen collect weather data at

the deployed team level. These observations are passed to operating bases

for use by ARSOF commanders and

staff, as well as Air Force Special

Operations Command (AFSOC) and

Air National Guard (ANG) weather

personnel. AFSOC personnel providing direct support to USASOC units

are assigned to the 10 CWS, OL-A,

320 Special Tactics Squadron (STS),

OL-A 321 STS, and OL-A 353 Special

Operations Group. ANG personnel

providing direct support to USASOC

when activated are assigned to the

107th Weather Flight (Michigan

ANG), 146th Weather Flight (Pennsylvania ANG) and 181st Weather Flight

(Texas ANG). These weather flights

provide garrison and tactical support to

USASOC units including the United

States Army Special Forces Command

and the seven subordinate Special

Forces Groups (SFG); the 75th Ranger

Regiment, the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, the United

States Civil Affairs and Psychological

Operations Command (USCAPOC);

all SFG and regimental subordinate

battalions, and two separate aviation

companies. Weather support includes:

climatology and solar/lunar illumination tables and studies; courses of

action and mission impacts analysis;

weather watch/warning services; mission execution forecasts; flight weather

briefings; drop/landing zone forecasts;

training to ARSOF; training of host

Figure 3-DOD-18. Weather plays an important role in day to day Army operations, such as this bridging operation in South Korea. (Photo courtesy U.S.

Army)
SECTION 3 DOD 125

nation and indigenous forces on conducting limited observation programs;

surface, upper-air and tactical radar

observations; and Foreign Internal

Defense analysis, surveys and training.

AFSOC Special Operations Weather

Teams (SOWTs) are the DOD's sole

source for high-fidelity METOC intelligence data collection from permissive, hostile, or uncertain environments. AFSOC provides staff weather

support to USASOC, U.S. Army Special Forces Command (Airborne) and

the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School.

USASOC plans and expends

resources for operational and administrative support to Air Force Special

Operations Command SOWTs providing meteorological service support to

USASOC components. USASOC provides funding for required training

beyond standard AF weather training,

office and deployable automation systems and connectivity to local networks; dedicated tactical communications systems; operations and maintenance/sustainment to support

USASOC requirements; funding for

Temporary Duty for USASOC requirements; and some organizational clothing and individual equipment. Additionally, USASOC covers expenditures

for tactical equipment items such as

NBC equipment; communications;

Army developed and procured meteorological equipment, power, vehicles,

and life support equipment required to

accomplish USASOC weather support

missions; and maintenance and supplies for USASOC provided equipment. Seventeen Integrated Meteorological Systems-Light (IMETS-L)

have been fielded within USASOC.

IMETS-L provides a mobile automated weather data receiving, processing and dissemination system to USAF

SOWTs. IMETS-L also provides digital weather support, real-time tailored

weather information, forecasts, and

weather effects on friendly and hostile

weapons systems. USASOC also provides funding for facilities, office

space, office furniture, and real property to house supporting special operations weather units, as well as secure

storage of required equipment.

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 forces with tactical vehicles,

MTOE and Common Table of

Allowances (CTA) equipment and

operations and maintenance funds.

The IMETS and New Tactical Forecast System (NTFS) have been fielded

within USARPAC as the primary

meteorological equipment for

deployed operations. The 25th

Infantry Division (Light) (25ID(L))

was given two IMETS-L units ahead of

schedule for its year-long deployment

to Iraq. The IMETS and NTFS reachback for data via Army provided

NIPRNET and SIPRNET conduits.

There are three subordinate commands within USARPAC: United

States Army, Hawaii (USARHAW),

United States Army, Alaska

(USARAK), and United States Army,

Japan (USARJ).

The 17th Operational Weather

Squadron (17 OWS) provides HQ

USARPAC with garrison and tactical

weather warnings, forecasts, special

support, and SWO services during

contingencies and humanitarian operations. Additional Battlefield Weather

forces aligned with U.S. Army Japan

(USARJ), U.S. Army Hawaii

(USARHAW) - including the 25th ID

(-) -- and U.S. Army Alaska

(USARAK), including 172 SIB, provide direct, on-site support at five

USARPAC installations. The weather

forces also deploy with their supported

Army units, providing tailored battlefield observations and forecasts. AFW

reengineering has reduced the requirement for forward deployed weather

personnel, instead leveraging IMETS

and other recently fielded technology

for reachback capability. 17 OWS provides regional weather support, allowing the forward deployed forces to

focus on specific area and target forecasts.

The 20th Operational Weather

Squadron (20 OWS) at Yokota AB,

Japan, provides operational-level forecast products for the USFJ and USFK

AORs, to include all USFJ and USFK

Air Force and Army units. This

includes specific resource protection

support (i.e. weather advisories, warnings, and watches), as well as Terminal

Aerodrome Forecasts for selected

units. The 20 OWS Commander

serves as USFJ's Staff Weather Officer

(SWO), and also serves as the USARJ

SWO. Day-to-day support for Camp

Zama, Japan is provided by an Operating Location (OL) under the AF 374th

Operations Support Squadron at

Yokota AB. The OL on-site at Camp

Zama provides observational support

and produces mission execution forecasts to support aviation operations.

The 11th Operational Weather

Squadron (11 OWS) at Elmendorf

AFB, AK, provides operational-level

forecast products for the Alaskan Command AOR, to include all USARAK

units. The Commander, 11 OWS,

serves as the CG, USARAK's Staff

Weather Officer. Additionally, 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
126 DOD SECTION 3

Guard aviation assets in theater. An

AF Battlefield Weather personnel (3

ASOS/WE) is collocated with the 172d

Infantry Brigade (Separate) (172d

Stryker Brigade Combat Team (172

SBCT) at Fort Wainwright and the aviation assets of 4th Battalion, 123d Aviation Regiment. 3 ASOS/WE provides

weather support for both tactical and

garrison operations, observes the

atmosphere and evaluates, then tailors,

forecast products to produce Mission

Execution Forecasts and staff briefings. After the SBCT conversion, 172

SBCT will include tactical unmanned

aerial vehicles (T-UAVs), whose operators will also be receive their weather

support from 3 ASOS/WE. The Alaska

Army National Guard operates the airfield at Fort Richardson.

U.S. ARMY FORCES COMMAND

(FORSCOM)

Weather support to the U.S. 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 750,000 Active

Army (AA), U.S. Army Reserve

(USAR) and Army National Guard

(ARNG) soldiers. These soldiers

account for more than 80 percent of the

Army's combat power. FORSCOM

trains, mobilizes, deploys, and sustains

combat ready forces capable of

responding rapidly to crises worldwide. The AA component of

FORSCOM has nearly 200,000 soldiers. Third U.S. Army is the Army

component of U.S. Central Command

(USCENTCOM), which is the Joint

command responsible for Southwest

Asia (SWA), the Persian Gulf, and the

Horn of Africa. U.S. Army South

(USARSO) serves as the Army component to U.S. Southern Command

(USSOUTHCOM). USARSO relocated from Fort Buchanan, Puerto

Rico, to Fort Sam Houston, Texas, in

CY 2003 and became a FORSCOM

major subordinate command October

1st, 2003. FORSCOM also commands three Army Corps: I Corps at

Fort Lewis, Washington, 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 U.S. Armies (CONUSAs),

First U.S. Army and Fifth U.S. Army,

are responsible for training, mobilization, and deployment support to

Reserve Component units in

FORSCOM. Another major subordinate command to FORSCOM, the U.S.

Army Reserve Command (USARC),

commands all U.S. 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

balanced force of 8 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.

The Army is in a period of transformation, over the next several years the

Army will transform from its current

structure to a structure that has two

higher headquarters replacing existing

divisions, corps and echelons above

corps. This transformation is requiring

AF weather to retune its service

approach to Army units in terms of

manpower and functions.

Weather support to FORSCOM's AA

units comes from dedicated AFW

forces aligned under three Air Support

Operations Groups (ASOGs) within

Air Combat Command (ACC): 1

ASOG at Fort Lewis, Washington; 3

ASOG at Fort Hood, Texas; and 18

ASOG at Pope AFB, North Carolina.

A weather squadron under each ASOG

supports the Corps. Each Army division normally has dedicated AFW

forces aligned under an Air Support

Operations Squadron (ASOS) or one

of the weather squadrons, at their

respective installations. Corps and

division weather forces are authorized

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, and Air

Force Joint Pamphlet 15-127. Currently, there are nearly 350 AFW

authorizations supporting various echelons across FORSCOM. These personnel, enabled by an operational

weather squadron, provide garrison

and tactical weather warning, observing, mission execution forecast, special

support, and SWO services during

peacetime, combat, contingency, exercise, or armistice operations.

Air Combat Command (ACC)

weather organizations provide direct,

on-site support at 11 major Army

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, and

other combat and combat support missions.

FORSCOM provides supporting

AFW forces with a Modified Table of

Organization and Equipment (MTOE)

and operating funds (expendables,
SECTION 3 DOD 127

maintenance, etc.). ARTYMET

requirements in FORSCOM increased

from 17 to 20 sections in FY 2005 due

to modularity. These 6-person sections, comprised of Army weather personnel, collect upper air observations

for direct use by field artillery units.

Six more teams are planned to be

added in FY 2006 - FY 2007.

The AF’s New Tactical Forecast System (N-TFS) is the primary in-garrison

and tactical weather equipment for

receiving graphics and alphanumeric

data. Data is received via the Very

Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT), Tactical VSAT (T-VSAT), Non-Secure

Internet Protocol Router Network, and

Secure Internet Protocol Router Network. Nineteen IMETS and 15

IMETS-Lights, developed by the

Army Research Laboratory, have been

fielded within FORSCOM.

FORSCOM has also fielded commercial Automated Weather Observing

Systems at Yakima Training Center

Washington, Fort Campbell, Kentucky,

and Georgetown Bahamas. 

TRAINING AND DOCTRINE COMMAND (TRADOC) PROGRAMS

Headquarters (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. HQ TRADOC is the approval

authority for Army-AF weather doctrine, Army weather system requirements, and weather support policy.

Key mission areas for the next few

years will be to coordinate weather

requirements to the Army's Modular

Forces; help develop new weather support doctrine, concepts, and tactics,

techniques, and procedures; ensure

weather, weather effects to operations,

and weather support processes/procedures are properly trained across the

TRADOC schoolhouses.

The IMETS continues as the state of

the art Army weather support system.

However, over the next few years its

capabilities will be consolidated into

the Air Force's Joint Environmental

Toolkit (JET) program. The Army will

retain research and development

efforts related to Army-specific

weather support challenges and will be

responsible for interfacing JET with

Army battle command systems. Initial

JET fielding is programmed to begin in

FY 2006.

TRADOC Schools and Battle Labs:

• The U.S. Army Intelligence Center

and Fort Huachuca (USAIC&FH) is

the functional proponent for Army tactical weather support. USAIC&FH

represents the Army warfighter by collecting weather support requirements

and developing solutions to satisfy

those requirements. A key component

to providing weather support to the

Army is IMETS, fielded by the Army

and operated by AFW forces. The

USAIC&FH SWO advises the Army

Research Lab, USAIC&FH, and AFW

on Army weather support issues and

helps develop solutions to meet both

active and reserve forces' weather

requirements. In addition, the

USAIC&FH SWO conducts and monitors weather/weather support training

to Army Military Intelligence personnel and AFW personnel supporting the

Army. The USAIC&FH SWO is

assisted by two active duty AFW personnel that support Army concepts,

architecture and requirements initiatives; one civilian contractor that manages the Battlefield Weather course;

and one Army Government Civilian

that serves as the assistant TRADOC

Systems Manager for IMETS. This

year the USAIC&FH Weather Team

drafted the Statement of Requirements

(SOR) for Weather Support to the

Army's Modular Forces, and they continued to update and expand the

weather effects critical threshold value

database to be incorporated into the

Integrated Weather Effects Decision

Aid (IWEDA). The USAIC&FH

SWO also updated the IMETS requirements documents as the program went

through several acquisition milestones

culminating in Joint Requirements

Oversight Council (JROC) approval.

In FY 2008, the IMETS Program

Office will move under the Program

Executive Office - Intelligence, Electronic Warfare & Sensors (PEOIEW&S) as part of the Distributed

Common Ground System-Army

(DCGS-A) program.

• The USAF SWO at the Army's

Combined Arms Center (CAC) is the

primary overseer of the Tables of

Organization and Equipment (TOE)

for BW forces supporting Army operations. The CAC SWO also arranges

Figure 3-DOD-19. The Integrated Meteorological System - Light (IMETS-L).

(Photo courtesy U.S. Army.)
128 DOD SECTION 3

for or provides environmental data,

concepts of operation, and weather

subject matter expertise for programs,

projects, and studies conducted by the

TRADOC System Manager - Army

Battle Command System, the Battle

Command Battle Lab-Leavenworth,

the Center for Army Lessons Learned,

the TRADOC Assistant Deputy Chief

of Staff for Intelligence -Threats, the

Foreign Military Studies Office, and

the TRADOC Analysis Center-Leavenworth. Other key CAC SWO tasks

are to develop weather/weather effects

scripts and climatology packages to

support modeling and simulation

efforts of the Battle Command Training Program (BCTP) and the National

Simulation Center, and to provide

Army weather support instruction at

the Command and General Staff College (CGSC).

• The U.S. Army Field Artillery

School (USAFAS), Fort Sill, OK is the

proponent for upper air meteorological

support to the Army. Artillery meteorological crews, Active and Reserve,

had used the AN/TMQ-50 to measure

surface weather parameters. Tactical

reliability issues forced an Army-wide

'STOP-USE' of the AN/TMQ-50 at the

end of FY 2003. Artillery meteorological crews currently use manual surface instruments to measure surface

weather conditions. The AN/TMQ 55

(TACMET) has been identified to

replace the AN/TMQ 50. The

AN/TMQ-41 Meteorological Measuring Set (MMS) is utilized to take upper

air observations. The MMS provides

weather data to the Field Artillery Tactical Data System for ballistic calculations; to USAF BWTs for weather

forecasting; and to the Chemical Officer for obscurant deployment, and

Nuclear, Biological, Chemical (NBC)

defense operations. Active unit's

MMSs will be replaced by the

AN/TMQ-52 Meteorological Measuring Set Profiler (MMS-P). The MMSP is scheduled to begin fielding in early

FY 2005. The MMS-P is a suite of

meteorological sensors and associated

software/models which will provide

the Field Artillery with current and/or

expected weather conditions at a point

where the weapon munitions is

expected to engage a target (Target

Area Met).

• The Engineer School (USAES),

Fort Leonard Wood, MO 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 does have an instructor at the Terrain School at Ft Belvoir

to teach weather effects on cross-country mobility and engineer missions.

• The U.S. Army Aviation Center

(USAAVNC) at Fort Rucker, AL incorporates weather instruction and procedures into rotary-wing 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. Two active duty

positions are allocated to provide staff

support for Army aviation and aviator

training weather issues in areas of curriculum, concept development and

doctrine. The USAAVNC SWO also

supports the U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center (formerly the U.S. Army

Safety Center), Air Traffic Services

Command, and other Fort Rucker tenants. Operational weather support for

aircrews and resource protection are

provided by contractors aligned under

ACC.

Beginning in FY 2004, ACC civilianized day-to-day operational weather

support to aviation operations at Fort

Rucker (Cairns Army Airfield, Troy

Municipal Airport, and Andalusia

Municipal Airport). ACC, under the

same contract, manages garrison airFigure 3-DOD-20. Meteorological Measuring Set- Profiler (MMS-P) (Photo

courtesy U.S. Army.)
SECTION 3 DOD 129

field weather services (observing

and/or forecasting) at Fort Belvoir,

Fort Benning, Fort Knox, Fort Leonard

Wood, Fort Huachuca, and Fort Sill.

ARMY NATIONAL GUARD

(ARNG) ARTILLERY

In FY 2005, the Army National

Guard (ARNG) downsized its Meteorological (MET) Sections assigned to

artillery units at Division level, Field

Artillery Brigades (DIVARTY), and in

Separate Brigades to two 6-soldier

teams in the DIVARTY's, except in the

Light DIV where there is one team,

equaling fifteen 6-soldier teams with

90 soldiers. In the ARNG "Modular

Forces", there is one 6-solder team per

Fires Battalion in the Brigade Combat

Team (BCT), providing 34 teams with

six soldiers each, for 204 soldiers. In

the Fires BDE there are 3 MET teams

per BDE providing 18 teams with six

soldiers each, for a total of 108 soldiers. All together the ARNG has 402

soldiers authorized to Artillery Metrological Teams.

The ARTY MET 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

ARTY MET sections support an average of 20 live fire training days and

annually expend in excess of 100 balloons per section. The ARNG's ARTY

MET Teams use the Meteorological

Measuring Set (MMS), AN/TMQ41A. 

ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS

CIVIL OPERATIONAL ACTIVITIES

The Corps of Engineers (COE) uses

a network of about 10,850 land-based

gages. About 55 percent of the sites

collect meteorological data, 35 percent

a combination of hydrologic and meteorological data, and 10 percent hydrologic or water quality data. The Corps

funds or partially funds 58 percent

(6350) of all the gages it used. Meteorological gages commonly measure

precipitation and 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/National Weather Service

(NWS) to collect and maintain precipitation information from 826 of meteorological sites. Similarly, COE transfers funds to the U.S. Geological Survey to maintain precipitation data collection from 460 sites, while the COE

maintains the rest. Seventy-five percent of all Corps sites provide realtime data via satellite, microwaves,

meterbursts, landlines, or radio. Data

from COE gauging sites are available

to other Federal, state and local agencies. The NWS uses 100 percent of all

Corps data. Most of the data is also

used by other agencies.

UNITED STATES ARMY SPACE

AND MISSILE DEFENSE COMMAND (USASMDC)

The High Energy Laser Systems Test

Facility (HELSTF), an USASMDC

directorate located on White Sands

Missile Range, is an Army element of

the DOD Major Range and Test Facility Base with the mission of highenergy laser (HEL) test and evaluation

for future Army and sister Service

HEL weapons. In addition to HEL 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 HEL testing by

providing measurements of atmospheric conditions that are extremely

important to propagation of any HEL

beam thru the atmosphere. Many

unique meteorological instruments are

maintained to support this critical data

collection for HEL testing (Figure 3-

DOD-21). The HELSTF meteorological team also supports critical safety

analysis of atmospheric dispersion for

the very toxic laser fuels used. Efforts

for FY 2006 include work required to

modernize the atmospheric measurements and data collection/analysis

Figure 3-DOD-21. Meteorological Equipment at HELSTF (Photo courtesy U.S.

Army.).
130 DOD SECTION 3

capabilities needed to support new

laser testing activities.

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 meteorological services (Figure

3-DOD-22) support contractor provides meteorological support for range

activities including missile operations

within the atoll, intra-atoll transportation (marine and aircraft), remote

island missile launches including

Wake Island, and emergency operations support.

A full suite of surface and upper air

observing equipment is available to

support of these operations. Three

fixed upper air sounding systems are

located on Kwajalein and Roi-Namur.

Two portable upper air systems can be

deployed to remote locations to provide upper air soundings. Additionally, one dual-polarized -Doppler Sband weather radar and one Doppler

C-band weather radar, two

DMSP/NOAA satellite receivers (one

mobile) both having McIDAS display

and management systems, one geostationary satellite receiver, and an intraatoll mesonet and lightning detection

network round out the sensors available to RTS forecasters. RTS, in cooperation with NASA/GSFC, continues

to support 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. The Army Test and Evaluation Command (ATEC) is responsible

for operational meteorological support

to Army RDT&E.

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 Topographic Engineering

Center (TEC), and the Cold Regions

Research and Engineering Laboratory

(CRREL), of COE's Engineer

Research and Development Center

(ERDC), develop Tactical Decision

Aids (TDAs) to interpret the impact of

weather on terrain to enhance Army

operations. TDAs are transitioned to

the Digital Topographic Support System (DTSS).

The ERDC has a vibrant, active program of basic research in ecosystem

management. Corps of Engineer

owned-lands and DOD installations

alike are often critical habitat for many

species of flora and fauna, acting as

virtual sanctuaries for natural resource

preservation within otherwise rapidly

developing community surroundings.

Maintaining, or even increasing, training is paramount to ensuring the effectiveness of today's soldiers. Striking a

balance between fulfillment of soldier

training needs and protection of our

valued ecosystem is a goal of the

ERDC research community.

Under its military mission, the Engineer Research and Development Center's Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Hanover, NH provides support to Army weapon systems

RDTE with all-season solutions for

mitigating adverse environmental

effects 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 the state of the

terrain supporting tactical decision aids

such as mobility analysis and sensor

performance. Other programs include

weather effects on environmental

research for military training lands,

winter effects on acoustic sensors,

mine detection, helicopter pre-flight

deicing and airborne icing avoidance,

and estimating snow water equivalence

for predicting snow melt runoff and

potential for flooding.

As part of the ERDC's Battlespace

Terrain Reasoning and Awareness

(BTRA) research program, researchers

are applying the Battlefield Forecast

Model (BFM) and MM5 mesoscale

weather forecast models to drive

CRREL's state-of-the-ground energy

budget model, FASST (Fast All-season

Soil STrength model). FASST is a

physic-based model that provides

ground temperature and moisture profiles, freeze/thaw depths, snow depth,

and soil strength index based on the

terrain/terrain features and the

mesoscale weather information.

FASST is an integral component of

Figure 7. USASMDC is responsible

for meteorological support to the

Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile

Defense Test Site in the remote Kwajalein Atoll. Photo courtesy U.S.

Army.
SECTION 3 DOD 131

BTRA, supporting the production of a

number of tactical decision aids.

BTRA is available to the military services under the Commercial Joint Mapping Toolkit (CJMTK) umbrella. The

FASST soil strength information in

BTRA provides the geophysical information required to predict mobility for

dynamic terrain conditions. The soil

temperature and moisture information

from FASST is the linchpin for sensor

performance predictions. The Region

Specific Probability of detection

(RSPd) model in BTRA uses the

FASST predicted ground temperatures

to predict probability of target detection (Figure 3-DOD-23). Unlike tactical probability of detection models,

RSPd does not require target tactical

level information. RSPp uses the probability of occurrence of radiometric

temperatures in the waveband of interest based on the FASST ground temperature predictions and the classical

Johnson approach for a generic target

to determine the RSPd metric.

ARMY MATERIEL COMMAND

(AMC)

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 Major Subordinate

Commands (MSCs) and elements carrying out weather research and development responsibilities including the

Research Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM), which has

responsibility for the Army's Research

Development and Engineering Centers

(RDECs) and the Army Research Laboratory (ARL).

The Army Research Laboratory Battlefield Environment (BE) Division

has a robust program in developing

very high spatial and time resolution

characterizations of the lower atmosphere using both measurements and

numerical models. This research is

particularly focused on the boundary

layer for near-surface Army applications and includes characterizing

atmospheric aerosols and predicting

the effects of the atmosphere on Army

systems, sensors, personnel and operations. This research addresses how to

assimilate and fuse battlefield observations to update numerical weather

model forecasts and to account for

higher resolution effects of complex

and urban terrain.

The BE Division within the ARL

Computational and Information Sciences Directorate (CISD), consists of

three Branches split between Adelphi,

Maryland and White Sands Missile

Range, New Mexico. The three

branches combine basic and applied

research programs in the areas of meteorological modeling at high resolution

and in complex terrain, atmospheric

sensing of aerosols and contaminants

using laser scattering, spectral analysis, multi-wavelength imagers, and

lidars, atmospheric effects including

electromagnetic and acoustic propagation modeling, meteorological measurement technologies, and advanced

weather impact decision aids. The

Division also provides liaison personnel between Army weather R&D and

the coupled programs at the Air Force

Weather Agency, Air Force Combat

Weather Center and the National Polar

Orbiting Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Integrated Program

Office (IPO). These positions focus on

coordinating technology transitioned

from the BE Division into Army and

Air Force fielded systems.

BE Division and the Army PDIMETS office are partnering with the

Air Force in new programs such as the

development of a common Joint Environmental Toolkit (JET). The Army

IMETS Army Battle Command System (ABCS) 6.4 software and several

AFW system software baselines are to

converge and transition into a single

baseline JET by the end of FY 2005.

The JET baseline combines the AF

forecast functions with the Army's

weather impact Tactical Decision Aid

Army unique C2 links to enhance

IMETS capabilities for net-centric

Army support. IMETS weather products can be accessed through a webbrowser, client server applications, or

overlaid on the user's Common Operational Picture (COP) through web services such as publish and subscribe

(PASS). IMETS technologies will

Figure 3-DOD-23. The Region Specific Probability of detection (RSPd) model

in BTRA uses the FASST predicted ground temperatures to determine the

probability that the temperature of a target of interest is or is not

detectable.Photo courtesy U.S. Army.
132 DOD SECTION 3

continue to provide net-centric weather

support to Army Battle Command and

Future Combat Systems (FCS) as the

Distributed Common Ground StationArmy (DCGS-A) Multifunctional

Workstation-Weather.

The Meteorological Modeling

Branch conducts a research program in

the micrometeorological and

mesoscale-gamma (small end of

mesoscale) processes and structure of

the atmospheric boundary layer at

scales generally smaller than a few

kilometers. This program focuses on

the interaction of the land-air interface

with wind fields, turbulence, and

fluxes. Modeling of aerosol and chemical-biological transport and dispersion

in the tactical environment are

addressed, including detailed modeling

of the boundary layer over complex

terrain and within urban domains. A

range of numerical weather models is

addressed, including non-hydrostatic

predictive and diagnostic gridded

meteorological models. Diagnostic

model output is combined with near

real-time observations from lidar,

sonic anemometers, and other battlefield sensors to produce rapid refresh

analyses for urban domains and complex terrain. Nowcasting and

"Weather Running Estimate" products

are being developed for the Army

Future Force. These are verified

against existing numerical weather

prediction models and data.

The Atmospheric Effects Branch

strives to develop capabilities to measure the battlefield atmosphere in near

real-time in a networked environment.

They are working on developing methods to manage tactical bandwidth for

moving large meteorological data

bases, and are producing verified tactical decision aids to assess atmospheric

effects and impacts on weapon systems, sensors, and personnel. Weather

knowledge management tools are

developed for Army C2 and ISR systems including automation of Intelligence Preparation Battlefield (IPB)

and integration of various weather

effects into ground and aerial vehicle

route planning. Controlled field measurements are performed to develop or

verify theoretical models for atmospheric and optical turbulence, acoustic

propagation, radar propagation, wind

flow in small scale urban domains and

desert aerosol production. Value added

studies are performed to justify Army

requirements for higher spatial and

temporal meteorological data and

model resolution, for the collection of

conventional and non-conventional

battlefield weather observations, and

for the timely dissemination of data.

The Atmospheric Sensing Branch is

working to enhance warfighter situational awareness through the utilization of advanced atmospheric instrumentation and novel characterization

techniques. They are developing, testing, evaluating, and implementing

aerosol classification techniques to

enhance identification. They are

employing novel polarimetric imaging

techniques to analyze effects from surface contaminants for target recognition and identification. This research

also includes modeling the effects of

forest canopies on acoustic propagation and investigating the use of beamforming techniques for the mitigation

of the effects of the atmosphere on sensors, systems, and soldiers.

The Army Research Office,

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. Special funding areas 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. A primary focus continues on the analysis

and understanding of the stable boundary layer. New initiatives include

acoustic tomography of the atmospheric surface layer and measurement

and analyses of wind fields in an urban

area.

Communications Electronics Command (CECOM), a major subordinate

command of AMC, provides support to

developing and fielding weather programs through the following organizations: Logistics Readiness Center

(LRC), Research, Development and

Engineering Center (RDEC), Software

Engineering Center (SEC), and Safety

office. The CECOM LRC is the level

II manager of the Meteorological Measuring Set (MMS) program.
SECTION 3 DOD 133

RDEC's Communications-Electronics Research Development Engineering Center (CERDEC), 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 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 and

National Guard Bureau are equipped

with the MMS.

The Meteorological Measuring SetProfiler (MMS-P) AN/TMQ-52 System. The Meteorological Measurement Set-Profiler (MMS-P) is 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. Four

System Design and Development

(SDD) models have been produced.

Developmental testing has been successfully completed and Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) was approved at

a MS C decision in FY 2003. The Profiler system has completed Initial

Operational Test and Evaluation

(IOTE) FY 2005. Full Rate Production

(FRP) was approved at a FRP Decision

in FY 2005.

The Intelligence and Information

Warfare Directorate (I2WD), Communications Electronics Research &

Development Engineering Center

(CERDEC), Research Development &

Engineering (RD&E) Command is

providing technical and acquisition

support to the Program Manager, Intelligence & Effects and integrating the

Integrated Meteorological System

(IMETS) into the Distributive Common Ground Station (DCGS) Spiral

4/5 configuration.

The IMETS comes in two basic configurations known as the Vehicle

Mounted (AN/TMQ-40B/C/D) and

Light (AN/GMQ-36/36A/36B) groups.

The IMETS Vehicle Mounted group

(Figure 3-DOD-24) has three variants,

all with the same function that differ

only by vehicle, shelter, and/or generator. The new IMETS-Light

(AN/GMQ-36A) will replace the

AN/GMQ-36 versions now in production with a CHS-3 cost savings window base computer. The AN/GMQ36B is a Command Post version that

has all the functionality of the

AN/GMQ-36A.

Either the IMETS Vehicle Mounted

or the IMETS Light configuration can

provide the weather component of the

Intelligence Electronic Warfare (IEW)

sub-element of the Army Battle Command System (ABCS). IMETS has

been designated by the DCGS as the

Weather Center for DCGS-A weather

requirements and is on track to fully

support the Future Combat System

(FCS) prime. 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 can receive weather

information from geostationary satellites (either USA, European, Japanese,

or Chinese civilian) depending on the

system's location, 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 war-fighters needs. Significant weather and environmental

support to war-fighters are the weather

applications such as the automated tactical decision aids and contours client.

These weather products display the

impact of the weather on current or

planned operations for both friendly

and enemy forces. Weather products

can also be overlaid on the Common

Operational Picture (COP) or Common

Tactical Picture (CTP) accessed by

using a browser, and is executed on the

users terminal through weather client

implementations.

Major test events in FY 2005 include

the IMETS Intra-Army Interoperability Certification test, completed during

the First Quarter of FY 2005 at the

Central Test Support Facility (CTSF)

and the ABCS 6.4 Good Enough (GE)

Operational Evaluation (OPEVAL)

completed in Second Quarter FY 2005.

The AN/TMQ-40C Materiel Release is

on schedule to occur at the last quarter

of FY 2005 and the AN/TMQ-40D for

FY 2006. Both of these systems,

along with the AN/GMQ-36 are on

schedule to field to units. In order to
134 DOD SECTION 3

streamline the acquisition process, the

IMETS AN/GMQ-36A/B has been

given permission to go directly to

Materiel Release pending the results of

Development Testing and skip Milestone C pending on Development Testing results. FY 2005 efforts will focus

on the ABCS 6.4 GE Operational

Assessment and fielding and the

IMETS-Light (AN/GMQ-36A/B)

Materiel Release and fielding decision,

along with finishing the fielding efforts

for the AN/GMQ-361 to gaining units

including the Stryker Brigade.

AN/TMQ-40B/C/D systems will also

be fielded during FY 2005.

AMC's Field Assistance in Science

& Technology (FAST) Activity provides rapid, successful technical solutions for the Warfighter. With Science

Advisors (senior AMC scientists and

engineers) located at Major Commands throughout the world, AMCFAST provides support in a wide range

of technical areas. Recently FAST has

assisted the 82d Airborne Division

Artillery (82nd ABN DIVARTY) by

providing a lightweight alternative to

their previously used meteorological

observation equipment.

The 82nd DIVARTY has units dispersed around the globe in support of

the Global War on Terrorism. During

the initial stages of deployment, these

Airborne units typically have no meteorological (MET) measuring capabilities due to the logistics burden of their

observation equipment, which includes

several large tripod mounted pieces

and one generator. Weighing a total of

23,100 pounds, this equipment

requires 3 HMMWVs for transport.

AMC-FAST responded to the 82nd

DIVARTY's request by providing them

with a lightweight system called the

Miniature Meteorological Observation

Kit (Mini-Met Kit). The 25 pound

Mini-Met Kit is stored in a hard-shell

case for protection during air drop,

vehicular transport or storage. It can

also be removed from the case and

transported in one soldier's Alice Pack.

The contents of this kit allow

DIVARTY MET teams to observe current weather at the firing site and to

launch and track pilot balloons

(PIBALS) in support of artillery fires.

As the XVIII Airborne Corps Field

Artillery (FA) has a similar need for

accurate, lightweight, man-portable

MET equipment, AMC-FAST provided funding for 9 Mini-MET systems total; 4 to be evaluated in the field

by the 82d DIVARTY and 5 by the

XVIII ABN Corps FA. In their initial

evaluation, the 82nd DIVARTY MET

compared results obtained using the

Mini-MET kit with those obtained

from their older MET equipment.

Results were reported to be extremely

accurate, with less than 3% differences

between the two systems for all readings taken. As this new, lightweight

weather observation kit is parachute

deployable and transportable by just

one trooper, the Mini-MET Kit can

truly be viewed as a force multiplier. 

To use the Mini-Met kits for actual

"Call to Fire" during Artillery missions

in theater, formal approval must be

given by the Army's Artillery School at

Ft Sill. To expedite the Schoolhouse's

evaluation & approval, XVIII ABN

Corps FA has loaned one of their kits to

Ft Sill. They are now awaiting formal

approval to use the kit during GWOT

missions.

It is anticipated that this AMC-FAST

project will yield enhanced capabilities

for the 82d Airborne DIVARTY and

the XVIII Airborne Corps FA by providing them with a robust means to

rapidly and accurately acquire the

MET data needed to increase early

entry artillery accuracy and lethality. 

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 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. Because the majority of the operational meteorological support workforce at the Army ranges is or soon will

be eligible to retire, the Program has

implemented an intern program to

recruit and train entry-level scientists

and technicians to ensure continuity in

specialized meteorological support

services as senior employees begin to

retire.

The Army RDT&E Meteorology

Program has entered into a multi-year

working relationship with the National

Center for Atmospheric Research

Figure 3-DOD-24. IMETS Vehicle Mounted Configuration. (Photo courtesy

U.S. Army.)
SECTION 3 DOD 135

(NCAR) to enhance "range scale"

(mesoscale to microscale) forecast and

analysis capabilities at the Army test

ranges. The principal product of this

relationship is the Four-Dimensional

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 (MM5), and a variety of userconfigurable displays. The MM5

mesoscale model is used operationally

in both predictive and analytic modes

to provide detailed information about

the past, current, and future structure

of the atmosphere over the Army's test

ranges. Recent 4DWX enhancements

include the implementation of MM5-

based real-time four-dimensional data

assimilation (RT-FDDA) capabilities

at the major Army test ranges and

development of Global Meteorology

on Demand (GMOD), a globally-relocatable mesoscale modeling system to

support Army RDT&E (including

DTC Virtual Proving Ground modeling and simulation) at locations other

than the Army ranges. In FY 2006, the

4DWX program will begin transition

of its operational mesoscale model

from MM5 to the next-generation

Weather Research and Forecast (WRF)

model. Output from mesoscale model

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 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) technical assistance to the

DTC operational meteorological

teams/branches; (2) atmospheric

model verification and validation,

including algorithm evaluation and the

generation of validation data sets; and

(3) technical assistance to the DOD CB

defense modeling community in the

development of new CB hazard assessment models. Division employees

also serve on various national and

international committees addressing

issues related to meteorological measurements, atmospheric dispersion

modeling, and CB hazard assessment.

ARMY MEDICAL RESEARCH AND

MATERIEL COMMAND

The U.S. 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 is

directed towards 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

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.

USARIEM is working with the Army

Research Laboratory Battlefield Environment Division to implement thermal models on Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) devices and the Integrated

Weather Effects Decision Aid

(IWEDA).

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

prototype miniature weather station

developed under a Small Business

Innovative Research (SBIR) project

has been refined into a 1 kg battery

powered unit which includes a sonic

anemometer. An prototype unit was

used to collect data during a study of

thermal exposure in August, 2005 at

the U.S. Army's Ranger Training

Brigade (RTB) Ranger School (Ft.

Benning, GA). Work continued on the

wireless network-capable, expendable,

micro-environmental sensing system

which has been expanded to consider

new sensor applications.

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.

The miniature weather station may

be used to collect meteorological data

to support the prediction of thermal

stress on the WPSM system. Research

efforts are intended to address capabilities identified in the Operational

Requirements Document (ORD) for

the Army's Land Warrior program.

THE NATIONAL AIRSPACE SYSTEM OF THE FUTURE

In a proactive stroke to broaden the

capabilities of the National Airspace

System (NAS) for the future, the 108th

Congress and President Bush took the

first critical step toward transforming

the United States air transportation

system by passing and signing into law

VISION 100 - Century of Aviation

Reauthorization Act (P.L. 108-176).

The Act calls for an integrated, multiagency plan to transform the nation's

air transportation system to meet the

needs of the year 2025, while providing substantial near-term benefits. This

Next Generation Air Transportation

System (NGATS) Initiative will

address critical safety and economic

needs in civil aviation while fully integrating national defense and homeland

security improvements into this future

system.

Along with the private sector and

academic community, the FAA,

NASA, the Departments of Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security,

Transportation, and the White House

Office of Science and Technology Policy are working together to design and

build the NGATS.

The first product of this landmark

effort was an Integrated National Plan

delivered to Congress in December

2004. This strategic business plan lays

out a common vision for the NGATS,

establishes benchmarks for success,

and establishes a structure through

which to design and implement the

required changes.

VISION 100 also created the Joint

Planning and Development Office

(JPDO). Jointly managed by the FAA

and NASA and supported by staff from

all the agencies involved, the JPDO

serves as a focal point for coordinating

the research related to air transportation for all of the participating agencies.

Overseeing the work of the JPDO is

a Senior Policy Committee chaired by

the Secretary of Transportation and

that includes senior representatives

from the participating departments and

agencies and the Director of the Office

of Science and Technology Policy.

Among its key responsibilities, the

Senior Policy Committee provides policy guidance and review; makes legislative recommendations; and identifies and aligns resources that will be

necessary to develop and implement

the Integrated National Plan. Secretary Norman Mineta chaired the first

meeting of the Senior Policy Committee on September 26, 2003.

The JPDO has defined eight strategies that are the first steps towards creating the roadmap for NGATS. While

the strategies deal with transforming

specific areas of the air transportation

system, they make up a larger whole

and will integrate the sum of the efforts

into building the NGATS system. The

transformation strategies are:

1. Develop airport infrastructure to

meet future demand.

2. Establish an effective security system without limiting mobility or civil

liberties.

3. Establish an agile air traffic system.

4. Establish user-specific situational

awareness.

5. Establish a comprehensive proactive safety management approach.

6. Include environmental protection

guidelines that allow sustained economic growth.

7. Develop a system-wide capability

to reduce weather impacts.

8. Harmonize equipment and operations globally.

For each of the eight Integrated

National Plan strategies an integrated

product team (IPT) was formed. The

DEPARTMENT 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 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’s 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.

FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION

SECTION 3 DOT 137
138 DOT SECTION 3

IPTs will be made up of government

and private sector experts with extensive aviation experience. The IPTs

will be responsible for applying best

private and public sector practices to

achieve that particular strategy's mission and objectives. The primary

responsibility for assembling and leading each IPT belongs to one federal

agency.

The IPTs will establish detailed

action plans that will break the project

down into manageable tasks. Specific

IPT activities include: 

Managing the planning and

orchestrating the execution of all relevant work to complete the assigned

strategy;

Conducting analyzes and trade

studies to select and validate implementation alternatives;

Analyzing changes currently

underway, identifying gaps, and establishing the required Government

and/or industry research and development activities to close necessary gaps; 

Coordinating with Government

and private industry on research and

development resources;

Collaborating with industry on

research and implementation for the

initiative;

Identifying non-technical

approaches such as policy, regulation,

and operational procedures;

Establishing detailed requirements

for individual mission areas;

Conducting advanced concept and

technology demonstrations;

Creating a transition plan for

implementation of products; and

Creating public/private partnerships that include multi-agency, industry, and Government participation.

The JPDO is responsible for approving the broad strategies of the IPTs as

part of the Integrated National Plan

and ensuring IPT plans and schedules

are consistent with the roadmap and

architecture.

In addition, an NGATS Institute will

support the NGATS mission by recruiting, selecting, and assigning private

sector experts and technical resources

to participate on IPTs and perform

technical work for the IPTs and JPDO.

These efforts will guarantee the establishment of a collective enterprise

among key stakeholders to achieve the

transformation, as well as to ensure

that we fulfill our critical obligation to

create a process that is transparent and

fully open to public scrutiny.

AVIATION WEATHER MANAGEMENT

Although the Department of Commerce National Weather Service has

the Weather IPT lead within the JPDO,

the FAA continues to have the leadership role for the national aviation

weather program requirements. 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.

The FAA focus for aviation weather

has been to promote safety first; then

improve NAS efficiency to reduce

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 a major

part of the solution.

Aviation weather information 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 airmen training and certification programs. FAA will also develop multimedia training tools to support aviation
SECTION 3 DOT 139

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 new Air Traffic

Organization (ATO) Service components have 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 evolve. Improvements to the

AMS process facilitate non-system or

non-hardware (e.g., service improvement or rule changes) solutions receiving the same rigorous evaluation and

validation.

The FAA has established an Aviation

Weather Technology Transfer (AWTT)

Board which addresses the key issues

involved in bringing new weather

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 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 are coordinated for use by everyone, 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 are being

developed as early opportunities to

achieve these goals.

AVIATION WEATHER ACQUISITION AND SERVICES

One of the primary functions of the

FAA ATO organization is the development and management of requirements

for the FAA Capital Investment Plan.

Recent projects in the Acquisition

Management System (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

(Figure 3-DOT-1). ITWS will use data

from automated surface observing systems, Doppler weather radars, and

low-level wind-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.

ITWS has been installed at 10 locations, of which 9 are in service. Installations are planned at 11 additional

Figure 3-DOT-1. The ITWS integrates data from FAA and NWS sensors and

systems to provide a suite of weather informational products.
140 DOT SECTION 3

locations by FY 2009. The current

long range program has been limited to

22 ITWS, which will cover about 30

high-activity airports that are supported by terminal doppler weather

radars.

The Corridor Integrated Weather

System (CIWS) is a demonstration

program which will take some 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. The demonstration area

extends from Boston southward over

New York as far as Washington, and

westward over Pittsburgh and Cleveland connecting to Chicago.

The CIWS is expected to integrate

information from the WSR-88D and

ASR-9 radars and other observing sensors in the corridor to produce weather

information products focused on current conditions affecting en route traffic in the corridor (Figure3-DOT-2). It

will produce two hour forecasts with

trend information and a high-resolution echo tops product. There will be

twelve sites, including six in the

ARTCCs and one at the Command

Center. The comprehensive plan calls

for implementation by 2009, however

the funding stream has been interrupted in 2006, which may delay

implementation to a later year.

The Terminal Doppler Weather

Radar (TDWR) program consisted of

the development, 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 airports with

high operations and frequent weather

impacts. In addition, TDWR has the

capability to identify areas of precipitation and the locations of thunderstorms (Figure 3-DOT-3).

Microbursts are weather phenomenon that consist of an intense down

draft with strong surface wind 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).

The FAA has 47 TDWR systems. A

software upgrade will 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 information on hazardous wind shear events

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-4). A computer processes the sensor information

and displays wind shear conditions on

a ribbon display to air traffic controllers for relay to pilots. The

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

Figure 3-DOT-2. Corridor Integrated reduce maintenance costs. LLWASWeather System (CIWS) Display
SECTION 3 DOT 141

RS deployment was completed this

year.

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. All 34 units are in

place and operating. There is also one

mobile system in operation.

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 are deployed, installed and commissioned. The TWIP capability is

operational at most 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 Government-Industry

Project Performance Agreements (GIPPAs) 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 cost 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. A concept analysis

has been 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 Figure 3-DOT-4. LLWAS equipment on an airfield.

Figure 3-DOT-3. FAA Terminal

Doppler Weather Radars provide supplementary wind and precipitation

conditions for airport approach and

departure. 
142 DOT SECTION 3

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.

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, 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.

The 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’s NWS, the FAA has procured,

installed, and operates ASOS at the airports where the FAA provides observations and at additional non-towered

airports without weather reporting

capabilities in accordance 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 (Figure 3-

DOT-5). However, the AWSS is a

direct acquisition of the FAA--not

from the joint ASOS program. Full

production is underway with completion expected in CY 2005

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 ARTCC's 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 the Weather Message Switching

Center Replacement (WMSCR) for

further distribution. Field implementation of ADAS is complete.

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 back-up systems for some

AWOS/ASOS sensors at locations

where no other back-up capability is

available. SAWS have been demonstrated and full delivery is nearly completed. The full deployment will comprise up to 307 units.

ASOS Controller Equipment- Information Display System (ACE-IDS) is

an electronic cabinet of displays available to the controller at his work station (Figure 3-DOT-6). It provides

graphics of information which comes

from many sources that originate at

many nodes of a LAN which includes,

but is not limited to, weather related

parameters, observations, and other

automated weather products. This system is designed specifically to support

operations in high-volume, high-tempo

Terminal Radar Approach Control

(TRACON) facilities. They are

installed at the following TRACONs:

Atlanta, Boston, Dallas-Fort Worth,

Figure 3-DOT-5. Aviation Weather

Sensor Systems an ASOS like supplement for observations.
SECTION 3 DOT 143

Honolulu, Northern California (San

Francisco), Oklahoma City, Potomac

(Wash. D.C.), Saint Louis, and Seattle

. 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.

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 stateof-the-art sensor

technology and

embedded remote

maintenance monitoring. The 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, 230 units have been

delivered and 185 have been commissioned. At the current levels of annual

funding, the program will be completed 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,

thereby enhancing 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

an initial deployment capability. Operational testing began in 1999; 16 systems have been deployed from the

original plan of 61. 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. Note: This

program may be suspended due to an

A-76 contract award.

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 this 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 WSR88Ds 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 reduce flight delays

Figure 3-DOT-6. ASOS Controller Equipment- Information Display System (ACE-IDS)
144 DOT SECTION 3

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 (see description

below) 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 enroute 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), has replaced the Meteorologists Weather Processor to provide aviation weather information to the Center Weather Service Units. WARP

automatically creates unique, regional,

WSR-88D-based, mosaic products,

and sends these products, along with

other time-critical weather information, to controllers through the Display

System Replacement and to pilots via

the FIS. WARP greatly enhances the

dissemination of aviation weather

information throughout the NAS.

WARP underwent operational testing

and evaluation in early FY 2003 and is

operationally fielded at the 21

ARTCCs and the command center.

Others systems used for enhancements, testing, and software support

bring the total to 25 systems.

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 information constitute a large percentage of the

traffic, as do NOTAMS, flight plans,

and other aeronautical data.

The National Airspace Data Interchange Network (NADIN II) packetswitched network was implemented to

serve as the primary inter-facility 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's 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 node 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 communication system 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
SECTION 3 DOT 145

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.

The System Wide Information Manager is a new concept developed in

conjunction with NGATS to support

NAS operations in the 2025 timeframe. For all facets of the NAS operations, all data will be resident on a

“data cube” which will be accessible to

all users; thus assuring that all users

will have the same data. This will

assure that collaborative decision making will benefit from the same situational awareness, weather and traffic

programs.

AVIATION WEATHER

RESEARCH PROGRAM

Working closely with the Integrated

Product Team for Weather/Flight Services Systems, ATO 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.

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-7.

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 FORECASTAND QUALITY

ASSURANCE

The Product Development Team

(PDT) for the Aviation Gridded Forecast System 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 non-meteorological 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 VISIBILIT

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 of years as progress is evaluated. This project is a joint effort with

other Federal agencies and some of the
146 DOT SECTION 3

effort is performed by academic

researchers.

TURBULENC

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.

NEXRAD ENHANCEMENTS

Work is continuing to develop

improvements to the existing products

and to develop new graphic products.

Hardware and software pre-planned

product improvements are are being

pursued. This is a joint effort between

DOT, DOD, and DOC.

Additionally, under the auspices of

the OFCM, FAA is investigating the

possibilities of developing a multi-use

phased array radar to accomplish both

weather surveillance and monitor aircraft movement in controlled airspace.

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.

The FAA is embarking on research at

the Civil Aeromedical Institute in

Oklahoma City, OK, 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 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.

Figure 3-DOT-7. 4-panel Low Level Significant Weather graphics are produced by the Aviation Weather Center and

accessible to pilots from their web site. (Source: AWC web site)
SECTION 3 DOT 147

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 during weather

threats. These activities include identification of weather impacts on the

roadway environment, traffic flow and

operational decisions to build the case

for road weather management programs. It also includes research to

advance the state of the art concerning

road weather management tools, as

well as documentation and promotion

of the best practices. The FHWA acts

through federal aid and national coordination since it does not operate the

highway system or environmental

observing systems that serve state and

local highway operators, private road

users, and the traveling public. FHWA

activities are conducted as partnerships

with other public agencies, private sector vendors, 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’s

Office of Transportation Operations.

Road weather management activities

are closely associated with the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) Program as the framework for advanced

road weather information and decision

support. Road weather management

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 roads as it affects pavements,

structures, vehicles, traffic flow and

ITS components. In terms of operations, the focus is on the decision making process that uses road weather

information as one of many inputs.

This has led to a decision-centered

approach for defining the program,

with road weather information on one

side and effective strategies to deal

with adverse weather on the other.

Program activities are then organized

primarily by the ITS subsystems and

operational decisions, such as, maintenance management, traffic management and traveler information, and to a

lesser extent, emergency management.

However, a common information

infrastructure, or "infostructure",

within ITS includes road weather

observations. Environmental observing systems are emerging as contributors to the national weather information system that underlies all general

weather products. The FHWA expects

that as road 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 management

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 developed an expanded

vision for the road weather management agenda. There is no question that

among the modes in today's operating

environment, surface transportation

has the most lives, time, and commercial value at risk due to weather

threats. The challenge has been to find

the right balance across this and other

programs. The following sections

describe a number of program activities.

THE STRATEGIC HIGHWAY

RESEARCH PROGRAM

The United States Congress established the Strategic Highway Research

Program (SHRP) under 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 management 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 (RWIS), published by

1993, were instrumental in raising

awareness of the state of the art among

highway operating agencies. Antiicing techniques, requiring chemical

application to pavements 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 Implementation web site

(www4.trb.org/trb/dive.nsf/web/shrp_i

mplementation) contains information

on the SHRP Lead States Program,

SHRP products under evaluation and

implementation, and SHRP in general.

An important adjunct to the SHRP

anti-icing studies was a follow-up field

evaluation of techniques, conducted

under the FHWA Test and Evaluation

Program. Results appeared in 1998 as

Project No. 28: Anti-Icing Technology.

FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION
148 DOT SECTION 3

After two and half years of study and

outreach, the Transportation Research

Board Committee for a Future Strategic Highway Research Program (FSHRP) (www4.trb.org/trb/

newshrp.nsf/web/committee?OpenDocument) published Special Report

260: Strategic Highway Research:

Saving Lives, Reducing Congestion,

Improving Quality of Life

(http://trb.org/publications/sr/sr260.pd

f). Based upon the strategic direction

in this report, the AASHTO Board of

Directors passed a resolution in

December 2001, supporting F-SHRP

and authorizing a National Cooperative Highway Research Program

(NCHRP) project to develop detailed

research plans. FHWA matched the

NCHRP funds and work began on the

planning phase of F-SHRP in January

2002. In September 2003, TRB

released Providing a Highway System

with Reliable Travel Times that outlines the Reliability Research Program

to address the root causes of unreliable

travel times. These causes include

adverse weather, traffic incidents,

work zones, and special events. By

concentrating research resources over

the six-year life span of F-SHRP, significant gains can be made in effectively dealing with theses causes of

unreliable travel times. Implementation of the F-SHRP plan is dependent

upon its level of support within

SAFETEA.

THE INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS (ITS) PROGRAM

The synergy of road treatment strategies and RWIS development continues

in the FHWA Road Weather Management Program and is strongly allied

with the ITS Program. The ISTEA of

1991 established the ITS Program,

including its research program that

funds most of the FHWA Road

Weather Management Program activities. The ITS Program in the United

States is overseen by the ITS Joint Program Office (ITS-JPO), which is a

cross-modal program hosted in the

FHWA.

While 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 management functions, across

modes, and for traveler information.

The research activities below are

within this overall weather-across-ITS

strategy. Intelligent Transportation

Systems are also the logical informational interfaces with the national

weather information system.

The ITS Joint Program Office has

also begun the Vehicle Infrastructure

Integration (VII) initiative

(www.its.dot.gov/vii/index.htm) to

explore the potential of cooperative

vehicle highway systems to provide

real-time information, and support

advanced safety applications. VII

could be a significant enabler of

weather-related applications, such as

vehicle-based sensors that gather environmental data system-wide. This

resulting communications network

would allow weather, traffic and other

information to be transmitted to transportation operators providing a real

time view of the conditions on every

major road within the transportation

network. Such concepts will be

explored as the initiative matures. The

functional architecture and requirements for VII are under development.

Preliminary documents describe some

of the weather-related data items that

could be directly measured or inferred

from vehicle sensor systems including

precipitation detection, ambient air

temperature, fog or visibility information, and road traction state or mobility.

NATIONAL ITS ARCHITECTURE

AND ITS STANDARDS

ITS uses open system principles: a

uniformly defined modular structure of

information processes with known protocols for exchanging 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 management decisions. The

National ITS Architecture is the modular structure and was one of the earliest

tasks of the ITS program. Several

equipment interfaces are 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 communication standards as requirements for federal aid to

ITS deployments by highway operating agencies.

Road weather information was not

an original focus of the National ITS

Architecture, and was defined as flowing from external sources with their

own architecture and standards. As

road 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. Version

2 of the Environmental Sensor Station

(ESS) standard will soon be approved.

This NTCIP standard specifies data

objects and formats between ESS in

the field and central processors for the

data (e.g., Road Weather Information

System (RWIS) and traffic management systems). The ESS standard will

be effective in the integration of different vendors' systems, and create a uni-
SECTION 3 DOT 149

form format for ingest of road weather

data into general observing systems.

Another standard that is being considered is the Standard for Traffic

Management Center Communications.

This standard will be augmented to

include message sets for exchange of

environmental data between management centers.

Following the rural ITS program

definition of weather and maintenance

as ITS application areas, the National

ITS Architecture has 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

a 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 information, provided largely

by private vendors and based on 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 environmental 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 weather and general weather services, is also of interest to FHWA.

It is hoped that further detailing of

weather applications in traffic and

emergency management will lead to

further architecture developments 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. Version 5.1 of the National ITS

Architecture can be found at

http://itsarch.iteris.com/itsarch/.

ENVIRONMENTAL OBSERVING

SYSTEMS (ESS)

Surveillance is fundamental to the

ITS. The state of roadways and traffic

is basic to almost all ITS applications.

The capabilities to observe traffic, road

infrastructure, and the roadway environment are becoming a necessary part

of roadway facilities themselves. In

2003, the Road Weather Management

Program defined the fundamental data

needs of the Weather Response component of this information infrastructure

to estimate an aggregate cost for

deployment of ESS in 61 metropolitan

areas across the nation.

Road weather sensing, through the

ESS, is a part of this infrastructure.

However, there are many aspects to

environmental observation, and some

substitutability between methods of

observation. The authorizing legislation is focused on metropolitan ITS.

Clearly, the need for ESS observations

extends further. ESS can be a vital part

of homeland security, as well as more

prosaic hazardous material spill and

environmental management. Many

types of fixed, mobile, and remote

platforms can observe relevant environmental conditions (i.e., atmospheric, pavement, subsurface, and

water level conditions). But all observations ultimately support predictive

information for decision support applications. In the case of pavement temperature, the critical predictor for antiicing strategies, heat balance models

relying on high-resolution numerical

modeling of insolation and radiation

can substitute for ESS observations.

However, the use of ESS for localized

hazard warning versus general area

prediction, and the value of reinitializing heat balance models by ESS data

require some level of deployment.

Over 2,200 ESS are owned by state

transportation agencies in the United

States as shown in Figure 3-DOT-6.

More than 1,700 of these ESS are field

components of RWIS.

Remote ESS are generally fixed,

with in situ sensors for the usual

atmospheric weather variables as well

as pavement and subsurface temperature probes, and pavement chemical

concentration or pavement freezing

point. In some cases, and potentially

over all road mileage, mobile environmental sensors are deployed to observe

weather and pavement conditions from

vehicles.

An important application of the

mobile, and potentially remote, sensing is thermal mapping of road segments. This technique provides snapshots of complete pavement temperature profiles and is used both to select

fixed ESS 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 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 and national efforts are

paving the way for both openness and

integration. Mesoscale environmental

monitoring networks (or mesonets)

within states and across states, usually

under university auspices, are integrating the data across many observing

systems. The data are used in some

cases to validate weather forecasts and

analyses, and in the rare case, for

ingest into numerical weather prediction models.

The new FHWA initiative, Clarus,
150 DOT SECTION 3

aims to reduce the impact of adverse

weather for all road and transit users

and operators by designing and

demonstrating an integrated road

weather observational network, and

establishing a partnership to facilitate

deployment of a nationwide surface

transportation weather observing system. The long-term vision of Clarus is

that all data from State DOT ESS will

be routinely collected, quality-controlled, and translated into an open

standard format. Quality assurance

algorithms and direct feedback to state

DOT points of contact will improve

agency awareness of sensor status.

Access to robust and calibrated data

will be provided through an open Internet data portal. The Clarus concept of

operations has been completed and the

Clarus system design is underway. A

Proof-of-Concept demonstration is

planned in the fall of 2006.

In order to address all these observing issues, the FHWA is participating

in multiple OFCM bodies, including

the new Weather Information for Surface Transportation (WIST) Working

Group, the Phased Array Radar (PAR)

Joint Action Group, as well as the

Committee on Integrated Observing

Systems (CIOS). FHWA is also participating in NOAA’s efforts to explore

the modernization of the cooperative

observer network and development of

an Integrated Surface Observing System (ISOS).

The focus of the FHWA remains on

the application of ESS observations to

road weather management decisionmaking. From 2001 to 2003, the

FHWA sponsored five research projects, under the Cooperative Program

for Meteorological Education and

Training (COMET) (www.comet.ucar.

edu), which became the first to add

state DOTs to the traditional partnerships of NWS forecast offices and universities. The COMET projects in

Iowa, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, and Utah fostered sharing of environmental data and facilitated

advanced meteorological modeling to

enhance road weather forecasts. Ultimately, these efforts will contribute to

the development of decision support

tools for winter maintenance managers, traffic managers, and the traveling public. Lessons learned from these

projects can help all state DOTs better

manage RWIS networks and achieve

maximum utility from RWIS data.

In order to enhance observation

capabilities and define requirements

for road weather observing systems,

the Road Weather Management ProFigure 3-DOT-6. Census of deployed Environment Sensor Station (ESS) units. An ESS is a site measuring atmospheric,

pavement and/or water level conditions. Many state transportation agencies deploy ESS as field components of Road

Weather Information Systems (RWIS). As shown on the map, there are over 2,214 ESS owned by state transportation

agencies. Most of these stations (i.e., 1,709) are part of RWIS and used to support road maintenance activities. The

other environmental sensor stations are deployed for various applications including flood monitoring and aviation.
SECTION 3 DOT 151

gram worked with the Aurora RWIS

Pooled Fund Program and the

AASHTO Snow and Ice Cooperative

Program to produce the Road Weather

Information System ESS Siting Guidelines (http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/ess05/). The guidelines provide a

set of recommendations to support uniform siting of ESS that collect road

and weather observations for RWIS.

These guidelines are intended to help

establish uniformity and to improve

the usefulness of road weather information derived from ESS observations. The document provides siting

criteria that satisfy as many road

weather monitoring, detection, and

prediction requirements as possible.

DECISION SUPPORT

Under previous efforts within the

program, road weather users identified

information 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 more than the twice

daily nor at frequent prediction times

in between.

Improvements in that situation,

including National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) models

at mesoscale resolution updated as frequent as hourly, are significant. The

related improvements in regional and

private numerical prediction are also

helpful, but only partially driven by

road weather information requirements. This is what motivated the

attention away from environmental

prediction to the fusion and presentation of existing information, whatever

its quality. This was in response to the

evident problem that almost all

weather-related transportation decisions do not rely on one information

source, nor on atmospheric information alone. The gap most in need of

attention-between increasingly good

and plentiful information, and operational decision-making is the focus of

FHWA’s decision support research and

development.

Decision support is where road

weather data tailoring occurs. Each

operational decision is specific to a

type of road weather management

strategy, a particular place and time,

and the characteristics of the decision

maker (i.e., their expertise, their location, their information processing

equipment). Road weather management strategies mitigate weather

impacts by advising motorists of prevailing and predicted conditions (e.g.,

traveler information), controlling traffic flow and roadway capacity (e.g.,

weather-responsive traffic signal timing, road closure), and/or treating

roads to minimize or eliminate weather

threats (e.g., anti-icing/deicing). Such

strategies are consistent with the

FHWA’s Office of Transportation

Operations vision of creating 21st century highway operations using 21st

century technology. 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.

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.

General requirements for emergency

managers, traffic managers, and road

users were also defined. The

STWDSR project became an important

contributor to the OFCM's WIST

needs analysis, the National ITS Architecture modifications, and to the Maintenance Decision Support System

(MDSS) prototype project.

In 2005, the Missouri DOT will continue prototype efforts on a Weather

Response System to support transportation system operations. The

Weather Response System will use

products from the NWS, the private

sector, state agencies and other sources

to create and demonstrate decision

support tools tailored for traffic managers.

SUPPORT FOR MAINTENANCE

MANAGERS

The Maintenance Decision Support

System (MDSS) project is a multi-year

effort to prototype and field test decision support components for winter

maintenance managers that began in

late 1999. The MDSS was designed by

a consortium of national laboratories,

based on the requirements articulated

by maintenance managers, to help the

managers improve roadway level of

service during winter weather, and to

minimize road treatment costs, by optimizing use of labor, materials, and

equipment. This data management

tool has advanced weather prediction

and road condition prediction capabilities, including air and pavement temperatures, precipitation start/stop

times, precipitation types and accumulation amounts. These predictions are

fused with customized winter road

maintenance rules of practice to generate route-specific treatment recommendations (i.e., strategy, timing, and

material application rates).

From February to April 2003, the

first functional MDSS prototype was

demonstrated and evaluated in three

Iowa DOT maintenance garages. The

main display of the demonstration prototype, shown in Figure 3-DOT-7,

includes predicted weather and road

conditions, a weather parameter selection menu, a map of roads and weather

alerts, as well as forecast animation

controls. Lessons learned from the

preliminary demonstration were used
152 DOT SECTION 3

to enhance the prototype prior to a second demonstration from December

2003 to March 2004. Version 2.0 of

the MDSS software was released in the

fall of 2003. Version 3.0 was made

available in November 2004. During

winter 2004-2005, the demonstration

domain was moved to Colorado to

assess prototype capabilities in complex terrain. Lessons learned and recommendations for additional enhancements will be presented at the 7th

MDSS Stakeholder Meeting in October 2005.

The focus of this project has changed

from prototype development to proactive outreach, deployment assistance,

technology transfer, and target

enhancements for other surface transportation sectors. In concert with the

6th stakeholder meeting in July 2004,

there was a technology transfer workshop for private sector companies that

are interested in integrating one or

more MDSS prototype modules into

their product lines.

Such efforts support the FHWA

deployment strategy, which consists of

the private sector building end-to-end

products based on the core MDSS prototype functionality. These products

will be procured by public agencies

(e.g., state DOTs), enabling both the

private and public sectors to benefit

from millions of dollars of high-risk

research. One example of technology

transfer is the MDSS Pooled Fund

Study (PFS) project led by the South

Dakota DOT. Other participants

include the state DOTs in Colorado,

Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, and North

Dakota, as well as Aurora (a pooled

fund research program), a private vendor, and the FHWA. The objective of

the project is to build, evaluate, and

deploy an operational MDSS. The

PFS project is refining model components and conducting extensive field

tests. Deployment of an operational

system is planned in 2006. Additional

information on the MDSS projects can

be found at www.rap.ucar.edu/projects/ rdwx_mdss.

SUPPORT FOR TRAFFIC MANAGERS

A 2001 survey of 21 traffic management centers found that nearly 90 percent received some general weather

information and over 60 percent used

customized weather data. In January

2003, the Road Weather Management

Program released the Weather-Responsive Traffic Management Concept of

Operations highlighting the weatherrelated needs of managers responsible

for freeway and arterial route operations. This draft concept of operations

addressed road weather data collection, assessment of weather impacts on

roadway networks, operational strategies to control traffic and advise

motorists during adverse weather, and

research needs. It serves as the basis

for future work to develop, test, and

evaluate these mitigation strategies.

The need for a systematic approach to

the significant challenge of managing

traffic during inclement weather is discussed in the Research Needs for

Weather-Responsive Traffic Management paper presented at the TRB

Annual Meeting in January 2004.

Empirical studies of traffic flow and

driver behavior during inclement

weather will be completed in 2005.

The Road Weather Management Program is working with FHWA's Office

of Operations Research and Development to collect empirical traffic,

weather, and pavement condition data

on both freeway and arterial routes to

quantify weather impacts on driver

behavior, traffic speeds, traffic volumes, and travel time delay. This

research will increase the understanding of how traffic flow and driver

behavior change under adverse

weather conditions. Once these factors

are better understood, the information

can be incorporated into traffic simulation models and, ultimately, end user

tools.

In 2005, the FHWA expects to disseminate study results to increase

awareness of weather impacts among

Figure 3-DOT-7 . Schematic of FHWA’s Maintenance Decision Support System.
SECTION 3 DOT 153

operating agencies, to sponsor and

encourage others to conduct subsequent studies on weather and traffic

modeling, and to promote deployment

of weather-responsive traffic management strategies and tools.

511-THE NATIONAL TRAVELER

INFORMATION TELEPHONE

NUMBER

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

traveler information telephone number.

In 2002, the FHWA sponsored a number of grants to plan for state deployment of 511 services, and guidelines

were issued on service content (Figure

3-DOT-8). 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 511 services. The

means of delivering information

through 511 are still being developed,

including ways to serve peak demands

for emergency evacuation information,

as part of the homeland defense or

other threat capability.

In June 2003, the 511 Deployment

Coalition released a Deployment

Assistance Report, Weather and Environmental Content on 511 Systems, to

recommend basic content and provide

for consistency in 511 systems as they

are deployed across the country. Since

these systems are in their infancy, gaps

exist in defining the types of road

weather information travelers desire,

appropriate data formats, and the frequency and detail needed for travelers

to make safe and effective decisions.

The Road Weather Management Program participates in 511 deployment

conferences to help establish road

weather data requirements and close

these gaps. The 511 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 511 capability is just one more

way in which ITS is becoming a significant dissemination means for road

weather information. As of August

2005, 511 services were operational in

23 states and available to over 28 percent of the population. Additional 511

services are expected to be launched in

eleven more states during 2005.

WEATHER IMPACTS ON ROADWAY SAFETY, MOBILITY & PRODUCTIVITY

While the costs of weather to surface

transportation are immense, it has been

difficult to quantify specific costs or

the benefits (as avoidable costs)

through better information to support

better weather response and mitigation

strategies. 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. Traffic management strategies to address them must be based on

very good observations and dynamic

predictions of weather, pavement and

traffic conditions. 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

Figure 3-DOT-8 . 511 National Traveler Information Telephone Number

Deployment.
154 DOT SECTION 3

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, Washington and Washington, DC metropolitan areas. These analyses 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. A second analysis of delay effects in Washington, DC was conducted with

archived Doppler radar data for more

precise and more dynamic inference of

road weather conditions. Analysis

results indicated that during peak periods travel time increases by roughly 24

percent when precipitation is present.

Better understanding of weather-traffic

interactions can, in turn, lead to a

stronger attack on delays through traffic management practices, including

speed management, access control

(e.g., road closure), motorist warning

systems, and weather-responsive signal timing.

ROAD WEATHER MANAGEMENT

PROGRAM OUTREACH AND

TRAINING

The Road Weather Management Program web site

(www.fhwa.dot.gov/weather/) was

redesigned in January 2004. The site

contains information on program

objectives and initiatives, weather

impacts, benefits of road weather management strategies, technologies to

help mitigate weather impacts, training, upcoming events, and other

resources such as a listing of over 200

road weather related publications.

Among the most useful resources on

the site are the best practices of maintenance managers, traffic managers

and emergency managers in response

to various weather threats. This

resource contains 30 case studies of

systems in 21 states that improve roadway operations in adverse weather, as

well as an overview of environmental

sensor technologies. Each case study

has six sections including a general

description of the system, system components, operational procedures,

resulting transportation outcomes (i.e.,

improved safety, mobility and/or productivity), implementation issues, as

well as contact information and references. Examples of successful road

weather management strategies follow.

A maintenance division of the Montana DOT employed mobile anti-icing

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

average treatment costs (i.e., labor,

materials, and equipment costs) for the

proactive division were 37 percent

lower. 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. When established threshold

criteria are met, traffic managers may

select pre-programmed

dynamic message sign

(DMS) messages, prerecorded highway advisory radio (HAR) broadcasts, and/or alter speed

limits via variable speed

limit signs based upon

response scenarios proposed by the system.

When visibility is less

than 240 feet, the worstcase 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 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. Portable DMS

and HAR transmitters 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.

A key outreach activity is the annual

Eastern Winter Road Maintenance

Symposium & Equipment Expo (or

Snow Expo). Over the past ten years,

FHWA has partnered with state agenFigure 3-DOT-9. Dynamic message signs enable

drivers to take precautionary actions based on

weather conditions.
SECTION 3 DOT 155

cies to host the Snow Expo, which provides a forum for sharing information

and technologies used to counter the

effects of winter weather. More information on the Snow Expo can be found

at www.easternsnowexpo.org.

The FHWA sponsors training programs and conducts outreach to promote Road Weather Management Program products and activities. In 2005,

a one-day training course on Principles and Tools for Road Weather Management will be offered through the

National Highway Institute--Course

Number 137030A. The course is

aimed at helping those involved in

highway maintenance and operations

develop techniques and strategies for

tackling road weather problems. The

course will provide basic knowledge

of meteorology and address the technological resources available to support highway personnel in making

effective road weather management

decisions. Additional details will be

listed on National Highway Institute

web site (www.nhi.fhwa.dot.gov)

when course content and schedules are

finalized.

The computer-based AntiIcing/RWIS Training Program is a

comprehensive, interactive training

program for winter operations that was

jointly developed by AASHTO, with

support from FHWA and Aurora. The

training program covers an introduction to anti-icing and winter maintenance, winter road maintenance management, winter roadway hazards and

principles of overcoming them,

weather basics, weather and roadway

monitoring for anti-icing decisions,

computer access to road weather information, and anti-icing practice in winter maintenance operations.

SECTION 3 DOT 157

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 weather

caused 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-10).

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 is one of the

partnership initiatives identified in the

National Science and Technology

Council's National Transportation

Technology Plan.

WEATHER FORECASTING

ENHANCED BY NATIONWIDE

DIFFERENTIAL GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEMS

Nationwide Differential Global Positioning System (NDGPS) is a system

of reference stations that monitors GPS

and broadcast corrections, which can

be used by the GPS receiver to

improve the accuracy, integrity and

availability of the GPS position.

NDGPS is used in a myriad of applications including: maritime navigation,

positive train control, precision farming, dredging, graphic information systems and surveying. The Forecast Systems Libratory (FSL) in the National

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) developed a unique system that very accurately measures the

amount of water vapor in the atmosphere by taking advantage of the dualfrequencies, reference station receivers

at the NDGPS sites and a suite of

weather sensors added to each reference station. The weather sensors, circled in the photo to the right and

above, measure temperature, relative

humidity and barometric pressure. The

GPS satellites broadcast on two frequencies, L1 and L2. The FSL uses

these two frequencies to correct for the

ionospheric delay that is caused by

changes in the refractive index associated with the concentration of free

electrons in the upper atmosphere. The

ionospheric delay is usually about 6-10

times greater than the signal delay

caused by the neutral, non-electrically

conducting, atmosphere. FSL can than

estimate the signal delays caused by

the neutral atmosphere by comparing

the errors in position between sites that

are over 500 km apart by viewing the

same satellites for about 30 minutes.

Most of the delay in the troposphere

(lower atmosphere) is caused by the

mass of the atmosphere, or the hydrostatic component, while the induced

dipole moment of the water vapor molecules in the atmosphere is responsible

for the rest of the delay.

The FSL can accurately estimate the

hydrostatic delay by putting a pressure

FEDERAL RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION

Figure 3-DOT-10. Track washed out

by flood waters from Hurricane

Alberto.
158 DOT SECTION 3

sensor at the NDGPS site and mapping

the surface pressure into signal delay

using well-known physical relationships. Subtracting the hydrostatic

delay from the observed tropospheric

delay gives the wet signal delay caused

by water vapor in the atmosphere.

Then, the wet delay is mapped into the

quantity of water vapor responsible for

the delay using information about the

temperature of the atmosphere and the

characteristics of the air at microwave

frequencies.

This results in the equivalent height

of a column of water that would form

if all of the water vapor in the atmosphere were to fall or precipitate. The

total precipitable water vapor content

is a direct measure of how much raw

material is in the atmosphere in the

form of rain, snow, hail and clouds. As

the water vapor changes state from gas

to liquid to solid and back again, it

releases or absorbs energy associated

with the latent heat bound-up in the

molecules. This energy release and

absorption is the primary energy

responsible for weather. The reason

that water vapor is hard to measure is

that it only manifests itself when it

changes state, and most instruments

that can observe water in its gaseous

state do not work well under all

weather conditions. However,

NDGPS works remarkably well in all

weather conditions.

Water vapor is the most important

component of weather and the least

observed. In June 2005, the research

and development program to evaluate

the use of NDGPS data became an
SECTION 3 DOT 159

operational program feeding near-real

time data into NOAA’s operational

models. The addition of this data has

greatly improved the model and shortterm weather forecasts, especially during periods of active weather such as

fronts, hurricanes or tornadoes.

The Federal Railroad Administration

will continue to work with NOAA's

Forecast Systems Laboratory and the

Coast Guard to install weather sensor

systems at all of the NDGPS sites as

they are built.

NATIONWIDE SURFACE TRANSPORTATION WEATHER OBSERVING AND FORECASTING SYSTEM

- CLARUS

The weather products available today

through both public and private

resources are insufficient to meet the

demands of transportation operations.

Nearly all weather forecasting today is

based on observations of the atmosphere. However, the greatest impact of

weather events on the safety and

mobility of travelers and freight occurs

on the surface. Many state DOT's have

invested in road weather information

systems that provide their agencies

with observations on conditions at the

surface and just below the surface.

Other entities such as agriculture,

water districts, electric utilities, and

railroads also operate weather observation stations. FRA is developing a

partnership with Federal Highways

Administration, state DOT's, NOAA

and others to establish a nationwide

road weather observation network

known as Clarus.

The goal of the Clarus project is to

tie this mosaic of private and public

observation stations into a cohesive

weather forecasting system that is

specifically focused on surface conditions.

SECTION 3 DOT 161

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.

FTA's vision for public transportation is clearly making it the transportation mode of choice in America. Public transportation in America can set

the standard for "world-class" transportation service, where thriving communities grow with public transportation and access is provided for everyone to fully participate in American

life. Through the more than $7 billion

annual assistance to the nation's transportation system, FTA maintains the

Federal commitment to public transportation.

On a daily basis, transit systems

safely and efficiently move millions of

people, reducing congestion, facilitating economic development, and connecting people to their jobs and communities. When combined with state

and local funding, FTA's assistance

promotes sustainable community

development, while addressing critical

safety and security issues.

Several major initiatives are underway to make the vision a reality,

including: designing and delivering an

assistance program for the multi-billion dollar-effort to support the lower

Manhattan Recovery project; implementing strategies to annually increase

transit ridership; and creating a

national portfolio of security products

and services for transit systems.

Buses form the backbone of our

nation's transit systems. About 58 percent of all transit users take the bus,

and even in many cities with extensive

rail systems, more people ride the bus

than take the train (Figure 3-DOT-11).

One hundred gallons of fuel can be

saved each year for every person riding the bus instead of driving. The

savings by rail riders are even greater.

In this context, FTA assists in providing 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 (Figure 3-DOT-12).

The United States Department of

Transportation 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. One of FTA's

newest initiatives will also look at

enhancing research in these and other

areas, as a means to support increased

annual transit ridership, increased

readiness, and more effective program

planning and oversight that is responsive to industry needs.

FEDERAL TRANSIT ADMINISTRATION

Figure 3-DOT-12. Minnesota Metro

Transit’s Hiawatha Light Rail will

operate along a 12-mile track from

downtown Minneapolis to the southern

suburbs of Bloomington.

Figure 3-DOT-11. A city transit bus

attempts to maintain its schedule

while safely navigating snow-covered

downtown streets.

SECTION 3 USDA 163

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 effects on crops and

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE WEATHER PROGRAMS

The Nation's food and fiber products are a critical resource impacting our domestic and international

economic situation and are essential for ensuring our national security and shaping foreign policy.

Weather is the most important factor influencing the Nation's variability in crop yields and related production. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) monitors global weather and agricultural developments through the Joint Agricultural Weather Facility (JAWF). The JAWF provides critical information to decision-makers formulating crop production forecasts, programs that provide natural disaster assistance to U.S. farmers and ranchers, emergency relief programs, and trade policy. USDA operates specialized weather observing networks such as SNOTEL, SCAN, and RAWS that provide vital data and information used

to forecast seasonal water supplies in the West, to support national conservation programs, and to monitor the health of

the Nation's forests. USDA conducts supporting research that focuses on understanding the interactions of weather and

climate with plants, animals, forests, and forest ecological systems.

Figure 3-USDA-1. Joint Agricultural Weather Facility Home page.
164 USDA SECTION 3

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. An example of an assessment

made during Hurricane Charley is

shown in Figure 3-USDA-2. This special assessment was prepared using

sophisticated GIS tools, overlaying the

track and sustained wind speeds of the

hurricane over Florida orange producing areas. 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.

The JAWF serves as the USDA'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 merge the weather data with

climatological analyses and global

agronomic data, to determine the

weather's impact on crop development

and yield potential. Weekly briefings

are provided to USDA commodity analysts and top staff. The Senate and

House Agricultural Committees periodically request agricultural weather

briefings that focus on the severity and

impact of drought, heat waves, and

excessive wetness in 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

132 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 (Figure 3-

USDA-3). 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 address:

http://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/CPC, and the

NOAA/NESDIS/ National Climatic

Data Center. Eight lead authors rotate

the responsibility of preparing 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

Figure 3-USDA-3. Weekly Weather

and Crop Bulletin is a joint effort of

between the Departments of Agriculture and Commerce.

Figure 3-USDA-2. Special agricultural assessment example - Hurricane

Charley.
SECTION 3 USDA 165

at http://enso.unl.edu/monitor. The

Drought Monitor is released each

Thursday at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time.

Because the Drought Monitor is prepared in a Geographic Information

System, it can be overlaid on agricultural data, to quantify the spatial extent

of drought affecting various agricultural commodities (Figure 3-USDA-4).

USDA's Chief Meteorologist is currently serving as the president of World

Meteorological Organization's

(WMO's) Commission for Agricultural

Meteorology. In this position, he leads

an effort to enhance the flow of more

accurate and timely global agricultural

weather information through an ongoing project utilizing internet technology. The World AgroMeteorological

Information Service (WAMIS) is a

dedicated web server that provides

agrometeorological bulletins and advisories issued by WMO Members to the

global agricultural community and also

provide training modules to aid members in improving their agrometeorological products. The WAMIS web

site is: http://www.wamis.net/.

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 Mississippi 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 seven meteor burst sites

located in the Delta.

FOREST SERVICE

RESEARCH

Smoke from forest fires and other

biomass burning is a national concern

as use of prescribed fire in ecosystem

management increases. Exposure of

fire fighters and citizens to forest fire

Figure 3-USDA-4. A monthly update of United States winter wheat areas experiencing moderate

or more intense drought.
166 USDA SECTION 3

smoke, changes in visibility and haze,

and smoke contributions to regional

and local air pollution are of concern.

Forest Service Research (FSR) is the

world leader in developing emissions

factors from fires and modeling its dispersion. FSR has conducted research

on impacts of smoke on human health;

relationships between on-site meteorology and smoke dispersion; consequences of smoke to visibility in Clean

Air Act Class I Areas; and potential of

smoke to exacerbate ozone episodes.

FSR has provided basic research to

support states' air regulatory programs

and EPA's development of air quality

standards.

Air pollution effects (primarily

ozone) remain a serious threat to forest

health in some parts of the U.S. FSR is

describing long-term effects of air pollution on forests of the Sierra Nevada,

Colorado, and southwestern Wyoming.

FSR methods for assessing air pollution are also being used in other countries (Czech Republic, Mexico, Bulgaria). Nitrogen and sulfur atmospheric deposition have been studied for

many years in eastern forest watersheds, and FSR has demonstrated that

increased nitrogen deposition can

affect water quality and ecosystem

function in western forests. FSR is

investigating nitrogen deposition in

selected forest ecosystems across the

U.S. to improve knowledge of potential nationwide impacts.

NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM

The weather program works with the

USDA Drought Commission. It provides key liaison with the Satellite

Telemetry Working Group (STWG) on

satellite services and with the National

Weather Service, DOI, and the

National Wildfire Coordinating Group

(NWCG) on the delivery of fire

weather forecasting, critical for safety

and effectiveness of fire fighting and

for flash flood warnings. The weather

program oversees the standards for

over 600 remote automated weather

stations across the country. These stations form the basis for the assessment

of fire danger, the pre-positioning of

fire fighting resources and the conducting of prescribed fire operations. The

costs include contracts for the delivery

of this information to agency personnel, fire weather forecasters, and state

forestry agencies that use the data in

real-time for critical decisions.

WILDLAND FIRE MANAGEMENT

This program uses meteorological

data and interpretation skills data for

decision-making regarding wildland

fire management. The Forest Service

State and Private Forestry, Fire and

Aviation Management program operates a network of over 600 remote

automated weather stations (RAWS) in

a national network of 1,500 stations.

The network provides real-time information, which is key in the highly utilized weather information management

system (WIMS) used by fire agencies

across the country.

The agency weather program works

with the predictive services unit at the

National Interagency Fire Center

(NIFC, Boise, ID) in providing technical support and oversight to 10 Geographic Coordination Centers and

works closely with the Forest Service

Research and Development staff in the

oversight of the 5 fire consortia for

Advanced Modeling of Meteorology

and Smoke locations. This effort, in

cooperation with NOAA and EPA, will

provide valuable smoke forecasting

and air quality information to fire and

air quality programs.

NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE (NRCS)

SNOW SURVEY AND WATER SUPPLY FORECASTING - MONITORING

Snowmelt provides approximately

80 percent of the streamflow in the

West. The NRCS, in partnership with

other federal and state agencies, operates the Snow Survey and Water Supply Forecasting Program (SS&WSF)

in 11 western states and Alaska. To

accurately forecast seasonal water supplies, the program collects critical

snow and climate data from high elevation snow packs in the mountainous

West. The data collection system

includes 922 manual snow courses and

over 670 automated SNOTEL (SNOw

pack TELemetry) monitoring stations

throughout the West. These data,

along with information from 575

stream gauges, 310 major reservoirs,

and 3,200 climatological observing

stations are merged into a hydroclimatic database that is used to produce

real-time watershed analyses and water

supply forecasts. Monitoring is done

in partnership with federal, state, and

local agencies, power companies, irrigation districts, and the Provincial

Government of British Columbia. This

information is the basis for water management decisions under international

treaties with Canada and Mexico.

The SNOTEL automated data collection system plays an important role by

providing near real-time remote

hydrometeorological data required to

evaluate snowpacks, potential instream water supplies and drought risk.

The SNOTEL network can provide

hourly precipitation, temperature, and

snowpack depletion information that

significantly improves flood stage

forecasts and the monitoring of other

life threatening snow-related events.

SNOTEL information enables emergency management agencies to effectively mitigate drought and flood damages. An added benefit during the late

spring and summer is the availability

of hourly climate data, which is used to

monitor and assess forest and wildfire

potential.

Additionally, the SS&WSF Program

supports research to improve monitoring technology, data reliability, data

quality, water supply forecasting, and

water resource modeling.
SECTION 3 USDA 167

WATER SUPPLY FORECASTS

Monthly water supply forecasts are

produced each year, January through

June, in partnership with the National

Weather Service (NWS). The purposes of water supply forecasts are to:

(1) help irrigators make the most effective use of limited water supplies for

agricultural production needs; (2)

assist the federal government in

administering international water

treaties with Canada and Mexico; (3)

assist state governments in managing

intrastate streams and interstate water

compacts; (4) assist municipalities in

planning the early management of

anticipated water supplies and drought

mitigation; (5) operate reservoirs to

satisfy multiple use demands including

hydropower generation; (6) mitigate

flood damages in levied areas and

downstream from reservoirs; and (7)

support fish and wildlife management

activities associated with species protection legislation.

During a typical forecast season, the

NRCS SS&WSF Program issues

approximately 11,400 seasonal water

supply forecasts for 711 locations in 12

Western states. The water supply forecasts are coordinated and peer

reviewed by a number of federal agencies and cooperators to ensure highest

quality and accuracy. Major cooperators include the Bureau of Reclamation, Corps of Engineers, Bonneville

Power Authority, state and local agencies, power utilities, irrigation districts,

Tribal Nations, the Provincial Government of British Columbia, the Yukon

Territory and Mexico. The primary

users of this information include agricultural, municipal, industrial,

hydropower, and recreation. Recent

Federal legislation related to endangered species protection has placed

increased emphasis on timely and

accurate forecasts.

The NWCC web site provides snow

data, analyses, and forecasts efficiently

to approximately 80,000 users. The

web site experiences over 2.4 million

accesses per month during the snow

season.

DROUGHT ASSESSMENT

The SS&WSF Program provides a

variety of climate and water supply

products that are used to assess Western drought. These include SNOTEL

snowpack and precipitation analysis in

the mountains, water supply forecasts,

and state Surface Water Supply

Indexes (SWSI). These products are

critical to the weekly production of the

interagency Drought Monitor web

based report. A cooperative, nationwide network of 64 Soil Climate

Analysis Network (SCAN) sites in 38

states monitors soil temperatures and

soil moisture to support national

drought monitoring, production agriculture, and climate change research.

CLIMATE INFORMATION

NRCS provides climate data and

products that directly support agriculture and conservation activities nationwide. Digital maps of monthly and

annual precipitation and temperature

for the U.S. are available from the

NWCC web site. To meet the needs

for real-time climate information and

analysis, the SS&WSF Program and

the NOAA Climate program are sponsoring the Applied Climate Information System (ACIS). ACIS is an Internet-based climate data delivery system

that provides the NRCS field offices,

USDA, and partners with Internet

access to thousands of climate datasets

collected by scores of federal, state,

and county networks. To support agricultural modeling efforts, the NWCC

is also providing serially complete

(i.e., no missing data values) temperature and precipitation data for approximately 11,000 climate stations nationwide. NRCS long range planning is

supported by the Generation of

weather Elements for Multiple (GEM)

applications model, which has been

used to generate future climate data

sets for more than 250 locations

nationwide. GEM is being integrated

with several NRCS environmental

models. Monthly precipitation averages and growing season length information required for wetlands analysis

are also available from the NWCC web

page at over 6,000 locations in the

United States, Guam and Puerto Rico.

Finally, wind roses for 237 NWS stations in the United States, plus offices

in Guam and Puerto Rico are now

available from the NWCC web page.

A wind rose gives a very succinct but

information-laden view of how wind

speed and direction are typically distributed at a particular location. Wind

roses are useful planning tools for agricultural and natural resource planning.

AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH

SERVICE

Research in this area focuses on how

annual variation in weather adversely

controls crop and animal production,

hydrologic processes, the availability

of water from watersheds, and the

environmental and economic sustainability of agricultural enterprises. Scientists are developing algorithms and

decision support systems for the development of a stochastic storm-generator

model and methodology to use contemporary weather radar systems to

determine rainfall amounts and the

spatial distribution and variability in

precipitation associated with individual storms. Additional research is

being conducted to integrate seasonal

forecasts, other information on

extended climate departures from normal and extreme events, corresponding

agricultural responses, and associated

uncertainties into planning and management decision aids readily useable

by producers. The research is conducted in collaboration with the

NOAA forecast developers.

COOPERATIVE STATE

RESEARCH, EDUCATION AND

EXTENSION SERVICE

Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES)
168 USDA SECTION 3

funding supports research projects that

collect and process long-term weather

and climatic data and provide immediate and future use as a base of information for the projection and prediction of climatic trends related to environmental impacts of human activities,

soils, crops and domestic animals on

agroecosystems, forest, and rangelands. Broader areas of study involve

atmospheric dynamics, carbon and

water cycling, and their role in global

change. The impact of changes in UV

and ozone level studies also fit into this

broad global category.

Historical climatic changes are

related to trends visible from present

data gathering studies, enabling prediction of future crop production and

irrigation needs. CSREES funding

supports studies on the impact of climate and weather on food and fiber

production. These studies relate to forest plant growth, rangeland productivity, cropping system selection and livestock production practices.

Man's impact on climate systems is

also well represented in studies of both

micro- and macro-atmospheric change.

These involve studies dealing with the

atmospheric impact of changes in air

quality, water quality and point/nonpoint pollution related to agricultural

practices and forest and urban development. Studies on atmospheric impact

on nutrient cycling and carbon sequestration are supported with CSREES

funds. Research is also being supported that quantifies the impact of climate change on the incidence and

severity of plant and animal diseases

and pests, invasive species, and biodiversity.

The National Research Initiative

(NRI) has funded a wide variety of

weather and climate research. Topics

have varied from a number of fundamental plant drought tolerance studies

to using meteorological data to forecast market performance. Much of the

support in this area is also focused on

climate change. The NRI has also

funded research on how land changes

have influenced climate and vice

versa.
SECTION 3 DOE 169

OVERVIEW OF DOE AND NNSA

OPERATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL PROGRAMS AND SUPPORTING RESEARCH

Recognition of the need for site-specific meteorological services began in

1944, with the development, fabrication, and testing of atomic weapons

and their accompanying national security and safety issues. In response to

this need, the Department of Energy

(DOE) and its predecessors, the

Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)

and the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA), and the

current National Nuclear Security

Administration (NNSA), have established and supported operational meteorological programs and atmospheric

research projects at many DOE and

NNSA field offices.

Operational meteorological program

requirements were subsequently augmented, starting in the late-1960's, by

the passage of environmental protection legislation under the Clean Air Act

(CAA), enforced by the Environmental

Protection Agency (EPA) under 40

Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)

enabling regulations, and reinforced by

several DOE directives (e.g., DOE O

5400.1) that specify requirements for

meteorological services to protect

facility worker health and safety, public health and safety, and the environment. Since that time, the CAA has

been amended on three occasions, each

time including broader requirements,

inclusive of stratospheric ozone protection regulations. Consequently, an

effectively managed meteorological

monitoring program has become an

even more essential component of

operations at each DOE and NNSA

site.

Moreover, the acquisition of quality

assured meteorological data, the provision of weather forecasting services,

and the development of site-specific

climatology from these meteorological

programs is an important element of a

DOE Integrated Safety Management

System (ISMS) that significantly contributes to the implementation of sitewide 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 nuclear and

chemical safety documentation (e.g.,

Safety Analysis Reports);

• Diagnostic and prognostic consequence assessment elements of emergency management programs;

• Preparation of air and surface

water permits to support environmental compliance activities; and,

• Impact analyses for construction,

operation and decommissioning of

projects, and missions requiring

National Environmental Protection Act

(NEPA) determinations.

DOE and NNSA continue to address

their fundamental mission areas of

national security, science and technology, energy security, and environmental clean up of cold war production

sites. Meteorology and atmospheric

science contributes to many of these

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY AND NATIONAL NUCLEAR SECURITY

ADMINISTRATION (NNSA) 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 facilities. The need

for meteorological services began in 1944 with the development, fabrication, and testing of atomic

weapons and their accompanying national security and safety issues. 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 each DOE site. Moreover, the acquisition of qualityassured meteorological data and the provision of weather forecasting services is an important element of a DOE Integrated Safety Management System (ISMS). It significantly contributes to the implementation of site-wide personnel

safety programs along with site 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.
170 DOE SECTION 3

mission elements. Consequently,

atmospheric science research programs

and weather forecasting operations

have been an integral part of DOE,

NNSA and its predecessor agencies

since World War II. Therefore it is

vital to understand the nature of the

atmospheric domain and its relationship to terrestrial, ocean, and other

environmental domains. Understanding these relationships feeds into the

reduction of uncertainties regarding

climate change research.

DOE and NNSA administer programmatic activities throughout their

various offices, such as the Office of

Science (SC), Environmental Safety

and Health (ES&H), the National

Nuclear Safety Administration

(NNSA), and Environmental Management (EM), in which each has some

linkages to meteorology and atmospheric science. Some of these program

offices are responsible for the management of scientific research programs,

such as the National Atmospheric

Release Advisory Capability

(NARAC), Global Climate Change

Research (GCCR), and various environmental cleanup activities at former

DOE production sites. Additional

activities at DOE and NNSA sites

include support to daily operations and

national defense programs; all of

which require a fundamentally sound

well-managed meteorological monitoring program.

Meteorological services at DOE and

NNSA facilities range from the conduct of cutting-edge basic research to

providing daily support to operational

programs and construction projects.

Some examples of research and development are investigations of potential

global climatic change, radiation transfer mechanisms and cloud studies,

lightning and thunderstorm studies,

atmospheric chemistry, atmospheric

tracer studies, and studies of atmospheric planetary boundary layer

processes. Operational support programs include daily-customized

weather forecasting services, support

to national defense projects and homeland security, onsite meteorological

monitoring programs, climatological

services, occupational health and

safety program support, and emergency management program support.

Some DOE and NNSA 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

and NNSA-wide lightning safety initiatives, which are becoming integral

elements of an Integrated Safety Management System (ISMS), are supported by DOE and NNSA operational

meteorological programs (e.g., Nevada

Test Site (NTS), Hanford, Savannah

River Site (SRS), Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory

(INEEL)).

A number of DOE and NNSA field

offices and their associated sites and

facilities cover large areas (e.g.,

INEEL, Oak Ridge Reservation

(ORR), NTS, Hanford, and SRS). In

addition, several DOE and NNSA sites

are situated in areas of complex topography and heterogeneous surface characteristics (e.g., land-water interface),

creating mesoscale conditions that

locally influence onsite weather and

more importantly, airflow trajectories

associated with atmospheric transport

and dispersion. This is why DOE originated a research program addressing

Atmospheric Studies in Complex Terrain (ASCOT) during the eighties and

early nineties to address emergency

response issues in complex terrain

environments at the various DOE sites.

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 and NNSA

atmospheric science programs. Moreover, partnerships have been forged

with other Federal agencies (i.e.,

Department of Commerce (DOC) via

its National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration (NOAA)). to leverage

research resources addressing complementary mission areas. 

Some DOE and NNSA 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 and

NNSA 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 and NNSA sites

(e.g., NOAAAir Resources Laboratory

(ARL)/Special Operations and

Research Division (SORD), Las

Vegas, NV) employ the NOAA

Advanced Weather Information Processing System (AWIPS), as well as

vertical profilers and meteorological

monitoring networks.

An accidental release of radioactive,

chemical, or 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, chemical, or

biological agents released into the

atmosphere; including those resulting

from malevolent acts. Consequently, a

central theme within the DOE and

NNSA community has been to protect

public health, safety, and the environment on and around DOE and NNSA

facilities by accurately measuring and

characterizing the important local

atmospheric processes necessary to

characterize atmospheric transport and

dispersion.

In recognition of the aforementioned
SECTION 3 DOE 171

needs and requirements, DOE and

NNSA have established and continue

to support onsite meteorological monitoring programs since the commissioning of an operational meteorological

program in 1944 at Hanford. Each

meteorological program contributes to

the support of emergency management

programs and focused towards the protection of the environment and the

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, chemical, and

biological agent materials is undertaken to refine the transport and dispersion 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, ID. Onsite weather forecasting services, each tailored specifically for the special operational and

emergency management requirements

at each DOE and NNSA site, provide

necessary support to the safety and

health programs designed to protect

site personnel, the public, and the environment.

Over the years, operational and

research meteorological programs

have grown to address and support

many environmental, safety, and health

issues. Due to the complexity of 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. To address

these considerations, the DOE Meteorological Coordinating Council

(DMCC) was formed in 1994, and has

been providing support to DOE and

NNSA meteorological programs for 10

years. The following narrative highlights meteorological activities at 15

separate DOE and NNSA sites. The

activities are subdivided into operational and research components. The

DMCC narrative is the last entry signifying the importance of this program in

alleviating meteorological and safety

coordination across the DOE sites.

ARGONNE NATIONAL LABORATORY (ANL)

Operational

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 (UC) 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 crossdivisional 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 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 operates 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. Real-time

and historical data are available via the

Web (http://gonzalo.er.anl.gov/ANLMET).

Research

As part of a larger program for the

protection of subway systems from terrorist attacks using chemical agents,

AEP Group 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: 

• The "piston" action of train

motion; and,

• Buoyancy effects and aboveground 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
172 DOE SECTION 3

quality of meteorological data measured at the Army's Demilitarization

towers. The data are used 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 of the data

collected by the towers.

Key support is also provided to

Department of Transportation (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-by-inhalation chemicals and

generic compounds for both daytime

and nighttime accidents, and represent

the safe distance for 90% 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 (Figure 3-DOE1). ABLE is located on the lower Walnut Watershed, mostly in Butler

County east of the city of Wichita, KS.

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.

The initial focus of ABLE is measurement 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.

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

available at ABLE includes:

• Three 915 MHz RWP-RASS

(wind speed and direction, virtual temperature profiles);

• Three minisodars (wind and turbulence profiles between heights of 10 m

and 200 m);

• One lidar ceilometer (cloud base

height);

• One balloon-borne sounding sys- Figure 3-DOE-1. DOE Atmospheric Boundary Layer Experiment (ABLE) site

locations in the Midwest.
SECTION 3 DOE 173

tem (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 (BNL)

Operational

The 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 New York City NWS 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.

Research

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) supports the Atmospheric

Chemistry Division's (ACD) concern

with aerosol sources, transport, and

fate in the global atmosphere and the

overall, and the little understood,

impact of aerosols on global climate

dynamics. The ARM External Data

Center is the center for collection,

archival, and 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 Aeronautical and Space

Administration (NASA) Solar Irradiance Network and continuous short

wave absorption measurements are
174 DOE SECTION 3

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 (ORS)

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 self-calibrating 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

Operational

Beginning in 1944, meteorological

services have been provided to 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 the Department of Energy (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.

Through funding from DOE, the

PNNL Meteorological and Climatological Services Project (MCSP) provides 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 (Figure 3-DOE-2).

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 climatology 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 eight-hours/day on

weekends and holidays; hourly surface

observations, and six-hourly synoptic

observations; monthly and annual climatology 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 environ-
mental 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.

Research

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. In addition to of its

roles in ARM, PNNL also 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. 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. Capabilities of the Environmental and Molecular Sciences

Laboratory (EMSL) are used to conduct molecular level research into

aerosol formulation and aging. Carbon

dioxide emissions research is aimed at

providing a scientific basis for forecasting future emissions of carbon

dioxide and other gases of radiative

importance.

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 Gulfstream 159

twin turboprop aircraft that supports

research in atmospheric chemistry,

radiation transfer, and aerosol characteristics for DOE.

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 (INEEL)

Operational

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, climatology 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

SECTION 3 DOE 175

Figure 3-DOE-2. Meteorological

towers record temperature and wind

direction and speed at various levels.
176 DOE SECTION 3

interactions provide ARL FRD staff

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.

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.

Research

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 http://oversite.inel.gov. ARL FRD maintains its

own web site at www.noaa.inel.gov.

LAWRENCE LIVERMORE

NATIONAL LABORATORY (LLNL)

Operational

LLNL is located in a valley in California's Coast Range Mountains about

25 miles east of Oakland. LLNL covers approximately 2 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:

1. Environmental Protection Department (EPD); and,

2. Atmospheric Sciences Division

(ASD).

EPD operates a 40m tower and supplies meteorological data for facility

operations, regulatory compliance, and

emergency response. Real-time and

historical data are available at

http://www-metdat.llnl.gov/.

The National Atmospheric Release

Advisory Center (NARAC) is a centralized emergency response resource

supporting federal agencies

(http://narac.llnl.gov/). The mission of

NARAC 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 (Figure 3-DOE-3).

NARAC has developed specific tools

to assist elements of the DOE Consequence Management assets, including

the Nuclear Emergency Search Team

(NEST), Accident Response Group

(ARG), Federal Radiological Monitoring and Assessment Center (FRMAC)

(http://www.nv.doe.gov/programs/frm

ac/default.htm), and the Radiological

Assistance Program (RAP). Under

DOE direction, NARAC supports

National Special Security Events, such

as the winter 2002 Olympics. NARAC

also supports DOE sites and Emergency Operations Centers around the

US (http://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, biolog-
SECTION 3 DOE 177

ical 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 US with software that performs meteorological data acquisition,

local-scale stand-alone modeling, and

reaches back to LLNL for detailed

simulations. 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.

Supported sites and organizations can

use the client-server-based NARAC

iClient tool (for heavy modelers) or

NARAC Web (for light modelers)

tools to run models and seamlessly distribute products to multiple organizations over the world wide web.

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. In collaboration with LANL, LLNL developed a

prototype prediction capability to

assist in multi-agency smoke and fire

management of wildfires.

Research

Scientists in the Atmospheric Science Division (ASD)

(http://asd.llnl.gov/ ) at LLNL perform

pioneering research on global climate

and chemistry and predict the local,

urban, regional, and global transport

and fate of hazardous and toxic pollutants. Research is focused on major

national energy and security policy

issues and is based primarily on development and use of advanced computational simulations of the atmosphere,

oceans, and biosphere.

ASD conducts research in four areas:

• Atmospheric hazards and consequence assessment;

• Atmospheric transport & fate;

• Carbon cycle and climate model

physics; and,

• Climate change & model evaluation.

ASD Major Programs Include:

• Program for Climate Model Diagnosis & Intercomparison (PCMDI);

• Institute for Research on Climate

Change & Its Societal Impacts

(IRCCSI); and,

• NARAC Programs and the

National Atmospheric Release Advisory Center (NARAC).

PCMDI's mission is to develop

improved methods and tools for the

diagnosis, validation, and intercomparison of global climate models, and to

conduct research on a variety of problems in climate modeling and analysis

(http://www-pcmdi.llnl.gov/).

The mission of IRCCSI is to improve

understanding of climate change and

its societal impacts, by facilitating collaborations between the University of

California-operated DOE laboratories

(i.e., LANL, LLNL, and LBNL) and

University of California campuses

(http://irccsi.llnl.gov/). In particular,

DOE wishes to link the Laboratories'

capabilities in high-end climate modeling and climate science with the

expertise in regional climate and societal impacts issues resident at the University of California campuses.

The urban Research & Development

effort is developing a coupled suite of

multi-scale dispersion models to effectively respond to urban releases.

LLNL was a co-leader of the Joint

Urban 2003 (i.e., JU2003) field study

in Oklahoma City, OK, the largest

most complex urban tracer experiment

performed to date. The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) was

the overall leader, while LLNL,

LANL, LBNL were co-Principal

Investigators. JU2003 was supported

by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and the Department of Defense (DoD). Data from

this study is being used to identify key

urban physics and to evaluate

NARAC's suite of urban models. A

new three-year project has begun to

develop a next-generation buildingFigure 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.
178 DOE SECTION 3

scale computational fluid dynamics

model.

Examples of on-going operational

integration projects include:

• Integration of mapping systems for

field measurement, modeling results,

and dose assessment to support DOE

Nuclear Incident Response Team

(NIRT) capabilities (SNL, RSL) -

DOE;

• Enhancement of source term models for radiological, prompt (i.e., blast,

thermal, radiation, explosive effects),

and chemical-biological releases

(SNL) - DOE and DHS;

• Improved dose-response and toxic

load models (Edgewood Chemical and

Biological Center, U.S. Army) - DHS;

• Development of building infiltration models to predict indoor exposures (with LBNL) - DHS;

• Incorporation of an empirical

urban model (Defense Science and

Technology Laboratory, UK) - DHS;

• Meteorological and outdoor dispersion modeling for an operational

subway system - DHS; and,

• Standardization and integration

with the EPA/NOAA

CAMEO/ALOHA toxic chemical

databases and atmospheric dispersion

models - DHS.

LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY (LANL)

Operational

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,
SECTION 3 DOE 179

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 archiving, and raw data and realtime displays of graphs and tables are

made available via the Internet.

The LANL Air Quality Group

(AQG) provides regulatory and environmental 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 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

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 very-lowfrequency sound (i.e., 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 U.S. 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-
180 DOE SECTION 3

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 10 degrees S

and 10 degrees N latitude and from

135 degrees E to 150 degrees 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 Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon.

Scientific questions that need to be

addressed in the TWP can be grouped

under three main headings:

1. Radiation budget and cloud forcing;

2. Water and energy budgets; and,

3. 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 (NTS)

Operational

The NTS is managed and operated

by the National Nuclear Security

Administration/Nevada Site Office

(NNSA/NSO). 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 NV

and is approximately 75 miles northwest of Las Vegas, NV. The topography of the NTS is complex with a system of dry lakebeds 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 NNSA/NSO by components of

NOAA. NOAA has had a presence on

the NTS for more than 45 years

through the implementation of 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 Air Resources Laboratory

Special Operations and Research Division (ARL/SORD) recognized for its

expertise in the transport, dispersion,

and deposition of radioactive and toxic

materials (Figure 3-DOE-4).

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.

ARL/SORD provides full meteorological support to all NNSA/NSO

operations on and off the NTS. Meteorology plays a key role in environmental, safety, and health responsibilities of NNSA/NSO. The ARL/SORD

staff is responsible for conducting a

modern program in support of nuclear

and non-nuclear projects authorized by

NNSA/NSO. Furthermore, the mission of ARL/SORD involves technical

support to the emergency preparedness

and response activities of NNSA/NSO.

ARL/SORD supports a comprehensive

meteorological program on the NTS,

and provides meteorological and climatology services required in supporting the NNSA/NSO and contractor

programs at the NTS, and elsewhere,

as necessary.

Personnel at ARL/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.

ARL/SORD operates and maintains

a large meteorological monitoring network (MEDA) to characterize the

meteorology and climatology of the

NTS. This 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. The MEDA system

was upgraded in 2004 to include sonic

anemometers.

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, NV. 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.
SECTION 3 DOE 181

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

National Center for Environmental

Predictions (NCEP) weather forecast

products are received via AWIPS, or

from the University Center for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) and ARLSilver Spring, MD. 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.

Furthermore, a three-tiered lightning

alert and warning procedure has been

implemented as part of the NTS Integrated Safety Management program.

ARL/SORD has also implemented

the RAMS model for the NTS and

Southern Nevada. This model predicts

boundary layer airflow and precipitation over complex terrain. The RAMS

code accesses the NCEP predictive

model outputs and is run twice daily at

the University of Nevada at Las Vegas

(UNLV) Supercomputer Center on a

daily basis. In addition, the NOAA

HYSPLIT/HARM dispersion model

has been installed on microprocessors

in the SORD Meteorological Assessment Center.

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, climatology data, cloud-to-ground lightning

information and time-relevant plume

transport and dispersion calculations.

Research

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. In addition, the SORD program serves as a

test bed for advanced NOAA mesoscale prediction models.

A NOAA Climate Reference Station

was installed at the Desert Rock Meteorological Observatory in April 2004.

OAK RIDGE RESERVATION (ORR)

Operational

The ORR is home to four

DOE/NNSA sites: Oak Ridge National

Laboratory (ORNL), the Y-12 National

Security Complex, the East Tennessee

Technology Park (ETTP, formerly K25 Site), and the Oak Ridge Institute

Figure 3-DOE-4. Air Resources Laboratory (ARL)/Special Operations and

Research Division (SORD) conducts basic and applied research on problems of

mutual interest to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

and Department of Energy (DOE), that relate to the Nevada Test Site (NTS), its

atmospheric environment, and its emergency preparedness and emergency

response activities.
182 DOE SECTION 3

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.

Formerly known as the Oak Ridge Y12 Plant, and constructed in the early

1940's as part of the Manhattan Project

to manufacture nuclear weapons components, the Y-12 National Security

Complex (NSC) has now assumed a

national security role under NNSA. Y12 is an 811-acre facility located

within the city limits of Oak Ridge,

TN, 10 miles from the ORNL and 12

miles from the ETTP, once known as

the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion

Plant.

Currently operated by BWXT Y-12,

the national security programs at Y-12

include manufacturing and reworking

nuclear weapon components, dismantling nuclear weapon components

returned from the national arsenal,

serving as the nation's safe, secure

storehouse of special nuclear materials, providing the U.S. Navy with safe,

militarily effective nuclear propulsion

systems, and reducing the global threat

from terrorism and weapons of mass

destruction. In early 2004, the Y-12

NSC received, stored and secured a

shipment of Libyan nuclear materials.

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 BWXT Y-12 meteorological

program is operations-, environmentand safety- oriented. Y-12 is located in

the narrow Bear Creek Valley, and it is

bordered by two SW to NE oriented

ridges, mostly covered with mature

pines and hardwoods. Two meteorological towers have long formed the

basis for the meteorological program -

a 100-meter tower, instrumented at 10-

, 30-and 100-meters, located on the

valley floor at the East end of Y-12,

and a 60-meter tower, instrumented at

10-, and 60-meters, located on a ridgeline at the West end. In 2003, the data

acquisition system was upgraded to an

Environmental Systems Corporation

(ESC) Windows-based software package, accessing via Ethernet the ESC

8832 data loggers at the towers. This

data acquisition package is widely

used in air pollution monitoring and in

other environmental compliance applications.

Given the complex terrain setting of

the Y-12 NSC, a REMTECH PA-2

sodar is used to characterize the winds

from 50-meters, extending above the

surrounding ridges to a height of 500-

meters. Redundant Windows XP

polling computers collect 1-hour average sodar data, plus 1-hour, 15-minute,

and 1-minute tower data. Displays of

the 15-minute data are available in the

operations center, in the emergency

centers (including the State EOC), and

on an internal web page for general

use. For real-time emergency response

modeling purposes, 15-minute data is

also routed to the NARAC meteorological database, and to a specially-formatted file on the Y-12 EOC modeling

computers. There, it is accessible by

the local chemical model, CHARM®,

a commercially available 3-D grid

model with an extensive chemical

database and source term modeling

features. For most other modeling

needs, the NARAC iClient model is

used at Y-12, where the ridge-valley

and generally complex terrain setting

has represented a prototype test and

demonstration site for 3-D wind field

and terrain models.

There is no on-site weather forecasting service at Y-12, but since it is in the

city limits of Oak Ridge, representative forecasts are readily available

from the local media, the national network services, and the Internet. Local

severe weather advisories and warnings are issued by the nearby NWS

Office at Morristown, TN, and they are

received and disseminated by the Plant

Shift Superintendent's (PSS) Office at

Y-12. Also available to the PSS is a

subscription weather and doppler radar

service, as well as lightning detection

and prediction equipment. The Y-12

Meteorologist and a Systems (Hardware/Software) Engineer maintain the

program, train and assists others, as

needed.

The meteorological data acquisition

program at ETTP has two main towers.

K-1209 is 60 meters high while K1208 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 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.

Research

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
SECTION 3 DOE 183

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

Operations

The Pantex Plant covers 15,977 acres

and is located 17 miles northeast of

Amarillo, TX, 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, contractoroperated 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

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 EPAapproved 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 mainte-
184 DOE SECTION 3

nance 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.

Research

There are no current or projected

supporting meteorological research

activities planned at the Pantex Plant.

ROCKY FLATS ENVIRONMENTAL

TECHNOLOGY SITE (RFETS)

Operational

The RFETS is managed by the

Rocky Flats Operations Office

(RFOO) and is located approximately

16 miles northwest of downtown Denver, CO. 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 System

(SODAR/RASS) continuously monitors winds, temperatures, and atmospheric stability above the RFETS site.

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 three-dimensional

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

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 pathway 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.

Research

There are no current or projected

supporting meteorological research

activities planned at RFETS.

SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORY (SNL)-ALBUQUERQUE

Operational

The DOE Kirtland Area Office

(KAO) manages 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
SECTION 3 DOE 185

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.

Research

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 (SRS)

Operational

The 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 and is thickly forested with pine

trees. There are also several small

streams, a large swamp, and two reservoirs built as cooling ponds for nuclear

plant reactors. The topography of SRS

is characterized by gently rolling 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) has developed and operated a meteorological

monitoring and modeling program at

the SRS since the early 1970's. This

program supports SRS operations in

emergency response consequence

assessment, weather forecasting, radiological and non-radiological air quality calculations for regulatory compliance, safety analyses, environmental

impacts, engineering studies, environmental research and non-proliferation

activities.

ATG's meteorological data sources

are extensive and quite varied. Onsite

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 bi-directional vanes (i.e.,

bivanes), cup anemometers, resistance

thermometers and lithium chloride

humidity sensors. Another tower is

located at the Central

Climatology facility,

located near the geometric

center of the SRS. It includes like

instruments near ground level, 60-ft,

120-ft, and 200 ft. Additional meteorological measurements at the Central

Climatology facility include precipitation, evaporation, barometric pressure,

soil temperature, solar and long wave

radiation. Data are collected with dedicated data loggers at each tower site.

Each logger is then polled by a remote

computer that, in turn, populates a relational database with meteorological

data.

A network of twelve manually-read

rain gauges is located throughout the

SRS. Additional local upper-air data

are collected from a balloon-launched

airsonde system and a portable tethersonde system. Portable towers are

available for use in case studies.

ATG also has access to local radar

data, which is then distributed sitewide via the SRS intranet. Regional,

national, and international meteorological data are received from a commercial weather data provider via satellite

in real time. The data include surface

observations, satellite and radar

imagery, and predictive model information from the US and abroad.

In addition, ATG has developed the

Weather Information and Display

(WIND) System as an automated

resource for conducting real-time consequence assessments following

unplanned releases of hazardous material. The WIND System is a multicomputer platform network that links

the real time meteorological observations and forecasts with a suite of

atmospheric and aqueous transport and

dispersion models. A rolling 24-hour

data file is created from data archived

in the meteorological database and disseminated to a pc-based workstations

that can operate the WIND System's

modeling and display software.

In the mid 1990s, a mutual aid agreement with surrounding counties emergency management agencies was created to install and operate four meteorological towers at nearby chemical

plants in support of emergency

response activities. Data from these

towers are incorporated into the SRS

meteorological database, integrated

into the 24-hour data file, and made

available beyond the SRS firewall for

use by the off site partner entities using

appropriate WIND System software.

Nearby SRS, two television stations,

WJBF and WAGT, have built a new

television tower, where SRTC has

installed meteorological instrumentation at the 100 ft, 200 ft, and 1000 ft

levels. This local television transmitter
186 DOE SECTION 3

tower was instrumented with fast

response three-dimensional sonic

anemometers and optical water vapor

and CO2 sensors at 100-ft, 200-ft, and

1,000 ft. Slow response temperature

and humidity sensors were also

installed at these levels. The data from

this tower will provide vital information for both operational emergency

response and for the USFS to conduct

control burns. It will also provide

valuable data for research in the atmospheric boundary layer.

A joint partnership between Westinghouse Electric Company and a local

television station provides local

Doppler radar data to SRS and the

local community in real-time. This

provides valuable site specific radar

returns to assist in site operations. The

data (e.g., static and time lapse - movie

- images) are available through the site

internal computer network at employees' desktop computers.

ATG utilizes a regional mesoscale

model, RAMS, for providing detailed

forecast information. Specifically,

forecasts out to 24 hours from RAMS

are available as input for the predictive

component of WIND System models.

Transport calculations blend observed

meteorological data with RAMS forecasts to make timely and accurate

assessments. The grid resolution used

in RAMS varies from 2 km for the

inner grid (100 km x 100 km centered

on the SRS) and 8 km for the outer grid

(250 km x 250 km).

The SRS Atmospheric Technology

Center provides access to local,

national and international meteorological data to provide comprehensive

meteorological support for SRS and

WFO customers. On a daily basis,

ATG provides weather forecasts in

support of site operations. Typical customers include waste handling groups

where wind and rain forecasts often

determine daily activities. Also, ATG

supports the US Forest Service (USFS)

prescribed burn program and site heat

stress program with detailed observations and forecasts. Custom forecasts

are also provided to facility and other

senior managers to support protective

action decisions for severe weather.

Research

There are no current or projected

supporting meteorological research

activities planned at SRS.

WASTE ISOLATION PILOT PLANT

(WIPP)

Operational

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 (TRU) 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 Nonradiological 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.

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, TX.

Under the same cooperative agreement, the Midland office is given

access to real-time data from the primary meteorological station.

Research

There are no current or projected

supporting meteorological research

activities planned at WIPP.

WELDON SPRINGS SITE REMEDIAL ACTION PROJECT (WSSRAP)

Operational

The activities associated with Weldon Springs Site Remedial Action Project (WSSRAP) have been completed.

The meteorological monitoring program that had operated at the WSSRAP since 1994 was dismantled in

2003.

Research

There are no current or projected

supporting meteorological research

activities planned at WSSRAP.

YUCCA MOUNTAIN PROJECT

(YMP)

Operational

As part of the DOE Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management

(OCRWM), the Yucca Mountain Project (YMP) studies may eventually
SECTION 3 DOE 187

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-5). 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 runon, 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.

Research

There are no current or projected

supporting meteorological research

activities planned at the Yucca Mountain site.

DOE METEOROLOGICAL COORDINATING COUNCIL (DMCC)

Based on a need to facilitate more

coordination and cooperation among

the meteorological activities at the

DOE field offices, the DMCC (i.e., the

Council) was established on December

2, 1994. The mission of the Council,

now in its eleventh 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;

Figure 3-DOE-5. 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.
188 DOE SECTION 3

• 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

and NNSA 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 NNSA/NSO, WIPP,

Pantex, DOE/OR and SNL-Albuquerque. Two follow-up assist visits

were 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. The DMCC

can also be accessed through the web

page of the Subcommittee for Consequence Assessment and Protective

Actions (SCAPA).
On March 1, 2003, the Department

of Homeland Security (DHS) assumed

primary responsibility for ensuring that

emergency response professionals are

prepared for any situation in the event

of a terrorist attack, natural disaster, or

other large-scale emergency. This

entails providing a coordinated, comprehensive federal response to any

large-scale crisis and mounting a swift

and effective recovery effort. DHS

will also prioritize the important issue

of citizen preparedness, and educating

America's families on how best to prepare their homes for a disaster and tips

for citizens on how to respond in a crisis will be given special attention at

DHS.

Homeland Security Presidential

Directive #5 (HSPD 5), states that "to

prevent, prepare for, respond to, and

recover from terrorist attacks, major

disasters, and other emergencies, the

United States Government shall establish a single, comprehensive approach

to domestic incident management." It

also assigns the Secretary of the

Department of Homeland Security the

role of principal Federal official for

domestic incident management. Based

on previous Federal guidelines and

legal authorities, a number of Federal

agencies have responsibilities, depending on the scenario, and each agency

has developed or has access to sourceterm estimates, dispersion modeling,

and consequence assessment capabilities to meet their responsibilities. For

a domestic incident, these capabilities

would be coordinated by the Secretary

of the Department of Homeland Security in cases where a Federal response

is required and authorized.

Over the coming year, the goal is to

develop an all-hazards dispersion support framework, initially based on

atmospheric dispersion modeling and

consequence assessment, to support

the DHS Secretary in his role as principal Federal official for planning,

preparing, and responding to domestic

incidents. This framework will provide tailored all-hazards dispersion

support to DHS and its Homeland

Security Operations Center (HSOC).

The primary and most urgent objective

is to provide the best available information for atmospheric hazard predictions so that DHS can make appropriate emergency response and consequence management decisions. This

effort is based on the work and recommendations of the OFCM-sponsored

Joint Action Group on the Selection

and Evaluation of Atmospheric Transport and Dispersion Models

(JAG/SEATD) report, Atmospheric

Modeling of Releases from Weapons

of Mass Destruction: Response by

Federal Agencies in Support of Homeland Security, August 2002, and the

National Research Council's (of the

National Academies) Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate report,

Tracking and Predicting the Atmospheric Dispersion of Hazardous Material Releases: Implications for Homeland Security, 2003.

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS

AND RESPONSE (EPR)

In March 2003, FEMA joined other

federal agencies, programs and offices

in becoming the Department of Homeland Security. The new department

brings a coordinated approach to

national security from emergencies

and disasters - both natural

and man-made. Today, FEMA is one

of four major branches of DHS. About

2,600 full-time employees in the

Emergency Preparedness

and Response (EPR) Directorate are

supplemented by more than 4,000

stand-by disaster reservists.

In carrying out its role, EPR 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), EPR pubDEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WEATHER PROGRAMS

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has three primary missions: Prevent terrorist attacks

within the United States, reduce America's vulnerability to terrorism, and minimize the damage from

potential attacks and natural disasters. The department's first priority is to protect the nation against

further terrorist attacks. Component agencies will analyze threats and intelligence, guard our borders

and airports, protect our critical infrastructure, and coordinate the response of our nation for future

emergencies. Besides providing a better-coordinated defense of the homeland, DHS is also dedicated

to protecting the rights of American citizens and enhancing public services, such as natural disaster

assistance and citizenship services, by dedicating offices to these important missions. DHS has Five Major Divisions,

or "Directorates": Border and Transportation Security (BTS); Emergency Preparedness and Response (EPR); Science

and Technology (S & T); Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection (IAIP); Management. Besides the five

Directorates of DHS, several other critical agencies folded into the new department or were created: United States Coast

Guard; United States Secret Service; Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services; Office of State and Local Government Coordination; Office of Private Sector Liaison; and the Office of Inspector General.

SECTION 3 DHS 189
190 DHS SECTION 3

lishes Flood Insurance Rate Maps for

all flood-prone communities, which

serve as the official demarcation for

flood risk. EPR 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.

EPR's priority interests with OFCM

are in supporting EPR's pre-disaster

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. EPR also actively

supports the OFCM-sponsored Working Group for Post-Storm 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

EPR National Hurricane Program hurricane evacuation studies, and other

EPR'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 EPR contact point for meteorology-related matters.

(www.fema.gov) (Figure 3-DHS-1).

UNITED STATES COAST GUARD

(USCG) 

Since March 2003, the Commandant

of the Coast Guard reports directly to

the Secretary of Homeland Security.

However, the USCG also works

closely with the Under Secretary of

Border and Transportation Security as

well as maintain its existing independent identity as a military service. Upon

declaration of war or when the

President so directs, the Coast Guard

would operate as an element of

the Department of Defense, consistent

with existing law.

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-DHS-2). The first

unrestricted science cruise was conducted in the Eastern Arctic in the

Figure 3-DHS-1. Bay Minette, AL, July 14, 2005. The FEMA mobile Disaster Recovery Center helps applicants with the FEMA recovery process by

makeing it easier for applicants to apply for FEMA aid. It contains phone lines

and wireless telecommunications. Many areas of southern Alabama were

affected by Hurricane Dennis. FEMA Photo/Mark Wolfe.
SECTION 3 DHS 191

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 subbottom profiling system; a conductivity-depth-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 conducts the International Ice

Patrol (IIP) under the provisions of the

International Convention for Safety of

Life at Sea (SOLAS). The IIP uses

sensor-equipped 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 icebergs, and forwards 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 Ice Operations Division of

the Office of Aids to Navigation at

Coast Guard Headquarters. Field management of Coast Guard meteorological support services is accomplished at

the Coast Guard Area and District levels.

Figure 3-DHS-2. USCGC HEALEY,

the Coast Guard’s new icebreaking

research vessel, conducting ice trials.

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL

SURVEY (USGS)

WATER DATA.

The USGS's Water Resources Discipline (WRD) collects streamflow, precipitation, water quality, ground-water

level, and other water resources and

climatological data as part of a national

network and for a number of projects

concerning rainfall runoff, water quality and hydrologic processes. Currently, the USGS collects hydrologic

and meteorological data from more

than 11,000 surface-water sites, precipitation data from more than 1,100

sites, ground-water level data from

more than 23,000 sites, and water quality data from more than 8,900 surfacewater, ground-water, and precipitation

sites.

Data collected at USGS sites are

transmitted from approximately 7,100

remote Data Collection Platforms

(DCPs). 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 USGS. The USGS currently

operates 25 LRGS which provide nearreal-time data to the USGS's computerized National Water Information System (NWIS). Data from over 1,800

additional sites are transmitted via

other telemetry (mostly telephone).

Near-real-time streamflow data and

ancillary information are provided to

National Weather Service River Forecast Centers for about 3400 river forecast points (Figure 3-DOI-1).

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.

The USGS serves historical and realtime water resources data on the Internet at its NWIS Web site (http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/).

SNOW AND ICE STUDIES.

The USGS is carrying out a joint

research program with NASA, the

University of Washington-Seattle's

Electrical and Civil Engineering

Departments, and the French Space

Agency (CNES) to measure snowpack

water equivalent or snow depth using

satellite passive microwave observations from the Defense Meteorological

Satellite Program's (DMSP) Special

Sensor Microwave/Imager (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 investigation is developing

techniques to utilize algorithms that

include the effects of grain size metamorphoses and to incorporate these

algorithms into hydrologic models.

Analysis of the two decade long passive microwave data set for the northern hemisphere snow covered extent

has shown that the maximum snow

pack has decreased in area and the

global snow season is getting shorter,

except for northeastern Canada.

The USGS and the BLM have used a

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR WEATHER PROGRAMS

The Interior Department (DOI), is the nation's principal conservation agency, charged with the mission

"to protect and provide access to our Nation's natural and cultural heritage and honor our trust responsibilities to Indian tribes and our commitments to island communities." The following operational and

research programs contribute to the Federal Meteorological Plan.

SECTION 3 DOI 193

Figure 3-DOI-1. Sample USGS Water Watch map of real-time streamflow

compared to historical streamflow for the day of the year. Source: USGS Website: http://water.usgs.gov/waterwatch/
194 DOI SECTION 3

combination of Landsat-7 and synthetic aperture radar images of the

Bering Glacier, Alaska, which surged

in 1993-95, to map the retreat of the

glacier terminus as it undergoes large

scale disarticulation. Scientists use

these data to monitor the level of Berg

Lake and the integrity of the ice dam

that forms the southern shore of the

lake, to assess the potential hazard presented by an outburst flood. In addition, the imagery is being used to plan

summer field programs that include

hydrographic investigations in expanding Vitus Lake, and both aquatic and

terrestrial sampling.

CLIMATOLOGICAL RESEARCH.

USGS also carries out research in

climate change, regional hydrology,

the carbon cycle, coastal erosion, volcanic activity, and glaciology. As part

of its glaciology program, the USGS

maintains an observation program on

three benchmark glaciers representative of different climactic 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. Beginning in 1959, this is the longest such

record in North America. Analysis of

this 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 atmospheric conditions in the northeast Pacific Ocean,

including El Niño - La Niña events and

the Pacific Decadal Oscillation.

Analysis of South Cascade mass balance data and NCEP re-analysis data

for the northeast Pacific Ocean shows

a strong relationship between winter

balance and the temperature and on

shore moisture flux and between the

summer balance and the local temperature, which have been used to examine the effects of future climate scenarios on glacier mass balance.

GEOMAGNETIC DATA.

The Geomagnetism Program

(http://geomag.usgs.gov) of the USGS

Central Region Geohazards Team provides real-time, ground-based measurements of the Earth's magnetic field,

which are an important contribution to

the diagnosis of conditions in the nearEarth space environment of the sun,

the solar wind, the magnetosphere, the

ionosphere, and the thermosphere.

During geomagnetic storms, brought

about by the complex interaction of the

Earth's magnetic field with that of the

Sun's, both high- and low-frequency

radio communications can be difficult

or impossible, global positioning systems (GPS) can be degraded, satellite

electronics can be damaged, satellite

drag can be increased, and astronauts

and high-altitude pilots can be subjected to enhanced levels of radiation.

Ground-based geomagnetic observatory data are complementary to those

collected by space-based satellites;

indeed, most of the hazardous effects

on technological systems brought

about by magnetic storms occur at or

near the Earth's surface. Therefore, the

Geomagnetism Group monitors the

surficial magnetic field by operating

14 magnetic observatories in the

United States and its Territories. The

data from these observatories, plus 15

foreign observatories, are transmitted

to the Group's headquarters in Golden,

Colorado, where they are processed

and analyzed. Data are then transmitted to the Space Environment Center

(SEC) of the National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

and to the U.S. Air Force (USAF) Air

Force Weather Agency at Offutt AFB,

Nebraska.

USGS observatories are operated in

cooperation with Intermagnet, an international consortium overseeing the

operation of nearly 80 geomagnetic

observatories distributed around the

globe. The roles and responsibilities of

agencies participating in the National

Space Environment and Warning Program are detailed in the National

Space Weather Program Strategic Plan

(FCM-P30-1995).

VOLCANOLOGY AND VOLCANIC

ASH PLUMES.

The USGS 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 USGS is responsible for

monitoring volcanoes in the United

States and issuing eruption forecasts

and notifications.

When Mount St. Helens, WA,

reawakened in September 2004, from

an almost 15 year sleep, the eruptions

have largely consisted of the extrusion

of lava with activity confined to the

crater. However, periodic explosions

have erupted ash to heights as great as

30,000 feet above sea level. The

USGS, NWS, and FAA have worked

together to develop procedures and

protocols to handle an erupting volcano situated between two major metropolitan centers.

Of the approximately 70 historically

active volcanoes in the United States,

more than 40 are in Alaska. Until the

1980's, the Alaskan volcanoes had

been largely unstudied. Despite

Alaska's low population density over

much of the state, Alaska's volcanoes

underlie the heavily traveled air routes

of the North Pacific region. During

recent years, the USGS's Alaskan Volcano Observatory (AVO) has expanded

its network of real-time seismic monitoring stations to bring 27 of Alaska'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 NOAA/NWS to provide
SECTION 3 DOI 195

warnings for pilots and aircraft operators in the Alaskan region. For much

of the late spring-early summer 2004,

and January-February 2005, Veniaminof volcano on the Alaska Peninsula frequently erupted ash to heights

approaching 12,000 feet above sea

level. USGS worked with NWS and

FAA to establish an appropriate

response to Veniaminof's low-level,

but frequent activity 

Internationally, the OFCM's WG/VA

supported expansion of USGS 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 volcanoes. About half

these flights are United States carriers.

AVO, through its working agreement

with the Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruptions Response Team (KVERT) in

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.

In 2003, the USGS responded to the

eruption of Anatahan Volcano in the

Northern Marianas, a Trust Territory of

the US, which affected aviation flying

across the Pacific. A small monitoring

system installed in 2003, has enabled

USGS scientists to provide notification

of significant changes and eruptions to

FAA, NOAA, and US Air Force as

activity at Anatahan has continued.

The USGS, OFCM, and other US

and international sponsors organized

the Second International Conference

on Volcanic Ash and Aviation Safety

on 21-24 June 2004, in Alexandria,

VA. The conference was a 4-day

assembly of the international aviation,

governmental, and scientific community involved with the ash issue. The

conference was a forum to exchange

technical and operational information,

with the goal of identifying ways to

improve mitigation of the ash hazard to

aviation. The agenda included a combination of plenary sessions, poster

presentations, and informal discussions on the topics of eruption monitoring and reporting, ash-cloud detection and forecasting; case histories of

encounters and operational solutions,

Volcanic Ash Advisory Center operations, the needs of the aviation industry, and education and outreach. More

detailed information about the conference is on-line at

http://www.ofcm.gov/homepage/text/s

pc_proj/volcanic_ash/volash2.html

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT (BLM)

The BLM is one of five Federal Land

Management agencies which have centralized wildland fire weather operations at the National Interagency Fire

Center (NIFC), in Boise, Idaho. The

BLM's Initial Attack Management

System (IAMS) was designed in the

mid-1980'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 Wildland Fire Management Information System (WFMIS)

inputs remain the same with Remote

Automatic Weather Station (RAWS)

and National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN) information (Figure 3-

DOI-2). 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/). Additionally, the BLM

has utilized the Desert Research Institute's capabilities to respond quickly

for website support.

Figure 3-DOI-2. A National Interagency Coordination Center (NICC) graphic

of Observed Fire Danger Class for the lower 48 states.
196 DOI SECTION 3

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 sufficient

funding to permit year-round operation

of the entire network. The BLM's

Resource Management and Oregon

O&C (West-Side) 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 (RSFWSU) at

NIFC provides the full range of program management, equipment dispatch, field and depot maintenance,

support and data services for the BLM

and numerous other government agencies. This interagency-staffed and

funded facility performs work under

long term agreements with those agencies within the government having

similar equipment and requirements.

CLIMATE MONITORING.

In addition to the meteorological

monitoring BLM conducts primarily to

support wildland fire management

activities, the BLM also conducts sitespecific climate monitoring at over 200

manual weather station locations on

the public lands in the 11 western

states and Alaska. The operation of

these sites ranges from seasonal to

annual, taking measurements of precipitation, temperature, soil moisture,

and other meteorological parameters

necessary to assess local climactic

influences. These data are primarily

used for natural resources management

and planning at the local level.

PORTABLE WEATHER STATION.

During the 1999 fire season, the

Remote Sensing/Fire Weather Support

Unit (RSFWSU) 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 a fire line and can be

rapidly relocated to points desired by

Fire Behavior Analysts 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. Fire managers have also

increased the use of FRWS to monitor

intentionally-initiated prescribed

burns.

Currently, 33 FRWS systems are

cached at NIFC for use during the

2005 season. 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, and hourly satellite data is available to Fire Weather Forecasting Staff

for spot forecasts and fire support from

all central locations (Geographic Area

Coordination Centers, NIFC, etc.).

ALL RISKS SUPPORT.

After the terrorist attack on September 11th, 2001, the RSFWSU was

tasked to provide near real-time meteorological data collection at the World

Trade Center (Figure 3-DOI-3). This

effort was in direct support of the

Environmental Protection Agency's

task of monitoring air quality in the

vicinity of the collapsed towers. The

unit also provided remote meteorological support for the Columbia Shuttle

accident investigation and recovery

effort, and RAWS support has generated interest from the Department of

Homeland Security as it assesses its

needs for remote and urban environmental monitoring. Using the personFigure 3-DOI-3. Remote Sensing/Fire Weather Support Unit providing nearreal-time meteorological data collection at the World Trade Center.
SECTION 3 DOI 197

nel and resources available at the

RSFWSU, the BLM can offer a rapid

meteorological support capability that

is unique across the federal government.

BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS

(BIA)

The Bureau of Indian Affairs collects

atmospheric data to evaluate potentially irrigable Indian Trust lands in the

Southwest. The Bureau also collects

and shares fire weather data with other

Federal agencies while participating in

fire management activities for local

and interagency use.

Currently, BIA operates the following instrumentation:

• 69 fire weather RAWS stations

(permanent stations),

• 5 "manual" weather stations,

• 13 portable RAWS stations used

for Prescribed Fire, and 

• 10 RAWS deployed on emergency

stabilization projects.

MINERALS MANAGEMENT

SERVICE (MMS)

The Minerals Management Service

(MMS) gathers offshore meteorological data for use in the management of

offshore oil and gas resources. The

data are used in air quality and oil-spill

modeling, model development, and

other research projects. Currently,

MMS is funding operation of two offshore meteorological buoys in the Gulf

of Mexico. Support for one of the

buoys will be discontinued in FY 2006.

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.

MMS operates a profiler at the

Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON) facility in Cocodrie,

Louisiana (Figure 3-DOI-4). The profiler has been collecting data since

October 2004, and will be operating

for a three-year period. Data collected

at this site may be accessed at

http://weather.lumcon. edu/weatherdata/doppler. The data collected will

be applied to regional models for evaluating impacts from emission sources

on ozone, fine particulate matter, and

regional haze. The MMS is also planning to install a profiler at the Pensacola Naval Air Station in the Florida

Panhandle. The profiler is expected to

be installed and operational in the

summer of 2005.

Another meteorological data collection effort is ongoing in the Beaufort

Sea in Alaska, where six meteorological stations have been collecting data

since 2001 (see http://www.resdat.

com/mms/). Data collection by these

stations will continue in FY 2006. The

information will be applied to oil spill

modeling and air quality impact evaluations.

MMS has a cooperative agreement

with the Coastal

Marine Institute

(CMI) at Louisiana

State University for a

study to assess meteorological influences

on visibility offshore

Louisiana. This study

is expected to be completed in FY 2005. In

a cooperative agreement with the CMI at

the University of

Alaska, MMS is supporting a meteorological modeling

project for the Cook Inlet and the Shelikof Strait in Alaska. This project is

also being concluded in FY 2005.

The MMS is currently conducting a

study entitled The Breton National

Wilderness Increment Analysis. This

study consists of a meteorological and

air quality modeling analysis in and

around the Breton National Wilderness

Area (NWA), which is a Class I area

under the Clean Air Act (CAA), and as

such is afforded special protections

under the Prevention of Significant

Deterioration (PSD) provisions of the

CAA. The Breton NWA is located on

a chain of barrier islands off southeastern Louisiana. The objective of the

study is to assess the impacts of Outer

Continental Shelf (OCS) oil and gas

production activities on the PSD increment consumption. This effort is

expected to be completed in FY 2006.

Copies of final reports on past meteorological and air quality studies in the

Gulf of Mexico may be found at

http://www.gomr.mms.gov/homepg/re

gulate/environ/techsumm/rec_pubs.ht

ml.

The MMS is also conducting a study

entitled Development of a Next generation Air Quality Model for OCS

Applications. The model being generated is an enhanced version of the

CALPUFF air quality model that is

better adapted for over water use. The

model will contain improved formulation of the marine boundary layer and

over water dispersion. The model will

be able to be linked to output from the

Pennsylvania State University /

National Center for Atmospheric

Research mesoscale model (MM5), as

well as additional prognostic models

such as the Rapid Update Cycle

(RUC), Eta, and the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS).

The model is projected to be completed by the end of FY 2005.

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

(NPS) AND FISH AND WILDLIFE Figure 3-DOI-4. The MMS Profiler at LUMCON facility in Cocodrie, Louisiana.
SERVICE (FWS)

The National Park Service monitors air

quality and visibility in a number of

national parks and monuments.

Gaseous pollutant data are collected on

continuous and integrated (24-hour to

weekly) 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

every third day. Atmospheric light

extinction is measured continuously

and relayed to a central location for

analyses.

MODELING.

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.

The NPS oversees the operation of

the Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments

(IMPROVE) network and the

IMPROVE Protocol network in cooperation with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the United States Forest

Service (USFS), the FWS, the BLM,

and various State organizations. Since

2000, the networks have been

expanded to over 170 sites, mostly

through funding provided by the EPA

i n

support of

their regional haze regulations and through other

cooperators. The enhanced network allows a better characterization of visibility and fine particle concentrations throughout rural and

remote areas of the country (Figure 3-

DOI-5).

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

is the Watershed and River System

Management Program

(WaRSMP), which is being developed in partnership with the

USGS. Information on WaRSMP

is at http://www.usbr.gov/pmts/

rivers/rsmgwtrmg.htm.

Other key players in this effort

include TVA, the Corps of Engineers, NOAA, NASA, NRCS, the

University of Colorado and Colorado

State University. This program pro198 DOI SECTION 3

Figure 3-DOI-5. Map of annual average standard visual range (SVR), in kilometers, calculated from IMPROVE particle concentrations. Also shown are the

locations of most of the IMPROVE and IMPROVE protocol sites during 2003.

http://vista.circa.colostate.edu/views)
SECTION 3 DOI 199

vides a data-centered framework for

science-based water resources decision making. Major components are:

• Hydrologic Database (HDB),

• Modular Modeling System (MMS),

• RiverWare river system modeling

framework,

• Stochastic Analysis, Modeling and

Simulation (SAMS) system, 

• Agricultural WAter Resources Decision Support (AWARDS) and

• Evapotranspiration Toolbox (ET

Toolbox) system.

HYDROLOGIC MODELING.

The SAMS hydrologic modeling

system 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. Starting in

FY 2005, the SAMS capabilities will

be implemented on the Colorado River

basin.

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.

Current Reclamation projects under

WaRSMP include:

• Planning and developing HDB,

MMS and RiverWare systems for the

Gunnison, San Juan, Rio Grande,

Yakima, and Truckee river systems;

• Development of expanded capabilities to allow HDB to function as the

Database of Record which will document management decisions and the

data used to make them for Reclamation's Upper and Lower Colorado

regions as well as other participating

offices;

• SAMS integration and testing for

the lower Colorado and Truckee River

Basins;

• 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;

• 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;

• Integration and testing of emerging Land Surface Modeling Products

from NASA's Global Land Data

Assimilation Systems for snow mapping, surface energy and water budgets

and ET analysis and prediction for

water operations management;and

• Testing and development of

weather and climate products from the

Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) for water supply and

demand forecasting.

INSTRUMENTATION AND DATA

ACQUISITION

NEXRAD estimates of precipitation

are used for water supply and water

delivery decision-making. Water managers can view the distribution of precipitation over watersheds that supply

water to storage facilities, and examine

the detailed spatial distributions of precipitation over the irrigated areas along

with estimates of soil moisture, and

evapotranspiration from crops and

riparian vegetation.

The Watershed and River Systems

Management Program focuses on integrating multi-disciplinary science into

decision support systems that enable

water managers to make the best deliveries of water to stakeholders.

Currently, Reclamation's

HYDROMET system collects data

from approximately 400 hydrometeorological data collection platforms

(DCPs) which transmit data in realtime through GOES to Reclamation'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 BLM, Federal and state

offices. Reclamation's primary realtime hydrometeorological information

from the NWS, USGS, NASA, and

other agencies is displayed on the

AWARDS / NEXRAD / ET Toolbox

web site: http://www.usbr.gov/

pmts/rivers/awards/index.html.

Water supply information from

cumulative precipitation estimates

from radar is also provided in areas

where snow fall is an important source

of water. Links directly to USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

and NOAA/National Centers for Environmental Prediction analysis and

forecasting web sites are provided to

further document the latest information.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION

The National Xeriscape Demonstration Program (NXDP) is nearing an

end. The NXDP was initiated by
200 DOI SECTION 3

Reclamation to estimate the benefits of

water conserving landscaping. In partnerships with States, field demonstration projects were conducted in Fargo

ND, Austin TX, the Colorado Front

Range, Phoenix AZ, and southern

Nevada. Water savings ranged from

18 to over 50 percent in the demonstration projects, strongly suggesting

water planners should consider this

water conservation alternative as a

supply development option.

SNOWPACK ASSESSMENT.

Snowmelt represents about 80 percent of reservoir storage in Colorado

and is largely responsible for spring

flooding events in the state. Therefore,

it is highly desirable to know snowpack characteristics, such as its snow

water equivalent (SWE), its spatial and

elevation distribution, and its evolution

with time during the water year. With

support of the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB), Reclamation

has adapted the Snow Data Assimilation System (SNODAS) for enhanced

snowpack assessment in the state of

Colorado. The SNODAS was developed by the National Operational

Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center

(NOHRSC), a National Weather Service unit, and data are acquired

through the National Snow and Ice

Data Center.

SNODAS consists of a spatially distributed snow energy and mass balance

model, coupled with an assimilation of

all available SWE, snow depth, and

snow cover data (from surface, aircraft, radar, satellite). Model outputs

are at 1 km resolution and include

SWE, snow depth, snowmelt, pack

temperature, and sublimation. Comparison with data from Snow Telemetry (SNOTEL) sites and satellite

imagery shows faithful representation

of SWE and snow cover, respectively.

Basin average SWE is substantially

reduced over that of SNOTEL because

the former is a basin-wide spatial average instead of an arithmetic average of

a few high-elevation points. This difference is important hydrologically

and holds the promise of coupling

snowmelt with a hydrologic model to

produce streamflow hydrographs.

Such hydrographs would be extremely

useful to the decision support systems

of water management agencies such as

the CWCB and Reclamation, with the

ultimate aim of improved forecasting

of water supplies and flooding. Colorado SNODAS products have been

posted daily at http://www.usbr.gov/

pmts/rivers/awards/SNODAS/SNOD

AS_CO_hist.html, since October

Figure 3-DOI-6. Agricultural Water Resources Decision-Support

(AWARDS)/ET Toolbox example for the Lower Colorado River basin.

AWARDS merges the precipitation accumulation algorithm (PAA) estimates

from five WSR-88D (or NEXRAD) radars into a 2x2km grid.
SECTION 3 DOI 201

2003. Future work will consist of verification of SNODAS outputs,improvement of precipitation inputs,

and coupling to a hydrologic model.

An example of such an online product

is given in Figure 3-DOI-6.

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). These

countries represent 99 percent of the

world's production of ozone depleting

substances.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was

established 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 scientific, technical and socioeconomic information

relevant for the understanding of climate change, its potential impacts and

options for adaptation and mitigation..

In doing so, the Panel draws on the

expertise of thousands of scientists and

technical experts. The IPCC is currently organized into three working

groups, which examine (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. The fourth assessment report, due in 2007, is currently

under preparation. In addition to

preparing assessment reports, the

IPCC also contributes 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

May 2004, it had been ratified by 189

countries, including the United States.

The ultimate objective of the Convention is to stabilize greenhouse gas

emissions at a level that would prevent

dangerous anthropogenic (humaninduced) interference with the climate

system. It states that such a level

should be achieved within a timeframe sufficient to allow ecosystems to

adapt naturally to climate change, to

ensure that food production is not

threatened, and to enable economic

development to proceed in a sustainable manner. 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 adopted the Kyoto Protocol, which commits developed countries to reducing their collective emissions of greenhouse gases by at least 5

percent by the period 2008-2012. Following Russian ratification in late

2004, the Kyoto Protocol entered into

force in February 2005. In early 2001,

the United States announced that it

would not ratify the Kyoto Protocol.

The United States approach to addressing the challenge of climate change

harnesses the power of markets and

technological innovation. It also holds

the promise of a new partnership with

the developing world and it recognizes

that climate change is a complex, longterm challenge that will require a sustained effort over many generations.

Today the United States is actively

engaged in addressing climate change

through the Convention, through a

wide range of international science and

technology initiatives, through multilateral efforts such as the Asia-Pacific

Partnership for Clean Development

and Climate and bilateral partnerships

with 14 countries including Australia,

Brazil, Canada, China, India, Italy,

Japan, and other countries. Together

these initiatives will help improve our

global capability to understand and

address issues associated with climate

change in a manner that supports

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 (FCCC). In addition, over the past few

years the DOS has played a central and active role in the development and implementation of a number of international

science and technology initiatives including the Group on Earth Observations, the Carbon Sequestration Leadership

Forum, the International Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy, the Methane-to-Markets Partnership, and Generation

IV (a U.S.-led program working on new fission reactor designs that will be safer, more economical and secure).

SECTION 3 DOS 203
204 DOS SECTION 3

broader sustainable development

goals.

In addition to its primary role in the

fora listed above, DOS is active in several relevant interagency processes,

including the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources (CENR)

of the National Science and Technology Council and the Interagency

Working Group on Climate Change

Science and Technology (IWGCCST).

The CENR was established in 1993 to

coordinate scientific domestic programs. Created in 2002, the

IWGCCST is a sub-Cabinet level

group that reviews all programs that

contribute to climate change science

and technology. 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.
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

models for pollution control, direct and

indirect exposure assessments, and

emission control strategy assessment;

(2) preparation and performance of

dispersion studies and air quality

model evaluations; (3) review of meteorological aspects of environmental

impact statements, state implementation plans, and pollution variance

requests: (4) air quality forecasting;

and (5) emergency response planning

in support of homeland security. Meteorological expertise and guidance are

also provided for the national air quality standards, modeling guideline, and

policy development activities of the

EPA.

In light of the 1990 Amendments to

the Clean Air Act and the recent

national rules, air quality models and

the manner in which they are used are

expected to continue to grow 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

new 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 fine particulate

model development, air quality 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.

Atmospheric research continues in

the area of the effects of climate

change on regional air quality. The

climate program involves both analytical and statistical climatology as well

as support for regional-scale climate

model development.

Research in human exposure modeling includes micro-environmental

monitoring and modeling, and development of exposure assessment tools.

Micro-environmental 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 micro-environmental

simulation models for conducting

human exposure assessments within

enclosed spaces in which specific

human activities occur.

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 modeling nutrient deposition to Chesapeake Bay and mercury deposition to

the Florida Everglades; and determination of meteorological effects on air

quality. Atmospheric flow and dispersion experimental data obtained from

wind tunnel and convection tank

experiments in the EPA Fluid Modeling Facility will be used to continue

development and evaluation of these

models 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 were simulated in the wind

tunnel to evaluate Computational Fluid

Dynamics modeling systems in an

effort to help build confidence in modeling assessment source-receptor relaENVIRONMENTAL 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 205
tionships for horrendous events such as

the one that occurred on September 11,

2001 A similar study was conducted

for the Pentagon (Figure 3-EPA-1) and

will be conducted for the Mid-Manhattan and Washington, DC areas.

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, and temporally in the atmosphere. The principal purpose of the

Community Multi-scale Air Quality

(CMAQ) modeling project is 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 first

released in June 1998, and is being

updated annually for use by Federal

agencies, States, industry, and academia. The latest version of CMAQ,

which includes science enhancements

and computational efficiencies, is

planned for release in August 2005. It

is also intended to serve as a community framework for continual advancement and use of environmental assessment tools. 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

http://www.epa.gov/asmdnerl/models3/. Figure 3-EPA-2 illustrates the

results of CMAQ for ozone and fine

particulate matter (PM2.5), sulfates,

and visibility for August 8, 2001, for

the contiguous United States at 36-km

horizontal grid dimension, a period of

widespread ambient pollution in the

nation.

In FY 2005, EPA is working closely

with the National Center for Environmental Prediction of the National

Weather Service (NWS) in the continued development, evaluation, and use

of a coupled meteorological-chemical

transport model (Eta-CMAQ) for predicting ambient air quality over the

Continental United States. This capability is built on years of research in air

quality, exemplified by the NOAA-led

New England Pilot Air Quality Study

in 2002 and 2004. In the first phase of

the forecasting project, NWS implemented the Eta-CMAQ modeling system, to provide daily forecast guidance

for ozone for the northeastern United

States starting from September 2004.

Within the next few years, the system

for ozone will deploy nationwide.

Within ten years, the operational forecast capability is projected to be able to

forecast particulate matter. State and

local air quality management agencies

will continue to forecast local air quality, assisted in their efforts by the addition of national forecast guidance for

the concentrations of ozone and other

air pollutants.

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

http://www.epa.gov/asmdnerl/mims/.

The 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

206 EPA SECTION 3

Figure 3-EPA-1. Model of the Pentagon used in the wind tunnel of the Fluid

Modeling Facility to study the transport and dispersion of airborne agents.
SECTION 3 EPA 207

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, 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

Figure 3-EPA-2. CMAQ simulation results for August 8, 2001, for the contiguous United States at 36-km horizontal

grid spacing showing: (upper left) maximum 1-hour average ozone concentrations (ppbV) in each grid cell; (upper right)

24-hour averages of sulfate concentrations (micrograms/m3); (lower left) 24-hour averages of PM2.5 concentrations

(micrograms/m3) in each 36-km grid cell; and (lower right) visibility (deciview - see insert) in each grid cell.
208 EPA SECTION 3

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).
THE NASA VISION:

To improve life here,

To extend life to there,

To find life beyond.

THE NASA MISSION:

To understand and protect our home

planet,

To explore the universe and search

for life,

To inspire the next generation of

explorers

...as only NASA can.

SUPPORTING RESEARCH:

NASA'S SCIENCE MISSION

DIRECTORATE (SMD).

NASA transformed its organization

in the summer of 2004, uniting the former Earth and Space Science Enterprises. The Science Mission Directorate will carry out the scientific

exploration of the Earth, Moon, Mars

and beyond; chart the best route of discovery; and reap the benefits of Earth

and space exploration for society. A

combined organization is best able to

establish an understanding of the

Earth, other planets and their evolution, bring the lessons of our study of

Earth to the exploration of the Solar

System, and to assure the discoveries

made here will enhance our work

there.

The frontier of Earth system science

is to:

(1) explore interactions among the

major components of the Earth system

- continents, oceans, atmosphere, ice,

and life;

(2) distinguish natural from humaninduced causes of change; and

(3) understand and predict the consequences of change.

Within the Science Mission Directorate, NASA has established six scientific focus areas for these complex

processes. These scientific focus areas

are: Atmospheric Composition, Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems, Climate

Variability and Change, Earth Surface

and Interior, Water and Energy Cycle,

and Weather. Roadmaps have been

developed to summarize the technology, observations, modeling, field

campaigns, basic research, and partnerships needed over the next 25 years

to achieve the long-term goals for each

of these focus areas.

The availability of fresh water on

planet Earth affects billions of people.

Floods and drought can be life-threatening. The following questions guide

research within the Water and Energy

Cycle Focus Area:

• How are global precipitation,

evaporation, and the cycling of water

changing?

• What are the effects of clouds and

surface hydrologic processes on

Earth's climate?

• How are variations in local

weather, precipitation and water

resources related to global climate

variation?

• How will water cycle dynamics

change in the future?

The Water and Energy Cycle Focus

Area studies the distribution, transport,

and transformation of water and

energy within the Earth system. Since

solar energy drives water and energy

exchanges, the energy cycle and the

water cycle are intimately entwined.

Thus, research focuses on the closely

linked budgets of energy and moisture.

Focus area research is aligned with

national and international programs

including the Global Energy and Water

Cycle Experiment and the water cycle

activities of the U.S. Climate Change

Science Program.

The approach to these goals rests on

a combination of observations, understanding, modeling, prediction, and

decision-support systems presented in

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 the Kennedy Space

Center (KSC) and Johnson Space Center (JSC). NASA also maintains a sophisticated fleet of eighteen

Earth-monitoring satellites, measuring a vast number of Earth properties. The focus of Earth Science Research is to integrate satellite observations, numerical model and theoretical studies of various Earth system attributes. These attributes

include ocean currents, temperature and biological activity; atmospheric ozone and aerosols; tropical rainfall, lightning;

atmospheric temperature and humidity structure; Antarctic and Arctic sea ice; volcanic emissions and gravitational

anomalies in the Earth's crust. NASA 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 209
210 NASA SECTION 3

the Water and Energy Cycle Roadmap.

This integrated approach will yield

improved overall knowledge of the

water cycle and improved predictions

of the changing of the water and

energy cycles. Future missions on the

roadmap will provide key measurements for this focus area including:

soil moisture, ocean water storage and

flux, global precipitation, groundwater storage, tropospheric water storage, and atmospheric water and energy

storage.

Precipitation has only recently been

measured from space by the Tropical

Rainfall Measuring Mission. The

Global Precipitation Measurement

(GPM) mission will extend remote

sensing of precipitation globally,

allowing estimation of this input term

in Earth's water budget. Evaporation

cannot be measured directly, but can be

estimated using models based on estimates of the amount of radiation

absorbed by the land, oceans, and

atmosphere and validated using

selected satellite measurements including ocean salinity from Aquarius and

soil moisture from HYDROS. The

Water and Energy Cycle Focus Area

concentrates on storage as soil moisture, ground water, surface water, and

snow.

Weather has enormous influence on

human activities. Favorable weather is

in many cases critical for agricultural

productivity while severe weather can

disrupt virtually every enterprise and

endanger human life, property, and

natural resources. Accurate weather

prediction allows preparation for

severe events and adaptation to day-today variations. Accurate hurricane

predictions as well as tornado tracking

save lives and property. Agriculture,

transportation systems, and numerous

other endeavors all rely on weather

forecasts for daily decisions and

resource allocation.

The direct question, “How can

weather forecast duration and reliability be improved?” guides research

within NASA's Weather Focus Area.

The Weather Focus Area seeks to

apply NASA remote sensing expertise

to obtain accurate and globally-distributed measurements of the atmosphere

for assimilation into operational

weather forecast models thereby

improving and extending weather predictions.

Accurate local and regional predictions begin with global simulations.

These simulations require the assimilation of satellite measurements of the

atmosphere in depth for the entire

globe. NASA develops the satellite

sensors for sounding the atmosphere's

temperature and humidity structure.

The latest high-accuracy sensor is the

AIRS instrument on board the Aqua

satellite. AIRS data are being studied

intensely for inclusion into operational

processing streams.

Currently, high priority is assigned to

the detection and quantification of

rainfall rate, generally measured by

microwave remote sensing. Surface

radars have long been able to estimate

rainfall rate, with the assumption of

appropriate drop-size distributions and

a national network of Doppler radars

estimate the locations of wind velocity

couplets that signal likely tornado formation. NASA's first weather radar in

space, TRMM, enabled global rainfall

mapping throughout the seasons

increased our understanding of stormcloud characteristics accompanying

various forms and levels of rainfall

rates. Extension of satellite weather

radar to a global constellation of active

and passive sensors can pave the way

for future operational missions.

In order to provide a near-real time

global view of rainfall, which can be

used to monitor regions for the effects

of drought and flood, NASA operates

the TRMM-based Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (MPA). The product is updated every three hours and is

publicly available at http://trmm.

gsfc.nasa.gov. The MPA is a quasiglobal precipitation analysis at fine

time and space scales (3-hr, 0.25

degree by 0.25degree latitude-longitude) over the latitude band 50 degree

N-S (Figure 3-NASA-1). This analysis

Figure 3-NASA-1. Global view of one week of rainfall accumulation obtained by the TRMM-based Multi-Satellite 

Precipitation Analysis.
SECTION 3 NASA 211

scheme makes use of TRMM's highest

quality, but infrequent observations,

along with high quality passive

microwave-based rain estimates from

3-7 polar-orbiting satellites, and even

estimates based on the five geosynchronous IR data covering the tropics.

The technique uses as much

microwave data as possible, including

data from Aqua/AMSR and SSM/I's

and AMSU's on operational satellites,

and only uses the geo-IR estimates to

fill in remaining gaps in the three-hour

analysis.

Other NASA weather research is

important for the design of new satellite sensors for cloud and rainfall characteristic measurement and focused

field programs help researchers to

understand the natural variability and

structure of the atmosphere, clouds,

and storms on finer and finer scales as

the numerical models are able to handle the higher-resolution data.

Another key component of the current Weather Focus Area is a set of

core efforts to assimilate new NASA

satellite data into numerical forecast

models and to assess the amount of

forecast improvement. Two groups are

currently working on this problem, the

Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation and NASA's Short-term Prediction Research and Transition Center.

These centers allow studies of the most

effective ways of assimilating new

satellite data into global and regional

numerical models.

The centerpiece of NASA's Earth

Observing System is a sophisticated

fleet of eighteen Earth-monitoring

satellites, measuring a vast number of

Earth properties (Figure 3-NASA-2).

The focus of Earth science research is

to integrate satellite observations,

numerical model and theoretical studies of various Earth system attributes.

These attributes include ocean currents, temperature and biological activity; atmospheric ozone and aerosols;

tropical rainfall, lightning; atmospheric temperature and humidity structure; Antarctic and Arctic sea ice; volcanic emissions and gravitational

anomalies in the Earth's crust. Not all

of these measurements are currently

being assimilated into numerical forecast models to determine their potential forecast impacts. As basic research

concerning scales of variability and

physical relationships to other parts of

the Earth System is completed, additional EOS data products will be tested

for forecast improvement potential.

In addition to precipitation measurement, important new satellite missions

to advance weather forecast accuracy

include an operational surface moisture monitor, geostationary monitoring

of lightning location, strength, and

rate, and the global monitoring of vector wind fields through out the depth of

the atmosphere. Perhaps the greatest

value for a future satellite sensor to

would be the implementation of a fleet

of Doppler lidar sensors to measure

global winds as a function of height.

HIGHLIGHT: NASA SHEDS LIGHT

ON HURRICANE BIRTH PROCESS

Severe tropical storms in the form of

hurricanes pose a serious hazard to

citizens in the eastern United States.

In recent years, NASA has made

strides in investigating the structure

and behavior of tropical cyclones. The

new insights into the nature of these

deadly storms have come from a multipronged approach, fusing Earth

Observing System (EOS) datasets with

a comprehensive series of aircraft missions called the Convection and Moisture Experiment (CAMEX), and

numerical modeling studies. Comprehensive datasets collected from space

and in the field have provided many

intriguing insights into the processes

that govern hurricane growth and evolution. Numerical modeling investigations take the analyses a step further

by assimilating diverse observational

datasets into a theoretical framework

for performing experiments.

The Tropical Cloud Systems and

Processes (TCSP) mission is a field

research investigation sponsored by

the Science Mission Directorate of the

National Aeronautics and Space

Figure 3-NASA-2. NASA QuickSCAT satellite view of Hurricane Frances

(2004) in the Atlantic, showing structure of the low-level wind vortex.
212 NASA SECTION 3

Administration (NASA). The field

experiment will run from July 1-28,

2005 and is based out of San Jose,

Costa Rica. TCSP builds on the success of previous Convection and Moisture Experiment (CAMEX) missions.

The focus of TCSP will be to better

understand the complex and myriad

processes giving rise to the birth of

tropical cyclones over the Eastern

Pacific.

TCSP research will address the following topical areas:

1) tropical cyclone structure, genesis, intensity change, moisture fields

and rainfall;

2) satellite and aircraft remote sensor data assimilation and validation

studies pertaining to development of

tropical cyclones; and

3) the role of upper

tropospheric/lower stratospheric

processes governing tropical cyclone

outflow, the response of wave disturbances to deep convection and the evolution of the upper level warm core.

Analyses of data sets will address a

wide variety of atmospheric space and

time scales, ranging from the convective through the synoptic. Investigations will also be conducted to improve

upon numerical modeling studies of

tropical cyclogenesis, including waveto-depression transition in the western

Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and Eastern Pacific Oceans (Figure 3-NASA3).

NASA's ongoing partnership with

NOAA's Hurricane Research Division

(HRD) during the CAMEX campaigns

will continue during TCSP. Two

NOAA P-3 aircraft will base out of

Costa Rica and fly with the NASA ER2 high-altitude research aircraft during coordinated missions into developing tropical disturbances. The benefits

of scientific collaboration between

NASA and NOAA are profound;

NOAA aircraft fly in the lower and

middle regions of the storm, while

NASA aircraft obtain data from the

upper region. Together, an entire three

dimensional structure of the hurricane

can be assessed from the ocean surface

all the way into the lower stratosphere.

NASA WEATHER OPERATIONS.

The goal of the NASA weather operations program is to provide specialized meteorological data and techniques needed by Air Force forecasters

(45th Weather Squadron (45WS)) at

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

(CCAFS), adjacent to Kennedy Space

Center (KSC), and by the NWS's

Spaceflight Meteorology Group

(SMG) at Johnson Space Center (JSC),

to support NASA's Space Shuttle and

Expendable Launch Vehicle (ELV)

programs. Their greatest challenge is

to accurately measure and forecast the

mesoscale weather events that strongly

impact ground processing, launch, and

landing operations.

Note: 45WS supports ground processing and launch of Shuttle and

ELV's at KSC/CCAFS, and Shuttle

Ferry Flight missions. SMG supports

Shuttle flight; landing at KSC,

Edwards AFB and White Sands Space

Harbor; as well as emergency landing

sites worldwide.

To successfully support the diverse,

unique and complex requirements of

their many customers' 24/7 operations,

in the mesoscale driven lightning capital of America, requires:

1. A sophisticated weather infrastructure which includes systems normally

found only in research field programs

rather than operations;

2. A dedicated capability to transition

research and technology to support

new or poorly satisfied operational

requirements;

3. Rigorous training to ensure the

weather infrastructure, diverse customer requirements, and dynamic,

mesoscale weather are thoroughly

understood; and

4. At least 2-3 years on-site experience to adequately master the infrastructure, the weather, and the requirements sufficiently to provide timely,

tailored, accurate support to the many

weather sensitive daily operations.

SUPPORTING RESEARCH

Applied Meteorology Unit.

The focal point for satisfying

requirement three above and assisting

with requirements one and two is the

Applied Meteorology Unit (AMU).

The AMU, co-located with the Air

Force's Range Weather Operations at

CCAFS, develops, evaluates and, if

warranted, transitions new meteorological technology into operations.

For instance, the AMU strives to

develop techniques and systems to

help predict and avoid the impacts of

Central Florida's frequent thunderstorms which endanger the ground processing, launch, and landing operations

of the American Space Program-Space

Shuttle, DOD, and commercial entities. The AMU has focused special

attention on evaluating and transitioning mesoscale numerical models, and

developing forecast techniques appliFigure 3-NASA-3. NASA TRMM satellite view of the rain structure in Tropical Storm Adrian (2005) in the eastern Pacific.
SECTION 3 NASA 213

cable to Central Florida. The AMU

functions under a joint NASA, Air

Force, and National Weather Service

(NWS) Memorandum of Understanding.

Current AMU tasks and status as of

June 05 include:

Task: Objective Lightning Probability Forecast: Phase I

Goal: Develop a set of statistical

equations to forecast the probability of

lightning occurrence for the day. This

will aid forecasters in evaluating flight

rules and determining the probability

of launch commit criteria violations, as

well as preparing forecasts for ground

operations.

Discussion: The 45th Weather

Squadron (45 WS) forecasters include

a probability of thunderstorm occurrence in their daily morning briefings.

This information is used by managers

for daily planning, especially for lightning sensitive ground operations on

Kennedy Space Center/Cape

Canaveral Air Force Station

(KSC/CCAFS) requiring long lead

times or many hours to complete.

Much of the current lightning probability forecast is based on a subjective

analysis of model and observational

data. The forecasters requested development of a lightning probability forecast tool based on statistical analyses

of historical warm-season data--a tool

to increase the objectivity of daily

thunderstorm probability forecasts. 

The AMU developed a statistical

lightning forecast equations that will

provide a lightning occurrence probability for the day by 1100 UTC (0700

L) during the months May - September

(warm season). The tool is based on

results from several research projects.

Tests of the equations show they

improve the daily lightning forecast,

thus the AMU developed a PC-based

tool and GUI from which forecasters

can display the daily probabilities. As

the GUI was tested, graphs were created that showed the change in probability due to changes in one predictor

while holding all other predictors constant. These graphs show the users how

sensitive the output probabilities are to

changes in one predictor value versus

changes in the others.

Three of the data types used to

develop the technique were:

Cloud-to-Ground Lightning Surveillance System data,

1200 UTC sounding data from

synoptic sites in Florida, and 

1000 UTC CCAFS sounding

(XMR) data.

The AMU used the CCAFS (XMR)

sounding data to calculate the stability

parameters normally available to the

forecasters through the Meteorological

Interactive Data Display System

(MIDDS). MIDDS uses the Mancomputer Interactive Data Access System (McIDAS) software (Lazzara et al.

1999) for processing and displaying

the sounding data. The McIDAS algorithms that process the sounding data

used in this task ensured the calculated

stability parameter values will be consistent with those available to the forecasters. Note: The AMU worked with

the vendor to correct errors discovered

in the COTS algorithms before proceeding with this task.

Task: Severe Weather Forecast Decision Aid

Goal: Create a new forecast aid to

improve the severe weather watches

and warnings meant for the protection

of KSC) and CCAFS personnel and

property.

Discussion: The 45WS morning

weather products includes an assessment of the likelihood of local convective severe weather in order to enhance

protection of personnel and material

assets of the 45th Space Wing,

CCAFS, and KSC. Severe weather

includes tornadoes, wind gusts 50 kt,

and/or hail with a diameter of 0.75 in.

Forecasting the occurrence and timing

of these phenomena is challenging for

45WS duty forecasters and Launch

Weather Officers. 

The AMU developed a new severe

weather forecast decision aid tuned to

the east-central Florida environment to

improve the various 45WS severe

weather watches and warnings. The

decision aid will provide severe

weather guidance for the day by 1100

UTC (0700 EDT). The analyses of

cumulative distributions of rawinsonde-based stability parameters were

used to re-assess the threshold values

currently used by 45WS. The AMU

recommended adjustments to the

threshold values based on the historical

severe weather events in east-central

Florida and the accompanying stability

indices from the morning CCAFS rawinsonde. The AMU archives of severe

weather events, stability indices, and

synoptic characterizations of atmospheric flow patterns were merged for

further analysis.

The display used to evaluate the stability indices was changed from scatter

plots to stacked column graphs, providing a different perspective on the

relationships between the indices and

severe weather. An interactive webbased severe weather forecast tool was

developed and delivered to the 45WS

for initial evaluation.
214 NASA SECTION 3

With the new graphs, some of the

indices show stronger relationships to

severe weather occurrence. Specific

index thresholds and other criteria

were incorporated into the severe

weather forecast tool which is now

ready for forecaster testing during the

upcoming warm season.

Task: Shuttle Ascent Camera Cloud

Obstruction Forecast

Goal: Develop a model to forecast

the probability at least three Shuttle

ascent imaging cameras can view the

Shuttle launch vehicle (LV) unobstructed by cloud at any time from

launch to Solid Rocket Booster (SRB)

separation.

Discussion: Optical imaging of the

Shuttle launch vehicle (LV) from

ground-based and airborne cameras is

susceptible to obstruction by clouds.

The Columbia Accident Investigation

Board (CAIB) recommended the Shuttle ascent imaging network be

upgraded to have the capability of providing at least three useful views of the

LV from lift-off to SRB separation. In

response, the NASA/KSC Weather

Office tasked the AMU to develop a

model to forecast the probability cloud

will not obstruct the view of at least X

imaging cameras at any time from

launch to SRB separation. An analysis

of the sensitivity of viewing probabilities to upgrades of the camera network

was developed in collaboration with

the Shuttle Launch Director, the KSC

Intercenter Photo Working Group, and

the 45WS Shuttle Launch Weather

Officer.

A 3-D computer model was randomly seeded with cloud fields and

viewing probabilities were computed

for selected cloud scenarios. The

AMU model was based on computer

simulations of:

1. idealized, random cloud coverage

scenarios;

2. the optical lines-of-sight from

cameras to the LV using the camera

network before and after upgrades for

Return to Flight (RTF); and

3. a LV ascent trajectory for a launch

from Pad 39B to the International

Space Station (ISS). Based on the

results, launch day criteria and launch

decision strategies are being developed

and coordinated with senior Shuttle

management.

Task:Stable Low Cloud Evaluation

Goal: Examine archived data collected during rapid stable cloud development events resulting in cloud ceilings below 8000 ft at the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF). Document the

atmospheric conditions favoring this

type of cloud development to improve

the ceiling forecast issued by the SMG

for Shuttle landings at KSC.

Milestones: Identified days in the

time period 1993 - 2003 that had lowlevel temperature inversions and cloud

ceilings below 8000 ft. Retrieved visible satellite images from those same

days for comparison.

Discussion: Approximately 25 days

of satellite images were retrieved from

the satellite database and loaded onto

the AMU weather display systems.

These images were analyzed to identify days with rapid low cloud development.

Task: Hail Index

Goal: Evaluate current techniques

used by the 45WS to forecast the probability of hail occurrence and size.

Hail forecasts are required to protect

personnel and material assets at KSC,

CCAFS, Patrick Air Force Base and

the Melbourne International Airport.

The evaluation results will be used by

the 45WS to determine if a new technique is needed.

Milestones: The AMU used data

from the Cloud-to-Ground Lightning

Surveillance System (CGLSS) to evaluate the Neumann-Pfeffer Thunderstorm Index (NPTI) technique, as the

hail size forecast generated by the

computer code is contingent on a "yes"

thunderstorm forecast by the NPTI.

Discussion: On 966 days with lightning activity in the local area as indicated by CGLSS, the NPTI forecast a

"yes" on only 511 days. This level of

performance suggests that the computer code should be modified to generate a forecast hail size independent

of the NPTI forecast.

Task: RSA and Legacy Wind Sensor

Evaluation

Goal: Compare wind speed and

direction statistics from the legacy and

RSA sensors on the Eastern (ER) and

Western (WR) Ranges to determine the

impact of the sensor changes on wind

measurements. The 45WS and 30WS

(Vandenberg AFB, CA) need to know

of any differences in the measurements

between the two systems as they use

these winds to issue weather advisories

for operations.

Milestones: Analyzed 4 hours of

archived RSA and legacy wind data

from Tower 300 on the WR on a day

with northeast winds at 10 to 20 kts. 

Discussion: The average wind speeds

and directions were similar for both

instruments but the RSA peak speeds

were several knots higher than the

legacy gusts. A study using synthetic

data showed that the algorithm used to

calculate the legacy peak speeds likely

caused a large percentage of the difference. However, these results have limited utility as the archived gusts are not

used to evaluate Launch Commit Criteria (LCC). Efforts are underway to

obtain the legacy peak speed data used

to evaluate LCC during launch operations. Note: The KSC Weather Office

and the AMU believe the algorithm is

faulty

Task: Volume Averaged Height Integrated Radar Reflectivity (VAHIRR)

Goal: Transition the VAHIRR algorithm into operations. The current

lightning launch commit criteria

(LLCC) for anvil clouds to avoid triggered lightning are overly conservative

and lead to costly launch delays and

scrubs. The VAHIRR algorithm was

developed as a result of the Airborne

Field Mill program to evaluate a new

LLCC for anvil clouds. This algorithm

will assist forecasters in providing
SECTION 3 NASA 215

fewer missed launch opportunities

with no loss of safety compared with

the current LLCC.

Milestones: The VAHIRR algorithm

was acquired from the National Center

for Atmospheric Research.

Discussion: The VAHIRR algorithm

was received and installed on a local

computer for development. There

were also several discussions with Mr.

Tim Crum and Mr. Randy George of

the Radar Operations Center in Norman, OK on the process of integrating

new algorithms into the WSR-88D

operational system.

Task: Mesoscale Model Phenomenological Verification Evaluation

Goal: Find model weather-phenomena verification tools in the literature

that could be transitioned into operations. Forecasters use models to aid in

forecasting weather phenomena important to launch, landing, and daily

ground operations. Methods that verify model performance are needed to

help forecasters determine the model

skill in predicting certain phenomena.

Milestones: Collected journal articles describing the development and/or

use of new phenomenological verification techniques. Created tables containing information about each technique.

Discussion: The tables include the

article reference, weather phenomenon

being verified, model being verified,

model and observational data used,

name of the new technique, and the

feasibility of transitioning the technique to operations.

Task: ARPS Optimization and Training Extension

Goal: Provide assistance and support

for upgrading and improving the operational Advanced Regional Prediction

System (ARPS) and ARPS Data

Analysis System (ADAS) that is used

to make operational forecasts at the

National Weather Service in Melbourne, FL (NWS MLB) and SMG

forecast offices.

Milestones: Completed the upgrade

of the operational ADAS to software

version 5.1.2 at the NWS MLB, and

created a data-conversion program to

process Automated Surface Observing

System (ASOS) data.

Discussion: The upgrade and installation of ADAS onto the new Linux

workstation at the NWS MLB was

completed. A new data-ingest program

was written to improve the ADAS

analysis quality at off-hour times by

incorporating ASOS observations.

The AMU also corrected an erroneous

specification of soil type over the

Bahamas and improved the terrain resolution.

Task: User Control Interface for

ADAS Data Ingest

Goal: Develop a GUI to help forecasters at NWS MLB and SMG manage the data sets assimilated into the

operational ADAS.

Milestones: Completed installation

of GUI at NWS MLB.

Discussion: A fully functional ADAS

control GUI was installed at NWS

MLB following trouble-shooting of

certain map background issues

Task: Anvil Transparency Relationship to Radar Reflectivity

Goal: Determine if the NWS MLB

WSR-88D radar can be used to analyze

anvil cloud transparency.

Discussion: Anvil cloud transparency is an important element in

forecasting triggered lightning launch

commit criteria. Opaque anvils can

carry an electrical charge. If a vehicle

flies through such a charge, it could

trigger lightning and be destroyed.

The AMU identified 45 days during

summer 2003 with thunderstorm anvil

cirrus clouds over the KSC Shuttle

Landing Facility weather observation

site (KTTS), based on a comparative

analysis of satellite imagery and the

KTTS observations.

The NOAA Radar Operations Center is

processing the WSR-88D Layer

Reflectivity Maximum products for the

45 case days. These will be used in a

comparative analysis with the surface

observations of anvil transparency

from KTTS.

Task: Range Standardization and

Automation (RSA) Support

Goal: Help Eastern Range personnel

evaluate proposed designs and implementations of the weather systems

upgrade by the RSA and SLRSC contractors. AMU participates in design

reviews, acceptance tests and other

functions as required.

OTHER KENNEDY SPACE CENTER SUPPORTING RESEARCH

Lightning Launch Commit Criteria

(LLCC) [Airborne Field Mill

(ABFM)] Program

The KSC Weather Office continued

to direct the analysis of data gathering

from KSC's major field research program called the Lightning Launch

Commit Criteria (LLCC) program.

The LLCC program used an aircraft

equipped with field mills and cloud

physics sensors, in combination with

several ground based radars and other

sensors, to collect the 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 included more than

50 personnel from eleven organizations including other Governmental

agencies, NASA Centers, universities

and their contractors. 

Based on analyses of the extensive

data base of in-situ and radar measurements, the team developed revised

LLCC for both Attached Anvils and

Detached Anvils. Working with colleagues from the National Center for

Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Marshall Spaceflight Center (MSFC), the

University of Arizona (U AZ), the Hurricane Research Division

(NOAA/HRD), National Severe

Storms Lab., Aerospace Corp. and others, KSC developed and applied software to perform a variety of analyses

on the massive data set. These analyses included correlation and power
216 NASA SECTION 3

spectral analyses, and extensive statistical examinations of the radar, cloud

physics and electric field data.

KSC facilitated and participated in

defining the new LLCC. To help the

Lightning Advisory Panel (LAP) determine the threshold electric field aloft

that poses a triggered lightning hazard,

KSC acquired information from Shuttle and Titan about the length of the

ionized plum from their solid rocket

motors. From data obtained elsewhere

on the likely potential difference

required to trigger lightning, the LAP

used the plume lengths to convert the

triggering threat potential to a corresponding threshold electric field.

In order to automate processing of

ABFM data for the determination of

the decay of electric fields with distance from cloud edges, KSC developed an automated cloud edge detection algorithm. A paper describing the

algorithm and its testing appeared in

the May 2004 issue of the Journal of

Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology.

(Ward, J.G. and F.J. Merceret, 2004:

An Automated Cloud-Edge Detection

Algorithm Using Cloud Physics and

Radar Data, J. Atm. & Ocean. Tech.,

21(5), 762-765)

Winds

The KSC Weather Office (KSCWO)

requested the Shuttle Program to reexamine its day of launch upper air

winds procedures to ensure spatial and

temporal variability are being optimally accounted for. The KSCWO

presented several briefings on temporal wind persistence as a function of

vertical feature size and related instrumentation matters to the Space Shuttle

Natural Environments Panel challenging engineers from the Shuttle, Titan

and new Expendable Launch Vehicle

programs (Atlas V and Delta IV) to

reconsider their assumptions and

launch day procedures.

OPERATIONS

In addition to Supporting Research,

the KSC Weather Office continues to

work with the Eastern Range (ER) to

improve the KSC and ER weather

infrastructures and improve operational processes and facilities.

Visibility Sensors.

In FY2004, KSC began transmitting

Visibility and Soil Moisture data to

JSC/SMG from five suites of newly

installed sensors west of KSC to aid in

the forecast of morning fog that could

impact Shuttle landings.

Range Standardization and Automation (RSA)

The KSC Weather Office, SMG at

JSC, and the AMU continue to actively

participate in plans and proposals for

projects managed by the RSA program. RSA is a major Air Force program to modernize the Eastern and

Western Range infrastructures. Many

issues remain with RSA's pending

changes. Thus, the Air Force and

NASA weather communities continued to expend significant resources to

solve potential major RSA deficiencies, since NASA KSC, JSC and

MSFC 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 (C&D) system,

and instead partner with NOAA's Forecast Systems Lab to deliver a COTS

AWIPS (Automated Weather Information System). This will provide Range

Weather Operations with a very capable system that is cost effective, and

compatible with both future AWIPS

upgrades and with SMG. However, in

FY 2003 and FY 2004 Air Force

budget redirection seriously threatened

cancellation of the entire RSA weather

system which would have seriously

degraded long term weather support to

the American Space Program. Fortunately, the program is still progressing.

Although deliveries of some weather

sensors, models, and control and display systems began in FY2000, budget

restrictions have delayed full operational capability and acceptance by the

Eastern Range to FY 2007 (a decade

plus delay from original schedule).

Spacelift Range Systems Contract

(SLRS-C)

In addition to the RSA Modernization programs, the new SLRS-C provides Sustaining Engineering for the

legacy systems and also the systems

RSA is delivering. SLRS-C is currently upgrading or replacing three

systems currently owned by NASA

Kennedy Space Center:

• 50 MHz Doppler Radar Wind Profiler,

• Shuttle Landing Facility Weather

Tower and Sensor system, and

• the Lightning Detection and Ranging (4D total lightning) system. Upon

completion of each program, the system will be turned over from

NASA/KSC to the Eastern Range.

Despite numerous logistical and programmatic hurdles all three programs

will likely succeed:

• SLF in FY 2006, 

• 4D lightning in FY 2007, and

• 50 MHz profiler in FY 2007.

50 MHz Doppler Radar Wind Profiler

(DRWP)

Replacement of many KSC DRWP

and its electronic components components began in FY 2004 and finished in

FY 2005. Meanwhile, several antenna

field issues were corrected,

1. The Air Force funded a project to

improve the drainage of the DRWP

antenna field that flooded during very

heavy rains.

2. During droughts, the very dry

antenna ground plane caused erroneous side lobe returns. The Profiler

O&M contractor designed and a contractor installed a sprinkler system to

wet the antenna field during droughts.

The sprinkler system is now installed

which solved the side-lobe problem

during dry weather.

Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF)

Weather Sensors

SLRSC also contracted to replace

and modernize all SLF weather instrumentation. SLRS-C chose the AF

Weather Agency FMQ-19 as the basic
SECTION 3 NASA 217

system to ensure adequate logistics

support. To meet special NASA

requirements, the system has been

modified to provide 1 second winds,

additional ceilometers off both runway

approaches, and a 120 minute (vs 30

minute) UPS backup. After several

communication links are complete, the

system will become operational and

turned over to the AF expected by FY

2006.

Lightning Detection and Ranging

(LDAR) System.

Since LDAR was originally developed as a research system in the late

80’s, its components are increasingly

subject to obsolescence, thus costs and

the risk of system failure are increasing. KSC worked with the Range to

justify raising the priority of a replacement LDAR in the AF Space Command priority list. The AF and KSC

worked with SLRS-C to overcome

numerous obstacles: electromagnetic

interference; NASA and AF requirements vs. COTS capabilities; site

selection for antenna towers; takeover

of COTS contractor by Finish international company; etc. Major unresolved

KSC issues: transmission of LDAR

data to SMG and NWS Melbourne;

and an expected requirement to perform environmental impact assessments (EIS) on all seven antenna sites

because of the location of two towers

in marshlands. The EISs will delay

antenna installation until FY 2006;

testing until FY 2006, and project

completion until FY 2007.

TAL Atmospheric Sounding System

(TASS).

The Radio Automatic Theodolite

System (RATS) was used to provide

SMG with upper level winds, temperatures and humidity at the Shuttle

Transatlantic Abort Landing (TAL)

sites in Spain, Morocco, and Gambia.

RATS became obsolete when the manufacturer announced cessation of

sonde production. A replacement system called TASS, a Global Positioning

System (GPS) based Sippican W9000,

was selected, procured, integrated and

tested with the help of the Eastern

Range. The initial system is now

installed and operational. The Eastern

Range owns, operates and maintains

the system for NASA. In order to

improve TASS' user friendliness, reliability, and accuracy, NASA will funded

the ER to upgrade the Operating System from DOS to Windows, and

upgrade the sondes in FY 2005.

Sonic Lightning Locator (SOLLO).

The KSC Weather Office funded

development of a new lightning detection system capable of locating lightning strikes in 4D with an accuracy of

<5 meters (a considerable improvement over the 250-300 meter accuracy

of our current lightning location system.). Called SOLLO, it uses a sensor

to detect the time of arrival of the electromagnetic pulse from a lightning

strike, and then one elevated detector

and three surface based detectors to

measure the time of arrival of thunder

from the lightning, to very accurately

calculate the location of the lightning

strike. SOLLO also calculates the

amperage, rise time, and polarity of the

strike. During FY 2004, KSC

replaced/upgraded SOLLO components to enhance its capability to operate reliably in the corrosive KSC/ER

environment. During the 2004 and

2005 spring/summer lightning season,

KSC installed SOLLO systems at the

Shuttle Launch Complex and a new

technology development and testing

facility for further testing.

KSC/CCAFS Weather Observation

Site Relocation.

The 24/7 official KSC/CCAFS

Weather Observation Site is located in

a very aging structure with its view of

Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) runway

totally obscured. We convinced architects and managers of a project to build

a new SLF air traffic control tower to

include two floors for weather

observers and equipment. The Range

Technical Service Contractor (CSR)

provided detailed specifications to

ensure the final design met strict

observing requirements. The tower

project is complete; and move in was

completed in FY 2005. The tower

enables observers to provide much

more accurate weather depictions over

SLF, especially during rapidly changing conditions, thus improving aircraft,

Space Shuttle and future RLV safety.

Lightning Launch Commit Criteria

(LLCC) Revision

During analyses of Airborne Field

Mill (ABFM) Program data, the Lightning Advisory Panel (LAP) concluded

the radar definition of cloud edge, top

and base in the LLCC was not sufficiently conservative. Based on ABFM

measurements of electric fields high

enough to trigger lightning with radar

reflectivities as low as 5 dBZ, the LAP

concluded the radar threshold needed

to be lowered from10 dBZ to 0 dBZ.

The conclusion was reached one week

before the launch of first Mars Rover

on board a Delta.

A new definition was quickly staffed

from the LAP thru 45WS and 45th

Space Wing Safety, and the revision

recommended at the Delta/Mars Rover

Launch Readiness Review two days

before launch. Although Launch and

Program managers are normally reluctant to accept last minute changes to

procedures, we emphasized the revision was a safety issue and they

accepted the change exactly as proposed.

Columbia Accident Investigation

The entire NASA and Eastern Range

weather communities (KSC,

JSC/SMG, MSFC, GSFC, LRC, and

45WS) were deeply involved supporting the Space Shuttle Columbia accident investigation. Weather analyses

were crucial to: identifying likely

debris impact locations over the western and central United States; characterizing the atmosphere during reentry,

beginning in the very data sparse upper

Mesosphere; identifying possible

anomalous wind shears during launch

ascent; analyzing Columbia's exposure
218 NASA SECTION 3

to the atmosphere during the 39 days

Columbia was on the launch pad; and

numerous engineering studies.

NOAA/NWS also provided considerable help.

Helios Accident Investigation

NASA's premier solar-powered

research aircraft (Helios) crashed just

west of Barking Sands, Kauai in late

June 2003. The KSC Weather Office

participated on the Mishap Board

along with Dr. John Brown from

NOAA/Forecast Systems Lab. Due to

Helios' many unique design and power

characteristics, it had many very complex stability and control physics and

characteristics.

Initial research revealed little was

known about the atmosphere's behavior west of Kauai, specifically the

atmosphere's combined response to the

wake turbulence from the Trade Wind

flow over the island, shear lines from

air flowing around Kauai, sea breezes,

and the large scale pattern. Thus the

Weather Office contracted with NCAR

(Dr. Bob Sharman) and the University

of Hawaii (Dr. Duane Stevens) to perform high resolution atmospheric

numerical model simulations to try to

understand the atmosphere Helios

encountered. In addition, the University of Hawaii designed and implemented a very low budget, aircraft data

gathering program offshore of Barking

Sands, Kauai to measure wind and

temperature profiles, and turbulence

features. We used the aircraft data to

understand small-scale features and to

validate results from NCAR's high resolution model simulations. The final

Helios Mishap Board report was

released to the public.

BUDGET

Budget changes from FY 2005 to FY

2006 for core O&M capabilities are

mostly due to inflation with two exceptions. 

1. The funds transferred to Eastern

Range for weather support began to

increase in FY 2005 as NASA returned

to launching Shuttles after 2 1⁄2 years of

analyses and program changes following the Columbia accident.

2. A $200K increase in the FY 2005

budget to O&M the LDAR and DRWP

systems. Both are R&D systems developed in the late 1980’s which are now

used to support operations. Their components are rapidly becoming obsolete

and hard/expensive to replace. The AF

expects to replace LDAR by FY 2006

and DRWP by late FY 2005, and then

assume system ownership from

NASA. Meanwhile O&M costs will

continue to escalate.

Three significant programs required

large budget outlays/commitments: 

1. Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF)

weather system (replacement),

2. 4D Lightning Detection and Ranging (LDAR) (replacement), and

3. 50 MHz Doppler Radar Wind Profiler (DRWP) (upgrade).

The AF is funding a significant portion of and managing the programs.

Estimated costs are: SLF: $1.8M;

LDAR: $2.6M; and DRWP $3+M.

NASA's contributions are to satisfy

unique NASA requirements and to

facilitate the modernization and system

transition to the AF.
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, nonradioactive 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 219

Figure 3-NRC-1. NRC regulates commercial nuclear power plants. The

photo shows the operating nuclear

plant at Diablo Cayon, CA.

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 fundamental and

applied research to address weather

phenomena that are either life threatening or economically disruptive. Focus

areas include:

Better understanding and forecasting

of hurricane track and intensity;

Better quantitative precipitation forecasting and estimation;

Optimal use of observations in

numerical models; and

The societal/economic impacts of

improved weather information.

The total research support for FY

2005 was approximately 14 million.

In FY 2006, support is expected to

remain level.

Space Weather. NSF supports

research under the National Space

Weather Program (NSWP). 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 ground based technological systems and can endanger

human health. Examples of NSF support of space weather include conducting a highly successful competition for

space weather research grants and providing support for the Center for Integrated Space Weather Modeling

(CISM), a multi-institutional effort led

by Boston University and dedicated to

providing advance warning of potentially harmful space weather events.

The NSF’s NSWP support in FY 2005

was about $14 million and is expected

to be the same in FY 2006.

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 2005 USGCRP

funding was about $185 million. In

FY 2006, funding is expected to be

level. The Division of Atmospheric

Sciences USGCRP funding for FY

2005 was about $44.0 million with FY

2006 funding expected to be level also.

AIR QUALITY

NSF supported fundamental research

in the area of air quality helps develop

improved understanding of the

sources, formation, atmospheric processing and fates of ambient air pollutants. Atmospheric oxidant species

(and their precursors), sulfur dioxide,

nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, fine

particles (and their precursors), and

acids are important atmospheric constituents that influence air quality, and

in turn habitability, human health and

climate. Field experiments, laboratory

studies, instrument development, new

methods of chemical analysis, and

improved models of atmospheric

chemical reaction mechanisms, 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.

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 221

APPENDIX A

MISSION AND STAFFING OF THE

OFFICE OF THE FEDERAL COORDINATOR FOR METEOROLOGY

(OFCM)

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 223
224 APPENDIX A

NATURAL DISASTER REDUCTION

INTERDEPARTMENTAL HURRICANE CONFERENCE

The OFCM annually hosts the Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference

(IHC) 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. The OFCM

hosted the 59th IHC in Jacksonville,

Florida, March 7-11, 2005. The theme

of the 2005 conference was The

Nation's Tropical Cyclone ProgramPriorities for the Next Decade. The

conference attendance was 213; for the

sixth consecutive year, attendance has

exceeded 200. The 59th IHC was

cohosted by the Office of the Oceanographer of the Navy. The keynote

address for the conference was given

by Dr. James R. Mahoney, Assistant

Secretary of Commerce for Oceans

and Atmosphere and NOAA Deputy

Administrator. At its November 16,

2004, meeting, the Interdepartmental

Committee for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research

(ICMSSR) strongly supported the 58th

IHC action item to develop a comprehensive strategy for tropical cyclone

research and development to guide

interagency efforts over the next

decade. In response to that action, the

Joint Action Group for Tropical

Cyclone Research (JAG/TCR) was

formed, and the group conducted a

strategic planning session during the

59th IHC to begin developing the

framework for a Strategic Research

Plan for Tropical Cyclones. This effort

will build upon the goals and objectives of the OFCM-sponsored National

Plan for Tropical Cyclone Research

and Reconnaissance (1997-2002) and

the U.S. Weather Research Program

Hurricane Landfall Implementation

Plan, and articulate the interagency

tropical cyclone research priorities for

the next decade. The goal is to complete the plan prior to the 60th IHC in

March 2006. The conference also

highlighted the success of the Stepped

Frequency Microwave Radiometer

(SFMR), which provides critically

needed surface-wind and rainfall-rate

information in the tropical cyclone

environment, supporting National Hurricane Center and emergency management requirements. The SFMR, which

is currently flown on NOAA's WP-3D

aircraft, is being transitioned from

research to operations. In fact, as a

result of the 2004 hurricane season

which ravaged the state of Florida, the

Department of Defense received a

$10.5 million Congressional supplement to install the SFMR on the Air

Force Reserve Command's WC-130J

hurricane hunter aircraft. Initial operational capability is scheduled for

August 2006. Financial support for the

SFMR development was provided by

the OFCM through the Improved

Weather Reconnaissance Program.

Other actions from the 59th IHC

include the development of a comprehensive long-term interagency strategy

for airborne reconnaissance observations as a subset of the Global Earth

Observation System of Systems

(GEOSS); facilitating a meeting of

Web site owners from NHC, FEMA,

USACE, etc., to discuss improved

linkages, formats, and other related

issues needed to improve customer use

and understanding; and developing a

path ahead to implement recommendations from the OFCM-sponsored study

Warning Messages-Exploring Customer Understanding, which was completed in June 2005, to improve the

understanding and use of tropical

cyclone forecasts and warnings. In

The Federal Committee for Meteorological Services and Supporting

Research (FCMSSR), established in

1964, provides policy-level agency

representation and guidance to the

Federal Coordinator to address agency

priorities, requirements, and issues

related to services, operations, and

supporting research, and also resolves

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 Chairperson.

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),

Homeland Security (DHS), Interior

(DOI), and State (DOS), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),

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 2005

AND PLANS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2006

FEDERAL COMMITTEE FOR METEOROLOGICAL SERVICES

AND SUPPORTING RESEARCH
APPENDIX A 225

May 2005, the 43rd edition of the

National Hurricane Operations Plan

(NHOP), which provides the basis for

hurricane reconnaissance for the 2005

season and details Federal agency

responsibilities, operations, and procedures; products; aircraft, satellite,

radar, and buoy data collection; and

marine weather broadcasts, was published based on the inputs and discussions from the 59th IHC. The comprehensive NHOP was critical to ensuring

successful weather and reconnaissance

operations for the 2005 hurricane season.

POST-STORM DATA ACQUISITION

The OFCM will continue to coordinate, as required, timely post-storm

data acquisition surveys in response to

Presidentially declared natural disasters and other agency requirements to

evaluate, for example, the impact on

the coastal ecosystems. These natural

disaster reduction efforts contribute to

the determination of the intensity and

magnitude of storms, and, in many

cases, help to determine the extent of

damage for use in Presidential disaster

declarations. The additional data collected after hurricane landfall is also

used in validating modeling efforts

with both emergency management

models (e.g., FEMA's HAZUS) and

hurricane storm-surge models (e.g.,

NOAA's SLOSH). These models are

used in real-time to assist decision

makers in evacuation decisions and

procedures. Post-storm data are also

used to update FEMA Flood Insurance

Rate Maps. In FY 2005, post-storm

surveys were conducted for Hurricane

Dennis; tornado occurrences during

March in Houston County in Southeast

Alabama, and in Seminole, Miller, and

Mitchell Counties in Southwest Georgia; and Hurricane Katrina. A senior

OFCM staff person is spearheading

efforts in the development of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)

between the Department of Commerce

(DOC)/OFCM and the Department of

Defense/Office of the Secretary of

Defense, to provide USAF AuxiliaryCivil Air Patrol aerial support and

reconnaissance for post-storm and natural disaster data assessment. The

MOU has been approved by the

NOAA General Counsel's Office and is

currently being reviewed at the DOC

level. It will then be forwarded to the

Air Force for their concurrence. 

URBAN METEOROLOGY

The OFCM, in partnership with the

Department of Homeland Security

(DHS) Science and Technology Directorate, conducted a User Forum on

Urban Meteorology, September 21-23,

2004, at the Doubletree Hotel and

Executive Meeting Center in

Rockville, Maryland. The theme of

the forum was Information to Improve

Community Responses to Urban

Atmospheric Hazards, Weather Events,

and Climate. It focused on the following elements of urban meteorology:

severe weather, homeland security, air

quality, water quality, and climate.

This interagency forum was the direct

result of an action item from the October 18, 2002, meeting of the FCMSSR.

The forum's proceedings were completed in March 2005. In accordance

with direction received at the November 16, 2004, meeting of ICMSSR, the

OFCM developed clear guidelines and

direction for establishing an interagency working group to address the

actions that resulted from the forum.

This was submitted to the ICMSSR

members on June 29, 2005. The

OFCM obtained Committee approval

for formation of the Working Group

for Urban Meteorology (WG/UM) and

has implemented the working group.

The goal of WG/UM is "...to define a

multi-agency coordinated R&D program to support implementation of

tools and systems for cost-effective

mitigation of severe weather events

and other weather-related hazards in

the urban environment. The hazard

categories include severe weather

events, homeland security (emergency

response to airborne hazards), air and

water quality hazards, and climaterelated conditions."

CLIMATE

During FY 2005, the OFCM made

contributions to climate activities in

the following two primary areas: in

connection with the Urban Meteorology User Forum which was held September 21-23, 2004, and the U.S. Climate Change Science Program

(CCSP). The Urban Meteorology User

Forum focused on the following elements of urban meteorology: severe

weather, homeland security, air quality,

water quality, and climate. Results of

the forum were briefed at the November 16, 2004, meeting of the ICMSSR

and, as a result, OFCM was tasked to

develop clear guidelines and direction

for establishing an interagency working group to address actions from the

forum, and to coordinate and develop

an interagency document covering an

urban meteorology program, including

climate. Dr. James R. Mahoney,

Director of the U.S. Climate Change

Science Program, briefed the

FCMSSR at its December 1, 2004,

meeting. Dr. Mahoney noted that

many challenges lie ahead for the

CCSP program, particularly those

related to the budget process and delivering the best possible science to

inform decision makers. It was

decided that FCMSSR members will

continue to stay abreast of the CCSP

and will coordinate priorities for

atmospheric requirements through

OFCM for inclusion in the CCSP. An

OFCM Senior Staff Meteorologist

serves as a liaison to the CCSP and the

Subcommittee on Global Change

Research and is continuing to participate in CCSP activities. She attended

the March 2, 2005, CCSP meeting and

is supporting plans for the November

14-16, 2005, workshop on Climate Science in Support of Decision Making to

be held in Arlington, Virginia. She
226 APPENDIX A

also attended the March 9, 2005, CCSP

Communications Interagency Working

Group (CIWG) meeting which discussed the provision of general information about CCSP to the public. The

OFCM staff person attends the

monthly meetings of CIWG and also

helped design the template for its quarterly fact sheets. The OFCM has also

developed and coordinated a climate

products and services survey for use by

its interagency Committee for Climate

Analysis, Monitoring, and Services

(CCAMS). A meeting of CCAMS was

held May 3, 2005. At this meeting, the

Federal Coordinator spoke on the role

of CCAMS membership, the relationship of CCAMS to the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC)

Committee on Environment and Natural Resources (CENR), how

NSTC/CENR links to the CCSP, the

relationship between the OFCM and

the NSTC/CENR and CCSP, and products and organizations. Another

important activity which is carried out

in connection with the Federal Coordinator's role as member of the

NSTC/CENR is review and concurrence of a number of CENR reports

and materials. These include the

Terms of Reference for the Interagency

Working Group on Earth Observations

(which has now been formally established as the Group on Earth Observations); a proposal for a new CENR

Subcommittee on Science and Technology for Sustainability; CENR

Grand Challenges Report; appendices,

clearance memorandum, concurrence

sheet, draft, and final Strategic Plan

for the U.S. Integrated Earth Observation System; the document Science and

Technology Lessons Learned from the

December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean Disaster; and the plan Tsunami Risk

Reduction for the United States: A

Framework for Action.

Another accomplishment concerns

an OFCM request of the CCAMS

agencies to complete a survey to identify new climate products that have

been developed and implemented since

the Board on Atmospheric Sciences

and Climate defined "climate services"

in 2001 as "the timely production and

delivery of useful climate data, information, and knowledge to decision

makers." On September 21, 2005, the

results of the survey were forwarded to

the Director of the U.S. Climate

Change Science Program. The Federal

Coordinator noted that the climate

services activities should be considered an integral part of the CCSP. Further, the OFCM is using its infrastructure to reach out and invite many government, private, and academic individuals to attend the November 14-16,

2005, Climate Science in Support of

Decision Making workshop; and the

OFCM has agreed to provide financial

support for an evening poster session

of the workshop.

OPERATIONAL PROCESSING

The OFCM Committee for Operational Processing Centers (COPC)

addresses processing and backup capabilities of NOAA's National Centers

for Environmental Prediction and

Office of Satellite Data Processing and

Distribution, the Air Force Weather

Agency, and the U.S. Navy's Fleet

Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center and Naval Oceanographic Office. During FY 2005, the

COPC continued to make progress in

areas such as model development,

observing strategies, database architecture, and backup requirements. The

COPC has begun activities in the area

of High Performance Computing and

Communications (HPCC). An HPCC

model run was conducted on the

Weather Research and Forecasting

(WRF) Operational Test Bed Distributed Center computers to demonstrate

the capability of grid computing and to

establish the feasibility of a DOD Joint

Operational Test Bed for the WRF

modeling framework. In addition,

efforts are underway to continue to

improve backup support and capabilities and to coordinate preparation for

the implementation of the WRF system, in accordance with the National

Concept of Operations Framework for

the Operational Processing Centers,

which is contained in an April 1, 2004,

memorandum of agreement signed by

the directors of the Operational Processing Centers. At the March 23-24,

2005, meeting of the COPC, the members endorsed the establishment of a

new OFCM-sponsored National Operational Processing Centers (NOPC)

Program Council for higher level organizational approval and monetary commitment. The COPC will report to the

new program council, with the Working Group for Cooperative Support and

Backup (WG/CSAB) reporting to the

COPC. Three joint action groups

(JAG) will report to WG/CSAB; these

are the JAG for Operational Community Modeling (JAG/OCM), the JAG

for Centralized Communications Management (JAG/CCM), and the JAG for

Operational Data Acquisition for

Assimilation (JAG/ODAA). Future

COPC activities include JAG/OCM

reporting on its progress in preparing a

WRF Joint Implementation Plan and

discussion of the charter for NOPC.

The COPC will also consider a request

from the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System

(NPOESS) Senior Users Advisory

Group (SUAG) for the OFCM COPC

to provide oversight and foster the synergistic coordination, program development, and implementation of

NPOESS data exploitation strategies.

ENVIRONMENTAL SUPPORT TO

HOMELAND SECURITY

ATMOSPHERIC TRANSPORT AND

DIFFUSION RESEARCH AND

DEVELOPMENT PLAN

In September 2004, the OFCM completed work with applicable agencies

in developing the report, Federal

Research Needs and Priorities for

Atmospheric Transport and Diffusion
APPENDIX A 227

Modeling, a FCMSSR action. The

report is the result of a process that

included consultation with subjectmatter experts, including first responders and emergency managers; a careful analysis of research needs and current capabilities to respond to domestic

incidents of national significance; a

capability gap analysis; and the development of strategies to close the gaps.

The report was briefed to the ICMSSR

and FCMSSR at their November 16,

2004, and December 1, 2004, meetings, and both committees endorsed

the report's recommendations. As a

result, all agencies with a vested interest in atmospheric transport and diffusion modeling are to incorporate applicable recommendations into their planning, programming, and budgeting

process. This plan is available for

downloading from the Department of

Homeland Security (DHS) Lessons

Learned Information Sharing Web site,

as is the August 2002 OFCM report

Atmospheric Modeling of Releases

from Weapons of Mass DestructionResponse by Federal Agencies in Support of Homeland Security. On July

19, 2005, the OFCM conducted a special session in conjunction with the 9th

Annual George Mason University

(GMU) Conference on Atmospheric

Transport and Dispersion Modeling to

begin to address, with the broader private and academic communities, the

issue of uncertainty in ATD models-a

capstone goal of the Federal Research

Needs and Priorities for Atmospheric

Transport and Diffusion Modeling

report. In addition, the OFCM developed an ATD implementation strategy

for the report's recommendations for

which the OFCM has primary responsibility. The strategy was sent to the

FCMSSR and ICMSSR members in

August 2005 for their review and comments. The implementation strategy

has three parts: (1) working with the

agencies to identify and improve a

baseline set of national ATD modeling

capabilities; (2) helping the agencies

implement a common framework for

model development and evaluation;

and (3) recommending criteria for multifunctional joint urban test beds. Currently, the OFCM is moving forward to

establish JAGs to address parts 2 and 3

of the strategy. Further, the implementation of the strategy and the work of

the JAGs will fall under the purview of

the Working Group for Urban Meteorology (WG/UM). As a result of the

September 2004 Urban Meteorology

Forum, the OFCM will focus future

ATD modeling coordination efforts on

urban areas and shift responsibility for

these efforts from the Working Group

for Environmental Support to Homeland Security to the WG/UM.

GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY

ATMOSPHERIC TRANSPORT AND

DISPERSION MODELING CONFERENCE

George Mason University (GMU),

Fairfax, Virginia, conducted its 9th

Annual Conference on Atmospheric

Transport and Dispersion Modeling,

July 18-20, 2005. The OFCM partnered with GMU to sponsor the event.

Technical topics of interest for the conference were: new developments in

basic theories of boundary layer models and transport and dispersion models; urban-scale meteorological and

dispersion experiments and models;

computational fluid dynamics (CFD)

model theory and applications; field

experiments and laboratory experiments concerned with boundary layer

studies and turbulence and dispersion

studies; mesoscale meteorological

modeling for input to transport and dispersion models; the use of remote

sensing technology in boundary layer

and transport and dispersion studies;

model evaluation methods, uncertainty/sensitivity analyses, and risk

assessments; improvements in model

inputs (e.g., land-use data, 3-D building data) and output visualizations; and

methods and criteria for emergency

response and decision-making.

On July 19, 2005, the OFCM hosted

a session related to the OFCM's ongoing work with the Department of

Homeland Security and other members

of the Federal meteorological community. The main focus of the ongoing

work was to define the concept of

operations and the research and development needs required to support the

National Incident Management System

and emergency responders at Federal,

state, and local levels. The OFCM session topic was Uncertainty in Atmospheric Transport and Diffusion (ATD)

Models. The Federal Coordinator

noted that the session objectives were

to facilitate a discussion of uncertainties in ATD modeling systems that

incorporates academic and private sector inputs, and accounts for uncertainty

in meteorological observations and

models and in dispersion models; and

to help Federal agencies striving to

improve their ATD modeling systems

to implement the recommendations

made by the OFCM JAG for Atmospheric Transport and Diffusion

(Research and Development Plan) in

their publication Federal Research and

Development Needs and Priorities for

Atmospheric Transport and Diffusion

Modeling (2004). He also stated that

the way ahead included: complete the

strategy for ATD modeling improvements and present it to the FCMSSR

(key elements of the strategy are a core

set of ATD modeling systems, recovery of existing ATD data, common

framework for model evaluation, and

ATD test beds); and through partnership and collaboration within the Federal meteorological community and its

customers, the OFCM will continue to

identify shortfalls in urban meteorology, and help to organize improvements across all applicable focus areas

that will better support users in the

urban environment. On August 26,

2005, the OFCM Implementation

Strategy for Federal Atmospheric

Transport and Diffusion Modeling and

Measurement Improvements was for-
228 APPENDIX A

warded to the FCMSSR members.

HOMELAND SECURITY ENVIRONMENTAL SUPPORT PLAN

The Homeland Security Environmental Support Plan, an action from

the FCMSSR, will define the mission,

roles, and responsibilities of individual

Federal agencies as they relate to

homeland security and will document

each agency's environmental support

capabilities and/or requirements. The

OFCM worked closely with the Plume

Modeling Subset of the Consequence

Management, Site Restoration/Cleanup (CMS) Subgroup, which is chaired

by the Department of Homeland Security (Emergency Preparedness and

Response), to develop an interagency

concept of operations for an all-hazards dispersion support framework.

The concept of the Interagency Modeling and Atmospheric Assessment Center (IMAAC) was successfully proposed to the Homeland Security Council Deputies and adopted in April 2004.

The IMAAC began operations in an

interim capacity in April 2004. The

seven departments and agencies participating in the IMAAC-DOC/NOAA,

DOD, DOE, DHS/S&T, EPA, NASA,

and NRC-developed an interagency

Memorandum of Understanding

(MOU). In the MOU, each agency

agreed to participate in the Senior

Management Council (SMC) and

Senior Scientific Advisory Council

(SSAC) and to develop an annex

detailing agency-specific roles and

responsibilities and implementation

details. When fully implemented, the

IMAAC will support the development

and implementation of a set of IMAAC

products, capitalizing on the Federal

agencies' suite of meteorological and

ATD models that DHS can use to

respond to incidents of national significance. While the initial goal was to

complete the Homeland Security Environmental Support Plan by the end of

FY 2005, successful completion rests

with the completion of the IMAAC

concept of operations, which, at this

point, is still evolving.

ANNUAL FEDERAL PLAN

In October 2004, the OFCM issued

The Federal Plan for Meteorological

Services and Supporting Research-Fiscal Year 2005. The Federal Plan is

congressionally mandated and is a oneof-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 overlap and duplication among the agencies. It is a comprehensive publication

that documents proposed programs for

Fiscal Year (FY) 2005 and reviews

agency programs in FY 2004. 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. The special interest

article in the FY 2005 Annual Federal

Plan, The Rewards of Managing

Weather-Related Risks, focused on the

Federal agencies' meteorological activities related to risk management and

assessments, and the socioeconomic

impacts of natural hazards. During

January 2005, the OFCM issued a call

for agency input to The Federal Plan

for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research-Fiscal Year 2006.

The feature article for the FY 2006

Annual Federal Plan focuses on the

Federal agencies' meteorological activities related to minimizing the impact

of wildland fires on the urban environment; its title is Living with Wildland

Fire in the Urban Environment.

WEATHER INFORMATION FOR

SURFACE TRANSPORTATION

The ICMSSR received an update on

weather information for surface transportation (WIST) at its November 16,

2004, meeting. The ICMSSR supported the Working Group for Weather

Information for Surface Transportation

(WG/WIST) actions to allow all Federal departments and agencies to participate in the development of plans or

projects to meet their WIST needs and

ensure Federal resources are used efficiently; to develop a multiyear, Federal

WIST research program plan to bring

together the Federal weather and surface transportation research communities and provide a vision for the public

and private sectors to use for planning

purposes; and to develop an overarching, multiagency-coordinated WIST

implementation program. WG/WIST

is actively working on its tasks with

interagency meetings on January 27,

March 16, April 28, July 11, and September 15, 2005, and making additional progress between meetings. The

OFCM's Weather Information for Surface Transportation-National Needs

Assessment Report (December 2002) is

a groundbreaking requirements report

which has provided the foundation for

both NOAA and DOT surface weather

program initiatives. It was also fully

endorsed by the FCMSSR, the DOT

Under Secretary for Policy, and

VADM Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr.,

USN (Ret.), Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and

NOAA Administrator, and Ms. Mary

E. Peters, FHWA Administrator during

their August 18, 2003, meeting. The

work of the WG/WIST, jointly chaired

by NOAA and FHWA, was again later

endorsed in the July 20, 2005, Memorandum of Understanding signed by

VADM Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr.,

USN (Ret.) and Ms. Mary E. Peters.

Timely and accurate surface transportation information will support

improvements in safety and efficiency

in transportation operations.

Most recently, on September 23,

2005, OFCM forwarded to ICMSSR

members the Weather Information for

Surface Transportation (WIST) Initiative Document-First Steps to Improve

the Nation's WIST Capabilities and

Services (September 2005). This Initiative Document represents the initial

recommendations of the WG/WIST
APPENDIX A 229

members on key actions and priorities

that should be taken by the responsible

agencies in the OFCM Federal coordinating infrastructure to collaborate on

and address national surface transportation safety, mobility, and productivity issues. These proposed actions

are focused on tackling the weather

condition having the most impact on

the surface transportation systems-liquid precipitation-and on other areas

where ongoing R&D or other activities

can be leveraged to improve weather

information for surface transportation

capabilities and services. While completing these initiatives is only the first

step, this step is significant in that it

will demonstrate the benefits gained

when the responsible Federal agencies

can develop a shared vision, together

with the needed resources, to begin to

address national surface transportation

safety and efficiency issues. This document will be followed at a later date

by both a WIST research and development plan and a WIST implementation

plan, which will be developed by the

OFCM-sponsored WG/WIST. The

roadway portion of this activity is in

accordance with Section 5308 (Road

Weather Research and Development

Program) of the Safe, Accountable,

Flexible, Efficient Transportation

Equity Act: A Legacy for Users

(SAFETEA-LU), which was enacted

August 10, 2005, and will support

agency initiatives in road weather and

education and training of road weather

information users.

AVIATION WEATHER

In December 2004, the OFCM

issued Aviation Weather

Programs/Projects-2004 Update

which updates the compilation of

activities across Federal agencies that

began with the National Aviation

Weather Initiatives Final Baseline Tier

3⁄4 Report, distributed in 2001, and

serves as a baseline report for the

recently established Joint Planning and

Development Office (JPDO) within

the Federal Aviation Administration

(FAA). This document identifies all or

most of the federally supported

research and development (R&D)

efforts relevant to reducing weatherrelated risks to aviation. Many of these

activities include industry, university,

and association partners. With this

update, we have increased the focus on

another objective of our compilation

effort: tracking progress toward completing the R&D phase and transferring the results-whether as specific

technology products or as improved

information products and services-into

aviation operations. This report also

updates and extends the analysis of

trends in weather-related aviation accidents that first appeared in the

National Aviation Weather Program

Mid-Course Assessment, published in

August 2003, and endorsed by the

FCMSSR, FAA, and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).

The effort to deliver improved weather

risk reduction products and services

must be supported and sustained. Particularly essential is education and

training for all general aviation pilots

on how to deal with the deadliest

weather-related hazards. Weather hazards will always be with those who fly;

our goal must be to continually reduce

the risks from encountering these hazards. Additional accomplishments

which are underway in the area of aviation weather support include followup activities from the June 21-24,

2004, 2nd International Conference on

Volcanic Ash and Aviation Safety.

These include the development and

coordination of interagency volcanic

ash operations and implementation

plans. The operations plan will identify procedures and agency responsibilities and contacts for responding to a

volcanic ash release. The implementation plan will provide the roadmap for

further improved science, new technologies for observing volcanic ash

(e.g., NASA's efforts), improved

detection (USGS), NOAA modeling

and forecasting (NAAC forecasts for

aircraft avoidance), and education of

the international community. The

OFCM attended the National Business

Aviation Association, Inc., and Friends

and Partners in Aviation Weather

Annual Meeting held in Las Vegas,

Nevada, in October 2004, and will

continue to implement the National

Aviation Weather Program during FY

2005. The Federal interagency Aviation Weather Program has resulted in a

major reduction of weather-related

accidents. The program is on track for

meeting the established goal to reduce

weather-related accidents by 80 percent by 2007.

SPACE WEATHER

The overarching goal of the National

Space Weather Program (NSWP),

which is administered by an OFCM

program council, is to achieve an

active, synergistic, interagency system;

providing timely, accurate, and reliable

space weather warnings, observations,

specifications, and forecasts by 2007.

The NSWP Strategic and Implementation Plans provide, respectively, broad

guidance and a detailed roadmap for

the NSWP. It was noted at the November 16, 2004, and December 1, 2004,

ICMSSR and FCMSSR meetings,

respectively, that the program is nearing the end of the 10-year period,

which was addressed in the strategic

and implementation plans, and that it

was time to perform an interagency

assessment to look at the progress

toward meeting its goals. It was determined that a comprehensive review of

the NSWP was warranted to quantify

the progress toward meeting the goals

in observations, research, modeling,

transition of research to operations,

and education and outreach; to determine if actions detailed in the NSWP

Implementation Plan are on target and

moving in the direction detailed by the

strategic plan; and to determine

whether the strategic goals should be

adjusted at this time based on emerg-
230 APPENDIX A

ing and evolving requirements. A

National Space Weather Program

Assessment Study Group has been

formed and the strategy for completing

the assessment completed. The review

methodology was developed by the

Committee for Space Weather (CSW)

at its January 26, 2005, meeting,

including who will do the assessment

and how it will be completed. The

NSWP Assessment Study Group met

for the first time July 7-8, 2005. On

September 27, 2005, an Interim

Assessment Letter Report was sent to

the Federal Coordinator and forwarded

to FCMSSR members. The report contained early findings and areas where

further investigation will take place.

The outcome is important to NOAA

and supports the item, "Develop and

evaluate space environment forecast

models," which is included in Table 13

(Research Milestones for Improving

Weather Forecasts and Warnings) of

NOAA's 5-year research plan (January

2005). The OFCM also participated in

Space Weather Week from April 5-8,

2005, in Broomfield, Colorado. Space

Weather Week was sponsored by

NOAA Space Environment Center and

partners, and is for users and

researchers interested in space

weather. 

LIGHTNING DATA

The OFCM JAG for Lightning

Detection Systems (JAG/LDS) met

during FY 2004 to work on the new

Lightning Data Contract. In addition,

JAG/LDS members served as members of the Technical Evaluation and

Business Committees for contract

selection. The NOAA National

Weather Service (NWS) contract was

in effect beginning FY 2005. The new

contract is for one base year and four

one-year options. Some benefits are:

(1) improving warning services by

identifying and categorizing severe

weather, (2) monitoring interagency

resources needed for fire protection

and services (e.g. resource allocations

for USDA Forest Service and

DOI/BLM, and use of NOAA NWS

Incident Meteorologists, especially in

the Western and Alaska Regions), and

(3) enabling improved transportation

services by supporting a more efficient

use of the National Airspace System,

resulting in both cost savings to industry and the public as well as enhanced

public safety. This activity supports

NOAA's Strategic Plan Mission Goals

to Serve Society's Needs for Weather

and Water Information and Support the

Nation's Commerce with Information

for Safe, Efficient, and Environmentally Sound Transportation. JAG/LDS

successfully completed its charge by

its parent Committee for Environmental Services, Operations and Research

Needs (CESORN), and the JAG was

disestablished June 15, 2005, at the

conclusion of its last meeting. Further

actions regarding lightning detection

systems will be addressed by

CESORN.

PHASED ARRAY RADAR

The Phased Array Radar Project

(PARP) was briefed to ICMSSR at its

November 16, 2004, meeting. The

ICMSSR supported the JAG's continued work to identify and document the

potential needs and benefits that the

phased array radar and an adaptive

radar sensing strategy would address,

and to integrate those identified needs

into a multiagency-coordinated

research and development (R&D) plan

that would focus R&D efforts on meeting each agency's needs. JAG/PARP

held its first meeting on December 7,

2004, and has continued to aggressively move forward to develop a comprehensive plan to document the operational, research, and technical

weather radar needs of the Federal

agencies. Working meetings were held

May 12-13, June 22-23, and July 27,

2005. The plan will also prioritize the

most pressing R&D needs and provide

a roadmap to address those needs

within the OFCM coordinating infrastructure. A summary report was distributed to ICMSSR members in early

October 2005; and the final multiagency-coordinated R&D plan will be

completed by January 2006. This

activity is supportive of the item,

"Continue investigating the utility of

phased array radar technologies,"

which is included in Table 13

(Research Milestones for Improving

Weather Forecasts and Warnings) of

NOAA's 5-year research plan (January

2005).

ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH AND

DATA ASSIMILATION/DATA

MANAGEMENT

Atmospheric research and data

assimilation/data management were

challenges and issues discussed at the

November 16, 2004, and the December

1, 2004, meetings of ICMSSR and

FCMSSR, respectively. It was noted

that there was a need to tie future

research efforts in science, technology,

and transition mechanisms to operational and societal requirements. Key

areas such as urban meteorology,

homeland security,

mesoscale/microscale processes, aviation weather, weather information for

surface transportation, and tropical

cyclones were highlighted as needing

attention. It was agreed that agencies

will support research and development

needs and requirements based on

agency priorities and will continue to

identify issues and concerns that are

necessary for the development of capabilities required to realize societal benefits. Agencies will also support and

facilitate opportunities for the transition of research into operational applications. Further comments and suggestions will be provided by the agencies to the Federal Coordinator to

assist OFCM in the planning and

development of a vision and implementation roadmap for the supporting

research enterprise of the Federal

meteorological community for the next

decade.
APPENDIX A 231

Also highlighted at the ICMSSR and

FCMSSR meetings were data assimilation and data management challenges

the community faces, as the size of

future data sets increase by orders of

magnitude. Advanced modeling and

data assimilation techniques are critical to improve the quality of analyses

and model results and to maximize the

value of the Global Earth Observation

System of Systems (GEOSS). Agencies were very supportive of the need

for further interagency collaboration

efforts in this area. An action item

stemming from the FCMSSR meeting

was that Federal requirements and

capabilities in key areas, like data management and data assimilation, need to

be surveyed and further addressed.

This interagency work fully supports

NOAA's crosscutting priorities. It also

supports the item, "Advance data

assimilation techniques; satellite,

radar, ocean, hydrologic, and land surface assimilation," which is included in

Table 13 (Research Milestones for

Improving Weather Forecasts and

Warnings) of NOAA's 5-year research

plan (January 2005).

In response to the above FCMSSR

action item, the OFCM undertook a

survey of Federal requirements and

capabilities in the area of meteorological data assimilation and related data

management. This effort comprised

two component tasks: (1) identification

of current operational requirements for

data assimilation (e.g., uses of data

assimilation in operational prediction

and analysis) and of the ongoing and

planned R&D, conducted or supported

by Federal entities, for new or

improved data assimilation capability;

and (2) review of relevant crosscutting

goals and objectives for atmospheric

and meteorological services and supporting research and development

(R&D), as a basis for future capability

requirements for data assimilation.

On September 15, 2005, the OFCM

provided to FCMSSR and ICMSSR

members an interim survey/assessment

progress report on its efforts; the final

report which will examine the gaps in

our current data assimilation/data management capability, articulate the challenges that lie ahead in meeting future

requirements, and propose a strategy to

address these gaps in capability and

future challenges, will be completed

during January 2006.

COLLABORATION WITH

NAS/NRC BOARD ON ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES AND CLIMATE

The OFCM continued its mutually

beneficial interactions with the

National Academy of

Sciences/National Research Council

(NAS/NRC). The NAS/NRC Board

on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate

(BASC) conducted a planning meeting

on June 21, 2005, to discuss Mesoscale

Observation Networks for Meeting

Multiple National Needs. In this planning meeting in which the Federal

Coordinator for Meteorology was a

participant, a small group of people

were asked to brainstorm about a general issue that has been identified as a

potential study topic. The Federal

Coordinator helped BASC to better

define the issue and identify whether

an Academy study on the topic would

be valuable. The Federal Coordinator

noted that the multitude of meteorological impacts on the urban environment

alone would warrant the proposed

BASC study, and that all five primary

focus areas within urban meteorology

(severe weather, homeland security, air

quality, water quality, and climate) discussed during the Forum on Urban

Meteorology-Meeting Weather Needs

in the Urban Community, conducted

by OFCM, September 21-23, 2004,

would benefit from improved

mesoscale and urban scale observational capabilities. The Federal Coordinator provided a detailed listing of

possible study tasks and, also, identified potential sources of observational

needs and current capabilities information.

COLLABORATION WITH THE

COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL

RESOURCES

CENR PRINCIPALS

The Federal Coordinator continues

to be a participant on the Committee

on Environment and Natural

Resources (CENR), and continues to

assist CENR through review and concurrence of CENR reports and materials. These include the Terms of Reference for the Interagency Working

Group on Earth Observations (which

has now been formally established as

the Group on Earth Observations); a

proposal for a new CENR Subcommittee on Science and Technology for

Sustainability; CENR Grand Challenges Report; appendices, clearance

memorandum, concurrence sheet,

draft, and final Strategic Plan for the

U.S. Integrated Earth Observation

System; the document Science and

Technology Lessons Learned from the

December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean Disaster; and the plan Tsunami Risk

Reduction for the United States: A

Framework for Action.

SUBCOMMITTEE ON DISASTER

REDUCTION

The OFCM has been an active participant in the work of the CENR Subcommittee on Disaster Reduction

(SDR). Recognizing that disasters can

be the result of a technological and/or

natural hazard, the subcommittee

changed its name from the Subcommittee on Natural Disaster Reduction

to the Subcommittee on Disaster

Reduction (SDR). Recently, the focus

of this group has been to enhance disaster resilience by composing a 10-

year agenda for science and technology activities that will produce a dramatic reduction in the loss of life and

property from natural and technological disasters. This 10-year agenda
232 APPENDIX A

identifies a suite of Grand Challenges

for disaster reduction. It cuts across all

hazards and disaster management

stages and identifies priorities for

research and investment. Addressing

these Grand Challenges will improve

the Nation's capacity to prevent and

recover from disasters. OFCM is committed to working with SDR to provide

a forum for information sharing, development of collaborative opportunities,

and interactive dialogue with the U.S.

policy community to advance

informed strategies for managing risks

associated with natural and technological disasters. The Grand Challenges

document will contribute to U.S. government planning activities on a number of levels, especially in the area of

enhancing the Nation's safety and economic well-being.

Immediately following the Indian

Ocean tsunami, Dr. Kathie Olsen

(Associate Director for Science, Office

of Science and Technology Policy,

Executive Office of the President)

asked the SDR to identify the science

and technology lessons learned from

the disaster. The OFCM representation

on the SDR helped the SDR identify a

number of areas for focused Federal

attention. Some of the areas identified

included (1) targeted risk assessment

of at-risk communities, (2) the need for

clear warnings reaching everyone at

risk, and (3) the need to address both

national and regional challenges to

reduce the threat of tsunamis and other

coastal hazards. As part of the CENR

tsunami documents clearance process,

the Federal Coordinator emphasized a

critical area which required additional

emphasis in the document Science and

Technology Lessons Learned from the

December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean Disaster and the plan Tsunami Risk Reduction for the United States: A Framework for Action-that is, whether planning for a tsunami, a hurricane, or

other hazards, response plans need to

account for the entire demographics of

the at-risk population-especially the

poor, seniors, the disabled, and individuals in poor health-ensuring the atrisk population has a mechanism to

obtain safe haven.

In addition, through the OFCM representation on the SDR, the OFCM has

helped craft the subcommittee's annual

operations plan.

AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY

During FY 2005, the 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. The OFCM plans to continue

this support. The OFCM also supports

American Meteorological Society

(AMS) endeavors by participating in

AMS conferences and workshops and

other environmental science education

and outreach programs. The OFCM

staff cochaired the 21st AMS Conference on Weather Analysis and Forecasting held in Washington, D.C.,

August 1-5, 2005. The focus for this

conference was Educating and Training the User Community and the Public on Weather Analysis and Forecasting. In addition, the Federal Coordinator participated in three important

AMS-sponsored activities including:

the AMS Corporate Forum on March

31, 2005, in the Washington, D.C. area,

at which he gave a cross-agency and

international perspective on GOES-R

rebroadcast; The Future of the U.S.

Weather Prediction Enterprise, July

26-28, 2005, in Boulder, Colorado; and

the Golden Jubilee Symposium, September 20-21, 2005, in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, where he

served as the session chair for the role

of air quality models in decision making.

INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT

The Federal Coordinator provided a

comprehensive briefing on the OFCM

and interagency coordination of Federal meteorological activities to Dr. Xu

Xiaofeng and a delegation of 25 individuals from the Chinese Meteorological Administration, on May 24, 2005.

Then on August 24, 2005, the Federal

Coordinator hosted and briefed Dr.

Zheng Guoguang, Deputy Administrator of the Chinese Meteorological

Administration. Also, news media

from Japan attended and conducted

interviews at the 59th Interdepart-mental Hurricane Conference in Jacksonville, Florida, March 7-11, 2005.

PUBLICATIONS AND OFCM'S

WEB SITE.

The following publications were prepared in hardcopy form and/or have

been placed on OFCM's Web site

(www.ofcm.gov):

• The Federal Plan for Meteorological Services and Supporting ResearchFiscal Year 2005

• Federal Atmospheric Transport

and Diffusion Research and Development Plan

• Aviation Weather Programs/Projects-2004 Update (Tier 3⁄4 Baseline

Update)

• Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Volcanic Ash and

Aviation Safety

• Proceedings of the User Forum on

Urban Meteorology

• National Hurricane Operations

Plan

• Federal Meteorological Handbook

No. 1-Surface Weather Observations

and Reports

The following documents are
APPENDIX A 233

planned for publication during FY

2006:

• The Federal Plan for Meteorological Services and Supporting ResearchFiscal Year 2006

• National Hurricane Operations

Plan

• Homeland Security Environmental

Support Plan

• Federal Meteorological Handbook

No. 3-Rawinsonde and Pibal Observations

• Federal Meteorological Handbook

No. 11-Doppler Radar Meteorological

Observations; Part B-Doppler Radar

Theory and Meteorology 

• Federal Meteorological Handbook

No. 11-Doppler Radar Meteorological

Observations; Part C-WSR-88D Products and Algorithms

• Federal Meteorological Handbook

No. 11-Doppler Radar Meteorological

Observations; Part D-WSR-88D Unit

Description and Operational Analysis

• Federal Meteorological Handbook

No. 12-United States Meteorological

Codes and Coding Practices 

During FY 2005, 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

Web site, and keeps the Web site current with information regarding workshops and forums being conducted by

the office. OFCM will continue to

make information available on the

Internet during FY 2006.
234 APPENDIX A

Table A.1 Current OFCM Publications

Publication Title Date Number

Federal Plan for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research, Fiscal Year 2005 October 2004 FCM-P1-2004

Urban Meteorology: Meeting Weather Needs in the Urban Community January 2004 FCM-R22-2004

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 2005 FCM-P12-2005

WSR-88D Tropical Cyclone Operations Plan

National Winter Storms Operations Plan December 2003 FCM-P13-2003

Federal Plan for Cooperative Support and Backup Among Operational Nov 2002 FCM-P14-2002

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 Post-Storm Data Acquisition Plan March 2003 FCM-P33-2003

National Aviation Weather Initiatives February 1999 FCM-P34-1999

National Aviation Weather Initiatives, Final Baseline Tier 3 and 4 Report April 2001 Unnumbered

National Aviation Weather Program/Projects (Tier 3/4 Baseline Update) December 2003 FCM-R21-2003

Federal Meteorological Handbook No. 1 - Surface Weather Observations September 2005 FCM-H1-2005

and Reports
APPENDIX A 235

Table A.1 Current OFCM Publications (cont.)

Publication Title Date Number

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 2003 FCM-H11A-2003

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

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

Atmospheric Modeling of Releases from Weapons of Mass Destruction August 2002 FCM-R17-2002

Weather Information for Surface Transportation--National Needs Assessment Report December 2002 FCM-R18-2002

Report on Wind Chill Temperature and Extreme Heat Indices: Evaluation and January 2003 FCM-R19-2003

Improvement Projects

National Aviation Weather Program Mid-Course Assessment August 2003 FCN-R20-2003

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

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
236 APPENDIX A

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

-- Preparing for the Future: Improved Weather Information for Decision Makers March 2001

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

Federal Research and Development Needs and Priorities for Atmospheric Transport September 2004 FCM-R23-2004

and Diffusion Modeling

Aviation Weather Programs/Projects-2004 Update (Tier 3⁄4 Baseline Update) December 2004 FCM-R21-2004

Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Volcanic Ash and Aviation November 2004

Safety

Proceedings of the User Forum on Urban Meteorology March 2005

Italics = publication available online at www.ofcm.gov"

Table A.1 Current OFCM Publications (cont.)

Publication Title Date Number
APPENDIX B

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Weather and its changes have a strong

influence on almost every aspect of our

daily lives. Weather ultimately determines what crops we grow, how we

prepare for our daily activities, if, when

and how we can travel, and how we

respond to on-going or impending natural disasters. Every day, across the far

reaches of the globe, Members of the

World Meteorological Organization

(WMO) provide vital services to help

their constituents cope with weather,

climate and water related occurrences.

The ability of Members to provide

these vital services is in large part due

to the information and observations

provided by the WMO's World Weather

Watch (WWW) that is comprised of the

Global Observing System (GOS),

Global Telecommunication Systems

(GTS) and Global Data Processing and

Forecast System (GDPFS).

The GOS is complex by its very

nature and requires international cooperation at the highest levels (Figure B1). The heart of the GOS is a surfacebased subsystem that is operated

mainly by the Member's National

Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHS) and a space-based subsystem that is operated by either

national or international space agencies1. An NMHS-operated Global

Telecommunication System facilitates

the transfer of GOS observations for a

myriad of purposes that range in scale

from nowcasting to climate and focus

on a number of diverse but cross cutting areas such as tropical storms, disaster mitigation, water resources, airport terminal weather, and agriculture.

This article will address the importance of the WWW GOS in "taking the

pulse of the planet" by providing for

improved monitoring of the Earth's

atmosphere, land and water bodies -

essential elements to the Global Earth

Observation System of Systems

(GEOSS). GOS is complemented by

another WMO-supported effort, the

Global Ocean Observing System

(GOOS). GOOS is the framework for

a coordinated and sustained international observation of the ocean and provides the primary ocean contribution to

GEOSS. Strong cooperation will be

required between WMO and United

Nations Educational, Scientific and

Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

Intergovernmental Oceanographic

Commission (IOC) through the Joint

Commission for Oceanography and

Marine Meteorology (JCOMM), and

the Intergovernmental IOC-WMOWORLD 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 Watch Program

(WWWP). Until 1983, DOC published a separate report on WWWP plans. Beginning with the 1983 edition of the

Federal Plan for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research, a section on the WWWP has been included, obviating the need for a separate report.

APPENDIX B 237

The Global Observing System: Its Impacts and Future

BGEN John J. Kelly, Jr. (USAF, Ret.)

Deputy Under Secretary, NOAA, and U.S. Permanent Representative with the WMO

1The WMO Consultative Meetings on High-Level Policy on Satellite Matters provides a forum at the highest levels for dialogue

between WMO and research and operational space agencies.

Figure B-1. The Global Observing System is complex by its very nature and

requires international cooperation at the highest levels.
238 APPENDIX B

UNEP (U.N. Environmental Programme Committee) Committee for

GOOS.

WWW GOS HISTORY

The WWW provides the basis for

NHMS' around the world to coordinate

the collection of oceanic and atmospheric observations, communicate this

data to each other in near-real time,

develop effective tools to use the data

for society's benefit, and provide

archive repositories for the data.

Since the beginning of the WWW in

1963, the GOS has provided continuous and reliable global observations for

use by WMO Members. Early observational requirements of the GOS were

focused mainly on synoptic meteorology and directed at the rapid expansion

in civil aviation. Yet, the GOS remains

dynamic and the requirements imposed

upon it have continued to evolve

reflecting both innovations in observing systems and societal needs.

NMHS' have borne this through better designed and integrated observation

systems, improved data telecommunications, and modern high-end computers to manage data flow and produce

the numerically based weather and climate products. These efforts have also

led to data exchange and quality control

arrangements among the NHMS' to

ensure accessible and accurate data

regardless of its origin.

Over time, the data richness available

from the GOS has provided the global

observations needed to produce consistent weather forecasts out to day seven

and for predicting hazardous weather

events days in advance, predictions

which are now used routinely by the

aviation, marine, fire weather and other

diverse communities. Those improvements have occurred across a diverse

number of application areas in turn

resulting in increasingly positive

impacts on products and services provided by NMHS' world-wide.

The evolution of the GOS was made

possible by the advances in technology

that have affected almost every aspect

of day-to-day life on this planet. With

respect to the GOS, technology has

driven dramatic improvements in both

terrestrial and ocean-based observing

systems: atmospheric soundings from

more accurate rawinsondes with Global

Positioning System-capability, shipboard sonde systems, and instrumented

commercial aircraft through the Aircraft Meteorological Data Relay

(AMDAR), all improve collection of

upper-level wind measurements; automatic weather stations deployed in

remote areas operate with improved

reliability under extreme conditions;

advanced digital Doppler radar systems

providing integrated in-situ wind and

precipitation measurements; technologically advanced ocean and ice buoys

provide measurements of the marine

and oceanic ice boundary layer environment; an array of free-drifting floats

in every ocean provide information

about the global heat balance; and a

moored array of buoys in the tropical

Pacific Ocean to provide insight on the

El Nino - Southern Oscillation phenomenon (Tropical Ocean-Global

Atmosphere (TOGA) Tropical Atmosphere-Ocean (TAO) array).

Advances in the space based component have been equally impressive.

Instrumentation has developed well

beyond the era of uncalibrated vidicon

camera systems used on the early

United States Television Infrared

Observation Satellite (TIROS). They

now include passive visible, infrared

and microwave imaging systems for

inferring atmosphere, cloud, land and

sea surface properties; passive infrared

and microwave atmospheric sounding

systems for the determination of vertical temperature and moisture profile;

and active microwave instruments for

measuring rainfall, sea level altimetry

and sea state.

The early success of the United

States' meteorological space ventures

to polar and geostationary orbit were

followed by the development of similar

systems by other nations resulting in a

robust operational space based GOS.

Today, operational polar orbiting systems are operated by China, the Russian Federation, and the United States

and geostationary systems are operated

by China, Europe, India, Japan, and the

United States, with plans by Europe to

enter the polar orbiting satellite arena

and plans by the Republic of Korea and

the Russian Federation to provide operational services for WMO Members

from geostationary orbit.

All operational polar and geostationary systems provide multi-channel digital imagery, while the United States'

polar system also provides microwave

imaging and sounding data, and both its

polar and geostationary systems provide infrared sounding data. Furthermore, today's space-based component

of the GOS is composed of a robust

operational component that is supplemented by a dynamic research component, with research satellites providing

high resolution multi-spectral imagery

and hyperspectral sounding data for use

by WMO Members as well as enabling

derivation of tropical rainfall, ocean

surface winds, and altimetry.

GOS EVOLUTION - THE WAY

AHEAD

Growth of the GOS is expected to

continue at an astounding rate! Major

improvements are expected for the

accuracy and timeliness from both in

situ and remotely sensed data platforms. Furthermore, the volume of

data associated with the newer GOS,

especially those related to satellite and

radar systems, is expected to increase

exponentially over the next decade. A

key aspect of realizing the benefits of

all of this data for analysis and predictions of environmental conditions will

be the development and implementation of sophisticated data assimilation

systems. The data assimilation step is

crucial to maximize the strengths of

each observing system while minimizing their weaknesses in order to
APPENDIX B 239

improve the analysis, initial conditions

and subsequent forecasts for weather,

water and climate, and especially for

extreme events.

At the direction of the World Meteorological Congress, WMO's Commission on Basic Systems (CBS) studied

the evolution of the GOS and issued

WMO/TD No. 1267: Implementation

Plan for Evolution of Space and Surface-Based Sub-Systems of the GOS.

One main purpose of the plan was to

help Members prepare for the massive

changes in the GOS that were anticipated over the next two decades.

Forty-seven recommendations in the

plan provided the framework for the

evolution of the GOS.

Twenty recommendations for the

space-based sub-system addressed calibration, multi-spectral imaging (tens of

channels) and hyper-spectral sounding

(thousands of channels), ocean surface

wind and altimetry, temporal coverage

for low earth orbiting (LEO) satellites,

atmospheric wind and aerosol profiles

from active sensors, global measurements of precipitation using active

radar and passive microwave sensors,

and radio occultation sounders. 

Twenty-seven recommendations for

the ground-based sub-system addressed

data coverage, distribution and coding,

broader use of ground based and in situ

observations, moving toward operational use of targeted observations,

optimization of rawinsonde distribution

and launches, development of the

AMDAR Program and alternative

AMDAR systems, atmospheric moisture measurements, improved observations in ocean areas, improved observations over tropical areas and new

observing technologies.

The developers of the plan recognized its evolutionary nature and as a

result for most of the recommendations

provided comments concerning the recommendation, progress if the associated activity was already underway,

actions that reflected what was to occur

next, and schedules for the realization

of the recommendation. On a regular

basis CBS is reporting back to Members on the status of the implementation recommended in this plan.

One main purpose of the plan was to

help Members prepare for the anticipated massive changes in the GOS. In

that document, three issues are brought

forward that must be addressed for successful implementation of an evolved

GOS. They deal with continuity, utilization and cooperation:

• The future GOS should build upon

existing sub-systems, both surface and

space based, and capitalize on existing

and new observing technologies not

presently incorporated or fully

exploited; each incremental addition to

the GOS will be reflected in better data,

products and services from the NMHS';

• The scope of the next decades'

changes to the GOS will be so massive

that new revolutionary approaches for

science, data handling, data access,

product development, training, and utilization will be required. There is an

urgent need to study comprehensive

strategies for anticipating and evaluating changes to the GOS;

The implementation of the new GOS

should facilitate the strengthening of

cooperation at national, regional, and

global levels among Members. The

evolution of the GOS in developing

countries must address some of the

issues that fall into three categories: a)

infrastructure; b) training; and, c)

equipment and consumables.

The evolution of the GOS will be

greatly aided by The Observing System

Research and Predictability Experiment (THORPEX), where new technologies and new adaptive observing

strategies and data assimilation will be

tested and guidelines for their utilization within the GOS for weather forecasts on a one- to fourteen-day timeframe will be developed (Figure B-2).

Other studies will deal with the

exploitation of the new data and information from the GOS being exploited

for nowcasting and seasonal to interannual and longer term climate studies.

Studies such as those envisioned by

Figure B-2. The evolution of the GOS will be greatly aided by The Observing

System Research and Predictability Experiment (THORPEX). New technologies and adaptive observing strategies and data assimilation will be tested and

guidelines for their utilization within the GOS for weather forecasts on a oneto two-week timeframe will be developed.
240 APPENDIX B

THORPEX require a stable baseline

observing system against which their

results can be measured. In the development of the vision for the GOS by

2015, the space based sub-system was

based on well defined plans by the

operational and research space agencies. Thus for the space based sub-system we expect as a baseline an

improved stable operational analysis

and prediction systems complemented

by a known dynamic research component focused on key observing issues

and related data assimilation advances

required to take full advantage of

improved observations and associated

observing strategies, especially those

related to targeted observations.

For the surface based sub-system to

become a viable baseline requires some

components to either grow or become

reinvigorated. Foremost among them

are a complete and stable Regional

Basic Climate Network (RBCN)

embedded within a wholesome

Regional Basic Synoptic Network

(RBSN) where some components may

be operated in a flexible manner,

improvements in AMDAR and Troposphere Airborne Meteorological Data

Reports (TAMDAR), and increased

oceanic coverage to include upper air

soundings, drifting buoys, and Argo

floats; thus providing a stable baseline

against which new observing technologies and strategies could be tested.

Argo, drifting buoys and other oceanic

observations are also critical elements

of GOOS.

Other high priority GOOS observation systems and capabilities that contribute to GOS are: 1) tsunami warning

capabilities in the Pacific and Atlantic

Oceans, and the Caribbean sea as part

of an International Tsunami Warning

System (http://www.prh. noaa.gov

/itic/); 2) Global Sea Level Observation

System (http://www.pol.ac.uk/psmsl

/programmes/gloss.info.html); and 3)

Global Ocean Data Assimilation

Experiment (www.uwgodae. org).

Thus, we can see that the 21st Century will be one filled with opportunity

and challenge. The intersection of the

technological advances referred to earlier with advances in communications

capabilities provides an unprecedented

opportunity to capitalize on the phenomenal growth in data and information that will become available during

the first 25 years of this century.

Particularly relevant is the evolution

of the WMO Information System

(WIS) and how it will allow for the provision of data and information, and its

use within a wide array of model-based

prediction systems to Members on

scales appropriate to their needs.

DATA AND MODELS

Numerical Weather Prediction

(NWP) relies on measurements of temperature (and/or pressure), winds and

moisture. There is no single observing

system that can provide all three

parameters at the same place and the

same time with the required accuracy.

Also, there is no single observing system that provides a uniform (in space

and time) distribution of these measurements. Both ground based and

space based components of the GOS

present a major challenge to derive data

assimilation and modeling systems

which account for the strengths of each

observing system while avoiding their

weaknesses.

For example, the data assimilation

should be able to take into account the

poor vertical but good horizontal resolution and spatial distribution of satellite data while also accounting for the

good vertical but poor horizontal and

temporal resolution of radiosonde data.

Likewise, the system should also be

able to account for the good temporal

resolution but poor spatial distribution

of aircraft data. It is through sophisticated assimilation systems and models

that a coherent depiction of the earthatmosphere from the measurements

achieved by the GOS will hopefully be

derived.

During the next decade, with

advanced satellite systems, ground

based radar, AMDAR and other in-situ

systems there will be over a million

times increase in the amount of data

that is available. Most of that data will

be focused on global NWP through

complex data assimilation systems

which are an inherent component of the

entire prediction system and it is highly

unlikely that any NMHS will want all

of the data all of the time; but all

NMHS' will want some of that data all

of the time and portions of that data

some of the time. While models appear

to be entering an era of targeted observations, for NMHS' there can be no

doubt that a targeted information era

has begun.

Up to five years ago it was not possible to realistically address this issue;

however, today the symbiotic relationship that is developing between technology and communications is making

it a reality. Thus data that flows

through the WIS will be made up of a

stable operational component complemented by a dynamic segment that

depends on user needs, model capabilities and advances in data assimilation.

Defining how those two components

coexist will require development work

that addresses societal needs, NMHS

capability, WIS components and the

symbiotic relationship between technology and communications.

As the requirements on Members for

user services is growing, it is not unreasonable to expect Member needs from

the GOS to expand. In the past, global

NWP requirements for data were based

on communications and computer technology that were applicable to the mid

to late 20th Century. Today, modern

Global Data Processing Centers

(GDPCs) are using exceptionally powerful computers with advanced data

assimilation models which couple

asynoptic data into models with

advanced physics.

Both Observing System Experiments

(OSEs) and Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSEs) have clearly
APPENDIX B 241

shown that continuous assimilation of

high resolution data into those models

results in improved global forecasts.

During the past decade this has

changed so that to provide the best

forecasts today's modern GDPCs now

require all data from upper air observations, not just significant level data, as

well as hourly surface data and data

from special networks. This need lies

beyond the current scope of Resolution

40, but clearly, any Member that is

truly interested in accurate global forecasts must respond to that need. An

innovative outlook means trust across

borders, nation to nation, level of government to level of government, and

government to citizen. An innovative

outlook means that the user becomes

integrated as a part of the system at all

levels. To avail ourselves of that

opportunity will require Members to

work together in global science and

operational partnerships.

Distribution of increased amounts

and types of data for WMO and related

programs is under development in the

Future WMO Information System

(FWIS; http://www.wmo.ch/web/

www/FWIS-Web/homefwis.html).

FWIS will build on the current GTS

that communicates data among processing centers.

STAFFING AND TRAINING

Some fear that the role of the human

will decrease with this revolution in

technology. Nothing could be further

from the truth. While some activities

will be replaced through better uses of

technology, the increase in data volume, products and applications areas

will place the human at the very heart

of maximizing the use of this impressive system. Our ability to monitor and

forecast on a global scale will place the

human at the very center of how that

information is used on a daily basis in a

tremendous number of applications

areas.

By anticipating the weather of the

next week will allow for applications to

focus on mitigation of natural disasters

through concentrating on regions prone

for flooding and then managing the

information and data flow into the

NMHS that will allow for those phenomena to be addressed in an efficient

and timely manner. Thus, training an

increasingly diverse user community in

how to utilize the system and to access

the correct data for a specific application will be of paramount importance.

Furthermore, training in advanced

applications of satellite data and its use

in nowcasts and numerical prediction

systems will take on increasing importance. Satellite data will provide information for a variety of real-time applications that range from nowcasting

severe weather and floods to detection

and monitoring of: areas of snow melt,

wet ground, fires, aerosols, surface

temperature for heat stress, and forecast

model output fields. With the massive

increase in information and data that

will become available over the next

decade it is necessary for WMO to

embrace even more training opportunities, especially as it relates to developing and implementing more sophisticated data assimilation system designs

with the future GOS in mind.

STRONG TIES TO GEOSS

The phenomenal growth and increase

in capability that are expected to occur

within the GOS places it on a natural

intersection with GEOSS. Indeed,

there is a clear juxtaposition between

GOS and GEOSS. In June 2004, the

fifty-sixth session of the WMO Executive Council formally declared that several WMO systems including GOS and

WIS should be considered as core components for GEOSS. Furthermore, in

the long view the GOS, in some ways,

cross-cuts each of the GEOSS nine

societal benefit areas, some quite substantially:

• Improving weather information,

forecasting and warning 

• Reducing loss of life and property

from natural and human induced disasters

• Improving water resource management through better understanding of

the water cycle

• Understanding, assessing, predicting, mitigating and adapting to climate

variability and change

• Improving the management and

protection of terrestrial, coastal and

marine ecosystems 

• Understanding environmental factors affecting human health and well

being 

• Improving management of energy

resources 

• Supporting sustainable agriculture

and combating desertification 

• Understanding, monitoring and

conserving biodiversity

WMO is a strong contributor to

GEOSS, and is home to the Secretariat

of the intergovernmental Group on

Earth Observations (GEO) at its headquarters in Geneva2. WMO is also a

strong contributor to GOOS. GOOS is

composed of global ocean and coastal

ocean components, and has several

submodules: the Global Climate

Observing System (GCOS), Living

Marine Resources Panel, Health of the

Oceans, and the Global Terrestrial

Observing System. In fact the GCOS

program, of which the WMO is a prime

sponsor, has been recognized as the formal climate component of the GEOSS;

the GCOS Implementation Plan which

can be found at http://www.wmo.int

/web/gcos/gcoshome.html is part of the

overall GEOSS implementation effort.

The space and ground-based components of the WWW are among the core

contributors to GEOSS (Figure B-3).

Observing and accurately predicting

the Earth's environment is critical for

the health, safety and prosperity of all

nations. As responsibilities of WMO

2 WMO is the physical host of the GEO Secretariat, but the Secretariat operates at the direction of the Group on Earth Observations

Plenary.
242 APPENDIX B

Members increase to take on broader

roles in monitoring and forecasting for

the environment, many of the sub-systems that contribute to GEOSS that are

not part of the WWW will become

important for WMO Members.

Too often we become enthralled with

placing an economic value on the need

to justify monitoring climate, weather

and the Earth's environment as well as

our ability to forecast them. As is

clearly recognized by the GEOSS 10

Year Implementation Plan: "Understanding the Earth system - its weather,

climate, oceans, land, geography, natural resources, and natural and humaninduced hazards - is crucial to enhancing human health, safety and welfare,

alleviating human suffering including

poverty, protecting the global environment, and achieving sustainable development."

The reason we want to monitor the

"pulse of our planet" is not solely for

economic benefit but for human health

and well being while learning how to

sustain humankind's future on our

evolving planet Earth.

THE GOS FUTURE AND NHMS'

There is no question that we are

improving in our ability to utilize data

from the GOS. The reason clearly lies

in more and better observations and our

ability to utilize them. Today we have

improved high resolution models with

better physics that are linked to the

improved observations with powerful

data assimilation systems. As the GOS

evolves continued progress in science,

models and data assimilation coupled

with awareness of importance of transitions will help guide us toward full utilization. As we move forward, there

are some critical questions that will

accompany the implementation of the

evolving GOS:

• The broad implications of targeted

observations need to be addressed, with

guidance on targeting needing to be

developed only after careful scientific

consideration;

• How adaptive observing is implemented within the GOS needs full consideration as observations not deemed

necessary at a particular instant in time

in one part of the world may provide

valuable information elsewhere;

• How Members can best benefit

from the tremendous amounts of data

that will become available;

• How we fully train Members to utilize data from the GOS so that opportunities are not lost;

• While not all Members will have

the ability to cope with the full data

sets, all Members will have a responsibility to contribute fully to the evolving

GOS, this will likely require refinements to data exchange policy.

Applications areas are expanding dramatically with an unparalleled opportunity for growth. For almost any given

applications area opportunities to

exploit multiple data sets from a variety

of sensors, all with different characteristics, will abound. Data volumes will

be tremendous in comparison with

today's operational systems - at least

six orders of magnitude.

We should expect great improvements to the GOS; including very high

spatial and temporal resolution with

both space-based and ground-based

active and passive sensors. In concert

with these new capabilities we must

prepare for vast growth in data volume

and content which will be available

from systems in just the first few

decades of this new century. On the

horizon lies the promise of improved

data for the various services Members

provide. Better science will occur by

realizing the opportunities afforded by

the future GOS through new

approaches, international partnerships

and science teams.

Planning for tomorrow's GOS must

take into account all observing assets,

capitalizing on their strengths as a key

component of a comprehensive and

sustained GEOSS. As we take advantage of the future's promise, marked

changes will occur in the ways we

approach data handling, science, product development, training and utilization. To prepare for the daunting task

of monitoring and understanding the

Earth system from these new data, and

ensuring their full utilization, we must

work together in global science and

operational partnerships.

We move forward by building on the

successes of today and aggressively

Figure B-3. The space-based component of the GOS.
APPENDIX B 243

planning and developing appropriate

mechanisms focused on exploitation as

a global community in partnership: the

user, national and international science

groups, operational agencies, research

satellite agencies, and WMO. To do

this is a challenge, but it is a challenge

that must be met.

We strive for full exploitation, but

whose responsibility is it to ensure the

future GOS is utilized to maximize

benefit in a given applications area: the

user, national and international science

groups, the operational agencies, the

research agencies, WMO? In fact, the

responsibility rests with all communities. In this regard, GOS as part of

GEOSS will provide a wider spectrum

of users and further increase the value

of its observations.

APPENDIX C

PREVIOUS FEATURE ARTICLES

APPENDIX C 245

2004 FY 2005 The Rewards of Managing Weather-Related Mr. Samuel P. Williamson, OFCM

Risks

2003 FY 2004 Weather and The Urban Environment: Ms. Margaret R. McCalla, OFCM

Meeting The Needs of Urban Communities

2002 FY 2003 The Need For Weather Information For Ms. Mary M. Cairns, OFCM

Surface Transportation: Keeping The

Country Safe and On The Move

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

Year Edition Title Author
246 APPENDIX C

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

Year Edition Title Author
APPENDIX D

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

APPENDIX D 247

3D-VAR Three Dimensional VARiational (DOD)

4DWX Four Dimensional Weather (DOD)

AA Active Army

AAO Amarillo Area Office (DOE)

AASHTO American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (FHWA)

AAU Alaskan Aviation Unit (NOAA/NCEP)

AB Authorization Basis

ABCS Army Battle Command System (DOD)

ABFM Airborne Field Mill (NASA)

ABL Airborne Laser (DOD)

ABLE Atmospheric Boundary Layer Experiment (DOE)

AC Active Component (DOD)

AC&A Atmospheric Chemistry and Aerosols (DOE)

ACARS ARINC Communication Addressing and Reporting System

ACD Atmospheric Chemistry Division (DOE)

ACE Aviation Combat Element (DOD)

ACE-IDS ASOS Controller Equipment - Information Display System (FAA)

ACIS Applied Climate Information System (USDA)

ACP Atmospheric Chemistry Program (DOE)

ACSG Atmospheric and Climate Sciences Group (DOE)

ADA Atmospheric Decision Aid (DOD)

ADAPT Atmospheric Data Assimilation and Parameterization Tool (DOE)

ADAS AWOS/ASOS Data Acquisition System (FAA)

ADEOS Advanced Earth Observing System (NASA)

AEC Atomic Energy Commission (DOE)

AEP Atmospheric Emergency Preparedness (DOE)

AESS Allied Environmental Support System (DOD)

AF Air Force

AFB Air Force Base 

AFCCC Air Force Combat Climatology Center

AFCWC Air Force Combat Weather Center 

AFFSA Air Force Flight Standards Agency

AFGS Aviation Forecast Gridded System

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

AF/XOO Air Force Director of Operations and Training (DOD)

AF/XO Air and Space Deputy Chief of Staff for Air and Space Operations (DOD)

AF/XOO-W Air Force Director of Weather

AGFS Aviation Gridded Forecast System (FAA)

AGRIMET A conjunction of the words "agricultural" and "meteorology", is a satellite-based network of 

automated agricultural weather stations operated and maintained by the U.S. Bureau of 

Reclamation (DOI)

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)
248 APPENDIX D

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)

ALOHA Areal Locations of Hazardous Atmospheres (a transport and dispersion code)

ALOO Albuquerque Operations Office

AMC Army Materiel Command 

AMDAR Aircraft Meteorological Data Relay (WWP)

AMIS Automated Meteorological Information System (DOD)

AMPS Automated Meteorological Profiling System (NASA)

AMOS Automated Meteorological Observing System (DOD)

AMS Acquisition Management System (FAA)

American Meteorological Society

AMSR-E Advanced Microwave Sounding Radiometer 

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)

Air and Space Operations Center (DOD)

AOML Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (NOAA/ERL)

AOR Area of Responsibility (DOD)

AOT Aerosol Optical Thickness (NOAA/NESDIS)

APGEMS Air Pollutant Graphical Environmental Monitoring System

APS Aerosol Polarimetry Sensor (APS)

APT Automatic Picture Transmission (NOAA/NESDIS)

AQG Air Quality Group (DOE)

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 

Air Resources Laboratory (NOAA and DOE)

ARM Atmospheric Radiation Monitoring (DOE)

ARNG Army National Guard

ARO Army Research Office

ARS Agricultural Research Service (USDA)

Air Traffic System Requirements Service (FAA)

Atmospheric Research Section (DOE)

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 (DOD)

ARW Aviation Weather Directorate (FAA)

ASCAT Advanced Scatterometer 

ASD Atmospheric Sciences Division (DOE)

ASDAR Aircraft to Satellite Data Relay

ASNE MSEA Air and Space Natural Environment Modeling and Simulation Executive Agent (DOD)

ASOG Air Support Operations Group (DOD)

ASOS Automated Surface Observing System

Air Support Operations Squadron (DOD)

ASP Atmospheric Science Program (DOE)

ASR Airport Surveillance Radar (FAA)
APPENDIX D 249

ATC Air Traffic Control (FAA)

ATCCS Army Tactical Command and Control System

ATD Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion 

ATDD Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division (NOAA/ARL) 

ATEC Army Test and Evaluation Command

ATG Atmospheric Technologies Group (DOE)

ATLAS Autonomous Temperature Line Acquisition System (NOAA/OAR)

ATMS Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder

ATO Air Traffic Organization (FAA)

Air Tasking Order (DOD)

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)

AWIS Automated Weather Information System

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)

BAMP Breton Aerometric Monitoring Program (DOI)

BASC Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate

BCTP Battle Command Training Program (DOD)

BE Battlefield Environment (DOD)

BER Biological and Environmental Research (DOE)

BFA Battlefield Functional Areas (DOD)

BIO Basis for Interim Operations (DOE)

BLM Bureau of Land Management (DOI)

BMDO Ballistic Missile Defense Office (DOD)

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)

C4I Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (DOD)

CAAM Computer Assisted Artillery Meteorology (DOD)

CAC Combined Arms Center (DOD)

CAIB Columbia Accident Investigation Board

CALJET California Land-falling Jets Experiment (NOAA/OAR)

CAMEO Computer Aided Management of Emergency Operations

CAMEX Convective and Moisture Experiment (NASA)

CAO Carlsbad Area Office

CAP Civil Air Patrol

CAP88-PC Clean Air Act Assessment Package-1988 - Personal Computer (DOE)

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)

CAT Clear Air Turbulence

CAWIS Committee for Automated Weather Information Systems (OFCM)
250 APPENDIX D

CBIRF Chemical Biological Incident Response Force (DOD)

CBAP Catastrophic Backup Action Plan

CBNP Chemical Biological Non-Proliferation Program (DOE)

Chemical Biological National Security Program (DOE)

CBOFS Chesapeake Bay Oceanographic Forecasting System (NOAA/NOS)

CBRNE Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, or High-Yield Explosive (DOD)

CBS Commission on Basic Services (WWP)

CCAFS Cape Canaveral Air Force Station 

CCCM Climate and Carbon Cycle Modeling (DOE)

CCM3 Community Climate Model-3 used at LANL (DOE)

CCMC Community Coordinated Modeling Center (DOD)

CCMS Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society (EPA)

CDA Command and Data Acquisition 

CDF Cloud Depiction and Forecasting (DOD)

CDFS Cloud Depiction and Forecast System (DOD)

CDPHE Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (DOE)

CECOM Communications and Electronics Command (DOD)

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)

CFD Computational Fluid Dynamics 

CFIT Controlled Flight Into Terrain (NASA)

CFR Code of Federal Regulations (DOE)

CGSC Command and General Staff College (DOD)

CHAMMP Computer Hardware Advanced Mathematics and Model Physics (DOE)

CHARM An Atmospheric Transport and Dispersion Model

CIASTA Cooperative Institute for Atmospheric Studies and Terrestrial Applications (NOAA/OAR)

CICE Sea Ice Code at LANL

CIDE Communications Interfaces and Data Exchange (OFCM)

CIOS Committee for Integrated Observing Systems (OFCM)

CIRES Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences 

CIWS Corridor Integrated Weather System (FAA)

CLASS Comprehensive Large Array-Data Stewardship System (NOAA/NESDIS)

CLIVAR-GEWEX Climate Variability and Predictability - Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment

CLIVAR-VAMOS Climate Variability and Predictability - Variability and Predictability of the American 

Monsoon System 

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 (DOD)

CMIS Conical Scanning Microwave Imager Sounder

COADS Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set (NOAA/NCDC) 

COAMPS Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System 

COARE Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment

COE Corps of Engineers (DOD)

COMET Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology, Education and Training

CONUS Continental United States (DOD)

CONUSA Continental United States Armies (DOD)

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 (DOD)

COTS Commercial Off-the-Shelf

CPC Climate Prediction Center (NOAA/NCEP)

CPHC Central Pacific Hurricane Center (NOAA/NCEP)
APPENDIX D 251

CRADA Cooperative Research and Development Agreement

CrIS Cross-track Infrared Sounder 

CRN Climate Reference Network (NOAA)

CRREL Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (DOD)

CS Climate Services 

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 (DOD)

CTBT Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (DOE)

CWS Combat Weather Squadron (DOD)

CWSU Center Weather Service Unit (FAA)

CWT Combat Weather Team (DOD)

CXD Combined X-ray Dosimeter (DOE)

CY Calendar Year

DAC Data Assembly Center (NOAA/OAR)

DAMPS Distributed Atmospheric Modeling Prediction System (DOD)

DAT Department of Advanced Technology (DOE)

DCO Data Collection Office (NOAA/NWS)

DCP Data Collection Package

Data Collection Platform (DOI)

DCS Data Collection System (NOAA/NESDIS)

DEPSCoR Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (DOD)

DGPS Differential Global Positioning System (USGS)

DHS Department of Homeland Security 

DIS Decision and Information Sciences (DOE)

DISS Digital Ionospheric Sounding System (DOD)

DMCC DOE Meteorological Coordinating Council (DOE)

DMS Dynamic Message Sign (FHWA)

DMSO Defense Modeling and Simulation Office (DOD)

DMSP Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DOD)

DNT Dinitrotoluene (DOE)

DOC Department of Commerce 

DOD Department of Defense 

DOE Department of Energy 

DOI Department of the Interior 

DOMSAT Domestic Communications Satellite (DOI)

DOS Department of State 

DOT Department of Transportation

DRA Desert Rock Meteorological Observatory at NTS (DOE)

DREC Delta Research Extension Center (USDA)

DRGS Direct Readout Ground Stations (DOI)

DRI Desert Research Institute (DOE)

DRWP Doppler Radar Wind Profiler (NASA)

DTC Developmental Test Command (DOD)

DTED Digital Terrain Elevation Data (DOD)

DTRA Defense Threat Reduction Agency 

DTSS Digital Topographic Support System (DOD)

DUAT Direct User Access Terminal (FAA)

DURIP Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DOD)

EAC Echelon Above Corps (DOD)

EAD Environmental Assessment Division (DOE)

EBID Environmental Biology and Instrumentation Division (DOE)
252 APPENDIX D

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)

EERE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (DOE)

ELV Expendable Launch Vehicle (NASA)

EM Office of Environmental Management (DOE)

EMC Environmental Modeling Center (NOAA/NCEP)

European Modeling Center (NOAA/NCEP)

EMP Environmental Meteorology Program (DOE)

EMS Environmental Monitoring Section (DOE)

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 

EPD Environmental Protection Department (DOE)

EPIC Equatorial Pacific Investigation of Climate (NOAA/AOC)

EPR Emergency Preparedness and Response Directorate (FEMA)

E-PIREPS Electronic Pilot Reports (FAA)

EP/RD Environmental Protection/Restoration Department (DOE)

EPZ Emergency Planning Zone (DOE) 

ER Eastern Range (NASA)

Environmental Research (DOE)

ERBS Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (NASA)

ERC Extended Research Checkout

ERDA Energy Research and Development Administration (DOE)

ERDAS Eastern Range Dispersion Assessment System (NASA)

ERDC Engineering Research and Development Center (DOD)

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)

ET Toolbox Evapotranspiration Toolbox (DOI)

EUMETSAT European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites

EUSA Eighth U.S. Army

EUV Extreme Ultraviolet

EWR Ellason Weather Radar (DOD)

FAA Federal Aviation Administration

FALOP Forward Area Limited Observing Program (DOD)

FAS Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA)

FBA Fire Behavior Analysts (DOI)

FCC Federal Communications Commission

FCCC Framework Convention on Climate Change (DOS)

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

FCS Future Combat System (DOD)

FDD First Digitized Division (DOD)
APPENDIX D 253

FDIC Force Development and Integration Center (DOD)

FEM3MP LLNL finite element model (DOE)

FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency 

FHWA Federal Highway Administration

FIRETEC Fire Code at LANL (DOE)

FIRST FAA Icing Remote Sensor Testbed (NOAA/OAR)

FIS Flight Information System (FAA)

FITL Forecaster-in-the-Loop (DOD)

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 (DOD)

FOA Field Operating Agency (DOD)

FORSCOM U.S. Army Forces Command

FOV Field of vision

FR Flight Rules

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 (DOD)

FS Forest Service (USDA)

FSA Farm Services Agency (USDA)

FSL Forecast Systems Laboratory (NOAA/OAR)

FSR Forest Service Research (USDA)

FTA Federal Transit Administration

FTE Full-time Equivalent

FTP File Transfer Protocol

FU Forecast Unit

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 Coordination Center (DOI)

GACP Global Aerosol Climatology Project (NASA)

GAIM Global Assimilation of Ionospheric Measurements (DOD)

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

GDPC Global Data Processing Centers (WWP)

GDPFS Global Data Processing and Forecast System (WWP)

GEM Generation of weather Elements for Multiple (USDA)

GEOSAR Geostationary Earth Orbit Search and Rescue (NOAA/NESDIS)

GEOSS Global Earth Observation Systems of Systems (WWP)

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)
254 APPENDIX D

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)

GMU George Mason University 

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 (DOD)

GUAN GCOS Upper Air Network (WWP)

HAF Headquarters Air Force (DOD)

HaL Hurricanes at Landfall (NOAA/OAR)

HAR Highway Advisory Radio (FHWA)

HARM Hazardous Atmospheric Release Model (NOAA/OAR)

HAZMET Hazardous Material (FHWA)

HCRS Highway Closure and Restriction System (FHWA)

HDB Hydrologic DataBase (DOI)

HELSTF High Energy Laser System Test Facility (DOD)

HF High Frequency 

HFRB High Frequency Regional Broadcast 

HIGRAD Transport and Dispersion Model at LANL (DOE)

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 (DOD)

HPC Hydrometeorological Prediction Center (NOAA/NCEP)

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 (DOD)

HYDROMET A network of automated hydrologic and meteorologic monitoring stations located throughout the 

Pacific Northwest (DOI)

HYSPLIT Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (NOAA/OAR)

HUD Head-up display (NASA)

IA Interagency Agreement

IAMS Initial Attack Management System (DOI)

IAS International Airspace System (NOAA/NWS)

IAV Interim Armored Vehicle (DOD)

IBCT Interim Brigade Combat Teams (DOD)

ICAO International Civil Aviation Organization

LCC Launch Commit Criteria

ICMSSR Interdepartmental Committee for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research (OFCM)
APPENDIX D 255

ICSU International Council of Scientific Unions

IDCS International Data Collection System (WWP) 

IEW Intelligence and Electronic Warfare (DOD)

IFFA Interactive Flash Flood Analyzer (NOAA/NESDIS)

IGBP International Geosphere Biosphere Programme (WWP)

IHC Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference (OFCM)

IIP International Ice Patrol (USCG)

IMA Individual Mobilization Augmentee (DOD)

IMAAC Interagency Modeling and Atmospheric Assessment Center 

IMDES Interdepartmental Meteorological Data Exchange System 

IMETS Integrated Meteorological System (DOD)

Incident Meteorologists (NOAA/NWS)

IMPROVE Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (DOI)

INEEL Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (DOE)

INSAT India's National Satellite (WWP)

IOC Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (WWP)

IPB Intelligence Preparation of the Battlespace (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 (DOD)

ISCCP International Satellite Cloud Climatology Program (NOAA/NESDIS)

ISES International Space Environment Service (NOAA/OAR)

ISIS Integrated Solar Irradiance Study (NOAA/OAR)

ISMS Integrated Safety Management System (DOE)

ISS International Space Station

ISTEA Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (FHWA)

IT Information Technology

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)

IT-RD Information Technology Research and Development (EPA)

ITWS Integrated Terminal Weather System (FAA)

IWEDA Integrated Weather Effects Decision Aid (DOD)

IWGCCST Interagency Working Group on Climate Change Science and Technology (DOS)

IWRS Improved Weather Reconnaissance System (OFCM)

IWRPC Improved Weather Reconnaissance System Program Council (OFCM)

JAAWIN Joint Air Force-Army Weather Information Network (DOD)

JAG Joint Action Group

JAG/OCM Joint Action Group for Operational Community Modeling 

JASL Joint Archive for Sea Level

JAWF Joint Agricultural Weather Facility (USDA)

JCOMM Joint Commission for Oceanographic and Marine Meteorology (WWP)

JCS Joint Chiefs of Staff (DOD)

JCSDA Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation (NOAA/NCEP)

JET Joint Environmental Toolkit (DOD)

JGOFS Joint Global Ocean Flux Study

JHT Joint Hurricane Testbed (NOAA/OAR)

JMDB Joint METOC Database (DOD)

JMFU Joint METOC Forecast Unit (DOD)

JMIB Joint METOC Interoperability Board (DOD)

JMIST Joint METSAT Imagery, Software, and Terminals (DOD)

JMV Joint METOC Viewer (DOD)

JPL Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA)
256 APPENDIX D

JSAT Joint Safety Analysis Team (FAA)

JSIT Joint Safety Implementation Team (FAA)

JSC Johnson Space Center (NASA)

JSCP Joint Strategic Capabilities Plan (DOD)

JTWC Joint Typhoon Warning Center (DOD)

JWIS Joint Weather Impacts System (DOD)

KAO Kirtland Area Office

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)

LEO Low Earth Orbit

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)

LODI Transport and Dispersion Model at LLNL (DOE)

LRGS Local Readout Ground Stations (DOI)

LSD Laboratory Services Division

LSM Land Surface Model (DOD)

LV Launch Vehicle

LWS Living With A Star (NASA)

M2M Machine-to-Machine

MACOM Major Army Command

MAGTF Marine Air Ground Task Force

MAJCOM Major Command (DOD)

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)

MCSP Meteorological and Climate Services Project 

MCWP Marine Corps Warfighting Publication (DOD)

MDIFF Transport and Dispersion Code at INEEL (DOE)

MDCRS Meteorological Data Communications and Reporting System (WWP)

MDSS Maintenance Decision Support System (FHWA)

MeaPRS MCS Electrification and Polarimetric Radar Study (NOAA/OAR)

MEDA Meteorological Data System

MEF Mission Execution Forecast (DOD)

MEPED Medium Energy Proton and Electron Detector (NOAA/NESDIS)

MES Marine Environmental Services (OFCM)

MET Mobile Environmental Teams (DOD)
APPENDIX D 257

Meteorological Teams (DOD)

METMF Meteorological Mobile Facility (DOD)

METOC Meteorological and Oceanographic (DOD)

METSAT Meteorological Satellite

MHS Microwave Humidity Sounder (NOAA/NESDIS)

MHz Megahertz

MIMS Multimedia Integrated Modeling System (EPA)

MM5 Mesoscale Meteorological Model-Version 5.0 (DOD)

MME Mobile Meteorological Equipment (OFCM)

MMS Meteorological Measuring System (DOD)

Mineral Management Service (DOI)

Modular Modeling System (DOI)

MMS-P Meteorological Measuring System-Profiler (DOD)

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 

MP Mission Planning (DOD)

MPA Magnetospheric Plasma Analyzer (DOE)

MPC Marine Prediction Center (NOAA/NCEP)

MS Monitoring the Stratosphere (OFCM)

MSFC Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA)

MSL Mean Sea Level

MSS Meteorological Sounding System (NASA)

MST Meteorological Support Teams (DOD)

MSU Microwave Sounding Unit (NOAA/NESDIS)

MTN Main Telecommunications Network (WWP)

MTOE Modified Table of Organization and Equipment (DOD)

MTPE Mission to Planet Earth (NASA)

MTSAT Multi-functional Transport Satellite

MWSS Marine Wing Support Squadron

MW Microwave

N511 National 511-Traveler Information Service (FHWA)

NADIN National Airspace Data Interchange Network (FAA)

NAF Numbered Air Force

NAME North American Monsoon Experiment 

NAMIS NATO Automated Meteorological Information System (DOD)

NMAO NOAA Marine and Aviation Operations 

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 

NASS National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA)

NATCOM National Communications Center (FAA)

NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization (DOD, EPA)

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
258 APPENDIX D

NAWPC National Aviation Weather Program Council (OFCM)

NBC Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical (DOD)

NC NOAA Corps 

NCA National Command Authority (DOD)

NCAR National Center for Atmospheric Research 

NCAS NOAA Center for Atmospheric Sciences 

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)

NDGPS Nationwide Differiental Global Positioning System

NDI Non-developmental item

NDOP National Digital Orthoquad Program (USDA)

NDRI Natural Disaster Reduction Initiative (NOAA)

NDVI Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NOAA/NESDIS)

NEPA National Environmental Policy Act 

NERON NOAA’s Environmental Real-Time Observation Network 

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)

NETRAD Networked Radars 

NEXRAD Next Generation Weather Radar (WSR-88D)

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)

NGST Northrup Grumman Space Technology 

NHC National Hurricane Center (NOAA/NCEP)

NHI National Highway Institute (FHWA)

NHOP National Hurricane Operations Plan (OFCM)

NIC National Ice Center (DOT/USCG)

National Intelligence Community (DOD)

NIFC National Interagency Fire Center (DOI)

NIPRNET Non-secure Internet Protocol Router Network (DOD)

NIRT Nuclear Incident Response Team

NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology (DOC)

NITES Navy Integrated Tactical Environmental Subsystem

NLDN National Lightning Detection Network (FAA)

NMC National Meteorological Center(s) (WWP)

NMHS National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (WWP)

NMOC Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command

NMP New Millennium Program (NASA)

NMS National Military Strategy (DOD)

NMTN National Meteorological Telecommunications Network (WWP)

NNDC NOAA National Data Center (NOAA/NESDIS)

NNSA National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE)

NNSA/NSO National Nuclear Security Administration/Nevada Site Office (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 (DOD)

NPDES National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (DOE)
APPENDIX D 259

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)

NRI National Research Initiative (USDA)

NRL Naval Research Laboratory

NRO National Reconnaissance Office (DOD)

NRVR New Generation Runway Visual Range (FAA)

NSC National Security Complex

NSF National Science Foundation 

NSIDC National Snow and Ice Data Center (NOAA)

NSO Nevada Site Office (DOE)

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 (DOD)

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)

NWA National Wilderness Area (DOI)

NWCC National Water & Climate Center (USDA)

NWCG National Wildfire Coordinating Group (USDA)

NWIS National Water Information System (DOI)

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)

NXDP National Xeriscape Demonstration Program (DOI)

O&C Oregon and California Railroad Land Grants (DOI)

OAR Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (NOAA)

OASIS Operational and Supportability Implementation System (FAA)

OB Operational Build

OCAP Operating Consortium of ASDAR Participants (WWP)

OCE Office of the Chief Economist (USDA)

OCRWM Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management

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 (DOD)

OMPS Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite

ONR Office of Naval Research

OOR Object Oriented Redesign

OPAREA Fleet Operational Area (DOD)

OPARS Optimum Path Aircraft Routing System (DOD)

OPC Operational Processing Centers 

OPS-II Operational Weather Squadron Production System, Phase II

OPUP Open Principal User Processor
260 APPENDIX D

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)

ORS Optical Remote Sensing

ORNL Oak Ridge National Laboratory (DOE)

OROO Oak Ridge Operations Office (DOE)

OS Office of Science, South Carolina

OS-21 Observing System 21st Century (DOD)

OSC On-Scene Commander (DOE)

OSDPD Office of Satellite Data Processing and Distribution (NOAA/NESDIS)

OSE Observing System Experiments (WWP)

OSEI Operational Significant Event Imagery (NOAA/NESDIS)

OSHA Occupational Safety and Health Administration 

OSO Office of Satellite Operations (NOAA/NESDIS)

OSSE Observing System Simulation Experiments (WWP)

OSTEP Ocean Systems Test and Evaluation Program (NOAA/NOS)

OSTP Office of Science and Technology Policy

OTC Operational Test Centers 

OTH Over the horizon (NOAA/OAR)

OTSR Optimum Track Ship Routing (DOD)

OWF Operational Weather Flight (DOD)

OWS Operational Weather Squadron (DOD)

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)

PAR Phased Array Radar 

PATMOS Pathfinder Atmosphere (NOAA/NESDIS)

PAWRP Phased Array Weather Radar Project 

PBL Planetary Boundary Layer (DOE)

PC Program Council (OFCM)

Personal Computer (DOE)

PCB Polychlorinated Biphenyl 

PCMDI Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison (DOE)

PD Program Director (DOD)

PDD Presidential Decision Directive

PDT Product Development Team

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

PMC Project Management Coordinator (DOE)

PMEL Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (NOAA/ERL)

PNNL Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (DOE)

PNT Position, Navigation, and Timing (USCG)

POES Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite (NOAA)

POP Parallel Ocean Program (DOE)

POPS Primary Oceanographic Prediction System (DOD)

PORTS Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System (NOAA/NOS)

ppm Part per Million (DOE)

PSDA Post-Storm Data Acquisition (OFCM)
APPENDIX D 261

PSR Polarimetric Scanning Radiometer (NOAA/OAR)

PSS Plant Shift Superintendent

PUP Principal User Processor

QPF Quantitative Precipitation Forecast (NOAA/NCEP)

QuikSCAT Quick Scatterometer

R&A Research and Analysis

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)

Remedial Action Plan (DOE)

RARC Regional Atmospheric Response Center (DOE)

RASS Radio Acoustic Sounding System (NOAA/OAR and DOE)

RATS Radio Automatic Theodolite System (NASA)

RAWS Remote Automatic Weather Station (USDA/DOI)

RBCN Regional Basic Climate Network (WWP)

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 (DOD)

RDTE Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (DOD)

REIP Reengineered Enterprise Infrastructure Program (DOD)

RF Radio Frequency

RFETS Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (DOE)

RFOO Rocky Flats Operations Office (DOE)

RFC River Forecast Center (NOAA/NWS)

RMTN Regional Meteorological Telecommunications Network (WWP)

ROC Radar Operations Center (NOAA/NWS)

RPC Rapid Prototype Center (NOAA/SEC)

RSA Range Standardization and Automation (NASA)

RSAC Transport and Dispersion Code at INEEL (DOE)

RSFWSU Remote Sensing/Fire Weather Support Unit (DOI)

RSMC Regional/Specialized Meteorological Centers (WWP)

RSS Receiving Set Satellite (DOD)

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)

SAFETEA Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Equity Act of 2003 (FHWA)

SAMS Stochastic Analysis, Modeling, and Simulation (DOI)

SAP Special Access Program

SAR Synthetic Aperture Radar (NOAA/NESDIS)

SARSAT Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking

SATCOM Satellite Communications

SATS Small Aircraft Transportation System (NASA)

SAWS Stand Alone Weather Sensor (FAA)

SBIR Small Business Innovation Research Program 

SBUV Solar Backscatter Ultra-violet Instrument (NOAA/NESDIS)

SCAN Soil Climate Analysis Network (USDA)
262 APPENDIX D

SCAPA Subcommittee for Consequence Assessment and Protective Actions

SCI Sensitive Compartmented Information (DOD)

SDHS Satellite Data Handling System (DOD)

SeaWiFS Sea-viewing Wide Field Scanner (NASA)

SEC Space Environment Center (NOAA/NCEP)

Sun Earth Connection (NASA)

SEM Space Environment Monitor (NOAA)

SEMSIM Southeastern Michigan Snow and Ice Management (FHWA)

SEON Solar Electro-optical Observing Network (DOD)

SESS Space Environmental Sensor Suite 

SFMR Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer

SGP Southern Great Plains (DOE)

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)

SLF Shuttle Landing Facility

SLRS-C Spacelift Range System Contract (NASA)

SMC Space and Missile Systems Center (DOD)

SMDC Space and Missile Defense Command (DOE)

SMG Spaceflight Meteorology Group (NASA)

SNDR Subcommittee on Natural Disaster Reduction

SNL Sandia National Laboratory (DOE)

SNODEP SNOw DEPth

SNOTEL Snow Pack Telemetry (USDA)

SOCC Satellite Operations Control Center (NOAA/NESDIS)

SODAR Sound Detection and Ranging (DOE)

SODAR/RASS Sound Detection and Ranging/Radio Acoustic Sounding System (DOE)

SOF Special Operations Forces (DOD)

SOLAS International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea (NOAA/NCEP, DHS/USCG)

SOPA Synchronous Orbit Plasma Analyzer (DOE)

SORD Special Operations and Research Division (NOAA/ARL)

SPLASH Hydrologic Code at LANL (DOE)

SPAWARSYSCOM Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command

SPC Storm Prediction Center (NOAA/NCEP)

SPO System Program Office (DOD)

SPP Shared Processing Program

SR Savannah River (DOE)

SRB Solid Rocket Booster

SRS Savannah River Site (DOE)

SRTC Savannah River Technology Center (DOE)

SS&WSF Snow Survey & Water Supply Forecasting (USDA)

SSIES Special Sensor for Ions and Electrons (DOD)

SSJ Special Sensor Precipitating Elecron and Ion Spectrometer (DOD)

SSM Special Sensor Magnetometer (DOD)

SSM/I Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (DOC, DOD, DOI)

SSM/T Special Sensor Microwave/Temperature (DOD)

SSOB Special Support Operations Branch (DOD)

SST Sea Surface Temperature

SSU Stratospheric Sounding Unit (NOAA)

SSUSI Special Sensor Ultraviolet Spectrographic Imager (DOD)

STAR Weather Data Format used at Pantex (DOE)

STIWG Satellite Telemetry Interagency Working Group (OFCM)

STP Solar-Terrestrial Physics

STS Special Tactics Squadron (DOD)

STWDSR Surface Transportation Weather Decision Support Requirements (FHWA)

SURFRAD Surface Radiation Budget Station at NTS (DOE)
APPENDIX D 263

SVS Synthetic Vision System (NASA)

SWA Southwest Asia (DOD)

SWAFS Space Weather Analysis and Forecasting System (DOD)

SWE Snow Water Equivalent (DOI/BUREC)

SWO Staff Weather Officer (DOD)

Space Weather Operations (NOAA/OAR)

SWR Supplemental Weather Radar (DOD)

SWSI Surface Water Supply Index (USDA)

SXI Solar X-Ray Imager (DOD)

T2 Technology transfer

TAF Terminal Aerodrome Forecast

TAL Transatlantic Abort Landing (NASA)

TAMDAR Troposphere Airborne Meteorological Data Reports (WWP)

TAO Tropical Atmosphere Ocean

TAWS Target Acquisition Weather Software (DOD)

TCP Transformation Campaign Plan (DOD)

TDA Tactical Decision Aid (DOD)

TDWR Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (FAA)

TEA-21 Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (FHWA)

TEC Topographic Engineering Center (DOD)

Total Electron Content (DOE)

TED Total Energy Detector (NOAA/NESDIS)

TEDS Tactical Environmental Data Server (DOD)

TESS Tactical Environmental Support System (DOD)

THORPEX The Observing System Research and Predictability Experiment (WWP)

TIMEX Thunderstorm Initiation Mobile Experiment (NOAA/OAR)

TIROS Television Infrared Observation Satellite (NOAA/NESDIS)

TOC Tactical Operations Center (DOD)

TOE Table of Organization and Equipment (DOD)

TOGA Tropical Ocean and Global Atmosphere 

TOVS TIROS-N Operational Vertical Sounder (NOAA/NESDIS)

TNT Trinitrotoluene (DOE)

TPAWS Turbulence Prediction and Warning System

TPC Tropical Prediction Center (NOAA/NCEP)

TPW Total Precipitable Water (NOAA/NESDIS)

TRACON Terminal Radar Approach Control (FAA)

TRADOC Training and Doctrine Command (DOD)

TRB Transportation Research Board (FHWA)

TRITON Triangle Trans-Ocean buoy Network (NOAA/OAR)

TRMM Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (NASA)

TRU Transuric (DOE)

TSIS Total Solar Irradiance Sensor 

TUAN Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (DOD)

TWC The Weather Channel 

TWIP Terminal Weather Information for Pilots (FAA)

TWP Tropical Western Pacific (DOE)

TWR Tactical Weather Radar (DOD)

UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (DOD)

UC University of Chicago or California 

UCAN Unified Climate Access Network (USDA)

UCAR University Corporation for Atmospheric Research

UHF Ultra High Frequency 

UK United Kingdom

UN United Nations 

UNEP United Nations Environment Program 

UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (WWP)
264 APPENDIX D

UNLV University of Nevada at Las Vegas (DOE)

UPOS University Partnering for Operational Support (DOD)

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

USFS U.S. Forest Service 

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

USSOCOM U.S. Special Operations Command (DOD)

USWRP U.S. Weather Research Program

UT University of Tennessee

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)

VII Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (FHWA)

VIIRS Visible/Infrared Imager/Radiometer Suite

VIN Vegetative Index Number (USDA)

VIRS Visible and Infrared Scanner (NASA)

VISSR Visible and Infrared Spin Scan Radiometer 

VISTAS Visibility Improvement State and Tribal Association of the Southeast (DOI)

VORTEX Verification 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 (DOD)

VSL Variable Speed Limit (FHWA)

VTMX Vertical Transport and Mixing Experiment (DOE)

VTS Vessel Traffic System (NOAA/NOS)

WAAS Wide Area Augmentation System (FAA)

WAFC World Area Forecast Center (WWP)

WAFS World Area Forecast System (WWP) 
APPENDIX D 265

WAMIS World Agrometeorological Information Service (USDA)

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 (DOD)

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

WG/VA Working Group for Volcanic Ash (DOI)

WG/PSDA Working Group for Post-Storm Data Acquisition (FEMA)

WGCV Working Group on Calibration and Validation (NOAA/NESDIS)

WINCOM Weather Information Communications (NASA)

WIMS Weather Information Management System (USDA)

WINDS Weather Information and Display System (DOE)

WIPP Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (DOE)

WIS WMO Information System(WWP)

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 

WPDN Wind Profile Demonstration Network (NOAA)

WPSM Warfighter Physiological Status Monitoring (DOD)

WRD Water Resources Division (DOI/USGS)

WRF Weather Research and Forecast (DOC, DOD)

WRS Weather Reconnaissance Squadron (DOD)

WRTC Weather Readiness Training Center (DOD)

WSDDM Weather Support to Deicing Decision Making (FAA)

WSP Weather Systems Processor (FAA)

WSR-88D Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (NEXRAD)

WSRC Westinghouse Savannah River Company (DOE)

WSSRAP Weldon Springs Site Remedial Action Project (DOE)

WST Weather Specialty Team (DOD)

WWCB Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin (USDA)

WWP World Weather Program 

WWW World Weather Watch (WMO)

World Wide Web

XOW Air Force Director of Weather (DOD)

YMP Yucca Mountain Project (DOE)