The Federal Plan

for Meteorological Services

and Supporting Research

Fiscal Year 2001

OFCM

The Federal Plan

for Meteorological Services

and Supporting Research

Fiscal Year 2001

OFFICE OF THE FEDERAL

COORDINATOR

FOR METEOROLOGY

OFFICE OF THE FEDERAL

COORDINATOR

FOR METEOROLOGY

FCM P1-2000 FCM P1-2000

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

METEOROLOGICAL SERVICES AND SUPPORTING RESEARCH (FCMSSR)

DR. D. JAMES BAKER, Chairman

Department of Commerce

DR. ROSINA BIERBAUM

Office of Science and Technology Policy

DR. RAYMOND MOTHA (Acting)

Department of Agriculture

MR. JOHN J. KELLY, JR.

Department of Commerce

CAPT DAVID MARTIN, USN

Department of Defense

DR. ARISTIDES PATRINOS

Department of Energy

DR. ROBERT M. HIRSCH

Department of the Interior

MR. RALPH BRAIBANTI

Department of State

MR. RANDOLPH LYON

Office of Management and Budget

MR. MONTE BELGER

Department of Transportation

MR. MICHAEL J. ARMSTRONG

Federal Emergency Management Agency

DR. GHASSEM R. ASRAR

National Aeronautics and Space

Administration

DR. MARGARET S. LEINEN

National Science Foundation

MR. BENJAMIN BERMAN

National Transportation Safety Board

MS. MARGARET V. FEDERLINE

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

DR. NORINE NOONAN 

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

DR. RAYMOND MOTHA

Department of Agriculture

MR. JOHN E. JONES, JR.

Department of Commerce

CAPT DAVID MARTIN, USN

Department of Defense

MR. RICKEY PETTY

Department of Energy

MR. LEWIS T. MOORE

Department of the Interior

MR. JEFFREY MACLURE

Department of State

MR. DAVID WHATLEY

Federal Aviation Administration

Department of Transportation

DR. JONATHAN M. BERKSON

United States Coast Guard

Department of Transportation

MR. FRANCIS SCHIERMEIER

Environmental Protection Agency

MR. JOHN GAMBEL

Federal Emergency Management Agency

DR. RAMESH KAKAR

National Aeronautics and Space

Administration

DR. STEPHAN P. NELSON

National Science Foundation

MR. DONALD E. EICK

National Transportation Safety Board

MS. LETA A. BROWN

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

MS. JENNIFER BAFFI

Office of Management and Budget

MR. JAMES B. HARRISON, Executive Secretary

Office of the Federal Coordinator for

Meteorological Services and Supporting Research

Special Thanks for the pictures displayed on the cover.

1) Background: Relief map background courtesy of Mr. Ray Sterner, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics

Laboratory. Rainfall analysis by NWS Southeast River Forecast Center.

2) Highway Traffic: Traffic backup on Interstate Highway I-16 in Savannah, Georgia (AP Photo).

3) Hurricane photo: GOES-8, 4km Infrared imagery on September 15, 1999 at 1559 UTC as Floyd approaches the

South Carolina coast.

4) Aerial photo: Flooded homes in Tarboro, North Carolina (65 miles East Northeast of Raleigh) (Reuters Photo).
The Federal Plan

for Meteorological Services

and Supporting Research

FISCAL YEAR 2001

FEDERAL COORDINATOR

FOR

METEOROLOGICAL SERVICES AND SUPPORTING RESEARCH

8455 Colesville Road, Suite 1500

Silver Spring, MD 20910

FCM-P1-2000

JUNE 2000

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Editor: Blaine Tsugawa

Assistant Editor: Kenneth Barnett

PREFACE iii

PREFACE

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

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

and supporting research by agencies of the federal government. OFCMs Federal Plan provides Congress

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

Year (FY) 2001 and reviews agency programs in FY 2000. Narratives, timelines, and schedules are current as of June 2000.

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

Executive Summary provides a high-level view of the federal resources dedicated to meteorological programs and contains information which enables it to serve as a concise, stand-alone report. The feature

article (Section 1) focuses on the problem of inland flooding that resulted from Hurricane Floyd in midSeptember 1999. The article is a synopsis of the meteorological conditions, the actions taken by government agencies, and the overall public response. It also highlights problem areas, such as mass evacuations of coastal flood plains and the resultant traffic congestion, associated with hurricanes that come

ashore. Section 2 summarizes the resources requested in the President's FY 2001 Budget and includes a

comparison of the resources that Congress appropriated for FY 2000. Section 3 contains departmental

and agency narratives on meteorological services and supporting research programs. This section also

includes information on programs funded by the National Science Foundation. Appendices A through D

describe the OFCM's coordination, program, and planning activities; defines acronyms and abbreviations;

lists previous feature articles; and summarizes the World Weather Program. The inside front cover lists

the current members of the Federal and Interdepartmental Committees for Meteorological Services and

Supporting Research. The inside back cover displays a schematic of OFCMs coordinating infrastructure.

As you examine this years plan, I would like to draw your attention to the graphics and pictures

included with the departmental and agency narratives. I mention this because the Internet is the source

of much of the fantastic images in our publication and what you see is but a small subset of the vast

amounts of meteorological information and other scientific data that is currently available. The Internet

is a wealth of information and an excellent means to distribute and share information. To assist you,

weve incorporated the Universal Resource Locators (URLs) to pertinent websites.

Samuel P. Williamson

Federal Coordinator for Meteorological

Services and Supporting Research

v

THE FEDERAL PLAN FOR METEOROLOGICAL SERVICES

AND SUPPORTING RESEARCH, FISCAL YEAR 2000

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

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

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

Section 1. THE LEGACY OF HURRICANE FLOYD--INLAND FLOODING 

AND A MASSIVE EVACUATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Section 2. RESOURCE INFORMATION AND AGENCY PROGRAM UPDATES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Agency Obligations for Meteorological Operations

and Supporting Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Department of Agriculture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Department of Commerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

Department of Defense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

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

Department of Transportation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

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

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

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

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

Agency Funding by Service Category . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

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

Interagency Fund Transfers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

Facilities/Locations for Taking Meteorological Observations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

Section 3. AGENCY METEOROLOGICAL SERVICES AND SUPPORTING 

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

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

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

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

National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38

Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56

National Ocean Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66

Office of NOAA Corps Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68

Department of Defense Weather Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69

United States Air Force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69

United States Navy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79

United States Army . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86

Department of Transportation Weather Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97

Federal Aviation Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97

Federal Highway Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105

United States Coast Guard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111
Department of Agriculture Weather Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113

Department of Energy Operational and Research Weather Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .117

Department of the Interior Weather Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129

Department of State Climate and Atmospheric Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135

Environmental Protection Agency Weather Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137

Federal Emergency Management Agency Weather Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141

National Aeronautics and Space Administration Weather Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .143

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Weather Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .153

National Science Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .155

APPENDICES

A. FEDERAL COORDINATION AND PLANNING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .157

B. ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .163

C. LISTING OF PREVIOUS FEATURE ARTICLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .177

D. WORLD WEATHER PROGRAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .179

LIST OF TABLES 

ES-1 Federal Budget for Meteorological Operations and Supporting

Research, FY 2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vii

2.1 Meteorological Operations and Supporting Research 

Costs, by Agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

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

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

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

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

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

2.7 Interagency Fund Transfers for Meteorological 

Operations and Supporting Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

2.8 Facilities/Locations for Taking Meteorological Observations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29

3-1 Projected Satellite Launch Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44

vi
For Fiscal Year (FY) 2001, the

President's budget requests $2.68 billion for meteorological services and

supporting research. Of the total

requested, $2.24 billion is designated

for operations and $436 million for

supporting research. Table ES-1 lists a

breakout of the FY 2001 budget proposal.

As in previous years, 91 percent of

the total requested funds will go to the

Departments of Commerce (DOC),

Defense (DOD), and Transportation

(DOT). The distribution among these

three departments is DOC 53.7 percent, DOD 19.8 percent, and DOT

17.4 percent. The other federal agencies will share the remaining 8.9 percent.

In comparison to the $2.5 billion

appropriated in FY 2000, the FY 2001

request represents an increase of

7.2 percent. The three major departments request increases of 8.3 percent

for DOC, 11.6 percent for DOD, and

5.2 percent for DOT. The DOC

increase is attributable to requests for

increase by NWS, NESDIS, and OAR.

The DOD increases are attributable to

DMSP--46.9 percent in DMSP operations and 19.6 percent in supporting

research; Army systems acquisition--

37.4 percent increase and an Army offset (decrease) of 18.1 percent in supporting research. DOT's increase is

mainly associated with FAA supporting research request.

The budget requests for the other

departments are as follows:

Department of the Interior (DOI),

Department of Agriculture (USDA),

and Environmental Protection Agency

(EPA) no change; National

Aeronautics and Space Administration

(NASA) a decrease of 4.0 percent; and

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

(NRC) a decrease of 35 percent.

Figure ES-1 depicts each agency's

proportion of the requested FY 2001

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

$2.24 billion requested for meteorological operations, DOC, DOD, and

DOT account for slightly over 99 percent of the funds. Overall, operational

costs increased by 8.7 percent.

EXEC SUM vii

THE FEDERAL PLAN FOR METEOROLOGICAL SERVICES

AND SUPPORTING RESEARCH

FISCAL YEAR 2001

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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

Research, FY 2001 (in thousands of dollars)

% of Supporting % of % of

Agency Operations TOTAL Research TOTAL TOTAL TOTAL

Agriculture $12,600 0.6 $15,500 3.6 28,100 1.0

Commerce 1,349,401 60.2 92,599 21.2 1,442,000 53.7

Defense 440,610 19.7 90,505 20.8 531,115 19.8

Interior 1,100 0.0 0 0.0 1,100 0.0

Transportation 433,242 19.3 32,342 7.4 465,584 17.4

EPA 0 0.0 6,400 1.5 6,400 0.2

NASA 3,960 0.2 198,650 45.6 202,610 7.6

NRC 117 0.0 0 0.0 117 0.0

TOTAL 2,241,030 100.0 435,996 100.0 2,677,026 100.0
viii EXEC SUM

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

and Supporting Research, FY 2001.

Figure ES-2. Agency Percent of Federal Budget

for Meteorological Operations, FY 2001

Figure ES-3. Agency Percent of Federal Budget

for Supporting Research, FY 2001

Total = $2.68 Billion

Total = $2.24 Billion Total = $436 Million

DOD

19.8%

USDA

1.0%

DOT

17.4%

EPA

0.2%

NASA

7.6%

DOC

53.7%

DOT

19.3%

DOC

60.2%

DOC

21.2%

NASA

45.6%

NASA

0.2%

DOT

7.4%

USDA

0.6%

USDA

3.6%

DOD

19.7% DOD

20.8%

EPA

1.5%
EXEC SUM ix

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 (87.6 percent) of the

supporting research budget. Requests

for increases in supporting research

funds are: DOC 4.6 percent and DOT

26.5 percent. The DOD and NASA

requests for supporting research funds

decreases by 1.1 and 4.1 percent,

respectively.

All agencies project a personnel total

of 14,492 full-time equivalent (FTE) to

be employed in federal meteorological

operations in FY 2001. This figure

represents a decrease of less than

1 percent from the 14,503 FTE

employed in FY 2000.

MAJOR PROGRAMS--DOC, DOD,

and DOT

Next Generation Weather Radar

(NEXRAD). The NEXRAD Program

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

operation of the Weather Surveillance

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

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

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

The original program plan called for a

total of 161 radars. In response to a

National Research Council report, three

additional radars were added and raised

the total to 164 radar sites. The last system in the basic procurement schedule

was installed in June 1996.

By agency, as of June 2000, the

DOC/National Weather Service had

commissioned 123 sites, the DOD

(USAF and Army) had commissioned

31 sites (within the states and overseas),

and the DOT/FAA had commissioned

12 sites. DOD has three systems at

Keesler AFB, Mississippi, for training;

DOC/NWS has one each at the National

Reconditioning Center, and NWS

Training Center in Kansas City,

Missouri and at the Operational Support

Facility, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Automated Surface Observing

System (ASOS). The ASOS program,

began in 1983, as a joint development

effort between the DOC, DOD, and

DOT/FAA. Installation of ASOS units

started in 1991. As of June 2000, a

total of 994 units have been purchased.

The NWS has purchased, accepted,

and commissioned 314 sites. The FAA

has purchased 569 units, accepted 567

units, and commissioned 454 sites.

The Navy has purchased, accepted,

and commissioned 77 sites. The Air

Force has purchased, accepted, and

commissioned 34 sites. Collectively, a

total of 879 ASOS sites have been

commissioned.

Automated Weather Information

Systems (AWIS). The DOC, DOD,

and DOT require AWISs to facilitate

the collection, processing, and interpretation of meteorological data.

AWISs are being procured to provide

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

process large volumes of sophisticated

meteorological data. AWIS supports

the timely production of accurate and

geographically precise warnings, forecasts, and special tailored products.

They also provide the communications

capability for expeditious product dissemination.

Major agency systems classified as

AWISs are: NOAA's Advanced Weather

Interactive Processing System (AWIPS),

FAA's Weather and Radar Processor

(WARP); Air Force's New-Tactical

Forecasts System (N-TFS) and

Operational Weather Squadron

Production System, Phase 2 (OPS-II);

and Navy's Naval Integrated Tactical

Environmental Subsystem (NITES).

In February 1997, the Secretary of

Commerce approved the limited

deployment of AWIPS. This decision

authorized NOAA to procure and

deploy 21 systems. The group of

21 limited deployment systems were

installed in November 1997 through

March 1998. A second group of

19 limited deployment systems were

installed in June through August 1998.

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

1999. AWIPS commissioning began in

January 2000 and, as of June 2000,

NWS had commissioned 141 AWIPS

systems located at 121 Weather

Forecast Offices (WFOs), 13 River

Forecast Centers (RFCs), and 7 national centers.

The FAA's Weather and Radar

Processor (WARP) will greatly

enhance the dissemination of aviation

weather information throughout the

NAS. WARP will automatically create

unique regional, WSR-88D-based,

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

weather information, to controllers

through the Advanced Automation

System (AAS) as well as to pilots via

the aeronautical data link.

The Air Force is modernizing and

improving strategic, operational, and

combat level systems. Modernization

programs include the Observing

System 21st Century (OS-21), N-TFS,

OPS-II, Tactical Weather Radar, and

Small Tactical Terminal which provides a single system for both garrison

and deployed operations. These systems will replace AWDS and serve as

an in-garrison system as well as a

deployable "first-in" combat weather

forecast capability. OS-21 will provide a much needed state-of-the-art

life-cycle replacement for Air Force

observing equipment. OS-21 includes

five different configurations: fixed,

deployable, remote, manual, and upper

air. The manual section is intended for

tactical operations and will continue

upgrades begun under the Manual

Observing System and Tactical
x EXEC SUM

Meteorological Observing System

modification programs. The Air Force

purchased commercial off-the-shelf

remote miniature weather sensors to

provide accurate real-time weather

information from forward unmanned

locations to support Kosovo operations. OS-21 will continue to expand

this capability.

The Navy continues procurement or

upgrades of the five subsystems to the

Naval Integrated Tactical Environmental System (NITES). These subsystems include: NITES I  Tactical

Environmental Support System

(TESS/NC), NITES II - Joint TESS

Remote Workstation (J-TRWS) and

Joint METOC Segment (JMS), NITES

III - METOC Integrated Data Display

System (MIDDS), NITES IV - Interim

Mobile Oceanography Support System

(I-MOSS), and NITES V - Allied

Environmental Support System

(AESS).

OTHER AGENCY PROGRAMS

For FY 2001, the Department of

Agriculture (USDA) requested

$28.1 million for meteorological operations ($12.6 million) and supporting

research ($15.5 million).

Operationally, the USDA supports specialized weather observation networks

and also conducts an active supporting

research program to ensure an abundance of high-quality agricultural commodities while minimizing the adverse

effects of agriculture on the environment. Under supporting research,

USDA focuses on the interactions of

weather and climate with plant and

animal production and water resources

management.

The Department of the Interior's

(DOI) FY 2001 request is $1.1 million

primarily to support the Bureau of

Land Management's remote automatic

weather station (RAWS) program.

The budget request for the

Environmental Protection Agency

(EPA) remains level at $6.4 million to

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

applications.

Nearly all of NASA's funding in

meteorology is for supporting

research. The requested funding for

supporting research in FY 2001 is $163

million, which is nearly 5 percent

lower than the FY 2000 funding level.

These funding levels are composed of

the estimated meteorology share of the

supporting research and analysis programs as well as Earth Observing

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

Information System elements of the

NASA Office of Earth Science budget.

Included in NASA's request is $35.25

million for special programs under the

category of aviation weather supporting research.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) request for $117,000 is

mainly for operations. The NRC will

dedicate these funds to obtain and analyze meteorological data and information related to the safe operation of

nuclear facilities, and the protection of

the environment, public health, and

safety.

FEDERAL COORDINATION

ACTIVITIES

Natural Disaster Reduction-OFCM

hosted the 54th Interdepartmental

Hurricane Conference, February

14-18, 2000 in Houston, Texas, to

review the nation's hurricane forecast

and warning program and to recommend program improvements.

Houston, Texas was chosen to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the

1900 hurricane which devastated the

Galveston/Houston area. The theme

for the conference was "20th Century

Highlights and Prospects for the

Future". An important objective of the

conference was to more closely link

hurricane operations with ongoing

research efforts. A ceremony commemorating the 1900 storm was

planned in conjunction with the

Galveston Historical Foundation and

hosted by the Honorable Roger

Quiroga, Mayor of Galveston, on

Thursday afternoon, February 17,

2000.

Weather Information for Surface

Transportation. The OFCM and

Department of Transportation Federal

Highway Administration (FHWA) cosponsored "Symposium on Weather

Information for Surface

Transportation: Delivering Improved

Safety and Efficiency for Tomorrow"

was held November 30-December

2, 1999, at the Holiday Inn, Silver

Spring, Maryland. This first event of

its kind was attended by more than 120

individuals. Keynote speakers were

Dr. Stephen Van Beek, Associate

Deputy Secretary of Transportation,

and Dr. D. James Baker, Under

Secretary of Commerce for Oceans

and Atmosphere. The goal of the symposium was to establish the national

needs and requirements for weather

information. An initial draft of a

requirements document will be completed Fall 2000.

Aviation Weather Forum. The

OFCM and Department of

Transportation Federal Aviation

Administration (FAA) co-sponsored

user forum "Aviation Weather:

Opportunities for Implementation"

was held July 25-26, 2000, at the

Bethesda Ramada Hotel and

Conference Center, Bethesda,

Maryland. The forum brought together key government agency representatives, as well as a cross section of professionals representing commercial,

business, and general aviation.

Keynote speakers were Mr. Peter H.

Challan, Deputy Associate

Administrator for Air Traffic Services,

FAA, and Mr. Scott B. Gudes, Deputy

Under Secretary for Oceans and

Atmosphere, Department of

Commerce. The goal of the forum was

to highlight work accomplished, identify opportunities for immediate or

near-term implementation, and assess
EXEC SUM xi

where user and industry efforts are

helping government agencies achieve

the National Aviation Weather

Program objectives.

Workshop on Multiscale

Atmospheric Dispersion Modeling

within the Federal Community. The

OFCM sponsored "Workshop on

Multiscale Atmospheric Dispersion

Modeling within the Federal

Community" was held June 6-8, 2000,

at the Town Center Hotel, Silver

Spring, Maryland. The workshop was

attended by over fifty participants who

represented nine federal agencies

involved in dispersion modeling. The

goal of the workshop was to bring

users and developers of dispersion

models together to improve the coordination in the development and operational use of dispersion models. This

workshop provided an opportunity to

assess the current state of dispersion

modeling and to identify barriers that

need to be overcome in order to meet

the wide range of requirements.

Space Weather. During FY 2000,

OFCM space weather groups prepared

a second edition of the National Space

Weather Program Implementation

Plan. It was developed concurrently

with the National Security Space

Architect's Space Weather Architecture

and describes the linkage to and incorporation of that architecture into the

National Space Weather Program. It

also builds on the previous

Implementation Plan and reports on

the significant accomplishments in

research, operations, technology transition, education, and outreach. The

Plan also updates the program's timelines and offers specific recommendations to carry the program forward.

National Hurricane Conference.

OFCM worked with the National

Weather Service to organize a panel on

"Improving Public Response to

Hurricane Warnings" for the

April 17-21, 2000, National Hurricane

Conference in New Orleans,

Louisiana. The purpose of the panel

was to elicit suggestions from the

panel members and the conference

attendees on how to improve public

response. The panel encouraged crosscutting participation by several conference groups (meteorology, emergency

management, universities, media, Red

Cross, insurance companies, etc.).

Dr. D. James Baker, Under Secretary

of Commerce for Oceans and

Atmosphere, was a keynote speaker

for the National Hurricane Conference.

National Research Council/National

Academy of Sciences. The first joint

meeting between the Federal

Committee for Meteorological

Services and Supporting Research

(FCMSSR) and National Research

Council National Academy of Sciences

Board on Atmospheric Sciences and

Climate (BASC) was held October 25,

1999, at the National Academy of

Sciences Main Building on

Constitution Avenue, Washington,

District of Columbia. The meeting

was co-chaired by Dr. D. James Baker,

Under Secretary of Commerce for

Oceans and Atmosphere and FCMSSR

Chairman, and Dr. Eric J. Baron,

Professor at Pennsylvania State

University and Co-chair of BASC.

The meeting provided an opportunity

to strengthen ties between the federal

meteorological community, academia,

and the private sector. Actions are

being worked on and will be reported

at the upcoming November 14, 2000,

FCMSSR meeting, which will be

attended by the Co-chair and Director

of BASC.

BASC 21st Century Report

Recommendation--A Strategy for

Atmospheric Information. OFCM is

planning a workshop to respond to and

address Leadership and Management

Recommendation 1 of the BASC

report The Atmospheric Sciences

Entering the Twenty-First Century.

Important issues include: What criteria should govern the design of an optimal atmospheric information system?

Should the government seek to recover

costs of observations from the public

by mechanisms other than taxes? Who

is to be responsible for forecasts for

critical activities such as agriculture

and aviation? Should federal agencies

be responsible for supporting research

to improve forecasts for such critical

activities? What is the appropriate role

for academic research, both basic and

applied, in such an evolving weather

information system, and how should

such research be supported so that it

remains vigorous and contributes to

national goals?

Committee on Environment and

Natural Resources. OFCM continued

to develop its interactions with the

Committee on Environment and

Natural Resources (CENR)

Subcommittee on Natural Disaster

Reduction (SNDR). OFCM and

SNDR will co-sponsor a workshop on

Risk Assessment and Cost-Benefit

Analysis in late January or early

February 2001. Also, regarding risk

assessment, an OFCM senior meteorologist helped conduct a panel session

on risk assessment for natural disasters

at the 25th Annual Hazards Research

and Applications Workshop, July 9-12,

2000, in Boulder, Colorado. An

OFCM senior meteorologist will also

serve on a two day focus group

September 28-29, 2000, at FEMA's

Emergency Management Institute in

Emmitsburg, Maryland, to develop a

classroom based, upper division college course on "Hazards Risk

Assessment."

Department of Energy Meteorological Coordinating Council. OFCM

continued its close liaison with the

DOE Meteorological Coordinating

Council (DMCC). OFCM plans to

attend the joint meeting of the

Subcommittee on Consequence

Assessment and Protective Actions

(SCAPA), the DMCC, and the Nuclear

Utility Meteorological data User

Group (NUMUG) in Las Vegas,

Nevada, October 16-20, 2000. During

the DMCC portion of the meeting,
xii EXEC SUM

OFCM will brief on OFCM activities,

and results and actions from the

OFCM sponsored "Workshop on

Multiscale Atmospheric Dispersion

Modeling within the Federal

Community" which was held June 6-8,

2000, in Silver Spring, Maryland.

American Meteorological Society

and The Weather Channel Forum.

OFCM participated in the "Workshop

on Policy Issues in Hurricane

Preparedness and Response" developed by the Atmospheric Policy

Program of the American

Meteorological Society and sponsored

by The Weather Channel, June 6-7,

2000, at The National Press Club,

Washington, District of Columbia.

The workshop considered the following question: What policy changes are

needed to produce weather services,

media communications, and emergency management decisions that will

optimize hurricane preparedness and

response? The opening address of the

workshop was given by Dr. D. James

Baker, Under Secretary of Commerce

for Oceans and Atmosphere. An

OFCM senior meteorologist briefed

the forum on the recent National

Hurricane Conference panel on

Improving Public Response to

Hurricane Warnings to assist the

forum's deliberations concerning hurricane response.

American Meteorological Society.

During FY 2000, OFCM joined eleven

leading environmental science and

service corporations in supporting

undergraduate scholarships in the

atmospheric and related oceanic and

hydrologic sciences. The scholarships,

awarded for the junior and senior

years, are designed to encourage outstanding undergraduates to pursue

careers in the fields covered by the

awards. OFCM plans to continue this

support in FY 2001. OFCM also supports American Meteorological

Society endeavors by participating in

AMS conferences and workshops and

other environmental science education

and outreach programs.

NATO Meeting. OFCM hosted a

meeting of the NATO Military

Committee Meteorological Group

(MCMG) Working Group for

Operations, Plans and

Communications (OPC), June 27-30,

2000. MCMG is composed of national representatives and representatives

of major NATO Commanders which

provides meteorological policy guidance to the Military Committee, the

major NATO Commanders, and the

NATO nations. OPC addresses planning and operational issues for meteorological support to NATO exercises

and operations and develops meteorological communications capabilities

and standard procedures for communications and exchanging meteorological

data.

Publications and OFCM's Website.

The following plans and publications

were prepared in hardcopy form and

also placed on OFCM's website

(www.ofcm.gov):

 The Federal Plan for Meteorological

Services and Supporting Research--

FY 2000

 National Hurricane Operations Plan

 The National Space Weather

Program: Implementation Plan

(2nd Edition)

 54th Interdepartmental Hurricane

Conference (Minutes)

 Proceedings for the Symposium

"Weather Information for Surface

Transportation: Delivering

Improved Safety and Efficiency for

Tomorrow"

 Proceedings of the "Workshop on

Multiscale Atmospheric Dispersion

Modeling within the Federal

Community"

 Proceedings of the Aviation

Weather User Forum "Aviation

Weather: Opportunities for

Implementation"

The following documents are

planned for publication during

FY 2001:

 National Plan for Post-Storm Data

Acquisition

 A National Framework for

Volcanic Ash Hazards to Aviation

 The Federal Plan for

Meteorological Services and

Supporting Research--FY 2001

 National Hurricane Operations

Plan

 55th Interdepartmental Hurricane

Conference (Minutes)

 Proceedings for 2nd Symposium on

Weather Information for Surface

Transportation

 Proceedings for Risk Assessment

and Cost-Benefit Analysis

Workshop

 Proceedings for Severe Local

Weather Workshop

 Proceedings for Workshop on

BASC 21st Century Report Recommendation--A Strategy for

Atmospheric Information

During FY 2000, OFCM continued

to make substantial progress on its use

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

placed its current publications on its

website, and keeps the website current

with information regarding workshops

and symposia being conducted by the

office. OFCM will continue to make

information available on the Internet

during FY 2001.
SECTION 1

Hurricane Floyd was a large, intense

Cape Verde hurricane that pounded the

central and northern Bahamas and

threatened the eastern coastline of the

United States from Florida to North

Carolina. Floyd was near the threshold

of Category 5 intensity on the

Saffir/Simpson Hurricane Scale as it

approached the Bahamas and remained

a strong Category 4 hurricane while

heading north along the Florida Coast.

Floyd then began to slowly weaken

and paralleled the Atlantic coastline

before turning north-northeast, making

landfall near Cape Fear, North

Carolina, on September 16, 1999, as a

Category 2 hurricane. Hurricane

Floyd caused over 3 million people to

evacuate and produced a flood disaster

of immense proportions in the eastern

United States, particularly in North

Carolina, as it moved up the east coast

into New England. (Figure 1-1)

To put the inland flooding problem in

perspective, this article will (a) examine the event from a historical viewpoint; (b) describe, in some detail, the

meteorological impacts, the warning

and forecast support, and the human

and economic losses associated with

Floyd; and (c) summarize the public's

response from a behavioral standpoint.

During a session on Improving

Public Response to Hurricane

Warnings, held at the National

Hurricane Conference in April 2000,

Mr. John Gambel, Federal Emergency

Management Agency's (FEMA)

National Hurricane Program

Coordinator, stated the massive evacuation by the public during Hurricane

Floyd highlighted the serious problem

that has been created by the migration

of significant numbers of people to the

United States coastal regions and the

barrier islands. Sufficient plans do not

exist and the transportation infrastructure was not adequate to handle an

evacuation of this magnitude. The

results of an assessment completed by

FEMA and the United States Army

Corps of Engineers following

Hurricane Floyd were presented and

provided revealing insights on how the

public will respond to similar evacuations in the future.

In a recent study, Dr. Edward

Rappaport, Tropical Prediction

Center/National Hurricane Center

(TPC/NHC), reported a total of 600

fatalities in the contiguous United

States and its coastal waters associated

with Atlantic tropical cyclones during

1970-1999. Drowning accounted for

479 deaths, or 82 percent, of the fatalities with wind-related events responsible for most of the others. When it

comes to hurricanes, it is obvious that

wind speeds do not tell the whole story.

Hurricanes produce storm surge, tornadoes, and often the most deadly of all-

-inland flooding. Intense rainfall is not

directly related to the wind speed of

tropical cyclones. In fact, some of the

greatest rainfall amounts occur from

weaker storms that drift slowly or stall

over an area. Examples of tropical

cyclones that produced significant

impacts after moving inland include:

 Tropical Storm Charley (1998)

dropped 16.83 inches of rain on Del

Rio, Texas, on August 23, 1998, easily

surpassing the previous daily record of

8.79 inches. Charley was responsible

for 13 freshwater drowning deaths.

THE LEGACY OF HURRICANE FLOYD--INLAND FLOODING

AND A MASSIVE EVACUATION

SECTION 1 1

Figure 1-1. Best track of Hurricane Floyd - September 7-17, 1999.

INTRODUCTION

HISTORY OF THE

INLAND FLOODING

PROBLEM

This article was prepared by Mr. Robert Dumont, OFCM Staff.
2 SECTION 1

 Tropical Storm Alberto (1994)

drifted over the Southeast United

States and produced torrential rainfall--more than 21 inches of rain

fell at Americus, Texas. Thirtythree people drowned and damages

exceeded $750 million.

 Hurricane Agnes (1972) produced

floods in the Northeast United

States which contributed to

122 deaths and $6.4 million in

damages--the largest loss in the last

30 years.

 In 1955, Hurricane Diane brought

inland flooding to Pennsylvania,

New York, and New England.

Diane contributed to nearly

200 deaths and $4.2 billion in damages.

Loss of life from Atlantic tropical

cyclones has occurred inland hundreds

of miles from the coast. While most

deaths in the eastern United States

occurred from the Appalachian

Mountains eastward, many locations

not suffering losses in the last 30 years

were simply fortunate to be out of

harm's way. For example, Hurricane

Camille (1969) caused a large loss of

life in West Virginia after its center had

moved about 700 miles over land and

Hurricane Hazel (1954) caused inland

deaths northward from North Carolina

to Canada.

In the last 30 years, freshwater floods

from excessive tropical cyclone-related rains led to about 300 deaths in

inland counties and dominate the fatality totals for those areas. A disproportionately large percentage (75-80 percent) of the children killed by tropical

cyclones drowned in freshwater

floods. Such meteorological and

hydrological factors as storm speed

(e.g., Alberto's near stall over

Georgia), size and character of the precipitation field, orography, interactions

with other weather features, including

low-level frontal zones (e.g., Floyd) or

disturbances aloft (e.g., Agnes), soil

nature, and wetness (e.g., Hurricane

Dennis' rains preceding Floyd in North

Carolina) were important in determining the magnitude of the inland flooding threat. Combining coastal and

inland statistics, 59 percent of the

deaths occurred by drowning in freshwater. 

Hurricane Floyd can be traced back

to a tropical wave that emerged from

western Africa on September 2, 1999.

Overall, the system was broad and disorganized, yet easily recognizable as a

synoptic-scale entity. Floyd slowly

strengthened and became a hurricane

by 1200 UTC, September 10, while

centered about 200 nautical miles (nm)

east-northeast of the northern Leeward

Islands. After strengthening to nearly

Category 3 status early on the

September 11, the hurricane weakened

to 85 knots around 0000 UTC on

September 12. Early on the 12th, rising mid- and upper-tropospheric

heights to the north of Floyd forced a

turn toward the west which marked the

beginning of a major strengthening

episode (this phenomenon has also

been observed with many past hurricanes; e.g., Hurricane Andrew--1992).

Maximum sustained winds increased

from 95 knots to 135 knots and the

central pressure fell about 40 millibars

(mb) by early September 13. From

0600-1800 UTC on September 13,

Hurricane Floyd was at the top end of

Category 4 intensity.

One potential contributor to the significant strengthening of Floyd was the

presence of enhanced upper ocean heat

content along its track. Analyses from

the Physical Oceanography Division of

NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and

Meteorological Laboratory (AOML)

showed relatively high values of heat

content just to the east of the Bahamas

a day or two before Floyd passed

through the area.

Hurricane Floyd was moving toward

the central Bahamas until late on the

13th when the heading became westnorthwestward. The eye passed just

20-30 nm northeast and north of the

San Salvador and Cat Islands on the

night of September 13. Floyd's eyewall passed over central and northern

Eleuthera on the morning of

September 14 and, after turning toward

the northwest, Floyd struck Abaco

Island on the afternoon of the 14th. By

the time Hurricane Floyd hit Abaco, it

had weakened somewhat from its peak

but was still a borderline Category 3

or 4 hurricane.

As a mid- to upper-tropospheric

trough over the eastern United States

eroded the subtropical ridge over the

extreme western Atlantic, Floyd continued to gradually turn to the right.

The center of the storm paralleled the

central Florida coast, passing about

95 nm east of Cape Canaveral around

0900 UTC on September 15. By the

afternoon, Floyd was abeam of the

Florida/Georgia border and headed

northward toward the Carolinas.

Although there was a fluctuation in

intensity related to an eyewall replacement event, overall the intensity of

Floyd diminished from September

13-15. Environmental causes for

intensity change are not entirely understood, but two large scale factors probably contributed to the gradual decline:

(1) the entrainment of drier air at low

levels from the northwest and

(2) increasing south-southwesterly

vertical shear. As Floyd neared the

North Carolina coast late on

September 15, its maximum winds

decreased below Category 3 status.

After turning toward the north-northeast with forward speed increasing to

near 15 knots, Hurricane Floyd made

landfall near Cape Fear, North

Carolina, at 0630 UTC, September 16,

as a Category 2 hurricane with estimated maximum winds near 90 knots.

Floyd was losing its eyewall structure

as it made landfall and continued to

SYNOPTIC HISTORY

AND METEOROLOGICAL

IMPACT AT LANDFALL
SECTION 1 3

accelerate north-northeastward over

extreme eastern North Carolina on the

morning of September 16 and over the

greater Norfolk, Virginia, area around

1500 UTC that day. Floyd then weakened to a tropical storm and moved

swiftly along the coasts of the

Delmarva peninsula and New Jersey

on the afternoon and early evening of

September 16 and reached Long Island

by 0000 UTC, September 17. By that

time, the storm's speed had increased

to near 29 knots. The storm decelerated as it moved into New England and

became more involved with a frontal

zone that existed along the Atlantic

seaboard. The system then took the

form of a frontal low and, thus, became

extratropical by the time it reached the

coast of Maine at 1200 UTC,

September 17.

Heavy rainfall preceded Floyd over

the Mid-Atlantic states due to a preexisting frontal zone and the associated

overrunning. Hence, although the

tropical cyclone was moving fairly

quickly, precipitation amounts were

very large. Rainfall totals as high as 15

to 20 inches were recorded in portions

of eastern North Carolina and Virginia.

At Wilmington, North Carolina, the

storm total of 19.06 inches included a

24-hour record of 15.06 inches. Totals

of 12 to 14 inches were observed in

Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey.

A new record of 6.63 inches was set in

Philadelphia for the most rainfall in a

calendar day. In southeastern New

York, rainfall totals were generally in

the 4 to 7 inch range, but there was a

report of 13.70 inches at Brewster.

Totals of nearly 11 inches were measured in portions of New England.

(Figure 1-2)

As Floyd made landfall in North

Carolina, the winds ahead of the eye

drove water onshore on the Atlantic

shoreline and westward in the Pamlico

and Albemarle Sounds and up several

of the rivers located on the west side of

the sounds. The highest storm surge

values ranged from 5.5 to 9.0 feet. The

9.0 foot storm surge maximum (the

highest observed in Floyd) was reported by an observer near Wilmington,

North Carolina. The maximum

observed storm surge plus the astronomical tide component totaled

10.3 feet--the actual water elevation

observed.

A number of tornadoes were sighted

in eastern North Carolina. There was a

confirmed tornado in Bertie County

and another in Perquimans County

which destroyed two houses and damaged several others. At least ten tornadoes were reported by spotters in the

Newport/Morehead City County

Warning Area and these apparently

caused some structural damage. Four

tornadoes or funnel clouds were seen

in the Wilmington area, but no damage

was apparent.

Tropical Prediction Center/National

Hurricane Center

When averaged over the entire lifetime of the hurricane, the TPC/NHC

track forecasts for Floyd were excellent. The average official forecast

errors at 12, 24, 36, 48, and 72 hours

were 32, 61, 84, 84, and 120 miles,

respectively. These errors are much

smaller than the most recent 10-year

average errors of 55, 103, 147, 189,

and 279 miles. The overall average

official forecast errors for Floyd were

small; however, the official forecasts

for the period when hurricane warnings were in effect for the United

States (5 p.m. on September 13 to

11 a.m. on September 16) were average. The average 24-hour track forecast error for this latter period was

roughly the same as the most recent

10-year average. In general, the track

forecasts for this period had a westward bias and were somewhat slow. Figure 1-2. Total precipitation (inches) from Hurricane Floyd.

WARNING AND

FORECAST SUPPORT
4 SECTION 1

The official intensity forecasts averaged over Floyd's lifetime were good.

The average official errors at 12, 24,

36, 48, and 72 hours were 12, 17, 20,

20, and 14 mph, respectively. These

errors were considerably smaller than

the errors of forecasts based upon climatology and persistence (the usual

benchmark for evaluation of forecast

skill) of 15, 22, 28, 32, and 44 mph.

After Floyd reached its maximum

intensity, the official forecasts did not

predict enough weakening. From

September 13 on, the wind speed was

over-forecast in the advisories at nearly every forecast interval.

As Hurricane Floyd moved toward

south Florida and then up the East

Coast, the TPC/NHC (Figure 1-3)

issued tropical storm warnings from as

far south as the Florida Keys to as far

north as Merrimack River,

Massachusetts. At various times during the storm, hurricane warnings were

posted along sections of the coastline

from Florida City, Florida, to

Plymouth, Massachusetts. In reality,

only a small fraction of the coast with

hurricane warnings experienced sustained hurricane-force winds.

Hurricane warnings were issued for the

coast of North Carolina at 11 p.m. on

September 14--about 27 hours prior to

the arrival of the eyewall in the Cape

Fear area. For the coasts of South

Carolina and North Carolina, hurricane

warnings were issued at least 24 hours

before the onset of tropical storm-force

winds.

River Forecast Centers (RFC)

Hurricane Floyds track impacted

three NWS RFCs: the Southeast

(SERFC), the Mid-Atlantic (MARFC),

and the Northeast (NERFC).

Recognizing the potential for severe

flooding early on, all three centers

extended their operating hours from

16- to 24-hours a day prior to the

arrival of Floyd. On Tuesday,

September 14, SERFC and MARFC

issued contingency forecasts based on

9 inches of forecasted rainfall. This

information was coordinated internally

via telephone and fax to impacted

Weather Forecast Offices (WFO) and

communicated to many emergency

managers. These forecasts indicated

the risk of major-to-record flooding if

that amount of rainfall were to occur.

RFCs issued timely river forecasts

through the River Forecast product.

The accuracy of these forecasts

increased as flood crests approached.

The three affected RFCs issued a total

of 252 river forecasts. These forecasts

were issued daily and updated every

6 hours, or when needed. The initial

flood warnings were low and were

raised with the ingest of observed rainfall and higher Quantitative

Precipitation Forecasts (QPF).

Official forecasts provided lead times

of several hours to a few days prior to

the onset of flooding, depending on the

response times of the rivers. Lead

times of up to several days were

achieved on river crest forecasts. In

addition, hydrologists at all RFCs

coordinated closely with WFOs and

local officials.

Weather Forecast Offices (WFO)

The NWS WFOs have the responsibility of issuing timely meteorologic

and hydrologic warnings, forecasts,

and statements. These offices are the

contact for state, county, and local

agencies as well as the media and the

general public. During Hurricane

Floyd, 13 WFOs were impacted with

high winds and tornadoes, coastal

flooding, flash flooding, and river

flooding, or a combination of all these

events. Six WFOs (Wakefield,

Virginia; Raleigh, North Carolina;

Wilmington, North Carolina;

Morehead City, North Carolina; Mt.

Holly, New Jersey; and Brookhaven,

New York) had record river flooding,

record rainfall, or both. While the rainfall from Floyd was the primary contributor to the devastating flooding,

rainfall from Hurricane Dennis, a week

before, set the stage for these events.

Nineteen official NWS river forecast

points reported record flooding due to

the rainfall from Dennis and Floyd.

Another 36 forecast points recorded

major flooding. Record river flooding

occurred in both the Southeast (North

Carolina, South Carolina, and

Virginia) and the Northeast (New

Jersey and Pennsylvania). WFOs

issued a total of 300 Flood Warnings

and Flood Statements for flooding

associated with Hurricane Floyd.

The coastal North Carolina WFOs

Figure 1-3. Mr. Max Mayfield, Director, Tropical Prediction Center/National

Hurricane Center, provides an update to a national television audience.
SECTION 1 5

were severely impacted by Hurricane

Floyd. River flooding due to Dennis

was ongoing when Floyd brought high

winds, tornadoes, and coastal and flash

flooding. The day before Floyd made

landfall, WFOs Morehead City and

Wilmington, North Carolina, issued 28

tornado warnings in a 10-hour period.

Hurricane-spawned tornadoes were

occurring at the same time as hurricane-force winds and flash flooding.

The flash flooding was more severe

than residents had ever remembered.

The northeast WFOs did not have the

long-lasting flooding of the South but

were affected by record flash and

urban flooding. A particular problem

in the Northeast region, where population density is high and terrain is flat, is

the extreme effect just a foot rise along

some area tributaries can have on the

areal extent of flooding. This situation

was particularly a problem in portions

of New Jersey. The result was property damage affecting thousands of

homes and businesses.

Every affected WFO issued either a

Special Weather Statement or Flood

Potential Statement to highlight the

high flood danger 30 to 48 hours

before flooding by Floyd began. Flood

or Flash Flood Watches were issued by

all affected WFOs from 12 to 36 hours

before the onset of flooding. A total of

532 Flash Flood Warnings were issued

by the 13 WFOs for areas from northeast South Carolina through New

England. Verification of these warnings for the 13 WFOs combined was

outstanding.

All WFOs impacted by Floyd were

proactive in their efforts to get the

word out early. Perhaps most appreciated by emergency officials were WFO

efforts in using conference calls to provide advance notice and continual

updates of Floyd's track and resulting

river flood crests. All WFOs made

advance "heads up" calls to emergency

management officials from 2 to 5 days

before rainfall from Floyd began. With

the realization that Floyd would cause

massive inland flooding, emergency

officials were again briefed days in

advance. As the events of Floyd

unfolded, WFOs continued to conduct

once- or twice-a-day conference calls

with state and county emergency officials. These conference calls typically

occurred just following the internal

NWS conference calls, thus providing

emergency officials with the latest

updates on Floyd.

Floyd's Impact

There were 57 deaths directly attributable to Floyd with 56 in the continental United States and 1 on Grand

Bahama Island (Figure 1-4). Most of

these deaths (50) were due to drowning

in freshwater flooding. A massive rescue effort is credited with saving

another 1,400 people from Floyd's

flood waters. In fact, 32 of the 50

deaths (64 per cent) occurred when the

individuals were in, or attempting to

abandon, their vehicles. Over the last

30 years, at least 138 victims (23 percent) died in this manner and almost all

of these incidents occurred in association with freshwater-flooded roads.

In addition to the loss of life, the

wrath of Floyd resulted in the destruction of homes, businesses, and infrastructure; loss of livestock and crops;

and a disruption of commerce. For

North Carolina alone, FEMA's documented economic impact which only

includes losses to businesses and agriculture was $6 billion--$1 billion for

business structures, $4 billion in lost

business revenues, and $1 billion in

agricultural losses.

For the agricultural business sector,

Hurricane Floyd had a significant

regional impact on individual farmers

and other agricultural producers. Crop

losses were in excess of $500 million-

-over half of which were in cotton and

tobacco. Almost 3 million chickens

and turkeys, 30,000 hogs, and

1,000 cattle were lost. Farm equipment and facility losses were over

$300 million. Losses to the fisheries

and forestry industries totaled $25 million and $90 million, respectively.

Following Floyd, federal and state officials anticipated that flood waters

would have widespread, long-term

environmental effects on the health,

welfare, and usability of the impacted

areas. Fortunately, according to

FEMA's economic impact assessment,

the environmental effects appear to

have been less than anticipated due in

part to the quick action of emergency

response teams.

Flood insurance claims from

Hurricane Floyd will rank as the second-highest. As of March 1, 2000, the

National Flood Insurance Program

(NFIP), which is administered by

FEMA, had paid more $310 million to

settle 14,614 claims for flood damage

that occurred as Hurricane Floyd

dumped torrential rains from Florida to

Maine. With approximately

Figure 1-4. Distribution of fatalities along Hurricane Floyds path.
6 SECTION 1

9,500 claims still open, FEMA expects

that the total insurance payments from

Floyd will reach $460 million. In the

history of the NFIP, this total is only

exceeded by the Louisiana floods of

May 1995 which resulted in nearly

$584 million in paid claims.

While making its trek along the

Atlantic coastline, Hurricane Floyd

was responsible for the largest peacetime evacuation in United States history

and over 3 million people responded to

the evacuation order. Following

Hurricane Floyd, the United States

Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah

District, and FEMA-Region IV contracted for a Hurricane Floyd

Assessment to review hurricane evacuation studies utilization and information dissemination. The following

information is excerpted from that

report:

Method

During the months following

Hurricane Floyd, nearly 7,000 members of the public were interviewed to

(a) document and explain their

response to Floyd and (b) anticipate

their behavior in future evacuations.

The sample was divided into 11 clusters of counties from Dade County,

Florida, through North Carolina's

Outer Banks. The sampling was

designed to conform to hurricane planning regions used by the respective

states. The regions were:

 Eastern North Carolina--the Outer

Banks and counties along

Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds

 Southeastern North Carolina--from

the South Carolina border to the

Outer Banks, including Wilmington

 Northern South Carolina--including the Myrtle Beach "Grand

Strand" area

 Central South Carolina--including

Charleston and vicinity

 Southern South Carolina--including the Beaufort area

 Northern Georgia--including

Savannah

 Southern Georgia--including

Brunswick and Camden County

 Northeast Florida--including

Jacksonville and St. Augustine

 East-Central Florida--including

Daytona Beach and Melbourne

 Treasure Coast Florida--including

Palm Beach and Fort Pierce

 Southeast Florida--Dade and

Broward Counties

Each of the 11 clusters were then

stratified into four risk areas: (1) areas

which would flood due to storm surge

in Category 1 hurricanes, (2) areas

which would flood due to storm surge

in stronger hurricanes, (3) areas of

coastal counties which would not flood

from storm surge in any hurricane, and

(4) non-coastal counties bordering the

coastal counties.

Evacuation Participation Rates

There was considerable variation in

evacuation rates among the 11 survey

areas. Evacuation (i.e., leaving one's

home to go to some place safer) was

highest in Georgia and southern South

Carolina. In the Category 1 zone, up to

90 percent left the Savannah area and

numbers were almost that high around

Brunswick, Georgia, and Beaufort,

South Carolina. Rates dropped off

gradually both north and south, with

major dropoffs for the Treasure Coast

and southeast Florida and eastern

North Carolina areas. Evacuation was

also high in Georgia and in the

Beaufort, South Carolina, area for people living in areas subject to surge

inundation in storms stronger than

Category 1 with 75-85 percent leaving

from those areas. Again, the dropoff

was gradual in both directions, with

more significant decreases at the end

of the study area. In Florida, only

Category 1 surge areas were ordered to

evacuate. In Georgia and southern

South Carolina, entire coastal counties

were told to evacuate. Participation

rates for Category 1 surge zone areas

are detailed in Figure 1-5.

In the Charleston, Beaufort, and

Savannah areas, evacuation from nonsurge zones was unusually high. In all

three areas, all or most of the counties

were told to evacuate. Even away

from those locations, between

20-40 percent of the non-surge residents left in most survey areas. These

"shadow" evacuees contributed to the

large number of people on evacuation

routes. Evacuation in adjacent noncoastal counties were also surprisingly

high and averaged approximately

25 percent. In the Charleston vicinity, Figure 1-5. Evacuation participation rates for Category 1 Storm Surge Zones.

PUBLIC RESPONSE--

A BEHAVIORAL

ANALYSIS
SECTION 1 7

almost half of the residents in adjacent

non-coastal counties evacuated their

homes. When asked why they left,

most respondents gave a combination

of reasons; such as, evacuation notices

from public officials, storm severity,

and recommendations from friends,

family, and the media. When asked

which was the main influence on their

decision to evacuate, information coming from public officials (or which

they perceived to be coming from public officials) had the greatest effect for

most people. With the exception of the

two southernmost Florida locations, a

majority of people living in the

Category 1 surge areas said they heard

officials call for their evacuation. The

highest percentage that actually evacuated was in the Charleston area--

80 percent. Some residents living in

non-surge areas also believed they

heard officials say that they should

evacuate. In Georgia and parts of

South Carolina, more than 60 percent

of the non-surge residents of coastal

counties said they heard official evacuation notices which applied to them,

and that was probably correct for most.

In other states and in non-coastal counties, up to 25 percent of the respondents believed they heard officials say

that they should evacuate, and that was

probably not correct, except for people

living in mobile homes. These results

emphasize the fact that it is extremely

important for officials to reach those

for whom the evacuation notices are

intended and to avoid confusing those

for whom the notices are not intended.

One reason there was substantial

evacuation from areas not targeted by

officials is that many residents of nonsurge areas perceived themselves to be

vulnerable to major hurricanes. When

asked whether their homes would be

safe in a 125 mph hurricane 20-40 percent of the people living in coastal

county non-surge areas believed their

homes would be unsafe from storm

surge and waves; 25-60 percent

believed their homes would be unsafe,

considering both wind and surge.

Even in adjacent non-coastal counties

15-35 percent believed their homes

would experience dangerous flooding

from storm surge and waves; 40 percent to nearly 60 percent believed their

homes would be unsafe, considering

both wind and water.

The importance of perception cannot

be overlooked. People who believe

their homes are unsafe are much more

likely than others in their same risk

area to evacuate. In most locations,

people who believe their homes are

unsafe are about twice as likely as others to leave. This is a good thing when

applied to people who really need to

evacuate, but it can contribute to overcrowding on evacuation routes and in

shelters when applied to people who

could stay home and be safe.

There are various ways to reach the

public with evacuation and vulnerability information during a hurricane

threat, but local television and The

Weather Channel are the most-relied

upon sources of information in most

locations. Eventually, the Internet and

online computer services will gain

increased importance, but currently

less than 10 percent of coastal residents say they rely heavily on those

sources for hurricane threat information. Survey results are depicted in

Figure 1-6.

Evacuation Destinations

Evacuation congestion is made

worse when large numbers of evacuees

leave the local area rather than simply

going to safe locations within their

own community. During Hurricane

Floyd, an unusual percentage of evacuees went to destinations outside their

own county. Among evacuees from

Category 1 and larger surge zones, as

many as 98 percent left their own

county and in 8 of 11 study locations

more than 70 percent did the same.

These percentages are unusually high,

but even in non-surge areas, more than

half of the evacuees went out-of-county in 8 of 10 non-surge locations. In

adjacent non-coastal counties, more

than half of the evacuees went out of

the county from half the survey sites.

When asked why they left their county, for many evacuees the answer was

obvious. Georgia and some South

Carolina locations evacuated entire

coastal counties, so there were no

places to go within those counties and

still comply with evacuation notices.

Moreover, in those locations, residents

appear to appreciate and acknowledge

Figure 1-6. Survey results regarding relied upon sources of information.
8 SECTION 1

the vulnerability of their counties. In

many locations, public shelters are not

operated in coastal counties or even in

the next tier of counties inland.

Respondents gave three predominant

explanations for going out of county:

(1) that was the location of friends or

relatives with whom they could stay,

(2) the storm was strong enough so they

wanted to get far away from it, and (3)

they had to go as far as they did to find

vacant lodging. For most locations, the

decision to go out of county was influenced more by hearing from public

officials rather than by other messages

heard through the media or information

from friends and relatives.

The majority of evacuees went to

homes of friends and relatives which is

common in most evacuations.

Between 20 and 30 percent in most

locations went to hotels and motels;

fewer than 10 percent (closer to 5 percent in most locations) went to public

shelters. Approximately 40 percent of

the evacuees said they heard announcements concerning the availability of

shelters or refuges after they left home,

but fewer than 10 percent of those who

heard took advantage of the offers.

Transportation

Of all the vehicles available to evacuating households, between 65 and

75 percent were used in Floyd--a typical statistic for most evacuations.

Evacuees in Charleston had the longest

average travel times--almost 9 hours.

Beaufort and the two Georgia sites also

had average travel times exceeding

6 hours. When asked how long they

expected the evacuation to take, the

expectations of the evacuees were, not

surprisingly, shorter than reality.

When asked the reasons for the traffic

delays, most blamed the large volume

of traffic and too many people leaving

at the same time. In most locations,

fewer than 30 percent attributed the

delays to poor management. The

exception was Charleston, where over

40 percent blamed management.

Some people mentioned the need to

reverse traffic lanes along evacuation

routes. Evacuees were asked whether

they would be willing to delay their

departure in an evacuation to let people

in areas of greater risk leave first in

order to avoid congestion (Figure 1-7).

Between 80 and 90 percent said they

would.

Between 35 and 60 percent of the

evacuees said they used interstate

highways for a substantial portion of

the evacuation and between 70 and

90 percent said they were familiar with

the road systems in the areas through

which they were evacuating. This

response implies that evacuees would

be able to take advantage of information about alternative routes if they

received the information. In Floyd,

between 20 and 55 percent of the evacuees said they heard announcements

about evacuation route problems

before leaving home. Of those hearing

the announcements, approximately

30 percent changed their plans concerning routes to use. As evidenced by

their behavior in Floyd, evacuees

appear to be receptive to route

announcements. In fact, when asked

whether they would be willing to use a

route other than the one they had

planned to use if urged to do so by

emergency officials, more than 70 percent said they would.

Next Time

A key question asked following

Hurricane Floyd was whether the

unpleasant experiences during the

evacuation would deter people from

leaving in future hurricane events.

Certainly many evacuees had bad

experiences, but when asked to

describe the sorts of difficulties they

endured, most respondents, even in

Charleston, reported none other than

aggravation. The most common complaint was a lack of restroom facilities,

followed by food and water. It is

important for public safety officials to

recognize the fact that the people who

complain about events by contacting

agencies, writing to newspapers, and

so forth don't constitute a random sample of the public.

When asked what they would do differently if faced with a similar hurricane threat in the future, fewer than

20 percent of the evacuees in most

locations said they would not evacuate

next time. Some of the evacuees didn't

Figure 1-7. Evacuation order in South Carolina resulted in major traffic congestion along Interstate 26. (Photo: Post & Courier; Charleston, South Carolina)
SECTION 1 9

Material for this article was drawn from

the following sources:

 The National Weather Service (NWS)

Office of Hydrology brochure--

Hurricane Flooding: A Deadly Inland

Danger.

 The NWS Service Assessment--

Hurricane Floyd Floods of September

1999, June 2000.

 The NWS Tropical Prediction

Center/National Hurricane Center

Preliminary Report on Hurricane

Floyd, 7-17 September 1999.

 Rappaport, E. N., 2000: Loss of life in

the United States associated with recent

Atlantic tropical cyclones. Bull. Amer.

Meteor. Soc., 81, 2065-2073.

 Hurricane Floyd Assessment, Review of

Hurricane Evacuation Studies

Utilization and Information

Dissemination, prepared for the U.S.

Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah

District, and Federal Emergency

Management Agency, Region IV, May

2000.

 Federal Emergency Management

Agency's (FEMA) Economic Impact

Assessment of Hurricane Floyd for

North Carolina, Executive Summary.

 FEMA News Room Release, Flood

Insurance Claims from Hurricane

Floyd Will Rank Second-Highest Ever,

Washington, DC, March 1, 2000.

need to evacuate during Floyd, so their

inclination to stay in the future is not

negative. Most of those who do need

to go can be convinced to do so in an

actual threat. The most common

response when asked what they would

do differently was to leave earlier next

time.

Inland flooding from landfalling

tropical cyclones is a clear and present

danger. We cannot afford to let the

media spotlight and public attention

diffuse and shift away from the ending

drama at the coast to other current

events rather than following the usually weakening tropical cyclone while it

moves inland. The National Weather

Service performed superbly during

Hurricane Floyd, but we look to future

meteorological research efforts to

improve our capabilities. The

Hurricane Landfall and Quantitative

Precipitation Forecasting components

of the United States Weather Research

Program are indicative of the significance of the tropical cyclone threat to

this country, as well as our focused

commitment to minimize the impacts

of that threat in the future.

During the National Hurricane

Conference session on Improving

Public Response to Hurricane

Warnings, Dr. Jay Baker, Department

of Geography, Florida State

University, who participated in the

Hurricane Floyd Assessment,

described four important points with

regard to understanding the public's

response.

(1) Evacuation orders are the most

effective means for evoking a

response from the public, as long as

they are heard and understood by

those who need to respond. 

(2) People must understand their own

personal vulnerability. One problem

is that the public tends to underestimate high risks and overestimate low

risks, as evidenced during Floyd.

(3) We need to tell and convince people they need to only go a certain distance to be safe, and

(4) We need to understand and use

the public's sources of information to

disseminate information.

Recommendations for the future

include:

 Better education of the public

regarding their vulnerability.

 Wording evacuation notices to

ensure they are not misinterpreted

and effectively disseminating them.

 Telling people what to do and why.

 Not forgetting those who didn't

leave but should have.

As demonstrated by the experiences

during Hurricane Floyd, facilitating

the transportation of those who evacuate is another challenge. During the

Office of the Federal Coordinator for

Meteorology (OFCM) sponsored

54th Interdepartmental Hurricane

Conference in February 2000,

Mr. Howard R. Chapman, Charleston

Area Rapid Transit Authority, elaborated on the problems that were experienced in the Charleston area. He also

described the plans to alleviate these

problems in the future which include a

lane reversal plan for Interstate 26,

plans for the Governor to stagger evacuations, and a call for earlier, initial

evacuations. Their plans also provide

for constant information about conditions to be disseminated by National

Public Radio and educational television and for improved access to secondary roads as alternate routes of

evacuation. The key to the future success of our Nation's response to landfalling hurricanes is to act on the lessons learned from the past. Hurricane

Floyd certainly provided federal, state,

and local officials with a wealth of lessons learned that will help refine current and shape future plans.

REFERENCES:

SUMMARY AND

CONCLUSIONS
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) 2000 based on

Congressional appropriations, the

budget request for FY 2001, the percent change, and the individual agencies' percent of the total federal funding for FY 2001 and FY 2001.

DEPARTMENT OFAGRICULTURE

(USDA)

The USDA budget request for

FY 2001 is $28.1 million for operations and supporting research and represents no change from FY 2000. The

USDA assists the Department of

Commerce in determining farmers'

needs for weather information and in

disseminating the information to them.

Major USDA activities related to

weather observations include incremental modernization of the snow

telemetry (SNOTEL) system operated

by the Natural Resources Conservation

Service (NRCS) and the replacement

of manual fire rating stations with

remote automated weather stations

(RAWS) by the Forest Service. The

SNOTEL and RAWS networks provide cooperative data for NOAA's

river forecast activities, the irrigation

water supply estimates, and Bureau of

Land Management operations.

For supporting research, USDA

requested $15.5 million to focus on the

interactions of weather and climate

with plant and animal production and

water resources management. The goal

of supporting research is to develop and

disseminate information and techniques to ensure an abundance of highquality agricultural commodities and

products while minimizing the adverse

effects of agriculture on the environment. The research budget does not

include the coordinated effort with

EPA on ultraviolet radiation. The

Forest Service supports a research program, initiated in 1988, for a long-term

monitoring network to assess potential

effects of global climate change and

variability on forest health and productivity. Work also continues in forestry

ecological systems modeling.

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

(DOC)

All reported DOC meteorological

activities are within the National

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

(NOAA). The NOAA FY 2001 total

congressional request of $1.44 billion

for meteorological programs represents an increase of 8.3 percent over

the FY 2001 appropriated funds.

NOAA's FY 2001 operations and

supporting research requests for

major line-office activities are

described below:

Weather Services

Mission. The National Weather

Service (NWS) provides weather,

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

for the protection of life and property

and the enhancement of the national

economy. NWS data and products

form a national information database

and infrastructure which can be used

by other governmental agencies, the

private sector, the public, and the global community.

Introduction. America's vulnerability

to weather-related hazards is rising as

more of the population moves into

weather harm's way and national and

global economies become more complex. Approximately 40 percent of all

Americans, some 100 million people,

currently reside in areas of high risk to

natural disasters, with the number

climbing yearly. Today, 90 percent of

all presidentially declared disasters are

weather and flood related. Moreover,

water resources are the lifeblood of the

economy and our standard of living.

During the next century, weather will

continue to impact our lives and significantly impact the United States economy. In recognition of this fact, the

NWS was recognized by National

Partnership for Reinventing

Government (NPR) as one of

thirty-two high impact federal agencies. By working with our partners,

especially the private sector and emergency management community, NWS

is striving to ensure our products and

services are responsive to the needs of

the American public.

RESOURCE INFORMATION AND AGENCY PROGRAM UPDATES

The tables in this section summarize budgetary information of the federal government for Fiscal Years 2000 and 2001.

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

immediate objective the improvement of these services. Fiscal data are current as of the end of June 2000 and are subject to later changes. The data for FY 2001 do not have legislative approval and do not constitute a commitment by the

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

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

federal agencies.

AGENCY OBLIGATIONS FOR METEOROLOGICAL OPERATIONS 

AND SUPPORTING RESEARCH

SECTION 2 11
12 SECTION 2
SECTION 2 13

The FY 2001 Budget Request supports the funding and program requirements to enable the NWS to better use

science to serve our citizens and fulfill

its vision of becoming America's "no

surprise" weather service. This vision

states that the NWS will produce and

deliver forecasts you can trust when

you need them most, use cutting-edge

technologies, provide services in a

cost-effective manner, strive to eliminate weather-related fatalities, and

improve the economic value of weather information. In FY 2001, the NWS

will continue its mission of providing

weather and flood warnings and forecasts to the public and improve the

overall warning lead times for tornadoes, severe thunderstorms, and flash

floods, as well as improve the accuracy of hurricane landfall predictions.

The NWS contributes to three of

NOAA's Strategic Plan goals:

(1) Advance Short-Term Warning and

Forecast Services, (2) Implement

Seasonal to Interannual Climate

Forecasts, and (3) Predict and Assess

Decadal to Centennial Change. The

NWS request also supports investments in the Natural Disaster

Reduction Initiative (NDRI) as well as

the NOAA Climate Observations and

Services Initiative.

Budget Overview

Overall, the NOAA request includes

a total of $710.2 million for the

National Weather Service, a net

increase of $56.3 million above the

FY 2000 appropriation. The request

includes a total of $634.9 million for

Operations, Research, and Facilities

(OR&F) and $75.4 million for

Procurement, Acquisition, and

Construction (PAC). In FY 2001, the

budget priorities for NWS include sustaining current services, replacing

obsolete observing systems, infusing

new technology, and enhancing service

to the Public.

Operations, Research, and Facilities.

The FY 2001 budget includes a

request of $634.9 million, an increase

of $33.5 million over the FY 2000

appropriation. The increase allows

NWS to maintain current services in

FY 2001. Specifically, the increase of

$33.5 million includes $16.0 million

for Mandatory Pay Raises and

Inflationary Costs, $8.4 million to sustain base operations, $2.0 million for

Weather Forecast Office (WFO) maintenance, $2.3 million to sustain the CoOperative Observer (COOP) Network,

$5.8 million for Advanced Weather

Interactive Processing System

(AWIPS) Operations and Maintenance

(O&M), -$0.4 million for NEXRAD

O&M, and -$0.8M for one-time program terminations. The specific

details are outlined below:

 Mandatory Pay and Inflationary

Costs (+$16.0M). NOAA requests

an increase of $16.0 million to fund

Adjustments to Base (ATBs) for

NWS. The increase will fund the

FY 2001 federal pay raise of

3.9 percent and annualize the

FY 2000 pay raise of 4.8 percent as

well as provide inflationary

increases for certain non-labor

activities, including service contracts, field office lease payments,

and rent charges from the General

Services Administration (GSA).

 Sustain NWS Base Operations

(+$8.4M). NOAA requests an

increase of $8.4 million to support

NWS field office operations and

maintain current services in

FY 2001. The $8.4 million increase

includes the following critical base

activities:

 Continue Weather Service Office

Operations (+$.9M)--Funding is

required to sustain operations at

certain Weather Services Offices

previously slated for closure.

These offices include Ft. Smith,

Arkansas; Huntsville, Alabama;

Williston, North Dakota; and Erie,

Pennsylvania. The offices will

remain open until all necessary

follow-on studies are completed

and the Secretary of Commerce

makes a final decision on each closure action.

 Provide FAA/ASOS Augmentation (+$1.8M)--To comply with

the FAA Observation and Aviation

Service Standards, NWS is

required to perform manual weather observations to augment and

backup ASOS observations at certain airports across the Nation.

Due to staff reductions achieved

under the NWS Modernization,

the workload associated with

ASOS augmentation cannot be

absorbed by the current NWS field

office staff. The $1.8 million will

provide the necessary contract

support to perform the function at

17 sites.

 Sustain NOAA Weather Radio

Network (NWR) (+$3.0M)--NWS

requires funding to operate and

maintain 110 NWR transmitters

which will be added to the network

in FY 2000 and FY 2001. Current

partnership agreements require the

NWS to operate and maintain

transmitters purchased by states

and localities, the private sector,

and the federal government. The

NWR network is a critical for

transmitting NWS warning and

forecast messages to the public by

providing advance notice for

severe weather events.

 Provide Network Security

(+$.8M)--NWS requires funding

to procure and install emergency

network security hardware at the

National Centers for

Environmental Prediction

(NCEP). The security system will

prevent service interruptions from

cyber and hacker attacks. NCEP

receives over 25 hacker attacks per

week and the number is doubling

every 3 months.

 Ensure Workplace Safety

(+$.7M)--NWS requires funding

to replace unsafe hydrogen generators which are used to inflate

weather balloons at field offices in
14 SECTION 2

Alaska. Currently, the generators

present a significant safety risk to

NWS employees.

 Sustain Field Observations

(+$1.2M)--NWS requires funding

in FY 2001 to sustain its current

suite of surface observation equipment which are critical for local

weather and flood forecasting. To

avoid catastrophic loss of data,

NWS is planning to replace surface data collectors used to report

observations from stream gages,

river gages, and remote weather

observation stations.

 Weather Forecast Office (WFO)

Maintenance & Repair (+$2.0M).

NWS requests an increase of

$2.0 million for WFO Maintenance

& Repair. This request will allow

NWS to fund recurring maintenance contracts and address a backlog of over $7.0 million in deferred

maintenance actions. WFOs

require a significant investment in

recurring and cyclic maintenance,

including replacement of major

facility support systems, such as

power backup and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC).

The request will allow NWS to protect the $250 million capital investment in modernized facilities in

accordance with GSA and private

industry standards. In FY 2001,

NWS will complete high priority

repair actions at 20 field offices.

 Cooperative Observer Network

(+$2.3M). NOAA requests an

increase of $2.3 million to sustain

the Nation's cooperative observer

network. The cooperative observer

network is a nationwide network of

over 11,000 volunteer-operated

weather observing sites used by

NOAA to maintain the Nation's climate record and to provide data to

local NWS field offices. In a recent

report, the National Research

Council recommended that NOAA

take immediate steps to sustain and

modernize this critical network.

The instruments used to detect

daily minimum and maximum temperatures as well as rain gage

recording devices for measuring

precipitation are virtually obsolete

and increasingly costly to maintain.

In FY 2001, NWS plans to begin a

five-year program to modernize the

entire current network. The

$2.3 million will allow NWS to

replace 900 rain gages and 200

temperature sensors in FY 2001.

 Advanced Hydrologic Prediction

System (AHPS). In FY 2001,

NOAA will also continue implementation of AHPS in the

Mississippi and Ohio River Basin,

focusing on high priority flood

prone areas. The OR&F request

includes a total of $1.0 million for

this critical service improvement

program. Once deployed, AHPS

will significantly improve flood

forecasting and water resource

management by extending river

stage forecasts from days to months

in the future. AHPS will also provide new river forecast information

which can be used by water

resource and emergency managers

for risk-based decision-making.

AHPS will save lives and provide

over $600 million in annual savings

to the United States economy. 

 Next Generation Weather Radar

(NEXRAD) Operations &

Maintenance (-$0.4M). NOAA

requests a decrease of $0.4 million to

provide recurring operations and

maintenance for the current NWS

network of 123 NEXRAD units. The

NEXRAD network provides nationwide Doppler radar coverage,

improving detection of severe weather and floods and increasing the

warning lead time for tornadoes.

This level of funding will provide for

logistics, utilities, and system maintenance to ensure the operational availability of the NEXRAD network.

 Advanced Weather Interactive

Processing System (AWIPS)

Operations & Maintenance

(+$5.8M). NOAA requests an

increase of $5.8 million to provide

recurring operations and maintenance for the fully deployed network of 152 AWIPS systems.

FY 2001 funding is required to

address recurring communications,

systems obsolescence, and hardware maintenance support costs

associated with build 4.2 operations.

 Automated Surface Observing

System (ASOS) (+$0.02M).

NOAA requests an increase of

$0.02 million to operate and maintain the NWS network of

314 ASOS units. ASOS provides

the weather forecaster with critical

surface observations to improve

weather warning and forecast services. ASOS also provides critical

data to support the aviation community and climate information

users.

 Procurement, Acquisition, and

Construction (PAC). As indicated

above, the NOAA request includes

a total of $75.4 million for NWS

PAC programs, an increase of

$19.8 million over the FY 2000

appropriation. The specific

requests are listed below:

 NEXRAD (+$1.3M)--NOAA

requests an increase of $1.3 million over the FY 2000 appropriation. In FY 2001, NWS will continue product improvement efforts

by infusing new technology into

the current NEXRAD radar network. The current system processor utilizes obsolete technology

developed in the late 1980s. As a

result, a number of new detection

techniques, that are ready for operational use, cannot run on the present system. Combined with

AWIPS build 5.0 technology, the

NEXRAD Product Improvement

(NPI) will allow NWS forecasters

to improve the tornado warning

lead time by 5 minutes (11 minutes
SECTION 2 15

to 16 minutes) and improve the

accuracy of severe storm forecasts

by over 20 percent. In FY 2001,

the NWS will complete hardware

retrofits on a total of 50 NEXRAD

radars.

 ASOS (+$1.3M)--NOAA requests

an increase of $1.3 million over

the FY 2000. In FY 2001, NWS

will continue product improvement efforts, testing, and deploying new sensor capabilities.

Specifically, NWS will replace

obsolete processors on 250 ASOS

systems and continue replacement

of the all-weather rain gage and ice

free wind sensor which are critical

to aviation users.

 AWIPS (+$1.4M)--NOAA

increase of $1.4 million over the

FY 2000 appropriation. In

FY 2001, NWS will complete the

2nd of a 3-year effort to develop

and deploy AWIPS build 5.0 software. Combined with NPI technology, AWIPS build 5.0 software

will allow NWS forecasters to

improve the tornado warning lead

time by 5 minutes (11 minutes to

16 minutes) and improve the accuracy of severe storm forecasts by

over 20 percent. The NOAA

request also includes funding to

provide a backup Network Control

Facility (NCF).

 Central Computer Facility

(+$4.0M)--NOAA requests an

increase of $4.0 million over the

FY 2000 appropriation. The

increase includes $2.0 million to

operate and maintain the

Class VIII supercomputer which is

currently located on the Census

Facility in Bowie, Maryland. The

increase is necessary to provide

required operations and maintenance as well as provide the necessary communications infrastructure to support the Class VIII. The

increase also includes $2.0 million

to obtain computing resources to

improve and expand operational

climate forecasts. In FY 2001,

NWS is proposing to expand the

current Climate Threats ( Drought,

Fire, Flooding) Assessment and

Extreme Heat Index from 14 days

to 3 months. In addition, NWS

utilize additional computing

capacity to improve forecasts for

El Niño, La Niña, and other climate oscillations.

 Evansville, Indiana mitigation

(+$5.5M)--NOAA requests an

increase of $5.5 million to acquire,

deploy, and install a Doppler

weather radar for the Evansville,

Indiana. In FY 1999, the

Modernization Transition

Committee (MTC) recognized a

gap in radar coverage for Southern

Indiana and Illinois. The MTC

requested the NWS develop an

action plan to address this issue

before the closure certification

could be finalized for the

Evansville Weather Service

Office.

 Radiosonde Replacement Network

--NOAA will continue the replacement and modernization of the

upper air radiosonde network. The

PAC request includes a total of

$7.0 million for this activity in

FY 2001. The radiosonde network

provides critical upper air observations which are the principal data

source for all weather forecasts.

These funds will enable NWS to

exercise the first option year of the

replacement systems contract to

begin full deployment of the

ground receiving stations, replace

the remaining IBM XT microcomputers with modern PCs, continue

software development, and procure surface instruments that will

provide ground-based measurements at the point of balloon

release.

 NOAA Weather Radio (NWR)

(+$6.2M)--NOAA requests an

increase of $6.2 million to upgrade

and expand the NWR network to

meet the Vice President's Goal of

95 percent coverage for the United

States population. The NWR network is the sole governmentowned and -operated radio network for the direct broadcast of

weather warnings and forecasts,

and other hazard information to

the public. In FY 2001, NWS proposes to install 30-50 new transmitters at high priority sites across

the country. In addition, NWS

proposes a one-time investment of

$1.7 million to improve the current

NWR voice transmissions.

 NWS Weather Forecast Office

(WFO) Construction--Within the

overall PAC request, NOAA

requests a total amount of

$9.5 million to continue this critical facilities modernization program. In FY 2001, NWS will continue construction activities for the

new weather office in Caribou,

Maine, and Key West, Florida. In

addition, NWS will continue

efforts to modernize the current

Alaska Tsunami Warning Center

as well as replace employee housing in St. Paul, Alaska.

Environmental Satellite, Data, and

Information Services

Proposed funding for FY 2001

includes an increase in the PolarOrbiting Satellite Program of

$23.4 million and an increase in the

Geostationary Satellite Program of

$25.2 million. These changes allow

for continuation of procurements to

provide the spacecraft and instruments,

launch services, and ground systems

necessary to assure continuity of environmental satellite coverage. The

FY 2001 budget request will maintain

a system of polar-orbiting satellites

that obtains global data and a system of

geostationary satellites that provides

near-continuous observations of the

Earth's western hemisphere. Funding

is included for NOAA's share of the

converged NOAA and Department of

Defense (DOD) polar-orbiting system
16 SECTION 2

that will replace the current NOAA

series and the DOD Defense

Meteorological Satellite Program

(DMSP).

A total of $4.0 million is requested to

continue the Ocean Remote Sensing

Program which began in FY 1995.

During the next several years, NOAA

will acquire data from foreign and

other non-NOAA satellites that will

provide measurement of ocean currents, surface winds and waves, subsurface temperature and salinity profiles, ice thickness and flows, and other

marine factors.

An increase of $3.3 million is included to maintain basic mission services

including maintenance and operation

of satellite ground facilities; provision

of satellite-derived products; and conduct of research to improve the use of

satellite data.

An increase of $5.5 million is

requested for NOAAs lead role in the

interagency Global Disaster

Information Network (GDIN) and an

offsetting decrease is included as the

result of eliminating funds for the

Global Winds Demonstration Program

(-$2,3 million).

Budgetary changes netting to a

decrease of $7.6 million are included in

the Environmental Data Management

System subactivity. The changes

include an increase in base operating

funding (+$2.8 million). Decreases

include elimination of funding for

Regional Climatic Centers (-$2.8 million) and reductions in funding for Data

Preservation (-$4.2 million) and the

National Coastal Ocean Data

Development Center (-$3.7 million).

Office of Atmospheric Research

Requested funding for FY 2001 for

Weather Research and Solar-Terrestrial

Services and Research is $47.61 million--a net decrease of $2.58 million.

Increases included a small base adjustment of $0.31 million to partially

cover inflationary cost increases as

well as a very small base restoration of

$0.18 million. There also were programmatic increases of $1.0 million

for the United States Weather Research

Program, directed principally toward

improving hurricane track predictions,

and $0.1 million for the Space Weather

Information Dissemination Program.

Three program decreases were also

requested: $1.39 million to terminate

an add-on for incorporating wind profile data into forecast models, $1.85

million to terminate a second add-on

for the "STORM" Program at the

University of Northern Iowa, and

$0.92 million to terminate a third addon for the Radiophysics Laboratory at

Dartmouth College.

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

(DOD)

The DOD total budget request for

FY 2001 is $531.1 million. This total

represents an increase of 11.6 percent

in the funding level from FY 2000.

Specific highlights for each of the military departments are described below:

United States Air Force

United States Air Force (USAF)

resources for meteorological support

fall under four categories: general

operations, general supporting

research, DMSP operations, and

DMSP and National Polar-orbiting

Operational Environmental Satellite

System (NPOESS) supporting

research. The Air Force request

(including DMSP) for FY 2001 is

$325.3 million.

General Operations. The operations

portion of the FY 2001 budget request

is $184.8 million and represents a large

portion of the environmental support to

the DOD. These funds will pay for

weather and space environmental support to the USAF (both active duty and

reserve components), the United States

Army, nine unified commands, and

other agencies as directed by the Chief

of Staff of the Air Force. Over

4,900 people conduct these activities at

over 200 worldwide locations. These

people include active duty military, Air

Force reservists, Air National Guard

weather flight personnel, weather communications and computer specialists,

and civilians. General operations fund

the salaries of these people providing

weather support, and the day-to-day

operations and maintenance costs for

the support they provide.

General Supporting Research. The

FY 2001 budget request for Air Force

supporting research is $33.2 million.

The Air Force continues development

of the Cloud Depiction and Forecast

System II (CDFS II) and the Global

Theater Weather Analysis and

Prediction System (GTWAPS), and

research and development will begin

on the Tactical Weather Radar (TWR).

CDFS II will expand the computer processing capability of the current CDFS

at the Air Force Weather Agency

(AFWA) and will build a high resolution, worldwide cloud database which

will ingest and exploit all weather

satellite and sensor data received at

AFWA. GTWAPS will provide AFWA

and the DOD a theater modeling capability to support the warfighters. A

variety of other research efforts will

investigate the electrodynamics of the

Sun and Earth's magnetosphere, ionospheric dynamics, mesoscale meteorology, visible and infrared properties of

the environment, and cloud parameterization and prediction.

DMSP Operations. Though funding

for DMSP comes from the Air Force,

this system is the major source of

space-borne meteorological data for

the military services and other highpriority DOD programs.

Environmental data from DMSP sensors is also distributed to the NWS,

National Environmental Satellite,

Data, and Information Service (NESDIS), the Navy's Fleet Numerical

Meteorology and Oceanography

Center (FNMOC) and the Naval

Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO), and AFWA according to the

Shared Processing Program agreement.
SECTION 2 17

The operations portion of the

FY 2001 budget request is $81.9 million. The major portion of this funding

is for on-orbit operations, tactical terminal maintenance, and long-haul

communications. These funds also pay

operations costs for one dedicated

command and control facility. DMSP

funds for 66 military and civilian personnel associated with the operation

of, and to a much smaller extent, the

procurement of the DMSP system.

DMSP and NPOESS Supporting

Research. The FY 2001 budget for

DMSP R&D is $25.4 million. The

funds will be used for launch vehicle

integration; system integration and

testing; and mission sensor calibration,

validation, and algorithm development

efforts. The FY 2001 DOD R&D

budget for NPOESS is $76.7 million.

FY 2001 funds will be used for system

architecture studies and independent

risk reduction and technology development efforts, and to begin critical sensor and algorithm development.

NPOESS is scheduled to be available

in 2008 as a backup to the final launch

of the NOAA polar-orbiting satellites

and DMSP satellites. This system will

exploit advanced hardware and software technologies to produce a more

reliable, longer-lived spacecraft with

greater mission capability.

United States Navy

The United States Navy FY 2001

budget request for meteorological programs is $143.5 million. The request

includes $124.8 million for operational

programs and $18.7 million for supporting research.

The Navy Meteorology and

Oceanography (METOC) program is

truly unique. Focusing support in the

highly environmentally complex

coastal/littoral regions around the

globe, Navy METOC is required to

provide an assessment of the impact of

weather and ocean phenomena on

weapon systems. Additionally, and

just as important, Navy METOC provides for safe flight and navigation in

support of Naval, joint, and combined

forces operating throughout the

world's oceans. This 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,

Navy METOC meets these challenges

in a most cost-effective manner, providing a full spectrum of products and

services with only about 5 percent of

the Federal weather budget.

The Navy METOC program is

required to provide comprehensive and

integrated weather and ocean support

worldwide. The Oceanographer of the

Navy sponsors programs in four closely related disciplines--meteorology,

oceanography, geospatial information

and services, and precise time and

astrometry. All are used to protect

ships, aircraft, fighting forces, and

shore establishments from adverse

ocean and weather conditions, and to

provide a decisive tactical or strategic

edge by exploiting the physical environment to optimize the performance

and efficiency of platforms, sensors,

and weapons.

Owing to the crucial interrelationship

of the oceans and the atmosphere, the

Navy requires various oceanographic

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

Navy provides a variety of unique

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

propagation models and products,

METOC-sensitive tactical decision

aids, and global sea ice analyses and

forecasts.

Support to Navy operations is provided under the direction of the

Commander Naval Meteorology and

Oceanography Command located in

Stennis Space, Mississippi. Naval

METOC support starts with sensing

the battlespace physical environment

and culminates with weapons arriving

on target and personnel operating in

the battlespace without being adversely affected by physical environmental

phenomena. Operational support for

the Navy and Marine Corps includes

the day-to-day provision of meteorological and oceanographic (METOC)

products and services. As Naval operations in the littoral increase, Navy

METOC support is directed towards

providing on-scene capabilities to personnel that directly furnish environmental data for sensor and weapon system planning and employment. These

on-scene capabilities are key elements

for enabling the warfighters to take

advantage of the natural environment

as part of battlespace management.

Navy METOC systems acquisition is

accomplished through the Space and

Naval Warfare Systems Command,

San Diego, California. Several major

METOC operations support systems

are being procured or undergoing

upgrades.

Navy METOC Research and

Development (R&D) is cooperatively

sponsored by the Oceanographer of the

Navy and the Chief of Naval Research.

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

includes R&D funding for basic

research, applied research, demonstration and validation, and engineering

and manufacturing development.

Initiatives of the Navy and Marine

Corps, under sponsorship of the

Oceanographer of the Navy, transition

projects from exploratory development

to operational Naval systems. Such

efforts include advances in the Navy's

METOC forecasting capability,

enhancements to communications and

data compression techniques, further

development and improvement of models to better predict METOC parameters in littoral regions, and an improved

understanding of the impact these

parameters have on sensors, weapon

systems, and platform performance.
18 SECTION 2

United States Army

The United States Army is requesting

$49.04 million for operational support

and $13.2 million in research and

development in FY 2001. Operational

support increases approximately

$12.4 million over the FY 2000 expenditures, research decreases about

$2.9 million from the previous year,

and staffing increases slightly. The

cost increases in operational support

are found mainly in the $13 million

increase in systems acquisition costs

from FY 2000 to FY 2001 at Army

Materiel Command.

United States Army Europe estimates

requirements of $2.9 million to fund

weather operations during FY 2001,

with $2.66 million going for operational support, $240,000 for special

programs.

Training and Doctrine Command

(TRADOC) has requested approximately $1.6 million for FY 2001.

TRADOC will spend $1.47 million for

operations support and $86,000 in

FY 2001 for special programs costs

related to instructors, evaluators, and

operators at the Artillery, Aviation, and

Intelligence Schools. The Artillery

School at Ft. Sill will receive approximately $1.1 million of these monies to

conduct operational soundings, support 24 military and civilian personnel,

and to conduct training using the

AN/TMQ-41 Meteorological

Measuring Set (MMS).

Army Materiel Command will

request a total of $34.3 million for

FY 2001. $11.3 million will go for

research and development and

$23 million for systems acquisition.

Developmental and testing costs associated with the MMS Profiler were

$5.2 million in FY 2000 and will be

$4.8 million in FY 2001. The

Communications Electronics

Command (CECOM) will spend

$11.2 million to buy additional MMS's

for the National Guard in FY 2001.

The IMETS continued fielding of

Block II systems in FY 2000. An

IMETS budget of $7.02 million was

approved to fund the completion of a

total of 27 mounted systems and initiate development of an IMETS Light

Configuration. In basic meteorological research the Army Research

Laboratory, Battlefield Environment

Division, basic research stays about

constant at near $3.6 million. The

Army Research Office saw a small

decrease from $1.36 million to

$1.15 million from FY 2000 to 2001

for basic research. The Small Business

Innovative Research Program and the

Defense University Research

Instrumentation Program (DURIP)

were provided funds for selected

research projects. Last year's input for

AMC inadvertently included research

personnel in the agency personnel listings. This year's tables have been corrected to reflect the actual number of

operations personnel.

The Eighth United States Army estimates requirements of $1.32 million to

fund weather operations during

FY 2001. This includes $710,000 for

Army ARTYMET operations, $5,000

for the upgrade and maintenance of

new FALOP systems, $80,000 for the

purchase of new automated COTS

observing systems for the DMZ area,

and $520,000 for USAF weather support.

Forces Command will spend approximately $8.05 million in FY 2001 for

Operations Support. Of this amount,

$0.46 million will be spent for facilities, supplies, and travel for

FORSCOM weather teams and

$7.58 million will be in support of

FORSCOM ARTYMET operations.

Space and Missile Defense

Command (SMDC) activities will

require $2.8 million for operational

support and $0.5 million for supporting research in FY 2001. SMDC will

spend $420,000 in 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 will

also spend approximately $26,000 in

systems acquisition for repair and

replacement of meteorological instrumentation and for data services.

Contract support services to operate

the Kwajalein Missile Range will be

approximately $2.2 million for operations support and $0.1 million for special weather programs for FY 2001.

Supporting research activities at the

Space and Missile Defense Battle

Laboratory (SMDBL) will be

$0.35 million for FY 2001 to provide

post-Advanced Warfighting Experiment analysis and documentation.

The United States Army Special

Operations Command (USASOC) provides Army funding, traditionally

through a command level Unfunded

Requirement (UFR), to the 10th

Combat Weather Squadron (10 CWS)

for operations and maintenance of

equipment used by Special Operations

Weather Teams (SOWTs) providing

weather support to USASOC Major

Subordinate Commands. The FY 2000

UFR was $115,000. $115,000 is

planned to support the FY 2001 weather requirements as well.

It is anticipated that FY 2001 funding

for weather-related environmental

research efforts at United States Army

Research Institute of Environmental

Medicine (USARIEM) will continue at

or near the FY 2000 level.

DEPARTMENT OFTHE INTERIOR

(DOI)

The DOI funding request for

FY 2001 is $1,100,000. This figure is

for meteorological operations and support of the Bureau of Land

Management (BLM) remote sensing

requirements for Remote Automatic

Weather Station (RAWS) and

Lightning Detection Programs.

Normal operations and maintenance of

the restructured Fire RAWS program is

approximately $800,000 beginning

this year. (This amount includes per-
SECTION 2 19

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

The BLM optimization effort in

RAWS will continue in 2001. Major

efforts are underway among the

Wildland Fire Agencies to consolidate

our efforts in Fire Weather and

National Fire Danger Rating Support.

Continued optimization will take place

over the next few years. Subsequent

operational cost savings will be used to

replace aging equipment and upgrade

sensors packages. Proposed changes

in lightning detection operations will

further reduce the out-year expenditures in this program. Coordination

between DOI agencies and the USDA

Forest Service regarding combined

meteorological requirements for the

National Wildland Fire support functions is ongoing. During the coming

geographic area review efforts, interagency RAWS replacement coordination will continue to maximize

National Fire Danger Rating System

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

required in the West.

DEPARTMENTOFTRANSPORTATION

(DOT)

The meteorological programs for the

Federal Aviation Administration,

Federal Highway Administration, and

the United States Coast Guard for

FY 2001 are described below:

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)

The FAA request for aviation weather

in FY 2001 is $457.6 million for both

operations and supporting research; the

FY 2000 funding was $433.4 million.

The changes in the budget are increases for operations (acquisition and operational support) of $10.9 million to

$427.2 million. Also, supporting

research has increases of $7.8 million

to $30.3 million. 

In FY 2001, system acquisitions

increases by 9.7 per cent to $122.6 million. This change is a mix of new systems coming on in their procurement

while some other programs are

decreasing as they are fielded and

leave the acquisition process.

Individual programs with changes

greater than $2 million are listed

below:

Programs Changes

($ Millions)

Systems Acquisition:

Operational and Supportability Implementation

System (OASIS) 15.7

Weather and Radar Processor

(WARP) 9.6

Terminal Doppler Weather

Radar (TDWR) -4.2

New Generation Runway

Visual Range (NGRVR) -3.3

Operations Support:

Contract Weather Observations (CWO) -11.3

Flight Service Stations 6.3

ASOS Maintenance 6.0

Weather Message Switching

Center (WMSC) 2.5

Aviation Weather Research 8.5

The request for funding in FY 2001

increases by $7.3 million to

$300.1 million. The change reflects a

large decrease in costs for CWOs and

large increases in manpower salaries.

Other changes are smaller and reflect

normal adjustment to support costs

both up and down. 

Federal Highway Administration

(FHWA)

The total FHWA request for surface

transportation weather programs in

FY 2001 is $2.3 million all of which

will be used for supporting research

and special programs.

In 1999, the FHWA began documentation of road weather requirements

which will serve as the basis for the

majority of future work in this area.

This work includes addressing the

technical aspects of the road transportation system (including weather

data collection, processing and dissemination) as well as the institutional

challenges surrounding system implementation. These institutional challenges encompassed coordination

within state and local Departments of

Transportation as well as across the

transportation and meteorological

communities. With regard to technical

areas of interest, data collection efforts

will include increased coverage of road

condition observations and incorporate

road weather data (e.g., pavement and

subsurface observations) into broader

meteorological observation networks.

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

weather information. In addition, surface transportation decision-makers

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

issues have already been incorporated.

This need will be achieved through the

development of improved road weather decision support systems. Finally,

the FHWA will continue to develop

outreach and training course material

for program delivery, training, and promotion.

United States Coast Guard (USCG)

All of USCG's funding for meteorological programs is for operations support. For FY 2001, the requested funding level is $6 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 gener-
20 SECTION 2

ating 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.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY (EPA)

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

research. The anticipated funding

level in FY 2001 for directed meteorological research is $6.4 million which

is the same as the FY 2000 funding

level, which was a 13 percent increase

over the FY-1999 level. This level was

incremented in FY 2000 due to

increased attention being paid to the

effect of airborne toxics and particulate

matter on human health.

In addition, to promote excellence in

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

increased its support for investigatorinitiated research grants. The increase

in funding for grants (with reliance on

quality science and peer review) and

for graduate fellowships (to support

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

improved environmental research and

development.

The funding for the grants program

will remain at $100 million in

FY 2001. The augmented grants program will fund research in areas

including ecological assessment, air

quality, environmental fate and treatment of toxics and hazardous wastes,

and exploratory research. The portion

of these grants that will be awarded for

meteorological research during

FY 2001 cannot be foreseen, but it is

probable that the grant awards will

increase the base amount of $6.4 million listed above for directed meteorological research.

The EPA is continuing its development and validation of air quality dispersion models for air pollutants on all

temporal and spatial scales as mandated by the Clean Air Act, as amended.

Research will focus on indoor, urban,

mesoscale, regional, and multimedia

models which will be used to develop

air pollution control strategies, and

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

into regional and urban formation, and

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

to the National Ambient Air Quality

Standards. Increased efficiency of

computation and interpretation of

results are being made possible by

means of high performance computing

and scientific visualization techniques.

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND

SPACE ADMINISTRATION (NASA)

Nearly all of NASA's funding in

meteorology is for supporting

research. The requested funding for

supporting research in FY 2001 is $163

million, which is nearly 5 percent

lower than the FY 2000 funding level.

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 Earth Science Enterprise has

articulated a set of science questions

which its observational programs and

research, modeling, and analysis activities are directed at answering. NASA

plans to meet its immediate commitments and ensure the success of the

EOS Terra, AQUA, AURA and IceSAT

missions. In addition, NASA is committed to deliver of a functioning data

and information system to support the

processing, archival, and distribution

of data products from these missions.

In the Earth Probes program, increased

requirements are funded to reflect the

rephasing which is consistent with the

selection of the Earth System Science

Pathfinder (ESSP) Cloudsat and

Picasso-Cena missions and the impacts

associated with changing the launch

vehicle for the Vegetation Canopy

Lidar mission. NASA is also trying to

establish a healthy and viable Science

program to take full advantage of the

satellites that will be launched this year

and the remaining 16 that will be built

and launched during the next four

years. In addition to ensuring a robust

science program, this budget maintains

a vigorous Advanced Technology program that supports development of key

technologies to enable NASA's midterm and long-term science missions.

In addition to the baseline technology

program, which includes the New

Millennium Program (NMP),

Instrument Incubator Program (IIP),

and High Performance Computer and

Communications (HPCC), an

Advanced Technology Initiative (ATI)

will identify and invest in critical

instrument, spacecraft, and information system technologies. This budget

increases emphasis on a viable

Applications, Commercial, and

Education program that bridges the

focused Research and Analysis and

mission science investments with the

Applications and Commercial Remote

Sensing Program towards addressing

key environmental problems of societal relevance. NASA also funds a

$35.25 million program of weatherrelated research for aviation safety.
SECTION 2 21

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION (NRC)

The NRC requested funding is for

meteorological operations. The

FY 2001 request for $117,000 is

reduced from the FY 2000 request,

reflecting the expectation that work on

RASCAL v3.0 will be completed in the

third quarter of FY 2000.

The meteorological support program

in the NRC is focused primarily on

obtaining and analyzing meteorological

data and information to be utilized in

atmospheric transport and dispersion

models used in dose projections, plume

pathway characterizations, and concentration estimates related to the safe operation of nuclear facilities and the protection of public health and safety and the

environment. Obtaining current, accurate, and relevant meteorological information on a real-time basis for use during emergencies is the primary consideration. In addition, the data may be used

to provide input to the assessment of the

radiological impacts of routine airborne

releases from facilities and the assessment of the potential radiological

impacts of engineering changes in plant

design or operation proposed by

licensees should unplanned releases

occur. The NRC also maintains an interest in the transport and dispersion of airborne, hazardous non-radioactive materials and their potential effects on the

safe operation of nuclear facilities.

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.

Table 2.3 describes how the agencies

plan to obligate their funds for meteorological supporting research according

to budget categories. The agencies'

supporting research budgets are subdivided along similar lines--Research

and Development (non-hardware),

Systems Development (hardware), and

Special Programs (for those items that

do not easily fit into the two major categories).

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 operational funds: basic meteorology services receiving 58.2 percent; aviation, marine, general military

services accounting for 30.6 percent,

3.2 percent, and 6.9 percent, respectively; and other specialized services

and agriculture/forestry each receiving

0.6 percent. Table 2.5 shows the distribution of supporting research funds

among the services with aviation meteorology receiving 23 percent, basic

meteorology receiving 19.1 percent,

marine and general military meteorology receiving about 7 percent, agriculture and forestry meteorology receiving 3.6 percent, and the remaining

39.4 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.
22 SECTION 2
SECTION 2 23
24 SECTION 2
SECTION 2 25
26 SECTION 2

PERSONNEL ENGAGED IN METEOROLOGICAL OPERATIONS

Table 2.6 depicts agency staff

resources in meteorological operations. The total agency staff resourcesrequested for FY 2001 is 14,492. This

total represents a decrease of less than

1 percent from FY 2001.

TABLE 2.6 PERSONNEL ENGAGED IN METEOROLOGICAL OPERATIONS

(Units are Full Time Equivalent Staff Years)*

% of FY 2001

AGENCY FY 2000 FY 2001 % CHANGE TOTAL

Agriculture 104 104 0.0 0.7

Commerce/NOAA 5,708 5,696 -0.2 39.3

Defense(Subtotal) 5,103 5,086 -0.3 35.1

Air Force 3,316 3,334 0.5 23.0

DMSP 65 66 1.5 0.5

Navy 1,462 1,423 -2.7 9.8

Army 260 263 1.1 1.8

Interior/BLM 8 8 0.0 0.1

Reimbursed** 4 4 0.0 0.0

Transportation (Subtotal) 3,575 3,593 0.5 24.8

CG 85 85 0.0 0.6

FAA 3,489 3,506 0.5 24.2

FHWA 1 2 50.0 0.0

EPA 0 0 0.0 0.0

NASA 0 0 0.0 0.0

NRC 1 1 0.0 0.0

TOTAL 14,503 14,492 -0.1 100.0

* Numbers of personnel are rounded to nearest whole number.

** "Reimbursed" are personnel funded by other agencies.
SECTION 2 27

Table 2.7 summarizes the reimbursement of funds from one agency to

another during FY 2000. Agencies

routinely enter into reimbursable

agreements when they determine that

one agency can provide the service

more efficiently and effectively than

the other. While specific amounts may

vary from year-to-year, the pattern

shown is essentially stable and reflects

a significant level of interagency cooperation.

Department of Commerce. NWS

will reimburse DOT $2,500 for Alaska

housing utilities. NASA will receive

$60,000 for stratospheric studies.

NESDIS will transfer a total of

$384.6 million to NASA for procurement and launches of polar-orbiting

($98.2 million) and geostationary

($250.4 million) satellites.

Department of Defense. The Air

Force will reimburse DOC a total of

$787,000 for COMET participation

($372,000), OFCM support

($140,000), and Share Processing

Network ($275,000); DOE ($65,000)

for Argonne Laboratories supporting

research; and NSF ($250,000) for

NCAR supporting research. The Navy

will reimburse DOC $218,000 for

basic climatological analysis and forecasting, and interagency coordination.

The Army reimbursements to

DOC/NOAA include $571,000 to

NWS for maintaining precipitation

reporting stations and $260,000 to

NOAA laboratories for precipitation

modeling and basic research. The

Army will also reimburse the AF Air

Combat Command $100,000 for maintenance of weather systems. Finally,

the United States Geological Survey

will be reimbursed $770,000 for operations and maintenance of hydrologic

and precipitation reporting stations.

Department of Transportation. The

FAA will reimburse NOAA almost

$19.0 million in FY 2001. Included in

those funds are operational support

associated with the WSR-88D and

ASOS maintenance, the Center

Weather Service Units at all Air Route

Traffic Control Centers, the World

Area Forecast System, for meteorology instructors at the FAA, and for studies and OFCM support.

The FAA will reimburse Army a total

of $93,000 for supporting research.

The NOAA will receive $2.2 million

for various supporting research associated with aeronautical hazards mitigation. The NASA will receive $80,000

for supporting research.

National Aeronautics and Space

Administration (NASA). The Air

Force will receive reimbursement of

$1.875 million for surface observations/forecasts and replacement of

upper air systems. NOAAs NWS will

receive $12,000 for an upper air analysis; and the National Data Buoy Center

will receive reimbursements of

$120,000 for the operation of two data

buoys.

Environmental Protection Agency

(EPA). NOAA's Air Resources

Laboratory (ARL) will receive

$5.4 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 will reimburse DOE

$87,000 for technical assistance.

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.
28 SECTION 2

TABLE 2.7 INTERAGENCY FUND TRANSFERS FOR METEOROLOGICAL

OPERATIONS AND SUPPORTING RESEARCH

FY 2000 Funds ($K)

Estimated or Planned

Agency Funds Agency Funds Supporting

Transferred from: Transferred to: Operations Research

Commerce/NOAA DOT/USCG 2.5

NASA Studies 60

NASA 348.6

Defense/Air Force DOC/NOAA/OFCM 140

DOC/SPN 275

DOC/COMET 372

DOE/Argonne 65

NSF/NCAR 250

Defense/Navy DOC/NOAA/NCDC 58

DOC/NOAA/OFCM 160

Defense/Army DOC/NOAA/NWS 571

DOC/NOAA/ETL 65

DOC/NOAA/ATDD 75

DOC/NOAA 120

DOI/USGS 770

DOD/ACC 100

Transportation/FAA DOC/NOAA 18,952 2,200

DOD/USA 93

NASA 80

NASA

DOD/USAF 1,875 750

DOC/NOAA/NDBC 120

DOC/NOAA/NWS 12

EPA DOC/NOAA/ARL 5,400

NRC DOE/PNNL 87
SECTION 2 29

No. of Locations

TYPE OF OBSERVATION/AGENCY (FY 2000)

Surface, land

Commerce (all types) 841

Air Force (U.S. & Overseas) 130

Navy (U.S. & Overseas) 34

Army (U.S. & Overseas) 39

Marine Corps (U.S. & Overseas) 13

Transportation (Flight Service Stn) 61

Transportation (Lim Aviation Wx Rptg Stn) 114

Transportation (Contract Wx Obsg Stn) 284

Transportation (Auto Wx Obsg Stn) 482

Transportation (Auto Sfc Obsg Sys, fielded) 570

Transportation (USCG Coastal 100

Interior 470

Agriculture 1080

NASA 3

Surface, marine

Commerce (SEAS-equipped ships) 140

Commerce (Coastal-Marine Autom Network) 65

Commerce (NOAA/NOS/PORTS) 6

Commerce (Buoys--moored) 64

Commerce (Buoys--drifting) 21

Commerce (Buoys--large navigation) 10

Commerce (Water-level gauges) 189

Navy (Ships with met personnel) 29

Navy (Ships without met personnel 286

Transportation (USCG Ships) 70

NASA 2

Upper air, balloon

Commerce (U.S.) 86

Commerce (Foreign, Cooperative) 22

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

Air Force, Mobile 15

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

Army, Mobile 51

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

Navy, Mobile 47

Navy, Ships 29

Marine Corps, Mobile 14

NASA (U.S.) 2

Atmospheric Profilers

Army 7

No. of Locations

TYPE OF OBSERVATION/AGENCY (FY 2000)

Upper air, rocket

NASA 2

Army (U.S. & Overseas) 1

Doppler weather radar (WSR-88D) sites

Commerce (NWS) 123

Air Force (U.S. & Overseas) 29

Army (U.S. & Overseas) 3

Transportation 12

Doppler weather radar (Not WSR-88D) sites

Air Force (Transportable) 4

Navy (Fixed) 9

Marine Corps (Mobile) 14

Off-site WSR-88D Processors (PUPs)

Commerce (NWS) 63

Air Force 140

Navy 23

Army 9

Marine Corps 9

Transportation 25

NASA 2

Airport terminal Doppler weather radars

Transportation (Commissioned) 41

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

Conventional radar (non-Doppler) sites

Commerce (NWS) 31

Commerce (at FAA sites) 27

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

Air Force, Remote Displays 2

Air Force, Mobile Units 3

Marine Corps, Mobile units 15

Weather reconnaissance (No. of aircraft)

Commerce (NOAA) 3

Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) 10

Geostationary meteorological satellites (No. operating)

Commerce (planned config of 2) 2

Army (U.S. & Overseas) 1

Polar meteorological satellites (No. operating)

Commerce (planned config of 2) 2

Air Force 4

Army (U.S. & Overseas) 1

Navy (1 in orbit, status TBD)

TABLE 2.8 FACILITIES/LOCATIONS FOR TAKING METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS
SECTION 3

The National Weather Service

(NWS) has the principal responsibility

for the plans and operations of the

basic weather, hydrologic and climate

services and certain specific applied

services. The NWS mission is to provide weather, water and climate forecasts and warnings for the United

States, its territories, adjacent waters,

and ocean areas to help protect life and

property and enhance the national

economy. NWS data and products

form a national information data base

and infrastructure which can be used

by other governmental agencies, the

private sector, the public and the global community. In support of this mission, NWS:

 Issues warnings and forecasts of

weather, flood, and ocean conditions.

 Observes and reports the weather

and the river and ocean conditions

of the United States and its possessions.

 Develops and operates national

meteorological, hydrological, climate, and oceanic service systems.

 Performs applied meteorological,

hydrological, and climate research.

 Assists in developing community

awareness and educational materials and programs concerning

weather-related natural disasters.

 Participates in international

hydrometeorological 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 provision of weather

observations and services to aviation.

 Reorganization Plan 2 of 1965

placed the "National Weather

Service" in the newly created

Environmental Science Services

Administration (ESSA).

 Reorganization Plan 4 of 1970 made

the NWS a part of the newly created

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration (NOAA).

SERVICES

NWS provides around-the-clock

weather and flood warning and forecast services. The NWS provides services through a national network of 121

Weather Forecast Offices (WFOs) and

13 River Forecast Centers (RFCs)

(Figure 3-DOC-1) that collect data,

prepare state and local warnings and

forecasts, and disseminate information

to the population both directly and

indirectly through the mass media. In

preparing local warnings and forecasts,

WFOs use value-added forecast guidance prepared by the nine National

Centers for Environmental Prediction

(NCEP) (Figure 3-DOC-2). The core

mission of the NWS also depends on

the study, development, and testing of

new methods for improving basic

warning and forecast capabilities

through research.

Weather Warnings and Forecasts.

NWS forecasters at WFOs issue local

warnings for severe weather such as

tornadoes, severe thunderstorms,

floods, and extreme winter weather.

WFOs prepare forecasts for zones

which are comprised of several counties that experience similar weather.

Each WFO has forecast responsibility

for several zones. WFOs also provide

the main field forecast support for the

marine and aviation programs as well

as guidance for the fire weather program supporting federal lands management and wildfire control.

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE WEATHER PROGRAMS

NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

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

government. By law, NOAA is responsible for reporting the weather of the United States, providing weather and flood

warnings and forecasts to the general public, developing and furnishing applied weather services, and recording the climate of the United States. This mission is carried out within NOAA by the National Weather Service (NWS); the

National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS); the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric

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

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE

SECTION 3 DOC 31
32 DOC SECTION 3 

Aviation Weather Services. The NWS

provides a broad range of services in

support of the aviation community.

The WFOs prepare terminal airport

forecasts four times a day with amendments as needed for over 500 publicuse airports in the United States and in

the Caribbean. These offices also produce about 300 individual route-oriented forecasts three times a day for the

48 contiguous states.

NCEP's Aviation Weather Center

(AWC) and the Alaska Region's

Aviation Weather Unit prepare area

forecasts three times daily describing

general aviation weather conditions

over the lower 48 states and Alaska,

respectively. These two specialized

aviation weather centers, along with

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

conditions associated with thunderstorms, icing, turbulence, and strong,

low-level winds.

NWS Center Weather Service Units

located in each of the 21 Federal

Aviation Administration Air Route

Traffic Control Centers provide direct

meteorological support to en route centers, Terminal Radar Approach

Controls, and airport towers.

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

International Civil Aviation

Organization's two World Area

Forecast Centers. NCEP's

Environmental Modeling Center supplies global gridded model data of temperature, winds, and humidity twice a

day for flight levels from 5,000 feet to

45,000 feet. The AWC prepares forecasts of significant weather for approximately two-thirds of the globe four

times a day for thunderstorms, tropical

cyclones, severe squall lines, moderate

or severe turbulence, moderate or

severe icing, and cumulonimbus cloud

associated with the above, from 25,000

to 63,000 feet. The forecast charts also

include information on jet streams and

tropopause heights. This information

is transmitted over the International

Satellite Communications System with

coverage in the Americas, Caribbean,

western portions of Europe, the

Pacific, and eastern Asia.

Within the framework of the international airways volcano watch, the

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

National Environmental Satellite, Data

and Information Service (NESDIS) for

Volcanic Ash Advisory Centers in

Alaska and Washington.

Marine Weather Services. Using

NCEP weather analysis and forecast

guidance, marine weather forecasters

at coastal and Great Lakes WFOs issue

wind, wave, weather, and ice warnings,

forecasts, and other information for

populations living along the coastal

waters and the Great Lakes. Principal

products include small craft and heavy

surf advisories, coastal flood warnings,

coastal waters forecasts, sea and swell

forecasts, and special weather forecasts to aid in the containment and

clean up of oil spills and other hazardous substances in the marine environment.

Fire Weather Services. NWS offices

provide routine pre-suppression and

wildfire weather support to federal and

state land management agencies.

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

federal lands. The NWS deploys a

national cadre of specially-trained

Incident Meteorologists (IMETs) to

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

IMETs use weather instrumentation,

telecommunications, and display

equipment to aid in on-site forecast

preparation and briefings. NCEP's

Storm Prediction Center provides daily

fire weather guidance that highlights

areas with high fire potential based on

the state of the fuels (trees, brush,

grasses), and critical weather parameters such as low relative humidity,

strong winds, and dry lightning activity.

Tsunami Warnings. Tsunami watches

and warnings for Pacific Ocean areas

and Alaska are prepared and issued by

the Tsunami Warning Center at Ewa

Beach, Hawaii, and the regional center

at Palmer, Alaska. NWS collects and

analyzes observational data from an

international network of seismological

observatories and sea-level observing

stations which operate on a cooperative

basis. The centers use the data to prepare watches and warnings covering all

United States territories and states bordering on the Pacific Ocean and disseminate this information to WFOs, federal

and state disaster agencies, military

organizations, private broadcast media,

and other facilities that warn the public.

Figure 3-DOC-1. Locations of NWS Weather Forecast Office 
SECTION 3 DOC 33

National Centers for Environmental

Prediction.

Over the last several decades, NWS

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

slowly evolving) weather. Further

improvements will be realized in the

severe weather and flood warnings

program as a result of improvements in

higher resolution, centrally prepared

weather guidance products out to

Day 5, implementation of NWS systems upgrades, advanced observations

from the planned geostationary and

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

While the NWS field structure focuses

more on warnings and short-range

forecasts, NCEP serves a broader,

national mission where national centers provide products based on output

from numerical models, statistical

adjustments to model fields, and valueadded products prepared by national

center forecasters. This NCEP product

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

products to prepare local forecasts.

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

that generate environmental prediction

products and two central support centers that develop and operate numerical

models -- the basis for NWS predictions. NCEP provides an integrated

suite of forecast guidance and specific

forecast products from the short-term

through seasonal and interannual time

frames. Each service center depends

on the observational infrastructure, the

data assimilation systems, the numeric

modeling function, and the application

of model output statistics to produce

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

users.

Storm Prediction Center. The Storm

Prediction Center (SPC) focuses on

hazardous weather events such as

severe thunderstorms, tornadoes,

extreme winter weather, and fire

weather with emphasis on the first few

hours of the forecast period. Other

products issued from the SPC give the

WFOs specific guidance on the probability and intensity of severe weather

occurrences for regional and local geographic scales. The SPC also issues

national outlooks for severe weather

out to two days.

Hydrometeorological Prediction

Center. The Hydrometeorological

Prediction Center (HPC) prepares

quantitative precipitation forecasts

(QPF) used by WFOs to develop local

rainfall, snow, and ice forecasts and by

the RFCs to develop local river and

flood 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.

Marine Prediction Center. The

Marine Prediction Center (MPC) handles United States international meteorological obligations to marine interests under the International

Convention for Safety of Life at Sea

(SOLAS). This center provides onestop-shopping for marine interests

operating outside the domain of coastal

WFOs. The MPC provides weather

and sea state warnings and forecasts

for the high seas of the Northern

Hemisphere north of 30 degrees for

planning and operational purposes.

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

The MPC also coordinates forecasts

with WFOs with coastal responsibilities. Coastal WFOs have responsibility for local forecasts and warnings that

go out to approximately 60 nautical

miles; for the high seas beyond, the

MPC has responsibility.

Tropical Prediction Center/National

Hurricane Center. The NCEP experts

in the area of tropical meteorology are

concentrated in the Tropical Prediction

Center (TPC)/National Hurricane

Center (NHC). TPC/NHC services

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

Atlantic and eastern North Pacific

Oceans, the Caribbean Sea, and the

Gulf of Mexico, 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.

The TPC/NHC provides guidance,

Figure 3-DOC-2. Locations of NCEP centers.
34 DOC SECTION 3 

coordination, and tropical weather

expertise to WFO forecasters, the

media, and private industry.

Aviation Weather Center. The

Aviation Weather Center (AWC) provides weather forecasts to the aviation

community under an international

agreement through the International

Civil Aviation Organization. The

AWC provides wind, temperature, and

flight hazards (e.g., icing, turbulence)

forecasts for flight planning and en

route aircraft operations for the United

States, the Atlantic and Pacific routes

in the Northern Hemisphere, and some

routes in the Southern Hemisphere.

The AWC also produces guidance

products used by WFOs to support airport terminal forecasts. Thus, the

AWC produces large-scale, global aviation functions centrally, while the

WFOs customize local aviation products based on centralized guidance

provided by the AWC and local observations.

Climate Prediction Center. The

Climate Prediction Center (CPC) produces services consisting of operational prediction of climate variability,

monitoring of the climate system and

development of data bases for determining current climate anomalies and

trends, and analysis and assessment of

their origins and linkages to the rest of

the climate system. These services

cover time scales ranging from weeks

to seasons, and cover land, ocean, and

atmosphere extending into the stratosphere. WFOs, as well as the public,

private industry, and the international

research community use CPC 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 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 solarterrestrial conditions.

Environmental Modeling Center.

The Environmental Modeling Center

(EMC) improves NCEP's numerical

weather, water, and climatic predictions through data assimilation and

computer modeling. In support of the

NCEP operational missions to provide

ocean prediction, mesoscale prediction

(thunderstorms, hurricanes, tornadoes,

etc.), and global prediction, EMC

develops, adapts, improves, and monitors data assimilation systems and

models of the atmosphere, ocean, and

atmosphere/ocean system. The EMC

uses advanced modeling methods

developed internally and cooperatively

with universities, the international scientific community, NESDIS, NOAA

laboratories, and other government

agencies. The EMC integrates

research and technology through collaborative model development projects. These interactions serve as an

efficient and effective interface

between NCEP and the scientific community that develops ideas, models,

and techniques to improve NCEP

products. The EMC also conducts

applied research and technology transfers and publishes research results in

various media for dissemination to the

world meteorological, oceanographic,

and climate community.

NCEP Central Operations. The

NCEP Central Operations (NCO) is

responsible for all aspects of NCEP

operations, including access to realtime 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 houses and runs the

supercomputer facility that generates

all NCEP model products. The NCO

provides the technical transition

between the research and development

of numerical weather and climate prediction models and their operational

use. 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 mainframe and supercomputer systems, forecaster workstations, and personal computers.

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 and flood

warning and forecast 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.
SECTION 3 DOC 35

 Storm surge models to assist in

developing hurricane evacuation

plans for additional coastal basins.

Hydrologic Research. The NWS

develops, implements, and operationally supports improved hydrologic, hydraulic, and hydrometeorological

models and manages hydrologic data

and enhanced quality control procedures to support national flood and

water resources forecasting. Research

encompasses the following areas:

 Improvements to the Ensemble

Streamflow Prediction (ESP) system and its complimentary models

in the NWS River Forecasting

System. Research, development,

and implementation of improved

ESP procedures are a large component of the NWS' Advanced

Hydrologic Prediction Services

(AHPS) initiative. 

 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.

Highly specialized

hydraulic models for

routing flows in main stem

rivers 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.

MODERNIZATION AND BEYOND

The NWS completed a modernization program in August 2000 that has

ushered in a new era for severe weather and flood warning and forecast services. Important advances in the atmospheric sciences, coupled with major

new technological capabilities for

observing and analyzing the atmosphere, have provided unprecedented

improvements in weather services.

The NWS is operating and will continue to improve in the future, the most

advanced hydrometeorological warning and forecast system in the world.

Through the WFOs, RFCs and

NCEP, the NWS provides a uniform

level of warning and forecast services

nationwide. All of the new technologies have been deployed and are fully

operational and include 314

Automated Surface Observing

Systems, 123 Next Generation

Weather Radars with Doppler capability, 154 Advanced Weather Interactive

Processing Systems, geostationary and

polar-orbiting satellites and a new

supercomputer.

Statistics verify the substantial

improvements in warning and forecast

accuracy and timeliness. Advance

warning for tornadoes has doubled and

now averages 12 minutes. Advance

warning for flash floods has nearly

doubled. Accuracy of severe thunderstorm warnings has increased to

84 percent. The effectiveness of NWS

modernization has been demonstrated

during a number of major weather

events during the past decade including: the March 1993 east coast blizzard, the January 1996 winter storm in

the northeast, the January 1998 ice

storm in New England, flooding events

in the west in 1995 and 1997, tornado

Figure 3-DOC-3. Quantitative Precipitation Forecast

(above) compared with observed precipitation amounts

(right).
36 DOC SECTION 3 

outbreaks in the southeast in 1998, El

Niño-related storms, floods and tornadoes during the winter of 1997-1998,

and weather support during forest fires

in the West throughout the summer of

2000.

With the completion of its decadelong modernization, NWS has a

unique opportunity to capitalize on the

extensive investments in science and

technology to continue improving its

services to the Nation. Emerging scientific and technological capabilities in

weather, water and climate prediction

are matched by increasing national

needs for improved warnings and forecasts and a more integrated NWS focus

in these three scientific disciplines.

The NWS is now postured to blend

forecasts in these areas into a seamless

suite of products and services  accurate and timely products with high resolution and in a format that will provide users the flexibility to tailor the

information to their specific needs.

The characterization of a seamless

suite of products and services means

that by 2005 the NWS will provide

weather, water, and climate forecasts

for a specific geographic area from

Weather Forecast Office

Anchorage, Alaska

Weather Forecast Office

Atlanta, Georgia

WSR-88D NEXRAD Weather Radar

Binghamton, New York

Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS)

Figure 3-DOC-4. Modernized NWS offices

and equipment.
SECTION 3 DOC 37

time scales of minutes to seasons or

years. Climate services will be provided months in advance to allow communities and businesses to prepare for

extreme weather and water conditions.

These will be further supported by

forecasts that assess the threat of particular hazardous conditions (e.g.,

heavy precipitation or flooding) for

specific areas of the country up to two

weeks in advance. Finally, very precise forecasts of individual events

(e.g., flash floods) will be provided

hours and minutes in advance. In contrast, many of today's products and

services are prepared independently of

other products and services for the

same geographic area. This results in

potential inconsistencies and in less

effective use of data and computational power. By 2005, NWS forecasts

will be continuous, cumulative, consistent, relevant, and make the most

effective use of data and computing

power of the agency.

To achieve the above scenario of

services by 2005, NWS has prepared a

strategic plan for weather, water and

climate services. The plan, published

in August 1999, presents five goals: 

 Deliver a credible, timely, and relevant suite of seamless weather,

water, and climate products and

services which exploit technology

to the fullest to meet customer and

partner needs;

 Aggressively and continually

infuse science and technological

advances to improve products and

delivery of services that best meet

and anticipate customer needs;

 Strengthen United States leadership

on emerging application of weather,

water, and climate information to

meet environmental and economic

challenges;

 Work with employees to create an

organizational culture which

embraces change; values service;

promotes teamwork with customers, partners, and each other;

and fosters innovation in mission

and vision accomplishment; and

 Create a responsive support system,

adaptable to changing needs and

opportunities which maximize the

return on investment to America.

The NWS focus through 2005 will be

to harness an explosion of information

technology, to strengthen linkages

among the disciplines of weather,

water, and climate prediction, to work

more effectively with partners to

improve and expand services, and to

become a more responsive and efficient government agency.
38 DOC SECTION 3 

The National Environmental

Satellite, Data, and Information

Service (NESDIS) manages United

States civil operational environmental

satellite systems, as well as global

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

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

the protection of life and property, the

national economy, energy development and distribution, global food supplies, and development and management of environmental resources

(Figure 3-DOC-5).

NESDIS was established as a NOAA

line office on December 1, 1982. It

was formed by the merger of the former National Environmental Satellite

Service (NESS) and Environmental

Data and Information Service (EDIS). 

NESDIS operates two primary polarorbiting satellites in sun-synchronous

orbits with equatorial crossing times in

the early morning (circa 7:30 a.m.

LST) and early afternoon (circa

1:40 p.m. LST). The orbits are circular, with an altitude between 830 km

(morning orbit) and 870 km (afternoon

orbit). These satellites orbit the Earth

14 times per day, collecting global data

for atmospheric and surface measurements in support of short-term weather

forecasting and longer-term global climate change research.

An agreement finalized with the

European Organization for the

Exploitation of Meteorological

Satellites (EUMETSAT) gives

EUMETSAT responsibility for the

morning segment of the polar environmental mission (circa 9:30 a.m. LST),

with United States-provided payload

instruments and sensors, beginning in

2003. Thus, upon inception of this

operational arrangement, NOAA will

operate the afternoon mission while

EUMETSAT will support the morning

mission.

On October 3, 1994, NOAA, DOD,

and the National Aeronautics and

Space Administration (NASA) created

an Integrated Program Office (IPO) to

develop, manage, acquire, and operate

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

Operational Environmental Satellite

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

is headed by a System Program

Director responsible to the NPOESS

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

a board of directors to ensure that the

overall program plans meet the 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 converged satellite is expected to

be available sometime toward the middle to latter half of this decade depending on when the current NOAA and

DMSP programmed satellite assets are

exhausted.

NPOESS will provide standard

meteorological data, oceanographic,

environmental, climatic, space environmental remote sensing information,

as well as continuing to provide surface data collection and search and rescue capability. The IPO, in consultation with the NOAA and DMSP program offices, is also studying additional potential cost effective approaches

to maximize user satisfaction during

the transition to NPOESS while guaranteeing continued non-interrupted

data services.

NESDIS is also responsible for operating two Geostationary Operational

Environmental Satellites (GOES).

GOES-East stationed at 75o

W monitors

the Atlantic Ocean, the East and Gulf

Coasts, and the Midwest; GOES-West

at 135o

W monitors the Pacific Ocean

and West Coast. Due to an impending

failure of the attitude and orbit control

systems on GOES-9, it was replaced

by GOES-10 in July 1998. GOES-11,

the next in the series of GOES, was

launched on May 3, 2000. It was

placed in on-orbit standby at 104o

W. It

will replace either GOES-8 or

GOES-10, when either satellite fails.

ENVIRONMENTAL SATELLITE

SERVICES

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 Defense Meteorological

Satellite Program (DMSP) constellation in 1998. The mission of DMSP is

to provide meteorological and special

sensor data to users in support of world

wide DOD missions. DMSP is now

operated from the SOCC at Suitland,

Maryland. SOCC is the primary center

for normal operations, mission planning, engineering, launch and early

orbit support, and anomaly resolution.

NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL SATELLITE, DATA, AND INFORMATION SERVICE
SECTION 3 DOC 39

A new ground system was developed

for DMSP called Integrated Polar

Acquisition and Control Subsystem.

The Office of Satellite Data

Processing and Distribution (OSDPD)

directs the operations of NESDIS central ground data processing facilities.

It processes and distributes current

weather satellite data and derived

products to the NWS and other domestic and foreign users, and provides

coordination and customer services for

satellite direct readout and direct

broadcast users. OSDPD distributes

NOAA and non-NOAA environmental

satellite products to the NWS National

Centers and Weather Forecast Offices

(WFOs), who provide further distribution to regional NWS offices and other

federal, state, and private sector agencies. OSDPD is currently generating

modern remapped digital data satellite

products for further distribution via

NOAAPORT, a satellite point-tomulti-point broadcast. NOAAPORT

delivers various GOES products in virtually real-time to the Advanced

Weather Interactive Processing Station

(AWIPS). AWIPS, a new display and

analysis workstation, enables NWS

Figure 3-DOC-5. NESDIS Operational Significant Event Imagery (OSEI)--Snowstorm over Southeast United States on

March 11, 1999 
40 DOC SECTION 3 

national centers and field sites to integrate and display satellite data for

hydro-meteorological analyses. As

AWIPS development and deployment

proceed, NESDIS will continue to supply digital GOES images to a group of

NWS sites equipped with the RAMM

Branch Advanced Meteorological

Satellite Demonstration and

Interpretation System (RAMSDIS)--a

PC-based image display and analysis

system. These sites acquire the images

via the Internet for demonstration,

evaluation, and familiarization purposes. RAMSDIS enables forecasters to

perform operations such as looping,

enhancement curve changes, and local

image recombination.

NESDIS continued its support of the

COSPAS-SARSAT Program through

provision of satellites, ground stations,

and alert data distribution services.

Russia, the United States, France, and

Canada provide the space segment and

related ground systems for COSPASSARSAT. NESDIS operates and maintains the United States SARSAT

Mission Control Center and seven

ground stations. The ground stations

receive Doppler signals directly from

the satellites and process the information to provide the location of distress

transmissions. In 1999, COSPASSARSAT began to incorporate

Geostationary Earth Orbit Search and

Rescue (GEOSAR) satellite systems as

a supplement to the existing COSPASSARSAT polar-orbiting system.

GEOSAR systems provide instantaneous alerting capability and can significantly decrease rescue times. In

1998, the COSPAS-SARSAT Council

also agreed to implement new emergency beacon location protocols to

provide precise location within the

beacon message using the United

States Global Positioning System

(GPS) and the Russian Global

Navigation Satellite System

(GLONASS).

National Ice Center

The United States National Ice

Center (NIC), under sponsorship of the

United States Navy, NOAA, and the

United States Coast Guard (USCG), is

tasked with providing global sea ice

and Great Lakes ice information in

support of shipping, cryospheric

research, and other maritime activities.

NIC ice guidance products are produced in a digital workstation environment using data from polar orbiting

satellites, ship/shore station reports,

drifting buoys, meteorological guidance products, ice model predictions,

and government partners including foreign ice services. The primary remotely sensed data sources used for global

and regional-scale ice mapping are visible and infrared imagery from the

TIROS-N Advanced Very High

Resolution Radiometer (1.1km spatial

resolution) and the DMSP Operational

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

cover, the NIC utilizes Special Sensor

Microwave Imager (SSM/I) sensor

data (19 and 37 GHz channels)

processed using the CAL/VAL and

NASA Team ice concentration algorithms (Figure 3-DOC-6). These algorithms produce 25km gridded mosaic

ice maps that are instrumental in the

production of NIC weekly composite

Arctic/Antarctic ice maps. Higher resolution ice analysis products, used to

ensure the safety of navigation and

protect life and property at sea, are

dependent upon the availability and

use of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)

data from the Canadian RADARSAT.

Of greatest utility to NIC is

RADARSAT's ScanSAR Wide mode

with a 500km wide swath and 100m

spatial resolution. Images are

processed at four Arctic ground stations and transferred to the NIC via

dedicated communication lines or via

the Internet within six hours of acquisition. The NIC Science team, which

assists in the transition of pertinent scientific research to operations, is

presently evaluating ARKTOS, an

automated expert system that uses

Figure 3-DOC-6. Iceberg B-10A is located amidst the cloud over in the

Southern Ocean on January 9, 2000. Approximate location of the iceberg is

55.46S 37.35W.
SECTION 3 DOC 41

knowledge-based rules to classify sea

ice in RADARSAT SAR images.

Routine NIC ice guidance products

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

available via special request include

ship route recommendations, pre-sail

ship briefings, aerial ice reconnaissance, and ship rider support. Sea ice

features of most frequent interest

include ice edge position, ice concentration, ice thickness, form or floe size,

ice motion, areas of compression and

heavy surface deformation, and the

location/orientation of open water or

thin ice-covered leads. Ice products

are distributed via the Internet

(http://www.natice.noaa.gov) as simple electronic charts in Graphics

Interface Format (GIF), GIS-compatible coverages (ESRI ARC/INFO .e00

export format), and in the World

Meteorological Organization (WMO)

digital standard for Sea Ice in GRIDed

(SIGRID, SIGRID-2) format. Date

and time of data acquisition as well as

the percentage of each data type used

in all ice analyses are documented in a

metadata narrative.

Another of NIC's responsibilities is

oversight of the United States

Interagency Arctic Buoy Program

(USIABP), 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 eight government agencies and/or programs. These

organizations include: the Naval

Oceanographic Office, Office of Naval

Research (ONR), NASA, National

Science Foundation (NSF), and

NOAA's NESDIS, OAR, and Office of

Global Programs (OGP).

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 longterm studies. Staff from these divisions also conduct a strong technology

transfer program through scientific

presentations, technical reports,

Internet-based tutorials, and training

workshops at domestic and international sites.

Polar-Orbiting Systems

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-15 and NOAA-14.

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

provide multi-channel images and carry

a data collection and platform location

system, and a Search and Rescue

Satellite-Aided Tracking (SARSAT)

subsystem. The SARSAT subsystem is

used to detect and locate distress alerts

from maritime, aviation, and land-based

users. In addition to taking thermal

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

temperature and moisture.

POES satellites carry four primary

instrument systems: the Advanced

Very High Resolution Radiometer

(AVHRR); the Television Infrared

Observation System (TIROS)

Operational Vertical Sounder (TOVS);

the Space Environment Monitor

(SEM); and the Solar Backscatter

Ultra-Violet Instrument (SBUV/2).

The AVHRR provides data for realtime transmission to both Automatic

Picture Transmission (APT) and High

Resolution Picture Transmission

(HRPT) users and for storage on the

spacecraft tape recorders for later playback. The AVHRR provides stored

and direct-readout radiometer data for

day and night cloud cover, sea surface

temperatures, vegetation indices, and

snow and ice mapping.

NOAA-15 carries the first of a new

generation of imager and sounder. The

AVHRR on NOAA-15 contains a

switchable Channel 3A (1.6 microns

(μm)) and Channel 3B (3.7μm).

NOAA-15 also carries the first

Advanced-TOVS, or ATOVS. ATOVS

consists of the High Resolution

Infrared Radiation Sounder (HIRS/3),

the Advanced Microwave Sounding

Unit-A (AMSU-A), and the Advance

Microwave Sounding Unit-B (AMSU-B),

replacing the Microwave Sounding

Unit (MSU) and the Stratospheric

Sounding Unit flying on older polarorbiting satellites. The new AMSU

instruments are designed to provide
42 DOC SECTION 3 

increased accuracy in temperature and

humidity retrievals.

The HIRS/3 is a discrete-stepping,

linescan instrument designed to measure scene radiance in 20 spectral bands

to permit the calculation of the vertical

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

data from one visible channel

(0.69μm), seven shortwave channels

(3.7 to 4.6μm), and twelve longwave

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

longwave IR band which, from an altitude of 833km, encompasses an area of

20.3km and 18.9km in diameter,

respectively, at nadir on the Earth.

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

(a) AMSU-A2 with two channels at

23.8 and 31.4GHz and (b) AMSU-A1

with twelve channels in the range of

50.3 to 57.3GHz and one channel at

89.0GHz. The AMSU-B has five

channels with frequencies centered on

89, 150, 183±1, 183±3, and 183±7Ghz,

respectively. AMSU-B, provided by

the United Kingdom Meteorological

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

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

3.3 degrees (48km on surface at nadir)

and AMSU-B a field of view of

1.1 degrees (16km on surface at nadir).

AMSU-A (AMSU-B) samples

30 degrees (90) Earth views, covering

±48.95 degrees from the sub-satellite

point. In addition, the specialized

89GHz channel, with the capability to

"see" through high and mid-level

clouds to low level moisture clouds, is

utilized to determine the position and

structure of tropical cyclones on a

global scale. The AMSU-A1 uses two

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

Earth's surface to about 42km, or from

1000 to 2 mb. The remaining three

channels (1 and 2 from A2 and 15 from

A1) aid the retrieval of temperature

soundings by correction of surface

emissivity, atmospheric liquid water,

and total precipitable water. These

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

snow coverage.

The SEM measures solar proton

flux, alpha particle and electron flux

density, and energy spectrum and total

particulate energy distribution at

spacecraft altitude. The two sensors

included within this instrument are the

Total Energy Detector (TED) and the

Medium Energy Proton and Electron

Detector (MEPED), in addition to a

common data processing unit. This

instrument augments the measurements made by NOAA's geostationary

satellites.

In addition to the three instrument

systems previously described, the

"afternoon" POES carry the SBUV/2.

SBUV/2 is a non-scanning (fixed nadir

viewing) spectrometer designed to

measure scene radiance and solar spectral irradiance from 160 nanometers to

400 nanometers. Data obtained from

the instrument are used to compute the

amount and vertical distribution of

ozone in the Earth's atmosphere on the

sunlit side of the Earth. The ground

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

the Polar Acquisition and Control

Subsystem (PACS) and the Central

Environmental Satellite Computer

System (CEMSCS). The PACS

includes the Wallops, Virginia, and

Fairbanks, Alaska, CDA stations and

the SOCC at Suitland, Maryland. All

the CEMSCS components are in the

NOAA facility at Suitland. PACS is

used to command and control the

spacecraft, monitor its health via

housekeeping telemetry, and retrieve

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

delivery of NOAA system data from

the CDA's to Suitland is accomplished

by using the General Electric

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

Earth stations at Suitland, Wallops, and

Fairbanks, delivers the data to SOCC.

These data are immediately passed to

the CEMSCS for processing. The

CEMSCS ingests the raw satellite data

and pre-processes and stores them

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

The data processed by the CEMSCS

are used for environmental products

and operational weather predictions

which are disseminated to users

throughout the world.

The POES Data Collection (and

location) System (DCS) is provided

through an international cooperative

agreement with the Centre Nationale

d'Etudes Spatiales of France and is

called the ARGOS DCS. The system

provides a means to locate and collect

environmental data from fixed and

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

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

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

of the environment, with the majority

of users being government/non-profit

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

the NOAA-N' satellite.

Geostationary Satellite Program

Two operational geostationary satellites, GOES-8 (75o

W) and GOES-10

(135o

W), provide coverage of virtually

the entire western hemisphere for oper-
SECTION 3 DOC 43

ational meteorological services. The

projected launch schedule and associated instruments for geostationary

satellites are shown in Table 3.1.

The GOES satellites host an imager

capable of detecting atmospheric, sea

surface, and land properties in five

spectral bands including the 3.9μm and

12.0μm wavelengths. However,

beginning with GOES-M, the 12.0μm

channel will be replaced with a

13.0μm channel, with the goal of

achieving more accurate cloud height

assignments for mid- and upper-level

atmospheric wind-velocity estimates.

GOES satellites transmit all five

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

with its own meteorological and

hydrological application. GOES

spacecraft were designed for flexible

scanning of the Earth; a variety of

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

is normally scanned once every

3 hours and requires about 30 minutes

to complete the entire scan.

Depending on requirements to monitor

environmental hazards on the Earth's

surface or in the atmosphere,

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

operations) or 71⁄2-minute interval

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

be scanned at 1-minute intervals, to

capture rapidly developing and dynamic environmental phenomena. The five

channels and respective resolutions are

as follows:

 Channel 1 (Visible, .55μm to

.75μm) - 1 km

 Channel 2 (Infrared, 3.8μm to

4.0μm) - 4 km

 Channel 3 (Water Vapor, 6.5μm to

7.0μm) - 8 km (4 km starting with

GOES-M)

 Channel 4 (Infrared, 10.2μm to

11.2μm) - 4 km

 Channel 5 (Infrared, 11.5μm to

12.5μm) - 4 km

The GOES-8 and GOES-10 sounder

instruments, consisting of 19 spectral

channels, are used for measurements

of atmospheric temperature and moisture profiles, surface and cloud top

temperatures, and ozone distribution.

Products derived from the sounder

include precipitable water and lifted

index - a measurement of atmospheric

stability. Comparable to the imager,

the sounder is capable of providing

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

local imagery. In routine operations,

GOES-8 and GOES-10 provide hourly

sounding coverage.

The GOES Space Environment

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

instruments is more extensive than on

POES. The GOES SEM instruments

include X-ray monitors that detect

solar flares, energetic particle sensors,

and three-component vector magnetometers to measure changes in the

ambient magnetic field. Real-time

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

GOES SEM sensors are archived by

the National Geophysical Data Center

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

computer media.

GOES also carries a Data Collection

System (DCS) which is used to collect

and relay environmental data observed

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

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

either of a Local User Terminal, in

order to relay the distress beacon back

to the United States SARSAT Mission

Control Center (USMCC). Newer

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

Positioning System (GPS), now have

the capability to provide location information in the distress message relayed

by GOES to the USMCC.

NESDIS continues to improve user

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

Internet. One important on-line access

system, managed and operated by

OSDPD and NOAA's National

Climatic Data Center (NCDC), is the

NOAA Operational Satellite Active

Archive (SAA). The SAA

(www.saa.noaa.gov) provides satellite

data access, display, and electronic

transfer. Available data types include

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

subscription users). While developed

as an independent system, the SAA

serves as NOAA's initial interoperable

interface to NASA's Earth Observing

System Data and Information System

(EOSDIS). After the phase-out of the

GOES-TAP system in 1998, many

users now rely on GOES sector

images, mapped to standard AWIPS

grids, available in near real-time, at

www.goes.noaa.gov. Finally, special
44 DOC SECTION 3 

TABLE 3.1 PROJECTED SATELLITE LAUNCH SCHEDULE

POLAR-ORBITING SYSTEM GEOSTATIONARY SYSTEM

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

NOAA L CY 2000 GOES M CY 2001

NOAA M CY 2001 GOES N CY 2002

METOP-1 CY 2003 GOES O CY 2005

NOAA-N CY 2003 GOES P CY 2007

NOAA-N CY 2008 GOES Q CY 2010

METOP-2 CY 2008 GOES-R CY 2012

METOP-3 CY 2012

NPOESS-3 CY 2014

NPOESS-4 CY 2016

NPOESS-5 CY 2018

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

NOAA Instruments for NOAA Polar-Orbiter and METOP Series

AVHRR - Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer

SEM - Space Environment Monitor

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

HIRS - High Resolution Infrared Sounder

DCS ARGOS - Data Collection System

AMSU-A - Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A

AMSU-B - Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-B

SARP - Search and Rescue Processor

SARR - Search and Rescue Repeater

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

Instruments for NPOESS Series

VIIRS - Visible/Infrared Imager/Radiometer Suite

CMIS - Conical Microwave Imager/Sounder

CrIS - Cross-track Infrared Sounder

ATMS - Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder

OMPS - Ozone Mapper/Profiler Suite

SES - Space Environment Suite

DCS - Data Collection System

SARSAT - Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking System

ERBS - Earth Radiation Budget Sensor

TSIS - Total Solar Irradiance Sensor

ALT - Altimeter (Dual Frequency radar altimeter)

Instruments for GOES-Next Series

Imager 

Sounder

SEM - Space Environment Monitor

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

EUMETSAT Unique Instruments for METOP Series Satellites

ASCAT - Advanced Scatterometer

GOME - Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment

GRAS - GPS Receiver for Atmospheric Sounding

IASI - Infra-red Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer
SECTION 3 DOC 45

First complete view of the worlds weather by TIROS IX on February 13, 1965

TIROS I on April 1, 1960

First TV image from space

Forty years of

Satellite Imagery
46 DOC SECTION 3 

events of natural disasters, including

floods, hurricanes, other severe storms,

volcanoes, and fires, specifically

enhanced and annotated for use by the

news media, federal, state, and international governments and agencies, are

available from the Operational

Significant Events Imagery (OSEI)

server (www.osei.noaa.gov) (See

Figure 3-DOC-5).

INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT

FOR HAZARD MITIGATION

The Committee on Earth

Observation Satellites (CEOS) was

formed in 1984, in response to recommendations from the Economic

Summit of Industrialized Nations

Working Group on Growth,

Technology, and Employment's Panel

of Experts on Satellite Remote

Sensing. This group recognized the

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

the value of coordination across all

proposed missions. In CEOS,

providers and users of EO satellite data

work together to promote the effective

use of data from such satellites.

Recognizing the benefits that could be

gained from better application of EO

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

on disaster management support. The

Director of NESDIS/OSDPD chairs

the group. The Disaster Management

Support Group focuses on developing

and refining recommendations for the

application of satellite data to selected

hazard areas. Particular emphasis is

placed on working closely with space

agencies, international and regional

organizations, and commercial organizations on the implementation of these

recommendations.

The Disaster Management Support

Group began as a project in 1997 with

an objective to support natural and

technological disaster management on

a worldwide basis by fostering

improved utilization of existing and

planned Earth observation satellite

data. Meetings are held two to three

times per year. Hazards addressed

include drought, earthquake, fire,

flooding, landslides, oil spill, sea ice,

and volcanic hazards. Teams were

charged with compiling user requirements; identifying shortcomings and

gaps in the provision of required satellite data; and developing recommendations for alleviating them. Hazard team

reports are included in the Group's

annual progress reports. The latest

annual progress report is available in

hardcopy or via the group's web site

(disaster.ceos.org).

SUPPORTING RESEARCH

PROGRAMS

Recent advances in numerical

weather prediction (NWP) models,

both at NOAA's NCEP/EMC and other

major International NWP Centers,

require higher quality satellite derived

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

globe. In 1998, NESDIS implemented

an upgraded operational wind production suite which provides higher quality imager-based cloud-drift and water

vapor motion winds at significantly

increased spatial and temporal resolution. The system is totally automated

and uses a series of geostationary satellite images to derive wind estimates.

Automated quality control of image

registration is an important component

of the NESDIS GOES winds processing suite. 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. With increased computer

resources, a ten-fold increase in the

yield of "good" wind vectors for

GOES-8 and GOES-10 are being generated every 3 hours for the Northern

and Southern Hemisphere.

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.
SECTION 3 DOC 47

Atmospheric Moisture and Stability

Products

Research continues to improve the

atmospheric moisture and stability

products from the GOES-8 and

GOES-10 sounder instruments.

Precipitable water for three layers of

the atmosphere: surface to 900 hPa;

900-700 hPa; and 700-300 hPa are

computed from the soundings. Total

precipitable water (TPW) for the entire

atmospheric column, from the earth's

surface to the "top" of the atmosphere,

is also computed. These precipitable

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

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

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

the EMC regional data assimilation

systems and for weather forecasters in

the field. EMC currently uses the

GOES precipitable water retrievals as

input to ETA Data Assimilation

System (EDAS) which provides the

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. At present, a blended

GOES, SSM/I, and model-derived

product is being evaluated. In addition, a precipitable water product has

been developed from the NOAA-15

AMSU sensor, and is presently undergoing evaluation. In the near future,

the blended product will include the

AMSU-derived precipitable water. In

addition to the moisture products,

numerous atmospheric stability indices

can be computed from measurements

made by the GOES sounder instrument. Two stability indices, the lifted

index (LI) and CAPE index, are computed on a routine basis. Since these

indices are produced hourly, sequential

images of these derived quantities

clearly show the diurnal and dynamic

changes associated with weather

events. So, in addition to providing

these data to EMC for use in numerical

weather prediction models, the graphical representation of these products

allows for the looping of the products

in time. This capability aids NWS forecasters in the field, for example, to

understand the time evolution of

severe storms. It was anticipated that

the GOES sounder moisture and stability products which presently have a

horizontal resolution of approximately

50 km2

, would be generated at a high

horizontal resolution of 30 km2 by the

summer of 2000. These products can

be viewed at orbit-net.nesdis.noaa.

gov/goes and cimss.ssec.wisc.edu. A

similar suite of products is being

developed from NOAA-14 and

NOAA-15 for forecasters.

Precipitation Estimates

The Auto-Estimator produces quarter-hourly estimates of precipitation

based on GOES infrared data. This

technique was devised to replace the

more manual "Interactive Flash Flood

Analyzer" (IFFA). The AutoEstimator has an orographic adjustment factor and can be manually

adjusted for warm cloud tops. Current

improvements being tested include

using: RADAR and visible data (as a

rain/no-rain detector) and equilibrium

level temperatures from the ETA

model for warm top adjustments.

Other techniques are being tested such

as the GOES Multi-Spectral Rainfall

Algorithm (GMSRA), a combined

GOES and SSM/I rainfall algorithm

(developed at NRL/Monterey), and a

NOAA-15 AMSU based retrieval algorithm. The GMSRA uses all five

GOES imager channels and may be

merged with the Auto-Estimator after

the intercomparison is completed.

Finally, the POES based microwave

algorithms from the SSM/I and AMSU

sensors are being utilized to produce

automated tropical cyclone rainfall

potential estimates and global precipitation estimates are produced from

microwave data for climate monitoring

and analysis. These products can be

viewed at: orbitnet.nesdis.noaa.gov/arad/ht and manati.wwb.noaa.gov/doc/ssmiprecip.html

Microburst Products

Several experimental microburst and

convective wind gust products are

being tested. These products utilize

sounder data from both GOESEast/West to compute the maximum

possible wind gust and the potential for

both wet and dry microbursts over the

continental United States. They are

produced hourly during the convective

season and can be viewed at orbitnet.nesdis.noaa.gov/arad/fpdt/mb.html

Low Cloud and Aircraft Icing Products

Detection of fog and low clouds, particularly at night, is important to aviation activities. A GOES product utilizing two infrared channels (10.7mm

and 3.9mm) can help determine the

areal extent of this cloudiness at night

over the continental United States and

Alaska every 30 minutes. An experimental fog depth image is produced

hourly. An experimental cloud base

height product for the West Coast was

added in 2000 to estimate low ceilings

(< 1,000 ft) that are critical to aviation

operations. Fog products can be found

at orbit-net.nesdis.noaa.gov/arad/fpdt/

fog.html. By combining information

from the visible and longwave infrared

(12.0mm) channels to the two

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

product is available hourly and can be

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

arad/fpdt/icg.html.

Geostationary Sea Surface Temperatures

GOES-8 and GOES-10 are proving

capable of producing sea surface temperatures (SST) over most of the

Western Hemisphere nearly continuously. The accuracy and spatial resolution achieved with the GOES measurements are close to that achieved

from the polar orbiting platforms, and

GOES has a unique advantage of high

temporal sampling frequency. For the
48 DOC SECTION 3 

SST determination, the frequent sampling by GOES makes a more complete map of SST possible after clouds

have moved on. Cloud detection is

enhanced by noting that a change in

scene temperature over a short period

of time may indicate the presence of

clouds. 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 since December

1998 for both GOES-8 and GOES-10

and had planned to declare the product

operational by June 2000. A global

SST product is produced every three

hours; regional SST products are generated every hour. These products

were planned for operational implementation in 2000.

Volcanic Ash Monitoring

Techniques that use the imager and

sounder channels on GOES-East/West

are being developed to assist in the

tracking of volcanic ash cloud plumes

(Figure 3-DOC-7). One product that

employs three channels (10.7μm,

12.0μm, and 3.9μm) has been developed and is under evaluation. Ash

cloud advisory statements are provided

by NESDIS to the aviation community

over southern North America and

northern South America, through the

Volcanic Ash Advisory Center in

Washington, District of Columbia.

The experimental volcanic ash product

is produced hourly for several active

volcanic areas and made available on

the Web at orbitnet.nesdis.noaa.gov/arad/fpdt/volc.html.

Fire and Smoke Monitoring

Algorithms are being developed to

detect fires and to monitor their growth

and the associated smoke coverage.

The GOES-8 split window data (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 United States. The continual monitoring from GOES (as often as

every 71⁄2 minutes) can assist firefighters to plan evacuation and extinguishing activities. NESDIS planned to test

the routine production of a fire product

in the summer of 2000. Studies with

Brazil are underway to predict smoke

transport and air pollution and health

alerts for major cities. An AVHRR fire

detection algorithm is being developed

for use in monitoring fire and smoke

outbreaks around the world. This algorithm is being implemented in a

Hazard Mapping System that will provide analysts a means to look at fire

and smoke events as well as other

environmental hazards, and provide

the data to users and the media.

A GOES Products and Services

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

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

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

web page. A Polar Products and

Services Catalog is under development

and is planned for 2001.

NPOESS

ORA scientists continue to play an

important role in the evaluation of proposed contractor sensor design and

retrieval methods during the ongoing

selection process for NPOESS. ORA

scientists have created a variety of "test

bed" data sets that are being used in the

algorithm evaluation process. This is

accomplished through participation in

operational algorithm teams with the

long-term goals of assuring capability

to meet the requirements of all

Environmental Data Records. Ozone

evaluation, calibration, and validation

activities will take place for the new

Figure 3-DOC-7. Strong heat signature (red) and an ash plume associated with

eruptions of Mount Etna volcano in northeastern Sicily. Other visible hot spots

in image are probably due to wildfires.
SECTION 3 DOC 49

Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet

Instrument (SBUV/2) instrument after

the launch and successful checkout of

NOAA-L. A new ozone profile

retrieval algorithm (Version 7) is under

development at NASA. As soon as it

becomes available, NOAA will begin

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

ozone will continue with the SBUV/2

instruments on NOAA-11, -14, and -L,

and with the TOVS instruments on

NOAA-14, -15 and -L. Experimental

high temporal ozone products are also

being produced from the GOES-8

sounder channels. Monitoring is limited to North America. Preliminary

results show the GOES values are

comparable to amounts from the Total

Ozone Mapping Spectrometer and

ground-based measurements.

Land Surface Parameters for Use in

Weather Forecast Models

Satellite-derived fields of land surface characteristics are being prepared

for use in NWP models. These include

radiation products delivered in near

real-time as forcing variables, surface

characteristics, such as fractional green

vegetation and albedo, that specify

model lower boundary conditions and

validation quantities, such as surface

temperature. These products are meant

to help the NWP models maintain better soil moisture fields which in turn

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

precipitation forecasts. These fields

now include POES-based (SSM/I and

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

of snow depth is underway. Forward

models for surface emissivity at various microwave frequencies have been

developed and are being tested in the

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

Services, Canada for evaluation.

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 evaluation of

new algorithm and instrument designs

which is supported by the IPO. In

addition, new algorithms are being

developed to produce optimal estimates of cloud properties from both

imager and sounder data, such as the

merge of AVHRR and TOVS data.

Aerosols

An algorithm for the correction of a

thermal radiation leak in the 1.6μm

reflectance channel of the Tropical

Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM)

satellite's Visible Infrared Scanner

(VIRS) has been developed. It is being

applied to VIRS raw data prior to

application of the NESDIS operational

aerosol retrieval algorithm by NASA's

Clouds from the Earth's Radiant

Energy System (CERES) instrument

data processing team. Without this

correction, the aerosol optical thickness at 1.6μm would be overestimated

by as much as 200 percent, depending

on the temperature of the Earth's surface. In FY 2001, we will validate

retrievals of aerosol optical thickness

(AOT) and the Angstrom Exponent, a

measure of the size of particles in the

atmospheric column derived from optical thickness measurements at 1.6μm,

and 0.63μm, the other reflectance channel of VIRS. Validation will be accomplished by comparison with sun-photometer measurements of solar extinction at five wavelengths from 15 island

and coastal locations established by

NASA's Aerosol Robotic Network

(AERONET). This algorithm will also

be applied to NOAA-L AVHRR data

(after its launch) which has the same

two reflectance channels as VIRS plus

an 0.83μm reflectance channel. This

information on aerosols will be used to

correct for the attenuation of aerosol

particles in the infrared channels of the

AVHRR instrument to remove errors in

the retrieval of sea surface temperature.

The correction algorithm will initially

be derived from the multi-year archive

from the AVHRR Pathfinder

Atmosphere (PATMOS) data set using a

single channel AOT retrieval at 0.63μm.

The long-term record of AVHRR SSTs

can be corrected for aerosol induced

errors which currently limit the utility of

these data for climate change studies.

Finally, an algorithm for the estimation

of aerosol optical thickness over dark

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

Aerosol Climatology Project (GACP).

It will also utilize the PATMOS archive

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

AERONET stations to make empirical

adjustments to the surface reflectance

model used in the NESDIS operational

aerosol retrieval algorithm used over

oceans. This will be the first globally

applicable aerosol retrieval algorithm

for land areas and will be used by

NASA and NOAA to create a climatology of aerosol optical thickness over

land for climate change studies.
50 DOC SECTION 3 

Long-term Monitoring of NOAA-15

Advanced Microwave Sounding

Unit-A (AMSU-A) Performance

Since the launch of the NOAA-15

satellite, the AMSU-A level 1B data

have been captured from the CEMSCS

and stored on optical disks. These data

are used for off-line characterization of

the instrument radiometric performance on orbit. Over 20 important

radiometric parameters are extracted or

calculated from the AMSU-A 1B data.

NESDIS has already demonstrated that

the noise in the observations in all

channels is lower (better) than that

required by the specifications and, in

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

In FY 2001, NOAA will examine the

other radiometric parameters. NOAA

will also continue compiling long-term

trends of all the parameters to provide

a better understanding of the instrument performance. The PC-based software developed for evaluating these

data will be improved for better efficiency in processing the data. 

Calibration of the Visible and NearInfrared Channels of the AVHRR

The AVHRR flown on POES is recognized as an invaluable resource for

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

short-wave radiation budget play a

central role in climate and global

change studies by providing a means to

study the environment continuously. It

is thus very important to characterize

and document the in-orbit performance

of the AVHRR flown on the polar

orbiters. Toward this end, a very comprehensive program of 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 - 0.68 μm), and nearinfrared (Channel 2: 0.72 - 1.1 μm;

Channel 3A: 1.58 - 1.64 μm) 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 Highresolution Infrared Radiation Sounder

(HIRS), the Moderate-resolution

Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS), and

various sensors to be flown on

ENVISAT; and (e) design of optimal

onboard and vicarious calibration techniques for the visible and near-infrared

sensors planned under the National

Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS).

The relevance and importance of these

activities has been recognized by the

national and international user community, as evidenced by the appreciation

and endorsement of the Working

Group on Calibration and Validation

(WGCV), Committee on Earth

Observation Satellites (CEOS), and the

Global Observing Systems Space

Panel (GOSSP). To ensure global

access to the results of the above program, and recognizing the importance

of the AVHRR-derived products to

national and international programs,

such as the International Satellite

Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP),

the International Geosphere Biosphere

Programme (IGBP), the Global

Climate, Ocean, and Terrestrial

Observing Systems, and to benefit

from sensor calibration research elsewhere, active liaison, and collaboration

in some instances, has been established

with researchers in NASA, NIST,

EUMETSAT, China Meteorological

Administration, Beijing, China;

Rutherford Appleton Laboratory,

United Kingdom; National Space

Development Agency, Japan; the

NOAA/NASA Pathfinder Program;

several space agencies and remote

sensing laboratories outside the United

States, and academia both in the

United States and abroad.

Accomplishments to date include near

real-time updating of the calibration of

the AVHRR on NOAA-14; determination of the in-orbit degradation of the

AVHRR on NOAA-15 within six

weeks after launch, and the evaluation

of the performance of the visible channel of HIRS on NOAA-14, using the

AVHRR as a calibration standard.

Dissemination of the information

resulting from the calibration activity

is accomplished through presentations

at the meetings of learned and professional societies, publications in the literature, and through the electronic

media.

Calibration of Geostationary

Operational Environmental Satellite

Instruments

The wavelength configuration of

channels on the Geostationary

Operational Environmental Satellite-M (GOES-M) Imager will be

slightly different from that of its predecessors. The current 12μm channel

will be replaced by one at 13.3μm.

The new channel will employ a single

detector with an 8-km field-of-view at

the Earth's surface. The water-vapor

channel at 6.7μm, which on GOES I

through L observes the Earth with a

single 8-km detector, will employ two
SECTION 3 DOC 51

4-km detectors on GOES-M. To

accommodate these revisions, the calibration processing in the ground system will be modified.

Pathfinder

Climate data sets of cloud amount,

aerosol optical thickness (AOT) over

the oceans, and the Earth's radiation

budget for clear and cloudy skies have

been retrospectively generated from

over 17 years of AVHRR data as part

of the 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 utilized 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. Analysis of time series of

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

(spatially and temporarily) with El

Niño events. A second reprocessing of

the entire data set is being proposed,

where multiple-layered cloud data will

be used. Land surface and ocean products such as the vegetation index and

the sea surface temperature will be

added.

Ocean Surface Winds

Calibration and validation studies

are performed for all new operational

ocean surface wind data streams.

Product refinement and development

activities are currently underway to

improve ocean wind vector retrievals

in the high wind speed regime where

current retrieval algorithms underestimate the wind speeds. There are several satellite-based active and passive

microwave sensors planned for launch

in the near future that NOAA will have

the opportunity to obtain near real-time

data streams from. One of these sensors will be the first demonstration of

the passive polarimetric technique,

which is the technique that is being

depended on for NPOESS to meet the

nations ocean surface wind vector

requirements.

Storm Signatures and Winds from

Synthetic Aperture Radar

ORA scientists are currently studying ocean surface wind signatures of

atmospheric fronts and storms with

synthetic aperture radar (SAR)

imagery. By sensing variations in

ocean surface roughness on the centimeter scale, SAR sensors can image

storms, atmospheric waves (such as

coastal lee waves), atmospheric fronts,

and coastal wind shadowing.

Techniques for calculating wind speed

(and under certain conditions direction

as well) are also under development. A

near real-time demonstration of SAR

applications in Alaska was conducted

in the fall of 1999 using data from the

Canadian RADARSAT satellite. SAR

images of the Bering Sea and northern

Gulf of Alaska were provided to the

NWS Anchorage WFO for analysis of

wind conditions, location of polar

lows, and position of the ice edge.

Wind speed images derived from SAR

were also provided along with other

wind data from scatterometer winds to

allow meteorologists at the Anchorage

office to assess the utility of SAR data

and derived products to their operational weather analysis and forecast

activities. Before the year 2003, four

new wide-swath SAR satellites are

planned for launch. If data acquisition

and sharing arrangements can be made

to obtain access to SAR imagery from

these new sources, frequent routine

SAR coverage of United States coastal

areas will be possible.

Ocean Color

Several programs at ORA are

involved in satellite ocean color

research. The Marine Optical Buoy

(MOBY) Project develops,

deploys,and maintains the MOBY off

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

entering and emanating from the

ocean. The resulting measurements

support the initialization and vicarious

calibration of international and national ocean color sensors, such as the

Ocean Color and Temperature Sensor,

the Sea-Viewing Wide-Field-of-View

Sensor, and the recently launched

Moderate Resolution Imaging

Spectroradiometer. The Marine

Optical Characterization Experiment

(MOCE), MOBY's sister project,

involves the collection of insitu measurements of these and other parameters

relevant to ocean color in the surrounding region from ship. Data from

both sampling platforms furnish a

time-series of bio-optical measurements that is employed to track sensor

drift, define bio-optical relationships,

validate satellite-derived products, and

develop ocean color algorithms. In

addition to MOBY and MOCE, programs exist at ORA to routinely evaluate the accuracy of NESDIS operational ocean color products and to

develop algorithms in order to remotely detect and predict the presence of

noxious marine biota, such as harmful

algal blooms.

Coral Reef Watch: NOAA's Early

Warning System for Coral Reef Health

Like the rest of the world, most of

the United States coral reef systems are

threatened due to pollution, over-fishing, and thermal bleaching. This threat

includes almost all of Florida and

Puerto Rico reefs, nearly half of

Hawaii's, and an unknown but significant fraction of United States Pacific

Territories. The widely-distributed and

isolated location 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 worldwide basis. This experiment demonstrated remarkably accurate capabilities for early warning of El Niñoinduced coral reef bleaching conditions over all global tropical ocean

regions resulting in a special

International Workshop on Satellite
52 DOC SECTION 3 

Monitoring of Coral Reefs being convened in June 1999. A Coral Reef

Watch Program was proposed to

(1) transition existing experimental

satellite reef health monitoring capabilities into a viable operational capability, (2) formalize the existing United

States leadership in the emerging global" Virtual Coral Reef Ecosystem

Monitoring Laboratory," and (3) provide for a solid scientific basis for

future monitoring and assessment

products/capabilities.

ENVIRONMENTAL DATA

CENTERS

National Climatic Data Center

(NCDC)

NCDC has the responsibility for

long term stewardship and access to

the Nation's climatological data. To

meet this responsibility:

 NCDC performs data management

and access functions regarding retrospective meteorological data,

including data from in situ (ASOS,

AWOS, Rawinsonde, COOP,

etc.)and remote sensing sources

(satellites, radars, etc.). Such functions include: acquisition (ingest,

to include inventories), quality

control processing, archiving,

access, indexing, quality assessment, evaluation, synthesis, and

dissemination of data collected by

global and national meteorological

observation networks or systems.

Meteorological data that have

enduring value to the Nation and

are sufficient to describe the climate are included.

 NCDC serves as the Nation's official Data Center for Climatological

Data, as such part of the Federal

Records Retention System (FRRS).

Follows NARA guidelines and

policies for meteorological data

records and information.

 NCDC partners nationally with

National Aeronautical and Space

Administration (NASA),

Department of Defense (DOS),

Environmental Protection Agency

(EPA), Department of Agriculture

(USDA), Department of Energy

(DOE), Department of State

(DOS), National Science

Foundation (NSF), Geological

Survey (USGS), Global Climate

Research Panel (USGCRP), and

others.

 NCDC partners internationally

with: World Meteorological

Organization, International

Council for Science, World Data

Centers, Bilateral Agreements,

Intergovernmental Panel on

Climate Change, UNESCO.

 NCDC maintains national and

global baseline data sets for analyses of long-term climate trends and

for monitoring global change i.e.

Global Historical Climatology

Network (GHCN), United States

Historical Climatology Network

(USHCN), Comprehensive OceanAtmosphere Data Set (COADS),

and Comprehensive Aerological

Reference Data Set (CARDS).

 NCDC serves as the World Data

Center for Meteorology at

Asheville, under the auspices of the

International Council for Science.

In this capacity, NCDC archives

the data collected by internationally sponsored research programs

and actively exchanges climate

data with foreign countries. 

 NCDC provides facilities, data processing support, data exchange,

and expertise, as required, to meet

United States commitments to foreign nations, international organizations, and to WMO programs.

 NCDC is one of the archive locations for the NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis data set. NCDC will supplement what other agencies

(NCEP/CEP and ERL/CDC) have

done in making portions of this

data set available on-line. NCDC

will place the Re-analysis model

input data on-line.

 NCDC manages the Regional

Climate Center (RCC) Program

consisting of six facilities. These

Centers, located at universities or

state agencies, provide data collection, user services, and applied climate research on a regional basis.

NCDC also coordinates the State

Climatologist (SC) programs.

Along with the NCDC, the RCCs

and the State Climatologists form

the national climate services program.

National Oceanographic Data Center

The National Oceanographic Data

Center (NODC) supports climatic

services and research through its data

management and data services activities. NODC provides data management for major climate-related studies,

such as the TOGA program, the World

Ocean Circulation Experiment

(WOCE), and the Joint Global Ocean

Flux Study (JGOFS). NODC performs

a number of functions for the Global

Temperature Salinity Profile Program

(GTSPP), including incorporation of

real-time and delayed mode data into a

continuously managed data base.

GTSPP makes global temperature and

salinity data quickly and easily accessible to users. NODC also provides

data products and services individually

to researchers as well as to members of

the operational marine community,

e.g., the Navy, Coast Guard, and shipping industry. NODC distributes on

CD-ROM the Atlas of Surface Marine

Data, which includes global surface

marine observations, taken from

COADS files. It also includes objectively gridded fields of surface marine

fluxes of heat, momentum, and fresh-
SECTION 3 DOC 53

water. NODC also archives and distributes on CD-ROM surface marine

data collected by NOAA's Coastal -

Marine Automated Network (C-MAN)

stations, and NOAA moored buoys.

Both products are described on NODC

web pages, and made available

through the NOAA National Data

Centers' (NNDC) Online Store.

National Geophysical Data Center

The National Geophysical Data

Center (NGDC) manages geophysical

data and information resources for

NOAA and the scientific community

within the disciplines of solar-terrestrial physics, paleoclimatology, snow and

ice, marine geology and geophysics,

and solid earth geophysics. NGDC

participates in national and international programs that collect and provide

data for research in meteorology, climatology, and space weather. NGDC

operates World Data Centers for SolarTerrestrial Physics, Paleoclimatology,

Marine Geology and Geophysics,

Solid Earth Geophysics, and Snow and

Ice under the auspices of the

International Council for Science.

NGDC operates the secretariat for the

Scientific Committee for SolarTerrestrial Physics.

NGDC provides data processing,

access, management, archive, analysis,

research and stewardship services for

space weather, paleoclimatological,

cryospheric, and some meteorological

databases collected on satellites and by

ground-based observatories. Space

environment data collected on GOES

and POES satellites and space environmental, meteorological and oceanographic data collected on DMSP satellites are officially archived by the

Solar-Terrestrial Physics Division.

Ground-based measurements of solar

activity, ionospheric structure and geomagnetic variations used in space

weather forecasts, warnings and alerts

are archived at NGDC. The

Paleoclimatology Group operates

NOAA's Paleoclimatology Program,

which manages geophysical data used

to derive paleoclimate data and information. Cryospheric data from

ground-based and satellite instruments

are managed by the National Snow and

Ice Center, which is affiliated with

NGDC.

New technology presents new

opportunities and challenges for

NNDC and the World Data Center system. NGDC uses WWW-based applications to provide improved, more

timely services including data discovery, automated inventories, on-line catalogs, interactive data display, data

mining, and data delivery. As a result,

the number of users has increased dramatically. Since most of the new users

are less familiar with the data than the

research community, additional burdens are placed on the NNDC's to

assure that quality data are provided in

a display that is easy to understand and

in a format that is easy to use. At the

same time, new applications are under

development, which increase the need

for quality data; they are the mining of

information from the data archives and

the running of data-driven numerical

models from remote locations

(www.ngdc.noaa.gov).

NOAA's Defense Meteorological

Satellite Program (DMSP) at NGDC

prepares research quality data recorded

by scientific instruments on DMSP

operational satellites for retrospective

analysis and the official archive. Data

sets include visible, infrared and

microwave imagery, microwave

soundings and in situ measurements of

the space environment. The official

archive is used to prepare products,

derive geophysical parameters including atmospheric and ionospheric principal components, and provide user

services. New user services are provided through the Space Physics

Interactive Data Resource (www.ngdc.

noaa.gov/dmsp).

NOAA's paleoclimate program to

assemble global information on paleoclimate is operated by NGDC. The

program has acquired many paleoclimate databases derived from geophysical data, namely tree-rings, pollen and

macrofossils, lake and bog sediments,

marine sediments, ice cores, and other

geological and biological sources.

Paleoclimate databases can be displayed, searched, and retrieved using

custom software (www.ngdc.noaa.gov/

paleo).

The Space Weather program at

NGDC prepares research quality data

of the near-Earth space environment

for retrospective analysis and the official archive. GOES, DMSP, and POES

satellites carry instruments that monitor the space environment; for example, the SEM instruments on GOES

and POES and the SSIES, SSJ/4 and

SSM instruments on DMSP. Future

instruments, namely the GOES Solar

X-Ray Imager and two DMSP

Ultraviolet Imagers, will greatly

increase both the use and volume of

space sensor data. Other data sets in

the space weather archives include

measurements of solar activity, solar

flares, magnetic activity, magnetic

storms, ionospheric parameters, and

ionospheric storms collected by NOAA

and other agencies. The STP program

has a long and successful history of

cooperating with NASA, USGS, DOD,

academia and other NOAA components. The STP program at NGDC
54 DOC SECTION 3 

archives measurements of total solar

and solar spectral irradiance for use in

climate studies. The data sets are

recorded on NOAA and NASA satellites and irradiance values inferred

from ground-based solar imagery

(www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/stp. html)

The National Snow and Ice Center(

NSIDC) at the University of Colorado

is associated with NGDC and maintains several cryospheric-related data

sets of interest to meteorology and climatology. These data sets include a

collection of historical photographs of

glaciers, temperature, pressure and

position data from drifting buoys

placed on the central Arctic pack ice,

and data from the NOAA snow cover

and DOD-NOAA sea ice chart digitizing projects. NSIDC provides data

management services for a variety of

cryospheric research programs sponsored by NASA and NSF. In addition,

NSIDC has developed gridded sea ice

products (sea ice concentrations and

multi-year ice fraction) based on passive microwave data collected by

NASA and DMSP satellites. NSIDC is

acquiring snow cover, glacier and sea

ice records from the former Soviet

Union. Online services are available,

at www-nsidc.colorado.edu.

SUPPORTING RESEARCH

CLIMATOLOGY

Global Historical Climatology

Network (GHCN)

The GHCN data set is a comprehensive global surface baseline climate

data set designed for monitoring and

detecting climate change. Comprised

of surface station observations of temperature, precipitation, and pressure,

all GHCN data are monthly values.

Users of the NCDC web site can now

view the spatial distribution of global

temperature and precipitation trends

and anomalies through a new interactive web page. This page can be

accessed through the GHCN web page

( www .ncdc.noaa.gov/cgibin/res40.pl?page=ghcn.html).

Blended Temperature Project

A global surface temperature data set

was produced from numerous sources

including sea surface temperatures

(SST), land surface temperatures, and

satellite data using the special sensor

MSU which collects data over land

areas that are not snow covered.

Additional coverage over snow covered areas will soon be provided via

the MSU on board the TIROS weather

satellite.

New Climate Atlas of the United States

The purpose of this new atlas project

is to depict the climate of the United

States in terms of the distribution and

variation of major climatic elements.

The Climate Atlas will meet the needs

for climatic information from research,

commercial, industrial, agricultural,

educational institutions, as well as

from the general public. Information

contained in the atlas will be used for

planning, engineering, and scheduling

purposes. The new atlas when completed, should contain several hundred

updated high resolution GIS generated

maps.

Climate Reference Network Project

The United States Climate Reference

Network (CRN) is a network of climate

stations now being developed as part of

a NOAA initiative. The primary goal is

to provide future long-term homogeneous observations of temperature and

precipitation that can be coupled to past

long-term observations for the detection and attribution of present and

future climate change. The CRN will

also provide the United States with a

reference network that meets the

requirements of the Global Climate

Observing System (GCOS). The stations will monitor temperature, precipitation, solar radiation, and wind speed.

Hourly observations of these variables

will be transmitted in real-time.

Climate Monitoring

The NCDC Climate Monitoring

Group produces operational as well as

special-event reports on climate and

weather around the globe. These

NCDC reports address the climate in

historical perspective and are available

via the NCDC web site. Highlights

include: synopses of global monthly

and annual mean temperatures and precipitation and their departures from the

long term mean; global and United

States extreme events; and United

States and global regional analyses

using traditional surface data as well as

blended surface and satellite data products. The monitoring group also
SECTION 3 DOC 55

responds to high level NOAA and

executive level governmental requests

concerning the state of the national and

global climate. The products and

reports address the climate in historical

perspective and are available via the

NCDC WWW site at www.ncdc.noaa.

gov.

Paleoclimatology

NOAA's paleoclimate program to

cooperate in research projects to use

the combined global paleoclimate

database for climate model verification

and climate change studies is operated

by NGDC. Objectives of the program

are to cooperate with researchers and

to conduct original research to describe

the global patterns of annual-to-millennial scale climate change, to understand the causes of climate change, to

separate man-induced climate change

from natural variability, and to validate

the models that are used to predict

future climates. Support is received

from the NOAA Climate and Global

Change Program. More information is

available at the NGDC website

(www.ngdc.noaa.gov/paleo/paleo.html)

Environmental Remote Sensing

Operational meteorological satellite

imagery provides a unique opportunity

to monitor wildfires and population

dynamics on global and nightly bases.

NOAA's DMSP program at NGDC

uses the nighttime imagery to locate

sources of visible and infrared emissions including city lights, lightning,

fires, flaring gas, and boats. Research

projects use the city lights to infer population density, economic vitality, and

carbon dioxide emissions. More information is available at the NGDC website (www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/stp.html).

Wildfires Monitored from Space

Operational meteorological satellite

systems offer a unique opportunity to

monitor wildfires because each satellite records infrared emissions covering the entire globe each day. An

instrument designed to detect clouds

also "see" fires, many of which burn in

very remote areas. NGDC has developed a unique technique to capture

nighttime emissions from both large

and small wildfires. The system has

been used to assist firefighters in

developing countries. More information is available at the NGDC website

(www.ngdc.noaa.gov/dmsp/fires/globalfires.html).

Space Weather

The Space Weather program at

NGDC conducts original research in

space physics with an emphasis on

space weather applications. Research

focused on numerical modeling of the

ionosphere and magnetosphere is conducted with resident and visiting scientists from the United States and other

countries. Research projects use the

extensive integrated data bases

archived at NGDC. In addition to

building better models and improving

our understanding of ionospheric and

magnetospheric plasma processes, the

research leads to improved data sets

and new data products. NGDC has

embarked on an environmental scenario generator project to mine information from the archives and to use the

mined information to launch a numerical simulation of the atmospheric and

space environment. More information

is available at the NGDC web site

(www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/stp.html).

OBSERVING SYSTEM PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

This multi-year effort will provide

real-time information on the health and

status of NOAA's observing networks.

The developed system will continually

monitor and assess the state of these

networks with the intent of providing

feedback that could either lead to

improvements in the network or

changes in analysis techniques to

account for problems in the network.
56 DOC SECTION 3 

OFFICE OF OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH

OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC

RESEARCH LABORATORIES

Programs within the Oceanic and

Atmospheric Research (OAR)

Laboratories support various NOAA

meteorological, oceanographic, and

space science missions. The activities

of OAR laboratories are oriented

toward providing the scientific and

engineering understanding, tools, and

techniques that form the basis of

improved national weather and climate

services.

Special emphasis is placed on

improving severe weather and hurricane warnings and forecasts and on

improving the utilization and dissemination of data and information. Severe

weather events include flash floods,

strong winds, thunderstorms (including tornadoes, lightning, and hail),

heavy snowstorms, extreme cold and

heat, drought, and geomagnetic

storms. The key contributions to

improved hurricane forecasts fall

under the "Hurricanes at Landfall

(HaL)" focus of the United States

Weather Research Program (USWRP).

They include more accurate prediction

of track, intensity, surface winds, rainfall, and human impacts. 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.

Observing Technology

Two 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 remote-sensing concepts and systems. This development

and the associated environmental

research directly supports the Nation's

forecasting and warning services. A

comprehensive view of the laboratory

and its research can be found on the

Web (www.etl.noaa.gov). The

Forecast Systems Laboratory (FSL)

(www.fsl.noaa.gov) 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)

(www.nssl.noaa.gov) located in

Norman, Oklahoma, both develops

new remote sensing systems and

assists in the transfer of these technologies to the NWS.

A major example of these activities

is the development of the world's first

major wind profiler network. An outgrowth of early basic research at

NOAAs Aeronomy Laboratory and

extensive development at ETL, FSL

now operates a network of 30 unattended wind profiling Doppler radars

that provide profiles of high resolution

winds aloft to National Weather

Service (NWS) forecasters and modelers, universities, government

researchers, and the private sector.

Radio-acoustic sounding systems

(RASS) comprising integrated wind

profiler radars and acoustic sources are

now capable of measuring temperatures as well as winds. The NOAA

Profiler Network (NPN) has made significant contributions to improved

forecasts and warnings since its completion in 1992.

In a continued collaboration between

NWS and FSL, three NOAA profilers

were recently installed in Alaska to

support NWS volcanic plume tracking

and hazard mitigation. All three profilers transmit at the new operational frequency of 449-MHZ. The engineering

requirements for the transition of wind

profilers from an experimental frequency allocation of 404.37-MHz

came from collaborative efforts

between FSL, ETL, and the United

States Air Force.

In another example of technology

transfer, FSL is collaborating with several universities, NOAA's National

Geodetic Service, the United States

Coast Guard, and the Federal Highway

Administration to develop and deploy a

network of surface-based water vapor

observing systems for NOAA that utilize the Department of Defense's

Global Positioning System (GPS).

Some of these systems are installed at

NPN sites. ETL and FSL will continue

investigating the use of GPS receivers

(surface and space-based) to achieve

real-time, continuous observations of

atmospheric water vapor for weather

forecasting, climate monitoring, and

satellite data calibration and validation.

NRT GPS-IPG data with approximately 30-minute latency is now being provided for testing and evaluation.

FSL is investigating the use of superpressure balloons in the stratosphere as

a platform for monitoring and observing the environment. Among the balloons' capabilities would be atmospheric soundings. The trajectory of the balloons could be controlled to some

extent by adjusting their altitude so as

to take advantage of the vertical shear.

The balloons would carry compact,

light-weight 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. Telemetry was received

line-of-sight from a distance of over

200 miles, the storage batteries were

charged by solar panels, the proper

thermal environment was maintained

during the daytime heating cycle, and

the instrument package was successfully recovered after descent by parachute.

In FY 2001, a 60-foot diameter superpressure balloon will be tested with an

instrument payload.
SECTION 3 DOC 57

During FY 2001, ETL and FSL will

continue development of new sensors

and innovative techniques for combining observing systems synergistically

and economically. One effort involves

the extension of wind profiler (RASS)

and other data sources to develop

humidity profiles through the planetary

boundary layer. Other efforts include

developing tools and techniques to

integrate the data from surface-based

and 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.

In a new development, ETL has

demonstrated that tornadoes can be

detected well before touch down by

listening for their unique infrasonic

signatures. Infrasonic antennas located in the central United States have

been used to detect and locate numerous tornadoes. Verification has been

provided by Doppler radar and visual

sightings. This research effort is continuing and it is proposed that a network of these inexpensive infrasonic

systems be deployed at WSR-88D sites

to enhance early detection capability.

ETL will also continue development

of Lidars and infrared Doppler multifrequency radars as research tools to

improve our knowledge of atmospheric winds, turbulence, and moisture

processes. Development of dualpolarization Doppler and multi-frequency radars and passive radiometers

will also be undertaken to study convective storms and their precursors,

including in-cloud and entrainment

processes. ETL will also continue

research in the area of ocean remote

sensing, including theoretical and

experimental studies of rough surface

scattering processes. In particular,

ETL has demonstrated the potential

application of Cold War-era over-thehorizon (OTH) surveillance radars for

the large-scale mapping of ocean surface currents and winds. ETL is also

developing an airborne Polarimetric

Scanning Radiometer (PSR) designed

to provide higher resolution measurements of sea state quantities, including

surface winds.

The discussion of observing technologies would be incomplete without

mention of the North American

Atmospheric Observing System

(NAOS) Program. The overriding purpose of NAOS is to make recommendations on the configuration of the

upper air observing system over North

America and adjacent water areas.

Government organizations and universities in Canada, Mexico, and the

United States support NAOS. About

15 agencies from these countries have

representatives on the NAOS Council,

which identifies issues, sets priorities,

coordinates the work of the program,

and seeks financial support.

Eventually, the council will advise

governments on how to: (1) improve

the utility of existing observing systems and reduce costs, (2) design a

cost-effective observing system for the

21st Century, and (3) evolve toward that

system from the present one. OAR

representatives serve on the NAOS

council and its two principal working

groups.

The NSSL, known for its role in the

development of the WSR-88D

NEXRAD radar, continues to improve

the software algorithms used by the

NWS forecasters. NSSL is also

exploring ways to enhance the

WSR-88D hardware using dual polarization techniques. The first step in

this process is to prototype a new

Radar Data Acquisition (RDA) for the

WSR-88D capable of processing the

additional information to produce the

dual-polarization information. The

next step will be to implement dualpolarization on the NSSL's WSR-88D

research radar.

Tropical Atmospheric Research

The Tropical Dynamics and Climate

Program of the Aeronomy Laboratory

(AL) is using a network of remotesensing wind profilers in a long-term

study of tropical circulation and its

impact on global climate. The TransPacific Profiler Network consists of an

array of wind profilers that make continuous measurements of atmospheric

winds and other parameters in the tropical Pacific. In addition to 50-MHz

wind profilers, the network is incorporating 915-MHz lower tropospheric

wind profilers developed at AL. The

observations, which extend from the

boundary layer to the lower stratosphere, reveal the relationship between

atmospheric vertical motions and convective systems in the tropics.

Precipitation measurements can be

made with sufficient vertical resolution

to categorize precipitation in deep and

shallow convective systems and in

stratiform conditions. The network

will: (1) provide valuable improvements to the boundary layer and convective parameterization schemes used

in general circulation models and

(2) contribute to climate forecasting by

furthering the understanding of the

coupled ocean-atmosphere dynamics

that governs the El Niño-Southern

Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon, the

dominant component of interannual

climate change. A description of the

TPPN and access to the data can be

found on the AL web page

www.al.noaa.gov/WWWHD/pubdocs/

ElNino.html.

Routine wind observations are made

at Christmas Island using 50-MHz and

915-MHz profilers. Lower tropospheric wind measurements using

915-MHz profilers are made at San

Cristobal, Ecuador; and Tarawa,

Kiribati. In addition, surface and

upper air measurements are being

made at Nauru and Manus Island,

Papua, New Guinea at sites collocated

with the Atmospheric Radiation CART

Sites (ARCS) maintained by the
58 DOC SECTION 3 

Department of Energy (DOE),

Atmospheric Radiation Measurement

(ARM) program. The wind data are

assimilated into the analyses and forecast models of the European Centre for

Medium-Range Weather Forecasting

(ECMWF), NCEP, and other meteorological centers. The data are also used

by climate researchers to support

investigations of the variability of tropical circulation systems.

A recent focus of research with profilers has been to support Ground

Validation Field Campaigns for the

NASA Tropical Rainfall Measuring

Mission (TRMM). Profilers were

operated in a vertical-only mode to

observe the vertical structure and temporal evolution of precipitating cloud

systems in the Texas Florida

Underflights campaigns (TEFLUN) in

April-May 1998 and AugustSeptember 1998, the TRMM LBA

campaign in Brazil in JanuaryFebruary 1999, and in KWAJEX campaign in August-September 1999. In

addition, a profiler was operated on the

R/V Ronald H. Brown

(Figure 3-DOC-8) during Nauru99 and

KWAJEX to observe the vertical structure of precipitating cloud systems.

The profiler observations are being

made available to the TRMM Science

Team. They will be the subject of collaborative research with other TRMM

researchers in the coming years 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 dropsize distributions and related precipitation parameters of interest to the

TRMM Science Team.

Severe Weather Analysis and

Forecasting Research

The NSSL in Norman, Oklahoma,

focuses on research to understand and

forecast severe weather systems and

their associated hazards, such as tornadoes, hail, high winds, heavy rain and

snow, lightning, and ice storms. The

parameters of storm development and

intensification are identified and studied by incorporating observations from

Doppler weather radar, satellites,

remote-sensing wind profilers, instrumented aircraft, and lightning-location

networks. In addition, work includes

assessment and improvement of

numerical models to forecast severe

weather systems.

NSSL provides significant technical

and scientific support, including

research and development, for the

WSR-88D program. In FY 2001,

NSSL will continue to develop techniques in cooperation with the NWS to

forecast and warn of weather hazards

to aviation and the general public.

Work with the resultant data from the

1994-1995 VORTEX experiment and

subsequent experiments like MEaPRS

is continuing to provide new understanding of severe thunderstorms and

the tornadoes that they spawn, to

improve ways to model and predict

these storms, and to provide new generation algorithms for severe storm

detection. Immediate technology

transfer will be effected by close association with the WFOs, such as those

in Norman and Tulsa, Oklahoma;

Phoenix and Yuma, Arizona;

Melbourne, Florida; Pittsburgh,

Pennsylvania; St. Louis, Missouri;

Missoula, Montana; Reno and Las

Vegas, Nevada; Jackson, Mississippi;

Atlanta, Georgia; Fort Worth, Texas;

Denver, Colorado; and Salt Lake City,

Utah.

In addition, NSSL is continuing to

work closely with the NWS WSR-88D

Operational Support Facility to re-host

the Radar Product Generator, the

Radar Data Acquisition system, and

also the Principle User Position to an

open system platform. The re-hosting

will continue for the next several years

and will result in improved capabilities

for the WSR-88D. The new system

will ease the incorporation of new

applications, speed technology transfer, allow for incorporation of new

hardware technology, and increase the

portability of the software.

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-art workstations for forecast

office environments. Specifically, FSL

has and will continue to develop capabilities to allow the forecaster to integrate, view, and manipulate observations from current and planned meteorological sensing systems using computer-assisted data display and synthesis techniques. By maintaining stateof-the-art capability for use in research

and development of operational techniques, it continues to provide a mechanism to evaluate weather service

requirements for AWIPS.

FSL will continue efforts toward

effective assimilation of diverse observational data into numerical prediction

models. Data from the Aeronautical

Radio Incorporated (ARINC) Aircraft

Communications, Addressing, and

Reporting System (ACARS),

WSR-88D Doppler radars, the NOAA

Profiler Network, and weather satellites, especially GOES, are frequent

and provide unprecedented resolution,

either in the vertical or the horizontal,

or both. These data are being more

Figure 3-DOC-8. NOAA Research

Vessel Ron Brown.
SECTION 3 DOC 59

fully exploited in the Local Analysis

and Prediction System which provides

highly detailed analyses and forecasts

over areas hundreds of kilometers on a

side, and the Mesoscale Analysis and

Prediction System, the basis for operational and frequent short-term forecasts for the lower 48 states. The system has been incorporated into the

AWIPS system and is being used by a

number of other agencies, not only for

various regions of the United States,

but for a number of regions throughout

the world.

OAR will continue to transfer

knowledge of Doppler radar applications, severe weather systems, and

heavy rainfall events; much of the

transfer is through courses at the NWS

training center. Visits and interactions

with NWS centers, regional headquarters, and forecast offices continue and

NSSL is participating directly in training programs, such as the COMET in

Boulder, Colorado, and the WSR-88D

Operational Support Facility in

Norman, Oklahoma.

A multi-year program of coastal

meteorology research continues at the

Pacific Marine Environmental

Laboratory (PMEL). This program

also involves ETL and NSSL, the

NWS Seattle WFO, NCAR, and the

University of Washington. Support for

the program is also being provided by

the Office of Naval Research. This

research improves understanding of

the effects of prominent terrain on

West Coast weather, with the ultimate

goal of providing improved forecasts

of coastal winds, precipitation, sea

state, and storm surges. The emphasis

is on the upstream effects of the coastal

terrain in the storm environment when

the background forcing is strong and

the coastal forecasts are most critical.

The approach involves special field

observations and diagnostic studies

using experimental numerical simulations. Field work featuring a NOAA

WP-3 research aircraft in FY 1994 and

1996, for example, has yielded meteorological data for the Pacific Northwest

coast with low-level winds of up to 85

knots, in the vicinity of strong fronts

and, in one case, an intense, landfalling

low. The case studies from this work

provide immediate insights on the

influences of the coastal terrain on

landfalling storms, and high quality

data sets for numerical model initialization and validation. Follow-up field

programs in FY 2001 and FY 2002 will

focus on cloud and precipitation

processes using special observations

from research aircraft and land-based

radars. The results are providing information on how to improve forecasts of

Northwest weather.

Taking advantage of the 1997-98 El

Niño event, ETL led the California

Land-Falling Jets Experiment (CALJET) with participation by PMEL

(OMIC), FSL, the Naval Research

Laboratory (NRL), and the Naval Post

Graduate School. CALJET took place

between December 1997 and February

1998 and was designed to study the

development of the pre-frontal lowlevel jet along the coast of California.

This moist jet can cause severe, flooding rains along and near the coast as it

impinges on the coastal mountains.

The large volume of data gathered during this experiment, including those

data from the NOAA WP-3 and from

an array of radar wind profilers along

the coast, was analyzed throughout

FY 1998-99 to determine the mechanisms of jet development. This knowledge was incorporated into numerical

models to improve the accuracy and

lead time of forecasts of heavy, flooding coastal rains in California. This

study is occurring with close cooperation between the scientists and the

NWS forecasters in California

(Figure 3-DOC-9).

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. Studies

underway include the precipitation

structure of mesoscale convective systems, the interactions between mesoconvective 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. In FY 2001, NSSL will

continue to use polarization information to improve radar estimates of rainfall that will be the key to improving

short-term flash flood forecasts. NSSL

also continues to investigate various

model convective parameterization

schemes, along with our continued

effort to improve model initialization

through four-dimensional data assimilation.

In addition, NSSL is working with

the NWS Storm Prediction Center

(SPC) to improve their ability to forecast severe weather including winter

weather events. Several new severe Figure 3-DOC-9. CALJET sensor

package
60 DOC SECTION 3 

storm and tornado climatologies have

been completed. New experimental

forecasts are now being produced by

the SPC that include the probabilities

of occurrence of severe weather.

NSSL and SPC continue to improve

the capability to forecast winter weather events and refine their ability to provide severe winter weather guidance

products. In FY 2001, NSSL will continue to support the SPC by providing

improved methods for severe weather

forecasts including winter weather and

flash floods.

Hurricane Analysis and Prediction

Research

The Hurricane Research Division

(HRD) of the Atlantic Oceanographic

and Meteorological Laboratory

(AOML) explores hurricanes in dedicated research flights aboard the

WP-3D aircraft operated by NOAA's

Aircraft Operations Center (AOC).

The P-3s carry a suite of instruments to

measure a wide range of meteorological quantities, including standard

flight-level data, precipitation characteristics, remotely-sensed surface

winds, vertical soundings, ocean thermal structure, radar reflectivity, and

Doppler radar winds. In addition to the

airborne observations, HRD develops

techniques for real-time analysis and

display of hurricane data, especially of

surface winds. It also carries out modeling and theoretical studies closely

tied to the observational program and

studies interannual and inter-decadal

changes in hurricane activity.

The 1995-1999 hurricane seasons

were the five most active consecutive

ones in the >100-year quantitative climatology. There is a growing body of

evidence indicating that the relatively

low level of hurricane activity experienced in the 1970s and the 1980s is

over and that the first decade or two of

the 21st Century will see a return to the

more active conditions that characterized the 1940-1960s. If this hypothesis

proves true, land-use and development

decisions made over the last two

decades may be inappropriate to the

present hurricane climatology and the

need for more accurate forecasts and

better informed policy guidance will

become pressing.

An exciting new tool for this effort is

AOC's newly commissioned

Gulfstream IV (G-IV) jet which has

operated successfully in the hurricane

environment since 1997. The G-IV

extends the envelope of observations

throughout the depth of the troposphere. Use of these aircraft presents

an unprecedented opportunity for better

understanding and forecasting of hurricanes through detailed observations.

Of special interest are the hurricanes'

inner core, the oceanographic and

upper tropospheric synoptic-scale forcings that control intensity and motion,

and the kinematics and thermodynamics of the near-surface boundary layer.

The GPS-based dropsondes procured

as the G-IV's main scientific payload

have a vital role in these investigations

because of their high vertical resolution

and superior thermodynamic and wind

sensing capability. The 1998 season

constituted the first major field program for HaL carried out in collaboration with NASA's Third Convection

and Moisture Experiment (CAMEX-3).

The success of this campaign combined

with follow-on missions in 1999 was

unprecedented. NOAA and NASA aircraft flew a combined total of more

than 100 scientific sorties in 1998 and

1999. Participation by the G-IV and

NASA's DC-8 and ER-2 provided

extensive in situ observations above the

middle troposphere for the first time

since the 1960s. In addition to airborne

measurements, university teams with

instrumented towers, mobile Doppler

radars, and portable profilers coordinated with HRD to obtain detailed

measurements of near-surface conditions in most hurricanes that passed

onshore during these seasons. Current

plans are to repeat the 1998 campaign

in conjunction with CAMEX-4 in

2001.

The motivation for acquisition of the

G-IV was a statistically rigorous

demonstration, based upon more than a

decade of experiments with the P-3s,

that intensive observations of the flows

surrounding hurricanes can produce

substantial (16-30 percent) reductions

in track forecast errors. Data from

multiple-aircraft experiments involving the G-IV and both WP-3Ds should

confirm the GI-V's ability to improve

forecasts. Adaptive targeting of aircraft observations to regions where

they will do the most good is a strategy to realize even further improvement.

The forecast system currently has

limited skill in prediction of intensity.

Though continuing research with the

expanded aircraft fleet, the Nation can

realize large (billions of dollars per

year) economic benefits through more

accurate routine operational track forecasts. A second, equally significant,

outcome is the promise of dynamically-based, skillful intensity forecasts.

Because hurricanes inflict huge costs

on the United States economy, even

incremental improvements in forecasts

have large benefit to expenditure

ratios. The report on HaL by the

USWRP Prospectus Development

Team 5 (PDT5) contains a comprehensive, focused scientific strategy to realize these benefits (BAMS, 79,

305-323).

In addition to HRD research activities, the OAR scientists carry out hurricane research at the Geophysical

Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) in

Princeton, New Jersey. GFDL's

Hurricane Dynamics group performs

hurricane modeling research to study

the genesis, development, and decay of

tropical storms using multi-nested

three-dimensional computer models of

the hurricane system and its surrounding environment.

In the early 1990's, this research

model proved so successful for simulation of observed storm behavior that

the NWS adopted a version of it for
SECTION 3 DOC 61

use in operational forecasting. From

the 1995 through the 1999 hurricane

seasons, the GFDL Hurricane

Prediction System provided the most

accurate hurricane-track forecast guidance available and contributed substantially to the dramatic error reductions in official forecasts that have

occurred since its introduction.

Numerical Analysis and Prediction

Modeling

As part of its weather research activities, GFDL conducts long lead-time

research to understand the predictability of weather on both large and small

scales and to translate this understanding into improved NWP models.

Three groups at GFDL are engaged in

weather research activities:

Experimental Prediction, Mesoscale

Dynamics, and Hurricane Dynamics

(described above).

Experimental Prediction at GFDL

develops and improves numerical

models of the atmosphere-ocean-land

system in order to produce useful

weather forecasts with lead-times

ranging from weeks to seasons and

beyond. The group is pursuing several

avenues of research to achieve such

improvements. First, GFDL scientists

are investigating methods of stochastic

dynamic prediction in order to extract

as much forecast information as possible from numerical prediction models,

given imperfectly observed initial conditions. In addition, laboratory scientists are developing methods for the

assimilation of ocean observations into

prediction models in order to improve

the forecast of the atmosphere and the

ocean.

Mesoscale Dynamics at GFDL

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.

The FSL implemented a Rapid

Update Cycle (RUC) at NCEP in 1994.

The RUC gave a new analysis of surface and atmospheric conditions every

three hours as well as short-range predictions for the next 12 hours. This

information is useful to forecasters at

local NWS offices around the country

and also supports commercial and general aviation.

A higher-resolution, higher-frequency version of the RUC was implemented at NCEP in February 1998. This

new version operates at 40-km horizontal resolution with 40 vertical levels and provides updates every hour,

thus, incorporating information from

virtually all high frequency data

sources: hourly wind profiles,

WSR-88D (Doppler radar) velocity

azimuth displays, ACARS reports (up

to 65,000 per day), cloud-drift winds

and estimates of total precipitable

water vapor from the GOES satellites,

and surface observations.

The new RUC also includes explicit

forecasts of cloud droplets, ice crystals, raindrops, snowflakes, and graupel (snow pellets). This improves

forecasts of precipitation type. The

RUC exploits a new, multi-level soil

and vegetation model to improve forecasts at and near the earth's surface.

With the arrival of a larger computer at

NCEP, the way is open for expanding

the geographical domain of the RUC

and moving toward finer resolution of

the computational grid (20-km). The

20-km version of the RUC is expected

to become operational in FY 2001.

The new version will also incorporate

a three dimensional variational

(3DVAR) analysis that will replace the

optimum interpolation method used

earlier.

Along with NCAR, NCEP, and a few

universities, FSL is collaborating on

the development of a new mesoscale

model, the Weather Research and

Forecast (WRF) model. The goal of

this development, from the beginning,

is that the WRF model should become

a community model and a tool both for

experimental and operational prediction, thus paving the way for quick

realization of research advances in

forecast dissemination to the public

and industry. A management plan has

been published, and working groups

are organized to pursue various aspects

of development.

The Air Resources Laboratory is also

involved in the development of new

models for operational use by NCEP.

The main focus is on mesoscale models and in the development of new

capabilities for data assimilation. In

particular, the new generation of

mesoscale models (such as the WRF

model referred to above) will require

advanced descriptions of the coupling

between the air and the surface, a matter that is being studied intensively in

ARL programs involving closely interacting measurement and modeling

activities. ARL conducts research on

the surface energy balance and on the

spatial variability of surface fluxes

using aircraft. In addition, ARL serves

as the provider of the NCEP modeling

capability to address situations of

atmospheric dispersion, such as of

emissions from sources like volcanos

and industrial enterprises. In recent

work, ARL is developing a new system

for forecasting the dispersion of smoke

from forest fires, in collaboration with

the Association of South East Asian

Nations and their Regional Haze

Action Plan.

Air Quality Research

The principal mission of the Air

Resources Laboratory (ARL) is to

improve the capability to forecast

changes in air quality and atmospheric

deposition. Deposition is the factor

that links the pollutant characteristics

of the air with the terrestrial and aquatic environments. ARL's research

focuses on the lower atmosphere,

where the atmosphere is in direct contact with other media--aquatic, terres-
62 DOC SECTION 3

trial, and biospheric. The core of ARL

research relates to studies of the atmosphere as a component of the total environment. Much of this work is in collaboration with other parts of NOAA

(principally NCEP) and with other

agencies, such as EPA, DOE, and

DOD.

The ARL Headquarters Division in

Silver Spring, Maryland, develops

models for air quality prediction, for

use in special forecasting (both weather and air quality) programs, and in

emergency response. The

Atmospheric Sciences Modeling

Division, in Research Triangle Park,

North Carolina, develops predictive

models on local, regional, and global

scales for assessing changes in air

quality and air pollution exposure as

affected by ecosystem management

and regulations. This work is primarily to provide technical guidance to the

EPA on air pollution control strategies

for attainment and maintenance of

ambient air quality standards. The

Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion

Division, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee,

conducts studies to improve understanding of atmospheric transport, diffusion, and air-surface exchange

processes, and to develop new predictive models. The Field Research

Division, in Idaho Falls, Idaho, designs

and conducts field studies to evaluate

the performance of transport and dispersion models, over local, regional,

and continental scales, and specializes

in the development of high-technology

airborne instrumentation (for both aircraft and balloons). The Special

Operations and Research Division, in

Las Vegas, Nevada, conducts research

on problems of mutual interest to

NOAA and DOE that relate to the

Nevada Test Site, its atmospheric environment, and its emergency preparedness and emergency response activities. SORD also serves as the main

NOAA facility working with the

Cooperative Institute for Atmospheric

Studies and Terrestrial Applications

(CIASTA) of the University of Nevada

system.

ARL operates two national networks

that focus research on the needs of the

next generation of predictive models.

The Atmospheric Integrated Research

Monitoring Network (AIRMoN) is a

nested-network with sites of varying

complexity addressing evolving scientific issues of wet and dry deposition

from the atmosphere. A major current

item for scientific attention is the

atmospheric deposition of nitrogen

compounds and its role in promoting

eutrophication of ecosystems, primarily coastal. The ARL-run Integrated

Surface Irradiance Study (ISIS) serves

as the national array of monitoring stations for solar radiation (and ultraviolet-B) with a subset of more advanced

stations (the SURFRAD array) where

both incoming and outgoing radiation

components are monitored. Many of

the SURFRAD stations are augmented

with instrumentation to measure fluxes

of sensible heat, latent heat, momentum, and carbon dioxide. Thus, the

SURFRAD program is evolving into

one of complete energy balance with

supporting data on carbon dioxide

exchange. This work forms an intersection with the new flux measurement

networks in the United States and

overseas, referred to as "Ameriflux"

and "Fluxnet." All of this work is coupled with ARL research on atmospheric aerosols and with the development

of new automatic methods for measuring cloud cover.

Much of ARL's research focus is on

expressing air surface exchange

processes in numerical models. To this

end, ARL scientists have been instrumental in developing methods for

describing areal air surface exchange

appropriate for use with model grid

cells of several tens of kilometers on a

side. To test the aerial integration

capabilities, ARL has instrumented an

aircraft of the NOAA fleet (a

DeHavilland Twin Otter) to measure

all of the eddy fluxes as well as a number of trace gas exchange rates. This

instrumented aircraft has been used in

several field experiments and has

already demonstrated that considerable

error can result when local values are

inappropriately taken to represent larger areas.

ARL also provides forecast support

to NOAA's emergency response systems with emphasis on nuclear and

volcanic events. For this application,

ARL develops and couples advanced

mesoscale models with the forecast

products of the NWS to provide a basis

for trajectory and dispersion calculations. Users also may access these

products through the Internet.

The Aeronomy Laboratory (AL)

coordinates a NOAA/OAR air quality

research effort, the Health of the

Atmosphere research. NOAAs Health

of the Atmosphere research is focused

on the atmospheric science that underlies regional and continental air quality, with the goal of improving our ability to predict and monitor future

changes, leading to improved scientific input to decision-making.

NOAA/OARs Aeronomy Laboratory,

Air Resources Laboratory, Climate

Monitoring and Diagnostics

Laboratory, Forecast Systems

Laboratory, and Environmental

Technology Laboratory participate in

the research. The Health of the

Atmosphere research goals are:

 Characterize regional ozone

episodes: Characterize the origin

of ozone in rural areas, where crop

and forest damage are of increasing

concern. In 1999, a comprehensive

air quality field experiment took

place in the region around

Nashville, Tennessee. In the summer of 2000, Houston will be the

site of an experiment to investigate

the complex chemical and meteorological factors that influence the

air quality of that coastal region.

The regional chemistry is of special

interest because of the presence of

large natural as well as anthro-
SECTION 3 DOC 63

pogenic sources of hydrocarbons

(including the petrochemical

industry) and because of the unique

influence of coastal meteorology

on air quality of the region.

 Document trends in air quality:

Help evaluate predicted atmospheric responses to changes in emissions (i.e., the ongoing measurements provided by the Atmospheric

Integrated Research Monitoring

Network (AIRMoN) and the ozone

profiling network).

 Develop a better understanding of

the fundamental science underlying

the processes responsible for the

formation and distribution of fine

particles in the atmosphere:

Improve the atmospheric predictive

capability that links sources of fine

particles and their precursors to

human exposure and visibility

impairment. In 1999, an experiment was conducted in Atlanta to

compare research capabilities related to the measurement of fine particles in the lower atmosphere.

In future Health of the Atmosphere

research, the OAR Laboratories will

integrate their meteorological, chemical, and forecasting expertise to build

an assessment and prediction capability for regional air quality that incorporates the influence of multiple-timescale 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.

The Air Quality Research

Subcommittee of the Committee on

Environment and Natural Resources

(CENR) will provide the interagency

collaboration at the United States

Federal level. On the broader international arena, the coordinating body is

the North American Research Strategy

for Tropospheric Ozone (NARSTO), a

tri-lateral public/private partnership

focused on ozone and particulate matter research in the United States,

Canada, and Mexico. NOAA is the

public-sector co-chair of NARSTO.

ETL uses its suite of remote sensors,

including a mobile profiler network,

airborne and ground-based ozone

Lidars, Doppler Lidar, and supporting

turbulence instrumentation to understand and better model the transport,

transformation, and fate of primary

and secondary pollutants in both rural

and urban environments as well as in

complex orography.

Space Environment Services

NOAA and the Air Force jointly

operate the National Space Weather

Operations group in NOAA's Space

Environment Center (SEC) in

Boulder, Colorado. In FY 2001, SEC

will stress six strategic elements that

include:

 Improvement of space weather

products.

 Obtaining critical new space

environment observations.

 Transitioning space weather

analysis techniques and models

into operations.

 Continued implementation of a

modern computer architecture.

 Development of new web pages

for providing space weather products.

 Fostering of a commercial vendor

community for space weather

services.

The improvement of services is built

around the theme of making space

weather information human friendly.

Toward the same objective, a new

NOAA Space Weather Scale has been

designed and announced to the community. Space Weather products have

been reorganized to include advisories

in plain English and then replacement

of little known vocabulary with

descriptors that are understandable

beyond the immediate field of space

weather. The work toward new observations includes:

 Final planning for ingesting observations from the Solar X-ray

Imager telescope to be flown on

GOES M and following GOES

spacecraft.

 Real time images of global aurora

from the IMAGE satellite

(Figure 3-DOC-10).

 A prototype test flight of a Hard

X-Ray Spectrometer Telescope

designed to detect precursors of

solar radiation storms. The flight is

being flown as part of the Defense

Satellite Program.

The new NOAA Weather Scale identifies three types of space weather disturbances and describes five levels of

Figure 3-DOC-10. Ultraviolet image

of sunlight scattered from the Earth's

extended atmosphere of helium using

the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager

instrument. This image shows that the

ionized helium atmosphere extends to

about 2 - 3 times the size of the

Earth. Irregularities at the fringe of

the image, such as the upper left,

indicate magnetic storm activity.
64 DOC SECTION 3 

disturbance ranging from a Level 1--

very mild to Level 5--extremely

severe. The new web page design

updates the SEC web page, an early

leader in using the web to disseminate

space weather alerts, warnings, and

forecasts. With web page accesses

exceeding one million per week and

the increasing number of products and

data, the old design had become

unwieldy. The new pages will facilitate both experienced users and

searchers new to the field of space

weather.

The SEC, working closely with the

Air Force's 55th Space Weather

Squadron (55 SWXS), provides forecasts, alerts, indices, and summaries of

disturbances occurring on the Sun, in

space, in the geomagnetic environment, and in the upper atmosphere.

The services are used by DOD, DOT,

DOC, DOI, DOE, NASA, NSF, commercial users, and the research community:

 To optimize the operation of technical systems that are adversely

affected by disturbances in the

space environment.

 To carry out research in the solarterrestrial environment.

Examples of the adverse effects

include loss or reduced efficiency of

communication systems, radiation hazards to personnel and systems in high

altitude aircraft and in space, degradation of surveillance and monitoring

systems for defense, errors in navigation systems, perturbations of satellite

orbits, and disruptions in power distribution networks.

SEC serves as the international

World Warning Agency for the solarterrestrial environment. It collects

international data--solar-wind, X-ray,

sunspot, corona, magnetic, etc.--in

real-time and, from these data, provides International URSIgram and

World Days Service and meets additional specific needs of other government agencies. SEC distributes

(receives) data to (from) other countries and issues a consensus set of daily

forecasts for international use. There

is also a substantial and rapidly growing customer base in the private sector.

SEC operates with observations

received from agencies that contribute

their data and, in return, receive the

synthesized and integrated services to

meet their needs. Agencies making

major contributions of data include:

DOD, NASA, DOC, NSF, DOE, and

DOI. SEC cooperates directly with

NESDIS to receive solar X-ray, particle, in situ magnetic field, and plasma

data from the SEM on GOES and the

polar-orbiting NOAA satellites. Data

are collected, stored, and displayed for

analysis and products and distributed

to outside customers primarily via the

Internet (www.sec.noaa.gov), by

NOAA Weather Wire, and digital data

links (primarily operated by other

agencies). Radio broadcast, mail, and

recorded telephone messages are available to users as well.

Over the past year, SEC has instituted a large number of new capabilities

and products which represent a major

leap forward in space weather services.

New, real-time solar-wind data are

allowing SEC to extend the warning

time for several geomagnetic storms

from 0 minutes (Nowcast) to up to

1 hour in advance. SEC's Rapid

Prototyping Center (RPC) has flourished under a Cooperative Research

and Development Agreement

(CRADA) partnership. In March,

1998, SEC also initiated test products

from the Magnetospheric Specification

Model (MSM)--the first numerical

model being transitioned into operations through the developing RPC

mechanism. With its initial infrastructure and concept of operations developed through a CRADA partnership,

the RPC is planned to grow into the

primary mechanism for transitioning

National Space Weather Program

sponsored models into operations. In

addition to these technical advancements, users will also benefit from

24 hour a day forecaster staffing

implemented in October 1998.

Military

The United States Air Force operates

the 55 SWXS in Colorado Springs,

Colorado, to provide space weather

support to DOD assets. The 55 SWXS

operates and maintains the solar

observing network with sites at

Palehua, Hawaii; Learmouth,

Australia; San Vito, Italy; Ramey,

Puerto Rico; Sagamore Hill,

Massachusetts; and Holloman AFB,

New Mexico. The 55 SWXS shares

space weather support responsibilities

with its civilian counterpart the SEC. 

Voluntary Observing Ship (VOS)

Program

OAR operates a global VOS program that provides real-time meteorological and oceanographic data from

selected vessels. Data are collected

with the Shipboard Environmental

Data Acquisition System, which transmits the information to NOAA via the

GOES system. The information is then

disseminated nationally and internationally using existing data networks.

Presently, there are over 120 vessels in

the program which record and transmit

surface meteorological information

four times per day at synoptic hours.

Of these vessels, about 60 vessels are

also equipped to collect expendable

bathythermograph data.

Southern Hemisphere Drifting Buoy

Program

In support of Global Climate

Observing System (GCOS) requirements, OAR, in cooperation with

NWS, OGP, AOML, and the Scripps

Institution of Oceanography, maintains

a network of approximately 100 meteorological drifting buoys in the

Southern Hemisphere. The buoys

measure sea-level atmospheric pressure, air temperature, and sea water

temperature. Observations are

obtained through the ARGOS data collection and platform location system

on-board the NOAA polar-orbiting

satellites.
SECTION 3 DOC 65

The TAO/TRITON array consists of approximately 70

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 operated and maintained

by the TAO Project Office located at

PMEL in Seattle, Washington, which

has responsibility for project management, operations and logistics. These

buoys provide climate researchers,

weather prediction centers, and scientists around the world with real-time

data from the tropical Pacific. El Niño

(the warm phase of the ENSO cycle) is

associated with a disruption of the

ocean-atmosphere system in the tropical Pacific and has important consequences for weather around the globe.

A description and overview of the

TAO/TRITON Array is available at

www.pmel.noaa.gov/toga-tao/

overview1.html.

PIRATA (Pilot Research Moored

Array in the Tropical Atlantic) is a

project designed as an extension of the

TAO array into the Atlantic. The purpose of PIRATA is to study oceanatmosphere interactions in the tropical

Atlantic that are relevant to regional

climate variability on seasonal, interannual and longer time scales. It consists of an array of 12 ATLAS moorings similar to those deployed in the

Pacific.

Global Drifter Program

The Atlantic Oceanographic and

Meteorological Laboratory, in Miami,

Florida, manages the deployment of

drifting buoys around the world,

deploying some 300 new drifters annually and tracking nearly 700. Using

research ships, Volunteer Observation

Ships (VOS), and United States Navy

aircraft, Global Lagrangian Drifters

(GLD) are placed in areas of interest.

Once verified operational, they are

reported to AOML's Data Assembly

Center (DAC). Incoming data from

the drifter are then placed on the

Global Telecommunications System

(GTS) for distribution to meteorological services everywhere. The primary

goal of this project is to assemble and

provide uniform quality control of SST

and surface velocity measurements.

These measurements are obtained as

part of an international program

designed to make this data available in an effort to improve climate prediction. Climate prediction models require accurate estimates of SST to initialize their

ocean component. Drifting buoys

provide essential ground truth SST

data for this purpose. The models

also require validation by comparison with independent data sets.

Surface velocity measurements

are used for this validation.

ARGO--Global Array of Profiling

Floats--will deploy a global array

of 3,000 profiling floats to better

understand and forecast climate.

ARGO floats will be parked at

1,000m and will profile the water

column from the surface to

2,000m. Observations will be

made in real-time. Along with

satellites, ARGO will initiate the

oceanic equivalent of today's operational observing system for the global

atmosphere.

NOAA Ship RONALD H. BROWN.

NOAA recently installed and deployed

a 5-cm Doppler precipitation radar to

conduct studies of atmospheric

processes over the ocean. The system

has been shown to not only be effective for studying convective processes

but also processes associated with

marine stratus clouds. In late 1999,

NOAA will install a next-generation

shipboard wind profiler on the

RONALD H. BROWN that is presently

in development at the ETL. This profiler will be electronically stabilized

(as opposed to the mechanically stabilized systems used on board ships to

date) and will employ some new clutter-screen techniques to reduce interferences and obtain profiles much closer to the surface than have been possible to date.
66 DOC SECTION 3

The National Ocean Service (NOS)

monitors, assesses, and forecasts conditions in the coastal and oceanic environment to maintain a healthy, safe,

and economically productive coastal

and oceanic environment for present

and future generations. NOS is the primary civil agency within the Federal

Government responsible for the health

and safety of our Nation's coastal and

oceanic environment. NOS acquires

water levels, currents, winds, and other

physical oceanographic and meteorological data, and distributes these data

and circulation predictions as elements

of an integrated NOS program

(Figure 3-DOC-11). This integrated

program provides 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. Also, NOS provides coastal oceanographic and meteorological products required by the

National Weather Service (NWS) to

meet its short-term weather and forecasting responsibilities, including

tsunami and storm surge

warnings/forecasts.

National Water Level Observation

Network (NWLON). NOS manages

the NWLON, stations located along

the coasts of the United States and the

Great Lakes, from which water level

data, as well as other oceanographic

and meteorological data, are collected

and disseminated. NWLON provides

a number of NOAA and other Federal

programs with data and supporting

information, such as the NOAA Tide

and Tidal Current Prediction program,

NWS Tsunami Warning System, NWS

storm surge warning/forecast activities, and the Climate and Global

Change Program.

An event triggered NWLON modification is now operational that allows

emergency "Tsunami Warning" GOES

transmissions to NWS when the water

level exceeds a specified high/low

limit or when the rate of change

between the standard 6-minute water

level values exceeds a specified value.

The NOS Continuous Real-Time

Monitoring System (CORMS), now

operational, was designed to operate

on a 24 hour/7 days a week basis to

ensure the accuracy of tide and current

observations acquired via the National

Water Level and Physical

Oceanographic Real-Time System

(PORTS) Programs. CORMS

improves the overall data quality

assurance of real-time measurements,

reduces NOAA's potential liability

from disseminating inadequate data,

and makes the observations more useful for all applications. CORMS

ingests real-time data from all field

sensors, determines data quality, and

identifies and communicates the presence of invalid or suspect data to realtime users/customers who rely on the

data.

Physical Oceanographic Real-Time

System (PORTS). PORTS is a

decision support tool which improves

the safety and efficiency of maritime

commerce and coastal resource management through the integration of

real-time environmental observations,

forecasts, and other geospatial information. PORTS measures and disseminates observations and predictions

of water levels, currents, salinity, and

many meteorological parameters, e.g

winds and visibility, needed by the

mariner to navigate safely.

PORTS systems come in a variety of

sizes and configurations, each specifically designed to meet local user

requirements. The largest of NOS'

existing PORTS installations is

comprised of over 26 separate instruments. The smallest consists of a single water level gauge and associated

meteorological instruments, i.e. winds,

barometric pressure, etc.

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

NATIONAL OCEAN SERVICE

Figure 3-DOC-11. NOS web information of current, water level, and meteorological data for New York/New Jersey Harbor area shipping.
SECTION 3 DOC 67

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).

Also, new developments will enable

PORTS to incorporate biological

and chemical sensor systems and integrate the information with circulation

measurements to provide information

on transports of materials in the

ecosystem essential for effective

marine resource management.

The integration of PORTS technology and numerical circulation models allows nowcasts and predictions of

parameters within the boundaries of

the models even at locations where

physical measurements are not available (Figure 3-DOC-12). 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. Using wind observations from

multiple locations to help force the

model, the 1-year root mean square

difference between the modeled and

observed water level at Baltimore is

9.4 cm.

Figure 3-DOC-12. Meteorological influences on coastal water levels. NOS provides information that warns of abnormal conditions, i.e., water levels lowered by the wind.
68 DOC SECTION 3

The Aircraft Operations Center

(AOC) provides aircraft support to

many NOAA missions, several of them

associated with the Natural Disaster

Response Initiative (NDRI). In particular, AOC operates a fleet of aircraft to

support NOAA's research and development programs to improve weather,

marine, and climate services. It provides hurricane reconnaissance and

surveillance support to NOAA's

National Hurricane/Tropical Prediction Center with its Lockheed WP-3D

and Gulfstream IV (G-IV) aircraft as

well as flight services to other federal

agencies and international programs

approved by NOAA's Aircraft

Allocation Council. AOC's light aircraft provide aerial photography for

nautical and aeronautical charting and

living marine resources surveys.

AOC was established in October

1983 through a consolidation of all

existing NOAA organizations and elements operating NOAA aircraft. This

consolidation was accomplished to

achieve a more efficient, more economical and safer operation of NOAA

aircraft. Fourteen aircraft, located

throughout the United States, are managed by AOC from its home base at

MacDill AFB in Tampa, Florida.

NOAA's atmospheric and oceanographic research, as well as its reconnaissance operations, are supported by

two WP-3D Lockheed Orion aircraft

which carry a full array of state-of-theart environmental research instrumentation. The aircraft research and navigation systems provide detailed spatial

and temporal observations of a wide

range of atmospheric and oceanic

parameters. AOC develops and calibrates specialized instruments, integrates user-supplied instrumentation

into its automated dated recording systems, and processes and analyzes data sets

collected during various field programs.

AOC recently integrated into its

operation a new, high-altitude jet, the

G-IV, which is used for hurricane surveillance. This aircraft flies in the

environment surrounding hurricanes at

altitudes up to 45,000 feet. The G-IV

dispenses the new GPS dropwindsonde

and transmits the resulting profiles of

thermodynamic and wind information

to the NCEP and the NHC for inclusion in their computer prediction models. Initial estimates of the improvement in hurricane track predictions is

between 20 and 30 percent, and these

improvements are expected to result in

future savings of $10 million or more

per hurricane in warning and preparedness costs. With its high-altitude capability, the G-IV is the central focus for

additional research leading to improvements in hurricane intensity forecasts.

The aircraft will also be used for air

chemistry studies and other research in

the upper troposphere.

The AOC WP-3D aircraft, while

executing the complex patterns for

hurricane research, also provide storm

data to the NHC in near real time,

transmitting flight level data, dropwindsonde messages, and radar images

via its aircraft-satellite data link. The

AOC aircraft have primary reconnaissance responsibility for tropical storms

and hurricanes in foreign airspace and

also augment Air Force Reserve aircraft reconnaissance during particularly active storm periods when tasking

requirements exceed available

resources.

Land-falling hurricanes, a major

subject of the USWRP and NDRI,

receive particular attention from AOC

aircraft. During the 1998 hurricane

season, the G-IV and the WP-3D aircraft flew a combined total of over 400

surveillance, reconnaissance, and

research hours on Atlantic storms that

made or nearly made landfall in the

continental United States. Joining with

the AFRES and NASA aircraft, the

three NOAA planes participated in the

first multi-agency hurricane research

experiment since STORMFURY, a

hurricane modification project that

took place in the early to mid-70's.

The Convection and Moisture

Experiment III (CAMEX-3) experiment focused on the measurement of

cloud moisture using a variety of

space-borne and aircraft mounted

remote sensors.

OFFICE OF NOAA CORPS OPERATIONS

AIRCRAFT OPERATIONS CENTER
METEOROLOGICAL SERVICES

The Air Force functional manager for

meteorological and space environmental services is the Director of Weather

within the Headquarters, United States

Air Force (HQ USAF/XOW), Deputy

Chief of Staff for Air and Space

Operations. HQ USAF/XOW oversees the development and implementation of weather support concepts, doctrine, policies, plans, and programs to

ensure effective weather support for

the Air Force, Army, and other agencies as directed by the Chief of Staff,

USAF. The Air Force also provides

support to DOD Joint operations as

directed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff

under the Unified Action Armed

Forces (JCS Publication O-2) document. HQ USAF/XOW interfaces

with other military departments, federal agencies, and international organizations concerning coordination, cooperation, standardization, and interoperability of weather services.

Air Force Weather (AFW)

Organization. AFW has reengineered

to mirror the three levels of military

operations--strategic, theater (operational), and tactical. The Air Force

Weather Agency (AFWA), a field operating agency (FOA) reporting to HQ

USAF/XOW, provides strategic-level

weather support (global and synopticscale) for their worldwide customers,

as well as fulfills some unique mission

requirements (discussed later). HQ

AFWA, located at Offutt AFB,

Nebraska, has two subordinate centers:

the Air Force Combat Climatology

Center (AFCCC) at Asheville, North

Carolina and the Air Force Combat

Weather Center (AFCWC) at Hurlburt

AFB, Florida. Space environmental

support is provided by the 55th Space

Weather Squadron (55 SWXS) at

Schriever AFB, Colorado, which

recently transferred organizationally

from Air Force Space Command to

AFWA. Along with this organizational transfer, part of the space environment mission will migrate to HQ

AFWA at Offutt AFB during 2000-

2001. Nine Operational Weather

Squadrons (OWSs) serve in direct support of overseas theater CINC and/or

Numbered Air Force (NAF) operations. Each OWS is designated as the

forecast agency for a specific geographical Area of Responsibility

(AOR) (Figure 3-DOD-1) in concert

with their supported NAFs or Theater's

AOR. CONUS OWSs are also responsible for CONUS regional weather

support. They produce and disseminate terminal forecasts, weather warnings and advisories, planning and execution area forecasts, and other operational products to Combat Weather

Teams (CWTs). The CWTs, located on

the base and post level, take and disseminate local observations and provide mission-tailored forecasts and

briefings based on centrally produced

guidance. AFW personnel enhance the

unique global capability of ground and

aerospace military operations, while

indirectly assisting civil aviation, by

providing flight weather briefings,

air/ground radio services, and tailored

observations, forecasts, watches, and

warnings for military operations.

Weather Data Collection integrates

weather radars and meteorological sensors into a single meteorological sensing and instrumentation approach for

battlefield and in-garrison operations.

Current and future programs include:

Observing System 21st Century

(OS-21), Tactical Weather Radar

(TWR), and Small Tactical Terminal

(STT). Observation and sensing of the

space environment are discussed in the

Space Environmental Services section.

Surface observations are taken by Air

Force personnel to support military

operations and for weather analysis

and forecasting. Observations from

both Air Force and Army locations

(fixed and tactical) are made available

to local users and are transmitted to

military and civil locations throughout

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE WEATHER PROGRAMS

The Department of Defense (DOD) operates a military environmental service system to provide specialized worldwide

meteorological, space environmental and oceanographic analysis and prediction services in support of military forces.

This system directly supports all phases of military operations, from strategic planning to tactical operations. While the

Army and Marine Corps each have a small specialized weather support capability, the Naval Meteorology and

Oceanography Command and Air Force Weather are the primary sources of military weather products. The military

weather services contribute to the national and international weather observing capability by taking conventional observations on land and at sea where there are no other conventional weather observing capabilities and where the observations are most needed to meet military requirements. In addition, DOD maintains specialized observing capabilities,

such as the Defense Meteorological Satellite and Global Weather Intercept Programs, to meet unique military requirements. Observational data are sent by military communications networks to military and civil facilities in the United

States and overseas.

UNITED STATES AIR FORCE

SECTION 3 DOD 69
70 DOD SECTION 3

the world, via the Automated Weather

Network (AWN). Upper air observations provide vital input for numerical

weather analysis and prediction.

United States and foreign rawinsonde

reports are primary sources and are

supplemented with military and civilian pilot reports. The OS-21 program

will provide a much needed state-ofthe-art life-cycle replacement for Air

Force observing equipment. OS-21

includes five different configurations:

Fixed, Deployable, Remote, Manual,

and Upper Air. The Manual section is

intended for tactical operations and

will continue upgrades begun under

the Manual Observing System (MOS)

and Tactical Meteorological Observing

System Modification (TACMET

MOD) programs. AFW purchased

commercial off-the-shelf Remote

Miniature Weather Sensors to provide

accurate real-time weather information

from forward unmanned locations to

support Kosovo operations

(Figure 3-DOD-2). OS-21 will continue to expand this capability.

Weather radar is a principal source of

information for providing severe

weather warnings. Within the

CONUS, AFW uses the WSR-88D,

procured through the NEXRAD Joint

System Program Office. It is operated

and maintained by DOD, NOAA, and

FAA within the CONUS and by the Air

Force overseas. The WSR-88D system

incorporates the latest technological

advances in Doppler radar, data processing, communications, and display,

and continues to be modernized to

improve reliability and maintainability.

Tactical Weather Radars (TWR) are

used to support contingency operations. The TWR program supports

worldwide military operations by providing tactical/deployable Doppler

weather radar capability, replacing

existing radars at deployed locations

and at fixed locations overseas.

The Air Force manages the Defense

Meteorological Satellite Program

(DMSP), which provides a large volume of cloud, upper air, and space

environmental data, and is the most

important single source of global

weather data used for combat support.

On-board sensors provide AFWA,

55 SWXS, and the Navy's Fleet

Numerical Meteorology and

Oceanography Center (FNMOC) with

visible, infrared, and microwave

imagery of the entire globe, temperature and moisture sounding data, elecFigure 3-DOD-1. Areas of Responsibility for Air Force Weathers Operational Weather Squadrons.
SECTION 3 DOD 71

trically charged particle fluxes, and

other specialized space environment

data. DMSP also supplies direct, realtime readout of regional image and

mission-sensor data to DOD landbased and shipborne terminals located

worldwide.

The present DMSP satellite series

(Block 5D-2) uses an operational linescan system. The visible detectors were

selected to optimize distinction among

clouds, ground, snow, and water. It

uses both stellar and inertial references, together with on-board processors, to maintain stability and pointing

accuracy. The DMSP also flies a

microwave temperature and humidity

sounder (SSM/T, SSM/T-2) which provides vertical temperature, moisture,

and height profiles of the atmosphere

and is used for numerical analysis and

forecasting. The microwave imager

(SSM/I) observes rainfall, ocean surface wind speed, cloud and soil moisture, ice conditions, and other environmental data.

The STT provides worldwide tactical

users with a survivable "first-in"

source of meteorological satellite data,

processed by small, portable terminals

in forward areas of conflict. These terminals process remote-sensed

visual/thermal imagery, from both

polar orbiting and geostationary satellites, and other non-imagery weather

data to support combat forces.

Analysis and Forecasting. The

AFWA is the primary production center for providing weather analyses and

forecasts for Air Force and Army operations. AFWA uses a networked computer system and an interactive graphics and imagery system to implement a

"build-and-apply" concept. Worldwide weather data are relayed to

AFWA and blended with civil and military meteorological satellite data to

construct a real-time, integrated environmental database. Computer programs further digest the data to construct models of the atmosphere and to

forecast its future behavior. Manual

tailoring of the data is critical for application to the specific needs of the

warfighters. The interaction between

forecaster and machine is accomplished with the Satellite Data

Handling System (SDHS). SDHS consists of interactive workstations capable of high-speed interaction with

satellite and conventional meteorological data to prepare forecasts and other

environmental products. AFWA also

provides backup for the National

Weather Service (NWS) Storm

Prediction and Aviation Weather

Centers.

AFWA has organized forecast operations to achieve greater flexibility and

focus production on its primary customers. Forecasts are generated in the

agency's Global Weather Center

Division, which consists of four production branches: Forecast

Production, Special Support

Operations, National Programs

Operations, and Satellite Applications.

The Strategic Section of the Forecast

Production Branch produces tailored

worldwide meteorological analyses

and forecasts in support of aviation

customers. The branch also provides

forecasts of CONUS low-level aviation hazards. The CONUS Severe

Forecast Section provides specific

point weather warnings for Air Force

and Army installations in the CONUS

and hot backup to Aviation Weather

Center and Storm Prediction Center.

The American Forces Network Section

provides worldwide, broadcast-quality

public weather services and planning

forecast support through the American

Forces Television Network to DOD

personnel and family members stationed overseas.

The Special Support Operations

Branch (SSOB) provides worldwide

mission-tailored forecasts to Joint

Special Operations Forces (SOF). The

branch acts as a clearinghouse for

unique data requests from the SOF

customers; provides end-to-end targeting support to unified command, component, or national customers; produces long-range (4-8 day) forecasts to

unified command, component, or

national customers; and supplies the

Nation's reconnaissance cloud-free

forecast products. SSOB is also in the

process of accepting portions of the

space-forecast mission from the

55 SWXS. 

The National Programs Operations

Branch provides weather support for

classified National Programs directed

by the Secretary of the Air Force. The

branch produces detailed global cloud

analyses to update and refine the Real

Time Nephanalysis (RTNEPH) database. The branch identifies and documents weather service requirements

and initiates actions to ensure Sensitive

Compartmented Information (SCI) and

Special Access Program (SAP) weather support needs are met. They serve

as the focal point for AFWA SAPs;

ensure National Program and other

SCI and SAP support requirements are

integrated into AFWA programs; monitor and evaluate accuracy and timeliness of centralized weather services to

National Programs; and interface with

the DOD and national intelligence

community regarding weather services

and exploitation of weather information.

The Satellite Applications Branch provides rapid response tailored METSAT

Figure 3-DOD-2. AFWs remote

miniature weather station.
72 DOD SECTION 3

imagery and evaluation for DOD contingency mission support. The branch

produces regional snow and ice cover

analyses to update and refine the Snow

Depth (SNODEP) database; and generates automated METSAT imagery

products for AFWIN/ SAFWIN distribution to DOD customers. The branch

also tracks and classifies tropical

cyclones (METSAT analysis) for the

DOD Joint Typhoon Warning Center

(JTWC) and other United States

Tropical Cyclone Warning Centers;

provides hot back up for JTWC satellite operations; monitors operational

status; and evaluates quality of

imagery ingested at AFWA. They

coordinate corrective actions; maintain, modify, and develop new capabilities to display and visualize satellite

imagery data on workstations; infuse

state-of-the-art techniques into

improved imagery analysis ensuring

high quality customer products; serve

as AFW focal point on technical issues

regarding METSAT imagery utilization; and interface with the DMSP

System Program Office, Air Force

Space Command, and other DOD and

governmental agencies on METSAT

data exploitation issues.

As the space weather mission transitions from 55 SWXS to HQ AFWA, a

space weather operations branch at

AFWA will provide worldwide general

and tailored analyses, forecasts, advisories, and warnings for space weather

phenomena that can affect military

operations and National Programs

activities. The branch will provide

products for agencies from all DOD

Services using space weather measurements from a variety of ground- and

space-based sensors. Data sharing and

forecast coordination is performed

with the NOAA Space Environment

Center (SEC) in Boulder, Colorado.

On-going modernization initiatives

at AFWA include the Cloud Depiction

and Forecasting System (CDFS) II,

Global Theater Weather Analysis and

Prediction System (GTWAPS), Space

Weather Analysis and Forecasting

(SWAFS), and modernization of the

communications and data processing

infrastructure including a significant

increase in the data base capacity.

CDFS II will make major software and

hardware modifications at AFWA to

upgrade the weather satellite data processing, cloud depiction and forecasting, and classified weather support

functions for operational customers

and National Programs, providing a

capability that cannot be met with the

current system. The GTWAPS program is nearing completion and this

year's efforts will allow further merger

of the strategic and theater level forecasting systems at the weather centers

and OWSs. The key software component of the GTWAPS program is a theater analysis and forecast model--

Mesoscale Model version 5 (MM5),

which provides highly accurate, finescale forecast data. SWAFS will integrate additional space weather data

sources and execute next-generation

space weather models in support of

DOD and National Programs operations (Figure 3-DOD-3).

Product Tailoring/Warfighter

Applications. AFW organization was

designed such that the OWSs and

CWTs take the products created by the

higher levels and add additional

details, tailored to the specific region

or mission requirement. The

Forecasting System 21st Century

(FS-21) program is the vehicle for providing necessary computer hardware

and software at both the OWSs and

CWTs. The OWS Production System,

Phase 2 (OPS-II), is the backbone of

the OWS production system. It's a

hybrid system of databases, servers,

and work stations, which provides the

computer hardware and software necessary for OWSs to produce and disseminate forecast products to CWTs.

The New Tactical Forecast System

(N-TFS) provides in-garrison and

deployed CWT personnel the meteorological tools necessary to manipulate

and disseminate graphical and

alphanumeric products (satellite

imagery, graphical forecast products,

weather forecasts, advisories, briefings, observations, etc.) to Army and

Air Force operational, command and

control, and support forces worldwide.

N-TFS provides weather personnel the

ability to use the same system in

"peace and war", thus providing a

robust "first in" and sustainment

weather forecast capability to combat

weather units worldwide.

Additionally, N-TFS ingests data from Figure 3-DOD-3. Visualization of MM5 Forecast over the Balkans.
SECTION 3 DOD 73

Air Force observing systems and

observations from indigenous sources.

Data from the N-TFS, combined with

satellite imagery from the STT, provide the essential capability required

for deployed weather units to meet

operational mission requirements.

Deployed weather teams are the

basic units providing weather support

in a combat theater. These teams provide surface and upper air observations, staff weather officer (SWO)

services, and forecasts. The tactical

forecast system, tactical weather radar,

tactical meteorological satellite direct

readout terminals, and tactical communications terminals provide the means

to acquire vital meteorological data

within a theater. A high frequency

radio broadcast (HFRB) system is used

to augment transmission of alphanumeric and facsimile products to the

theater weather force. The HFRB system consists of regional broadcast stations at Andersen AFB, Guam,

Elkhorn, Nebraska, and Roosevelt

Roads, Puerto Rico.

Dissemination. The Air Force communications system uses a variety of

media to meet the dissemination needs

of its worldwide customer base.

Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)

fiber optic networks are used to distribute high-resolution satellite

imagery and forecast data from global

numerical weather prediction models

between large DOD and civilian processing centers. Commercial T-1 circuits provide a subset of this data to

new theater and regional forecast facilities. Forecaster-developed products

and gridded data sets are distributed

from HQ AFWA via the

Communications Front-End Processor

to base and post weather stations using

dedicated 9600-baud circuits. These

dedicated circuits are now augmented

by, and will eventually be replaced by

commercial Kμ-band broadcast satellites over the CONUS, Europe, and the

Pacific. The broadcast satellites now

provide tailored satellite and

WSR-88D imagery to the base and

post weather stations at both fixed and

deployed locations.

Alphanumeric data including synoptic, upper-air, and pilot reports are collected and distributed via the AWN.

The AWN is a collection of dedicated

circuits ranging from 74-baud to

56kbps linking DOD, national and

international facilities worldwide.

Data is also received from DOD-operated High Frequency (HF) radio

receiver sites strategically positioned

around the globe to intercept weather

broadcasts. These broadcasts originate

from nations that do not routinely

make data available through World

Meteorological Organization (WMO)

channels. The Automatic Digital

Weather Switch at Tinker AFB,

Oklahoma receives alphanumeric

weather data and Notices to Airman

(NOTAMs), parses them according to

data type, eliminates duplicate reports

from different sources, and creates specially tailored bulletins. Some of these

bulletins are sent to the large processing centers to provide the input data for

global, regional, and fine-scale forecast models. Other bulletins are redistributed to end users over: (1) the

same dedicated circuits, (2) the DOD's

Non-secure Internet Protocol Network

(NIPRNET), and (3) HF and satellite

broadcast facilities. End-user systems

include the Automated Meteorological

Information System (AMIS),

Meteorological Information Standard

Terminal (MIST) and small computers

using a variety of alphanumeric display packages.

AFW utilizes the NIPRNET to host

the Air Force Weather Information

Network (AFWIN) and the Military

Aircrew Information System (MAIS).

AFWIN provides worldwide access to

numerical model forecast graphics,

satellite imagery, and text bulletins.

MAIS was designed to accept aircrew

mission parameters and provide weather data for the takeoff base, route of

flight, and destination.

Unique Support Requirements. A

special aspect of the military weather

mission is the need to provide decision

assistance to commanders and resource

managers, as well as operational units.

To fulfill this requirement, designated

AFW personnel serve as part of the

working staff of operational Air Force,

Army, and joint force units. In this

capacity, AFW personnel identify all

weather-sensitive areas of the operation, monitor the weather service provided in these areas, and provide

expert advice to mitigate weather

impacts on training or combat operations. Support is tailored to the needs

of weapon systems being developed or

used, command and control systems,

Army firing units, research, development and evaluation, testing, training

and deployment of military forces, and

contingency operations. This effort

helps ensure that Air Force, Army, and

joint force units fulfill their missions

regardless of the weather and results in

efficient use of weather resources by

gearing them to mission specific

requirements.

The Army weather support mission is

completely integrated into the Air

Force's overall mission concept. The

Army trains and educates Air Force

personnel about Army organizations,

concepts of operations, and the weather sensitivities of Army operations and

equipment. AFW units are aligned and

integrated with the Army intelligence

organization. Weather products are

tailored to be directly usable and

understandable by Army personnel and

are integrated into Army communications systems. Mobile and fixed meteorological equipment is programmed

by the Air Force. In a tactical environment, weather personnel serve with

echelon-above-corps, corps, divisions,

separate brigades, regiments, aviation

brigades, armored cavalry regiments,

ranger regiments, and special forces

groups (as well as subordinate battalions deployed at forward operating

bases). The Air Force provides observer
74 DOD SECTION 3

support to all command levels identified above. The Army Forward Area

Limited Observing Program (FALOP)

and the Army artillery meteorology

(ARTYMET) program augment the

Air Force observations in the tactical

environment.

The Air Force provides meteorological products to the Nation's space and

missile programs. This support

includes a wide range of weather

observing services at the Air Force

Eastern Range and the Kennedy Space

Center. The Air Force provides

launch-forecasting service for NASA's

manned and unmanned launches and

for commercial launches from the

Kennedy Space Center. The Air Force

also provides specialized meteorological services for the Air Force Western

Range at Vandenberg AFB, California,

and the Pacific Missile Range which

includes Point Mugu and San Nicholas

Island, California, and Barking Sands,

Hawaii. In addition, the Air Force supports the White Sands Missile Range,

New Mexico, the Kwajalein Missile

Range, and other DOD research and

test facilities.

The Air Force and Navy operate

JTWC, which moved to Hawaii in

1999. JTWC provides tropical cyclone

warning services to DOD units and

other United States subscribers in the

area west of 180 degrees longitude to

the East Coast of Africa in both hemispheres.

The Air Force directly supports DOD

Special Strategic Programs, the National

Command Authority, the National

Military Command System, and the

National Security Agency. Tailored

environmental support products are disseminated to these customers worldwide.

The Air Force also provides agrometeorological output to the USDA's Foreign

Agricultural Service and other national

customers. The output provided

includes diagnostic soil hydrology and

other meteorological output pertinent to

crop growth and yield estimation.

AFCCC provides climatic data and

specialized studies to support the Air

Force, Army, and other government

agencies. Typical support satisfies

requirements for assessments of natural environmental effects on military

plans, weapon systems, facilities, and

intelligence activities. AFCCC collects environmental data from AFWA

and then sorts, checks, stores, and

employs these data to produce tailored

products. AFCCC is co-located with

the National Climatic Data Center to

facilitate cooperation and data

exchange. AFCCC typically collects,

quality assures, and applies worldwide

surface and upper air observations, a

three-dimensional (3D) cloud analysis

extracted from meteorological satellite

imagery (Real-time Nephanalysis), a

global analysis of snow cover, solar,

geomagnetic, and space observations

and indices, and many other specialized environmental data sets.

AF/XOW is the DOD Modeling and

Simulation Executive Agent (MSEA)

for the Air and Space Natural

Environment (ASNE). The director

executes his responsibilities through

the Office Chief co-located at the

AFCCC. The Executive Agent is

responsible to ensure modeling and

simulation developers and users have

environmental models, algorithms, and

data to represent the air and space

environment rapidly, thoroughly, accurately, and consistently in a manner

that promotes cost-effectiveness, ready

access, interoperability, re-use, and

confidence.

Air National Guard (ANG). There

are two distinct functions within the

ANG weather program. The traditional program consists of 33 weather

flights, ranging in size from 13 to 25

personnel. The flights meet monthly to

train for their wartime missions and

support both Army National Guard

(ARNG) and United States Army

Reserve (USAR) units as well as ANG

flying units. A Weather Readiness

Training Center operates at Camp

Blanding in Starke, Florida, to provide

Army tactical skills training that is not

available elsewhere in the Air Force.

The ANG is also responsible for peacetime weather operations at locations

where the ANG is responsible for airfield operations.

SPACE ENVIRONMENTAL

SERVICES

The 55 SWXS is the DOD focal

point for operational space environmental support and the execution of

this mission is transferring to HQ

AFWA during 2000-2001. The

55 SWXS includes a forecast operations center at Schriever AFB as well

as six solar observatories located

throughout the world. Additionally,

55 SWXS participates with NOAA in

the joint operation of the SEC.

Many DOD systems are affected by

space weather phenomena that occurs

in the troposphere, stratosphere,

mesosphere, thermosphere, ionosphere, and magnetosphere. The space

weather processes that occur in these

near-Earth environments are greatly

influenced by processes originating on

the Sun and in interplanetary space and

by the interactions between the solar

phenomena (radiation and/or electrically-charged particles) and the Earth's

upper atmosphere and magnetic field.

Collectively, these processes lead to

space weather conditions in the nearEarth environment which can adversely affect operations. The 55 SWXS

provides general and tailored products

directly related to the space weather

effects on DOD communications, surveillance/intelligence collection, satellite operations, navigation, and space

tracking and warning systems.

Space weather products and/or specialized services include:

 Ionospheric conditions (electron

densities and disturbances) and

their potential effects on communications, intelligence-collection,

precision navigation, space tracking, detection/warning operations,
SECTION 3 DOD 75

and manned space flight

(Figure 3-DOD-4).

 Magnetospheric conditions

(charged-particle fluxes) and their

potential effects on satellite operations, to include after-the-fact assessments of whether space weather conditions caused anomalous behavior

or failures experienced by satellite

components and sub-systems.

 Thermospheric conditions (atmospheric densities) and their potential

effects on satellite drag and satellite

launch calculations. 

 Tropospheric, stratospheric, and

mesospheric conditions (extremely

energetic particles, radio wave radiation and interference, magnetic field

disturbances) and their potential

effects on high-altitude flight, communications, intelligence collection,

and space tracking and warning.

 Solar conditions (radiation and/or

electrically charged particle fluxes

due to various solar phenomena) and

their potential effect on the nearEarth environment.

 Immediate response advisories and

warnings of all conditions

described above which may have

significant effects on one or more

military operations.

Sources of Space Environmental

Data. A variety of ground- and spacebased space weather data is available

to forecasters providing space weather

support.

The 55 SWXS operates a network of

solar optical and radio telescopes at

Sagamore Hill, Massachusetts, Ramey,

Puerto Rico, Holloman AFB, New

Mexico, Palehua, Hawaii, San Vito,

Italy, and Learmonth, Australia. These

systems provide observations of solar

phenomena at optical and radio wave

wavelengths.

A worldwide (primarily Northern

Hemisphere) network of ground-based

ionosondes and other sensors provide

ionospheric data. AFW manages the

automated Digital Ionospheric

Sounding System (DISS) to provide

ionospheric measurements. The Jet

Propulsion Laboratory also operates a

global network of sensors that provide

ionospheric data. A network of magnetometers is operated by the United

States Geological Survey (USGS).

The USGS data provides indirect

measurements of the strength of ionospheric and magnetospheric electric

currents which create their own magnetic field that is superimposed upon

the Earth's magnetic field.

The Geostationary Operational

Environmental Satellites (GOES)

vehicles provide real-time solar X-ray

and electrically charged energetic particle and geomagnetic data. This data

is made available through the SEC.

DMSP, NOAA, and other DOD geostationary satellites provide additional

energetic electrically charged particle

data in low-Earth and geosynchronous

orbits. Other space-based data is available from NASA and other agencies.

For example, real-time solar wind data

is provided by the NASA Advanced

Composition Explorer satellite.

A number of additional sensors or

improvements to existing space weather

sensors are planned. A Solar X-Ray

Imagers (SXI) will be flown beginning

Figure 3-DOD-4. 55 SWXS operational forecast identifies locations where Ionospheric conditions will impact UHF

SATCOM applications.
76 DOD SECTION 3

on the next GOES satellite launched.

The SXI will monitor solar emissions

in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and

X-ray portions of the solar spectrum.

AFWA's Solar Radio Burst Locator

(SRBL) is projected to be operational

in 2001 and will provide radio wave

measurements of the Sun while also

mapping (locating) certain solar phenomena that would otherwise be

unseen by optical telescopes during

periods of cloud cover. AFWA has

additional improvements scheduled for

the optical telescopes (known as

ISOON) as well as to various ionospheric sensors. 

Various space weather models are

used to specify current solar or global

characteristics of space weather where

observations are not available and to

assist forecasters in generating forecasted conditions. These models use

available observations and are climatological-based or physics-based in calculating their output. Improved models are planned under the SWAFS program during the next five years. A new

initiative known as the Community

Coordinated Modeling Center at HQ

AFWA will serve as a proving-ground

for new space weather model development.

The consolidation of the space

weather and terrestrial weather strategic center functions under HQ AFWA

at Offutt AFB will enable AFWA to

provide seamless aerospace weather

support to DOD forces, reduce USAF

infrastructure costs, streamline customer support process, and improve

space weather services. Two new

space weather support units were

established to support the Space

Command mission. One of these new

units is Detachment 1, Space

Operations Group whose mission is to

support the Aerospace Operations

Center at Vandenberg AFB, California.

The other unit is the 50th Operations

Support Squadron, Weather Flight.

This unit will support space missions

controlled from Schriever AFB,

Colorado, one portion of the current

mission of the 55 SWXS.

SUPPORTING RESEARCH

The overarching objective of the Air

Force meteorological and space environmental R&D program is to provide

system designers and operational

weather support personnel with the

technology 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. More

specific guidance is found in Technical

Needs, documented in the associated

Weather Development Plan. Space

environment R&D is targeted to meet

the DOD's space weather requirements

as summarized in the National Security

Space Architect's Space Weather

Architecture Study and the associated

Implementation Plan.

The responsibility for conducting

and managing environmental sciences

R&D (including meteorology and

space weather) resides with the Air

Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)

Battlespace Environment Division

located at Hanscom AFB,

Massachusetts. Its applied research

program in meteorology is focused to

emphasize weather prediction methods, cloud modeling and simulation,

weather impact decision aids, and optical turbulence for airborne laser applications. In space weather, the AFRL

research program focuses on ionospheric impacts on RF systems, space

particle specification and forecast,

solar disturbance prediction, and neutral density effects on LEO spacecraft.

Working closely with SMC/CI 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,

ISOON, and the Operationalized

Space Environment Network Display

(OP-SEND) suite of web-based products. AFRL also conducts customersupported R&D for NPOESS, the

Defense Modeling and Simulation

Office (DMSO), the National

Reconnaissance Office (NRO), the

Ballistic Missile Defense Office

(BMDO), the DOD High Performance

Computing Modernization Office

(HPCMO), and NASA.

Weather Prediction Methods. R&D

efforts in this area focus on the development of aviation-mission-impactvariable algorithms to be applied operationally at the AFWA. Multivariate

diagnostic algorithms, applicable to

data provided by global and theaterscale numerical weather prediction

models, have been developed to infer

cloud characteristics (layered and total

cloud amount, bases, tops, ceiling),

aviation hazards (icing, turbulence,

and thunderstorms) and surface conditions (present weather and horizontal

visibility). The cloud, icing, and turbulence algorithms have been implemented at AFWA where they are being

evaluated operationally as part of the

GTWAPS program. The present

weather, thunderstorms, and horizontal

visibility algorithms are awaiting evaluation testing at AFWA. A Weather

Technology Unit (WTU) has been

established to provide weather

research and development support to

AFWA through technique development, technology transition, and technical assistance. The WTU is currently a four person effort with one AFRL

researcher located on-site at AFWA.

WTU tasks focus on several near- and

mid-term weather prediction capabilities. The AFRL diagnostic cloud forecast algorithm is being transitioned

into AFWA operations. A theater-scale

cloud analysis procedure is being

developed capable of specifying cloud

water content in the initial conditions

of the AFWA theater-scale numerical
SECTION 3 DOD 77

weather prediction model--MM5.

Contrail analysis and prediction

schemes are nearing completion, comparing the skill of the AFWA operational contrail scheme with a statistical

model developed from contrail field

experiments. An extensive evaluation

of the MM5 model is underway as a

forecast source from which optical turbulence models can diagnose conditions adverse to the Airborne Laser

(ABL) mission. Finally, a 3 year project has begun that will demonstrate the

feasibility of executing a mesoscale

four-dimensional variational data

assimilation procedure in operational

timelines on a massively parallel processing computer.

Cloud Modeling and Simulation.

The Cloud Scene Simulation Model

(CSSM) has become the cornerstone

for in-house, service-sponsored projects to provide physically and radiometrically accurate cloud simulations.

These projects provide capabilities

needed in the Modeling and

Simulation (M&S) community for

consistent, physically based synthetic

atmospheres to drive war-gaming,

training, system design studies, etc.

The AFRL focus this past year has

been in areas such as: (1) transitioning

a cloud/NWP model data fusion

approach to the exploitation of

National Technical Means data,

(2) designing an extension of the

CSSM to support campaign-level simulations in infrared wavebands, and

(3) performing a military utility analysis for the National Polar-orbiting

Operational Satellite System

(NPOESS). CSSM has reached a point

of maturity where it is routinely used

in war-gaming demonstrations and

exercises (for the Air Force and Navy)

and in the conduct of data impact/sensitivity.

Weather Impact Decision Aids. A

major focus of the Air Force's investment in meteorology R&D deals with

the development, evaluation, and

implementation of weather impact

decision aids (WIDA) which predict

the impact of weather and other environmental factors on the performance

of electro-optical (IR, NVG, laser, TV)

systems. This is a joint program led by

AFRL with Navy NRL and Army ARL

participation. WIDA products are used

to support precision-guided munitions,

night-vision, surveillance, and navigation systems. There are three products

under development in the WIDA program. Three of the four products will

provide unit-level weather impact support for mission execution. The mission execution products are:

(1) infrared (IR) Target-scene

Simulation Software (IRTSS),

(2) Night Vision Goggle (NVG)

Operations Weather Software

(NOWS), and (3) Target Acquisition

Weather Software (TAWS). The

fourth, Weather Automated Mission

Planning Software (WAMPS), incorporates WIDA products described

above into Air Force command and

control systems from the force to the

unit-level. The products combine

global terrain and features, target signatures, electro-optical (EO) sensor

performance models, and meteorological and operational planning data to

provide decision-makers and warriors

with quantitative impacts of weather

on their systems as well as EO scene

visualization tools for environmental

situational awareness. NOWS 5.2 was

transitioned for operational use in June

1999 and TAWS V1.1 in December

1999. IRTSS will transition to AFWA

in September 2000.

Atmospheric Optical Turbulence.

EO and laser systems are adversely

affected by optical distortions induced

by atmospheric temperature or refractive turbulence. As the sophistication

grows in current and next generation

military systems, the requirement for

more detailed knowledge of the fine

scale (meters or less) atmospheric

behavior also grows. The Airborne

Laser (ABL) program is one such system. Since the meteorological conditions that produce turbulence vary, the

performance of such systems varies.

The Air Force program in atmospheric

optical turbulence measurements and

modeling seeks to address these needs.

Measurements are performed by a balloon-borne turbulence sensor which is

mated to a standard radiosonde. This

program has produced data and empirical models that are the basis for ABL

system specification. Balloon-borne

measurements are now being made in

conjunction with airborne stellar scintillometer measurements to understand

the relation between atmospheric

structure and path-integrated optical

effects. The turbulent scalar spectrum

is 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.

Empirical seasonal models have been

developed for different theaters which

are in widespread use. Data collected

are now being used to develop models

of vertical and horizontal structure of

turbulence in the troposphere and stratosphere. These models are correlated

with meteorological sources of gravity

waves such as jetstreams, fronts,

mountains, and thunderstorms. This

modeling is closely coupled with work

on the generation, propagation, and

breakdown of gravity waves. Work is

also underway to predict optical turbulence based on theater-scale numerical

weather prediction models (NWP)

used with optical turbulence parameterizations. This forecasting effort is

being tested and evaluated for a number of locations around the world. The

ultimate objective of these efforts is to

develop models that allow the forecasting and prediction of ABL system performance.

Ionospheric Impacts on RF Systems.

Irregularities in the Earth's ionosphere

driven by solar and geophysical activity
78 DOD SECTION 3

cause problems for DOD C3I, navigation, and surveillance systems. AFRL's

research program focuses on the specification and forecasting of global electron density profiles and ionospheric

scintillation. In the scintillation arena,

AFRL has developed the Scintillation

Network Decision Aide (SCINDA), a

set of ground-based sensors and quasiempirical models that provide realtime alerts and short term (<1 hour)

forecasts of scintillation impacts on

UHF satellite communication in the

Earth's equatorial regions. Work is

underway to extend the SCINDA

ground station network and construct

an L-Band scintillation model for

application to GPS navigation links.

The Communication/Navigation

Outage Forecast System (C/NOFS)

satellite is being developed by AFRL

in collaboration with the Naval

Research Laboratory to provide

4-6 hour forecasts of scintillation outages and is scheduled for launch in

FY 2003. AFRL is responsible for

development and calibration of the

SSIES plasma density instrument and

the SSM magnetometer currently flying on the DMSP satellites, to include

the development of automated data

processing algorithms. A program to

comprehensively validate the

Parameterized Real-time Ionospheric

and Specification Model (PRISM),

currently being used by 55 SWXS to

specify global electron density profiles, is underway as are upgrades to

ground-based sensors to measure total

electron content along ground-to-satellite links and electron density profiles

of the lower ionosphere. Basic

research efforts are focused on creating

physics-based models needed to forecast global electron density profiles,

scintillation structures, and neutral

density variations affecting satellite

drag.

Space Particle Specification and

Forecast. Energetic particles in the

near-Earth space environment pose

hazards to DOD spacecraft such as single

event microelectronic effects induced

by MeV cosmic ray ions, deep-dielectric charging induced by MeV electrons in the outer Van Allen belt, and

spacecraft frame charging and discharging induced by keV electrons created in geomagnetic storms. AFRL has

a robust program to develop and fly the

Compact Environment Anomaly

Sensor (CEASE) which is a small,

lightweight, low-power sensor that

provides alerts and warnings of space

particle hazards to satellite operators

increasing situational awareness and

decreasing anomaly resolution time.

CEASE can also provide scientific

level data, given sufficient telemetry,

which can be used to develop climatological models or drive real-time specification models. The Relativistic

Electron and Energetic Proton

Experiment (REEPER) is being built

to resolve the energy spectra of the

highest energy electrons and protons

found during large geomagnetic storms

and is manifest on NASA's Inner

Magnetosphere Explorer (IMEX)

satellite scheduled for launch in

FY 2003. AFRL is responsible for the

development and calibration of the

SSJ4 electron and proton sensor flying

on the DMSP satellites. Automated

data reduction algorithms and tailored

auroral boundary products using the

SSJ4 data are also created.

Complementing the sensor program,

AFRL develops, validates, and transitions models of the aurora, radiation

belts, and magnetospheric plasma to

meet the needs of the acquisition, operations, and modeling and simulation

communities. The AF-GEOSpace

code comprises many of the models

developed by AFRL and its collaborators, including quasi-empirical models

constructed from DMSP, CRRES, and

APEX satellite data and the

Magnetospheric Specification Model

(MSM), and serves as a 'kernel' for

transitioning tailored products to operations. Physics-based models for forecasting the distributions of energetic

particle in the radiation belts are the

primary focus of basic research work.

Solar Disturbance Prediction. The

Sun ultimately drives all of space

weather. Any attempt to forecast direct

solar effects, such as solar proton or

HF absorption events, or obtain long

lead-time forecasts (several days) of

geomagnetic and ionospheric events

requires the specification and forecast

of solar activity. AFRL maintains a

research group at the National Solar

Observatory, Sacramento Peak, New

Mexico dedicated to advancing ground

and space based solar physics and

applying it to meet DOD solar forecasting needs. The Improved Solar

Optical Observing Network (ISOON)

is being built for SMC/CI and AFWA

by AFRL to replace the current USAF

SOON telescope system. When the

first of four units becomes operational

in FY 2001 it will improve the optical

resolution and image cadence beyond

what is available with SOON, reduce

operating costs, and expand the magnetic field determination capabilities.

Applications are also being developed

to use white-light solar surface flow

observations and magnetograms to

obtain 1-2 hour forecasts of solar flare

events that can eventually be applied to

ISOON data. An advanced spacebased imager designed to detect coronal mass ejections (CMEs) all the way

from the sun to the Earth is being built

by AFRL and is scheduled for spacetest in early FY 2002 on the CORIOLIS satellite. If successful the Solar

Mass Ejection Imager (SMEI) will

provide 1-3 day forecasts of geomagnetic storms with a high degree of

accuracy. Current operational solar

shock forecast models (i.e. the

Interplanetary Shock Propagation

Models (ISPM) and the Shock Time of

Arrival Model (STOA)) are being

extensively validated at AFRL and the

necessary models of irregularities in

the solar wind needed to improve the

models are being developed. 
SECTION 3 DOD 79

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

The United States Navy has the

unique military requirement to assess

meteorological and oceanographic

(METOC) impacts on naval, joint, and

combined operations - anywhere in the

world, at anytime. Naval METOC

must support world-wide naval, joint,

and combined operations, anytime and

anywhere, with the focus predominantly on areas outside of the contiguous

48 states (Figure 3-DOD-5). METOC

support begins by measuring the battlespace physical environment and culminates with safe, effective weapons

systems and sensor employment.

Developing METOC forecasts and

determining potential effects on

weapons system information requires:

 the collection of data through tactical and dedicated sensors (including satellites);

 fusion and analysis of atmospheric

and oceanographic phenomena;

and

 meteorological information in tactical decision aids and mission

planning systems.

The Chief of Naval Operations,

through the Oceanographer of the

Navy (CNO(N096)), sponsors operational Navy METOC services and

related research and development

(R&D). The Navy provides meteorological services for Navy and joint

forces, meteorological products to the

USMC, and oceanographic support to

all elements of DOD. The

Oceanographer of the Navy sponsors

programs in four closely related disciplines to provide worldwide, comprehensive, integrated weather and ocean

support--meteorology, oceanography,

geospatial information and services,

and precise time and astrometry. All

are used to protect ships, aircraft, fighting forces, and shore establishments

from adverse ocean and weather conditions, and to provide a decisive tactical

or strategic edge by exploiting the

physical environment.

Research and development is conducted by warfare centers, laboratories, and systems commands, through

sponsorship by the Chief of Naval

Research and the Oceanographer of the

Navy. The Naval Research Laboratory

(NRL) and the Space and Naval

Warfare Systems Command

(SPAWARSYSCOM) are the primary

activities, in addition to various universities, industry partners, and organizations under Navy contract. NRL

detachments are collocated with the

Fleet Numerical Meteorology and

Oceanography Center in Monterey,

California, and with the Naval

Oceanographic Office at Stennis Space

Center, Mississippi. The

SPAWARSYSCOM METOC Systems

Program Office (PMW-185) is Navy's

single program manager for METOC

system development and acquisition.

METEOROLOGICAL SERVICES

UNITED STATES NAVY

Operational support within the Navy

is provided by elements of the Naval

Meteorology and Oceanography

Command (NAVMETOCCOM).

Navy METOC activities are involved

in worldwide collection of observations ashore, afloat and through remote

sensors, and in the assimilation and

processing of these observations on a

global basis to support analysis and

forecasting throughout the world.

The Fleet Numerical Meteorology

and Oceanography Center (FLENUMMETOCCEN), in Monterey,

California, provides global forecasts

and analyses. Environmental data is

acquired through links with DOD and

NOAA conventional and remotely

sensed data distribution systems. By

agreement between Navy and Air

Force, FLENUMMETOCCEN is the

primary DOD global prediction center,

running the Navy Operational Global

Atmospheric Prediction System

(NOGAPS), developed by the Naval

Research Laboratory Detachment, also

in Monterey.

NOGAPS provides global atmospheric predictions through twice-daily

operations runs. However, in nearshore regions, the small-scale interactions between the atmosphere, underlying ocean, and nearby land make it

necessary to analyze and predict the

battlespace environment at higher resolution. In addition to the global prodUNITED STATES NAVY

Figure 3-DOD-5. Navy METOCs global organization
80 DOD SECTION 3

uct suite, FLENUMMETOCCEN is

uniquely capable of providing high

resolution, METOC products on short

notice for any location in support of

global contingency military and

humanitarian operations. Navy's

Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere

Mesoscale Prediction System

(COAMPS) is an operational model

featuring nested, non-hydrostatic

physics, explicit moisture physics,

aerosols, and improved data assimilation. Using NOGAPS lateral boundary

conditions, COAMPS provides a highresolution, re-locatable, meteorological and oceanographic prediction capability to support joint littoral operations. COAMPS is routinely run for

Europe, Southwest Asia, Korea,

Central America, Western Atlantic, and

the Eastern Pacific (Figure 3-DOD-6).

NOGAPS and COAMPS forecast

products are distributed via various

communications systems either directly to Fleet customers or through the

Navy regional METOC centers. The

regional METOC centers develop

value-added products and services tailored to specific operational requirements. Over the next two years, COMNAVMETOCCOM will install computer systems at the regional centers to

run COAMPS in-theater, allowing

them to respond to Fleet commanders'

requirements in near real-time. As a

complement to numerical forecast

products, FLENUMMETOCCEN provides atmospheric and oceanographic

observations, data extracts, and data

for tactical decision aids. Additionally,

FLENUMMETOCCEN is the designated National Center of Excellence

for remotely sensed microwave products under the Air Force/Navy/NOAA

Shared Satellite Processing

Agreement. The FLENUMMETOCCEN

web site is www.fnmoc.navy.mil.

Since atmospheric conditions are

inherently coupled to oceanographic

conditions, the Navy's program in

meteorology is closely linked with

oceanography, 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 is

the Navy's primary processing facility

for NOAA polar-orbiting satellite data

and is the National Center of

Excellence for satellite-derived seasurface temperature measurements

providing the global sea surface temperature data critically important to

successfully running NOGAPS and

COAMPS. Additionally, NAVOCEANO is a DOD Major Shared

Resource Center, enabling creation of

the latest research and development

models on the most modern scaleable

supercomputing architecture and facilitating transition from R&D to operational use. The NAVOCEANO web

site is www.navoceano.navy.mil.

Tailored Theater and Regional Support

Theater and regional support are provided to forces ashore and afloat

through six regional centers delivering

METOC services within their broad

areas of responsibility (AORs).

Aligned with specific Naval

Component Commanders of the

Unified Commanders-in-Chiefs

(CINCs), these centers tailor services

to theater requirements, and manage

and prioritize dissemination of numerical products from FLENUMMETOCCEN and NAVOCEANO. Special

products needed to meet requirements

of Joint Force Commanders are also

generated by the regional centers.

Additionally, the Joint Typhoon

Warning Center (JTWC) (operated by

Navy and Air Force) is co-located with

the Naval Pacific Meteorology and

Oceanography Center in Pearl Harbor,

Hawaii.

Tailored ice forecasts and analyses

are provided to DOD by the Naval Ice

Center (NAVICECEN), located in

Suitland, Maryland. The Navy

(through NAVICECEN), NOAA, and

the United States Coast Guard, jointly

operate the National Ice Center (NIC).

The NIC provides ice analyses and

forecasts for the Arctic and Antarctic

regions, coastal United States waters,

and the Great Lakes to civil as well as

military activities.

Figure 3-DOD-6. COAMPS is Navys air-ocean coupled mesoscale model.
SECTION 3 DOD 81

Local and Aviation Support

NAVMETOCCOM Facilities at

Whidbey Island, Washington, Naples,

Italy, and at Jacksonville and

Pensacola, Florida, provide aviation

forecast services as well as Fleet

Operating Area (OPAREA) and local

forecasts and warnings for aircraft,

ships, submarines and naval bases and

staffs. Additionally, there are

31 NAVMETOCCOM detachments

worldwide. Though primarily situated

at Naval Air Stations for aviation safety of flight forecasting, several are

located at Naval Stations in support of

sea-going units (Figure 3-DOD-7).

The detachments provide METOC

forecasting and warning services to

DOD and allied units within their local

and functional areas of responsibility.

Detachments and facilities within the

continental United States use numerical products from both FLENUMMETOCCEN and NOAA's National

Centers for Environmental Prediction

(NCEP). Overseas detachments and

facilities use FLENUMMETOCCEN

numerical products, in addition to

USAF and foreign products.

Two detachments provide specific

technical services. The first is located

at the National Climatic Data Center,

Asheville, North Carolina, and coordinates the Navy's climatological program as part of the Federal Climate

Complex. The second detachment, at

Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, manages

Naval data requirements for the USAF

Automated Weather Network (AWN).

On-Scene Support

The Navy's permanent afloat

METOC assets are their OA Divisions,

embarked aboard aircraft carriers,

major amphibious ships and command

ships. The OAdivision's primary objectives are safety of ships and aircraft,

optimum tactical support to embarked

warfare commanders, and tailored onscene products and services for the

assigned task force/group and Allied

units in joint, combined, or coalition

military and humanitarian operations.

The primary source of on-scene

Navy METOC support for other forces

afloat and those deployed ashore are

deployable Mobile Environmental

Teams (METs). These teams provide

short-term, on-scene services to DOD

activities without organic METOC

personnel, other government agencies,

and elements of the armed forces of

allied nations during combined exercises or operations. METOC products

and services provided by these teams

are tailored to each units' requirements

and include tactical METOC information and forecasts for operations,

weapon and sensor system employment and tactical decision making, and

climatological information for longrange planning.

UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS

(USMC).

On-Scene meteorological and

oceanographic forecasts are vital to

the operation of the USMC. The

Deputy Chief of Staff for Aviation,

Headquarters, USMC (Code ASL37) is

the cognizant office for Marine Corps

meteorological and oceanographic

support and requirements. The Marine

Corps weather organization consists of

two operational chains of command,

one for garrison aviation weather units

and the other for the Fleet Marine

Force (FMF).

Garrison aviation weather units at

Marine Corps air stations and facilities

are manned by USMC personnel and

provide direct aviation weather support

to host and tenant units. Integral to

Marine Corps aviation activities, these

weather units provide services to

assigned activities and organizations,

which include nine major air stations

in the continental United States, one in

Hawaii, and two in Japan.

Marine Corps METOC support

activities are assigned to the FMF in

the Aviation Combat Element (ACE)

of the Marine Air Ground Task Force

(MAGTF). ACE METOC support is

derived from the Marine Wing Support

Squadron (MWSS) within the parent

Marine Aircraft Wing. The existing 10

MWSS METOC activities are

equipped to provide support at a barebased or expeditionary airfield by

deploying the Meteorological Mobile

Facility (METMF). Additionally,

Meteorological Support Teams (MSTs)

from the ACE MWSS can be assigned

in direct support of the Command

Element, Ground Combat Element,

and Combat Service Support Element

of the MAGTF.

MAJOR METOC SYSTEMS

The capability to provide near realtime global, regional, and local

METOC services to the Navy and

Marine Corps team requires a robust

and evolving set of leading edge technology tools. Theses tools are embodied in the following systems:

Primary Oceanographic Prediction

System (POPS). The Primary

Oceanographic Prediction System

(POPS) produces complex computerbased models of the world's ocean and

atmosphere. The system provides

METOC forecasts, charts, imagery and

operational data sets to support

deployed Navy forces worldwide. This

data is essential to the safety and effectiveness of the Navy's operational platforms, sensors, and weapons including

cruise and ballistic missiles, ships, aircraft, radar and sonar. POPS prediction

models must provide horizontal resolutions of 1-5 kilometers and in near real

time for use in on-scene tactical decision aids and systems.

Figure 3-DOD-7. Navys rescue

mission requires flexible MTEOC

support.
82 DOD SECTION 3

POPS is the DOD-approved system

that performs global and regional environmental modeling. The POPS,

located at Fleet Numerical

Meteorology and Oceanography

Center (FLENUMMETOCCEN), provides the computing capability

required to support DOD's only global

atmospheric forecast model under an

agreement between the Navy and Air

Force. Under an umbrella memorandum of agreement signed in 1993

between NOAA and FLENUMMETOCEN, both sides will provide cooperative efforts in operational numerical

modeling, data exchange, and mutual

backup between NCEP and FLENUMMETOCCEN. In 1999, FLENUMMETOCCEN provided numerical

modeling backup capability to NCEP

for two Atlantic hurricanes and for a

five month duration after the NCEP

computer-fire outage in October.

POPS is migrating from the Cray

C90 architecture to SGI Origin 2000

and Scalable Node architecture three

phases during FY 1999-FY 2001. By

the end of Phase 3 (FY 2001), POPS

will have replacement hardware and

software that forms the basis of

METOC support throughout DOD.

This new capability will include stateof-the-art decoders, data managers,

quality control algorithms, and observational assimilating software for all

types of METOC data from all available sensors. These data will support

state-of-the-art numerical weather,

ocean, chemical/biological, and

acoustic models, run in multiple nested

fashion from global scale models at

resolutions of tens of kilometers to battlegroup/battlefield models at resolutions of a few kilometers.

In order to support and sustain military operations around the world, the

POPS system performance objective

for Phase I is a sustained computational throughput of 100 billion floating

point operations per second

(100 GFLOPS) on METOC models.

This objective will enable operation of

state-of-the-art weather and ocean

models at resolutions necessary to

meet DOD requirements well into the

next decade. The POPS system performance improvement objectives will

support DOD in the following specific

ways:

 Optimal aircraft routing services

 Safe and direct ship routing services

 Hurricane, cyclone, and tropical

storm prediction worldwide

 Open ocean and coastal wave prediction

 Precipitation prediction

 Refractivity conditions/ducting

range

 Acoustics support

 Ballistic missile targeting support

 Search and rescue

 Low level chemical/biological/

nuclear transport prediction

Distributed Atmospheric Modeling

Prediction System (DAMPS)

For centuries, military commanders

have looked to the weather for tactical

advantage. The Navy operates a distributed model in support of tactical

weather prediction. DAMPS allows

users to ingest high-resolution data and

on-scene observations into regional

and global model information received

from the Fleet Numerical Meteorology

and Oceanography Center in

Monterey, California. The result is an

on-scene weather model that provides

accurate weather predictions for an

operating area within a 24-hour timeframe.

DAMPS has performed well in initial operations at Naval Meteorology

and Oceanography (METOC) centers

in Bahrain and San Diego.

During FY 2001, the system will be

fielded at other Navy METOC centers

worldwide; a later goal is to install the

systems on board the oceanography

divisions of Navy ships. The system

will be integrated with the Naval

Integrated Tactical Environmental

Subsystem (NITES), a versatile local

data fusion center and forecasting system being developed by the METOC

Systems Program Office (PMW 185)

of Space and Naval Warfare Systems

Command in San Diego. Afloat,

DAMPS will be able to use real-time

weather data from ship and battle

group observations, including parameters such as wind, temperature, cloud,

visibility, and radar data, and then

incorporate this data into its analysis.

This analysis can be highly focused on

any area of interest. Coupled with

NITES, the system will be able to disseminate products and tactical decision

making aids back to the military user. 

Tactical Environmental Support

System (TESS). The Navy is presently undergoing migration towards a

modular, interoperable suite of systems

to ingest, process, fuse, display, and

disseminate METOC data. The program consists of five seamless versions

known as the Naval Integrated Tactical

Environmental Subsystem (NITES)

versions I-V. NITES systems will be

fielded in FY 2000 through FY 2004.

The five NITES versions are:

 NITES I. Provides Navy decisionmakers on major combatant ships

with METOC assessments and

forecasts, and integrates data with

sensor and weapon platform

parameters for system performance

assessments. Theater METOC

Centers use NITES I to provide

value-added products to fleet units,

and the numerical prediction guidance generated by FLENUMMETOCCEN.

 NITES II. Makes METOC data

and products available to Navy and

Marine Corps activities afloat and

ashore via the Global Command

and Control System-Maritime

(GCCS-M). TESS data and products are used to feed tactical decision aids resident within GCCS-M.

NITES II is the basis for the Joint

METOC Segment of the new

Global Command and Control

System (GCCS) V3.0.
SECTION 3 DOD 83

 NITES III. An unclassified forecast, briefing, and display system

tailored to Naval METOC shore

activities in support of aviation

operations.

 NITES IV. A portable system tailored to Mobile Environmental

Team METOC requirements.

Fielding of NITES IV is expected

to commence in FY 2004.

 NITES V. A forecast, briefing, and

display system for foreign military

sales to ensure interoperability with

our allies. It is a follow-on to the

Allied Environmental Support

System (AESS) and will incorporate capabilities used in the other

NITES variants.

Meteorological Data ReceiverRecorder (AN/SMQ-11 and

AN/FMQ-17). The principal Navy

system to acquire environmental data

directly from satellites. There are

different equipment configurations

for ships (AN/SMQ-11) and shore

sites (AN/FMQ-17), and through

their interface with TESS variants

they provide remotely sensed information to the operator.

Automated Surface Observing

System (ASOS). ASOS supports

aviation and local area observing

requirements at Navy and Marine

Corps stations worldwide, leveraging

development efforts of the National

Weather Service (NWS). ASOS

helps assimilate field meteorological

parameters and facilitates efficient

entry of surface aviation observations and synoptic weather reports

into the Automated Weather Network

(AWN).

Supplemental Weather Radars.

The Navy has procured

Supplemental Weather Radars to provide doppler weather radar coverage

at selected Navy and USMC sites,

mostly overseas, outside of

NEXRAD coverage. This system

replaced the obsolete AN/FPS-106

weather radars.

Meteorological Mobile Facility

Replacement (METMF(R)). The

METMF(R) is a transportable system

that houses meteorological support

equipment for the Marine Air Ground

Task Force (MAGTF). This 8 x 8 x 20

foot van provides a fully functioning

weather office designed to support

Marine Corps expeditionary airfield

operations for 30 days without resupply. It includes sub-systems for data

collection (local, remote and upper air

sensors), data processing, satellite data

ingest and display, Doppler radar, communications, briefing support, and support for remote forces. The

METMF(R) is interoperable with the

Marine Corps C4

I systems and

METOC systems of the other Services

via the Global Command and Control

System (GCCS).

Operational Products and Services

Optimum Track Ship Routing

(OTSR), and Optimum Path Aircraft

Routing System (OPARS) are advisory

services for fleet units. They are based

on NOGAPS and COAMPS data, tailored to the customer, and provide

guidance to the forecaster for the safe

operation and cost-effective routing of

DOD ships and aircraft, as they have

for nearly 30 years. OTSR and

OPARS save the warfighter approximately $57 million/year in reduced

fuel consumption.

The Navy Oceanographic Data

Distribution System (NODDS) is a

PC-based software package developed

in 1982 to make FLENUMMETOCCEN numerical products available to

front line DOD users. All standard

meteorological and oceanographic

fields, synoptic observations and basic

DMSP satellite imagery is also available. NODDS is available to nonDOD Federal agencies and others in

the civilian community through an

agreement between Navy and NOAA.

The Joint METOC Viewer (JMV) is

a new capability that is integrated into

NITES and will eventually replace

NODDS. Building on the availability

of the Internet and the successful user

interface of NODDS, JMV provides an

intuitive Graphical User Interface for

retrieving, viewing and annotating

METOC information. Authorized

DOD and Government users with

Internet access now have a simple,

cost-efficient way to display weather

and ocean information on various computer platforms and operating systems.

JMV is operational at several hundred

DOD sites, including ships.

Since 1983, the Naval Regional

Meteorology and Oceanography

Center, in Norfolk, Virginia, has provided long range forecasts in support

of Energy Conservation efforts at

Naval shore installations in the continental United States. The services are

primarily in the form of extendedrange (10 day) temperature forecasts

provided to energy managers to assist

in optimizing power plant operations.

Monthly temperature/degree day outlooks and long-lead (12 month) seasonal and precipitation forecasts are

also issued to assist in strategic planning of fuel purchasing and resource

allocation. Documented savings from

the Energy Conservation Forecast

Program exceed $62 million, with the

majority of savings resulting from

power plant steam/air conditioning

on/off recommendations and energy

resource/fuel allocation based on longlead forecast products. Customers

include 128 Navy and Marine Corps

facilities and commands.

SUPPORTING RESEARCH

The Navy administers a diverse

R&D program, ranging from software

development to sensor engineering,

and processing, display, and distribution devices. Application of R&D

activities of other services and federal

agencies is always considered, and use

of existing government and commercial off-the-shelf items is emphasized.

The Navy is a world leader in the

field of numerical weather prediction

for marine environmental services.
84 DOD SECTION 3

Transitioning fundamental scientific

research, through additional development, into operational meteorological

and oceanographic models is key to a

successful numerical prediction program. This ongoing process includes

work at universities and the Naval

Research Laboratory's Marine

Meteorological Division to keep the

Navy Operational Global Atmospheric

Prediction System (NOGAPS) and the

Coupled Oceanographic and

Atmospheric Mesoscale Prediction

System (COAMPS) at the leading edge

of technology. Development is also

underway to improve data assimilation, quality control, and management

techniques to support these models. A

major numerical weather prediction

thrust is underway to develop a shipboard tactical atmospheric forecast

capability to assimilate locally

acquired data in real time and deliver

high resolution (5 km), limited area

(100s of km), short range (12-24 hour)

atmospheric predictions in tactical

timeframes.

The Navy R&D program in

remote sensing develops techniques

to extract tactically significant

information in the littoral regions of

the world. Sensors aboard existing

satellites are exploited to the greatest extent possible and plans are in

place to incorporate new capabilities when introduced. Because

many satellite processing algorithms

are designed for use with tactical

systems, expert or rule-based

processes are used where possible to

reduce human-intensive interpretation.

ONR and SPAWARSYSCOM continue to explore techniques for

assimilating environmental data

through non-traditional sensors.

One such effort is investigating the

AEGIS Weapon System's AN/SPY-1

radar and developing the ability to

produce NEXRAD-like radar information from ships at sea.

Interagency Cooperation

Navy and Air Force have long been

cooperating in DOD weather support,

and these efforts have led to such successes as the Defense Meteorological

Satellite Program and the Joint

Typhoon Warning Center. Recently,

the two services have reinvigorated

efforts to increase efficiencies in their

METOC programs through greater

cooperation. The NAVAF-21 Charter,

signed in June 1999 by the

Oceanographer of the Navy and the Air

Force Director of Weather, expands on

the 1992 NAVAF Agreement for longterm cooperation in DOD operational

METOC efforts. NAVAF-21 implements mechanisms to formalize information exchange and cooperation,

focus limited resources and prioritize

issues to most efficiently meet longterm DOD METOC requirements, and

establish an enduring methodology for

documenting and periodically reviewing decisions on areas of mutual interest.

To maximize efficiency and benefit

for Navy and NOAA cooperative

activities, an Umbrella Memorandum

of Agreement (MOA) was signed in

1993. Both agencies continue to identify new areas of cooperation and

review existing agreements for conversion into annexes to this MOA.

Specific areas include:

 Cooperative efforts in operational

numerical modeling, data

exchange, and mutual backup

between FLENUMMETOCCEN

and the National Centers for

Environmental Prediction (NCEP).

 Navy/NOAA/Coast Guard operation of the National Ice Center.

 Air Force Weather Agency

(AFWA)/Navy/NOAA agreement

on shared processing of satellite

data.

 Navy/NOAA agreement on ASOS

procurement and installation.

 Satellite altimetry data processing.

MOAs also exist between the

Department of Commerce, Department

of Transportation, and the Department

of Defense concerning procurement

and operation of NEXRAD.

Additionally, Navy is a DOD participant in the development of the

DOC/DOD/NASA converged National

Polar-orbiting Operational

Environmental Satellite System

(NPOESS).

Natural Disaster Mitigation

Navy METOC plays a vital role in

reducing the impact of natural disasters

to units both ashore and afloat. Severe

weather warnings are issued at Naval

facilities by the local NAVMETOCCOM activity when conditions warrant. For ships operating at sea without

METOC personnel embarked, tailored

en route weather forecast messages

(WEAX) and high winds and seas

warnings provide commanding officers with advance notice of heavy

weather, and Optimum Track Ship

Routing (OTSR) forecasters monitor

ship movements and provide heavy

weather avoidance recommendations.

Tropical cyclones and even severe

winter storms provide even greater

challenges, as ships cannot generally

"ride out" storms in-port without sustaining damage (Figure 3-DOD-8).

Similarly, once they get underway (or

"sortie") ships must steer well clear of

the highest winds and seas, to avoid

personnel injuries and damage and

ensure their stability limits are not

exceeded. Even storms of little consequence to the general public--those

that remain well out at sea--are still of

Figure 3-DOD-8. USS John F.

Kennedy (CV-67) encounters heavy

seas as it heads into Hurricane Floyd

on a rescue mission.
SECTION 3 DOD 85

great concern to the Navy. Because of

the need to sortie ahead of tropical

cyclones, the Navy must make decisions 3 to 5 days in advance of potentially dangerous weather. Sortie decisions are extraordinarily difficult to

make because of their high cost and

impact on personnel and operations.

In making these decisions, Fleet commanders must strike a balance between

the risk of staying in port versus the

cost and potential for damage at sea.

Forecasts are provided to the fleet

commanders and their staffs by the

nearest NAVMETOCCOM activity.

Within CONUS, the forecasts are

closely coordinated with the National

Weather Service. Overseas, local

warnings and forecasts are based on

guidance provided by the Joint

Typhoon Warning Center, Pearl

Harbor, Hawaii.
86 DOD SECTION 3

ARMY OPERATIONAL SUPPORT

OVERVIEW OF OPERATIONAL

EQUIPMENT AND SUPPORT

MISSIONS

United States Army weather support

is a mix of Army and United States Air

Force (USAF) personnel and equipment under Law and according to

Army-Air Force (AF) agreement.

Army Regulation (AR) 115-10/Air

Force Joint Instruction (AFJI) 15-157,

Weather Support for the United States

Army, 30 June 1996 describes the

Service responsibilities and those of

Major Army Commands (MACOMs)

within the Army providing weather

support. The United States Army provides direct weather support to two

Army missions: upper air observations

for Field Artillery fire support, and

limited surface weather observations to

support Army weapon systems forward

of Division tactical operations centers

(Figure 3-DOD-9). AF Major

Commands (MAJCOMs) provide

operational weather services to

warfighting MACOMs in combat, contingencies, and peacetime training.

United States Army Forces Command

(FORSCOM), United States Army

Europe (USAREUR), United States

Army Pacific (USARPAC), United

States Army Special Operations

Command (USASOC), Eighth United

States Army (EUSA), and United

States Army Training and Doctrine

Command (TRADOC) have AF

Weather personnel providing daily

installation and tactical weather support. Army Artillery Meteorological

(ARTYMET) crews provide direct

upper air observation support to

artillery units in the same MACOMs.

During peacetime training and activation the Air National Guard (ANG)

provides AF operational weather support to the Army Reserve and Army

National Guard (ARNG), collectively

designated the Reserve Component

(RC). In addition, during exercises

and contingencies the ANG may augment the active Army Combat Weather

Teams (CWTs). The ANG acts like an

AF MAJCOM in providing support to

the Army RC.

The Army also provides the operational weather support to Army

Research Development, Test and

Evaluation (RDTE) ranges, centers,

and other research facilities using the

Developmental Test Command's

(DTC) Meteorological Teams (MET

Teams) and United States Army Space

and Missile Defense Command

(SMDC) contractors. DTC operational support is described under Army

Test and Evaluation Command.

SMDC provides weather support to

Kwajalein Missile Range (KMR)

UNITED STATES ARMY

Figure 3-DOD-9. Army Weather Support Architecture.
SECTION 3 DOD 87

through a Meteorological Environmental Test Support contractor.

The Army provides the tactical field

and communications equipment to

USAF CWTs for tactical operations.

The Integrated Meteorological System

(IMETS) is an automated mobile

weather support and communications

system. The Project Director (PD) for

IMETS is under the direction of

Program Manager, Intelligence Fusion.

The Communications and Electronics

Command (CECOM) and Army

Research Laboratory (ARL) provide

fielding and technical support to PD,

IMETS and to Field Artillery meteorology programs. Previously issued

Block I IMETS have been upgraded to

ensure Y2K compliance. Block II

IMETS currently being issued are Y2K

compliant. IMETS fielding continues

in FY 2001.

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 some RC sections currently use the Meteorological

Measuring Set (MMS), AN/TMQ-41,

to take upper air observations during

tactical operations. It is a mobile,

upper air sounding system mounted on

a High Mobility Multipurpose

Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV). The

MMS provides upper air data to the

Field Artillery Tactical Data System

for use in adjusting artillery fire, to

USAF CWTs, and to the Chemical

Officer for use in smoke and in

Nuclear, Biological and Chemical

(NBC) defense operations. The

CECOM section provides a complete

description of MMS. The

Meteorological Data System (MDS),

AN/TMQ-31, replaced by the MMS,

has been reissued to the Army National

Guard (ARNG) and will be used as

long as still supportable. The rest of

the ARNG units will be upgraded to

the MMS and future Profiler systems,

as they become available. The United

States Army Field Artillery School

(USAFAS), Fort Sill, Oklahoma,

develops the requirement documents

and is the combat and training developer for meteorological equipment

used for Field Artillery support.

The Army provides supplemental,

limited surface observations when

required in tactical situations to support Army operations. When directed

by the Intelligence Officer (S2),

Intelligence personnel in the forward

combat areas take these observations.

Headquarters, Department of the

Army, Office of the Deputy Chief of

Staff for Intelligence (ODCSINT) is

responsible for Army weather support

policy. The Office of the Deputy Chief

of Staff for Operations and Plans

(ODCSOPS) is responsible for validating and prioritizing weather support

requirements and programs to meet

Army requirements. The Army Staff

also has a full-time active duty User

Liaison assigned to the National PolarOrbiting Operational Environmental

Satellite System (NPOESS) Integrated

Program Office and an Intelligence

Officer assigned to the Air Force

Weather Agency at Offutt AFB,

Nebraska.

Army Operational Support provided

by the Air Force

Under AR 115-10/AFJI 15-157, the

AF is responsible for providing the

Army with the necessary manpower

and unique tactical and fixed weather

equipment to meet Army tactical and

garrison weather support requirements.

Army support manpower requirements

are sourced from AF active, reserve,

and ANG weather units. While direct

support of the Field Artillery remains

an Army responsibility and is supported by Army ARTYMET teams, AF

CWTs provide supplemental information to artillery crews in contingencies

for areas beyond direct ARTYMET

observation capabilities. The AF

assigns AF weather personnel to the

warfighting MACOMs at theater,

corps, division, armored cavalry regiments, aviation brigades, separate

brigades, and special forces

groups/ranger regiments to provide

direct, on site weather support. AF

weather squadrons and flights provide

garrison and tactical weather warning,

observing, forecasting, special support,

and staff weather officer (SWO) services to Combat, Combat Support, and

Combat Service Support units throughout the peacetime/war continuum.

Peacetime garrison activities include

supporting flying operations at Army

Airfields and severe weather watch,

warning, and advisory services for aircraft and post resource protection. The

AF is responsible for installation, operation, and maintenance of standard AF

meteorological and observing equipment at Army Airfield Weather

Stations (Figure DOD-10). Tactically,

the Army is responsible for vehicles,

Figure 3-DOD-10. Automated

observing equipment deployed to

Kosovo.
88 DOD SECTION 3

tactical communications, and weather

effects criteria. The Army IMETS is

fielded for these purposes and is operated by AF CWTs. The Army also

maintains IMETS hardware and software, with the AF maintaining AF software that performs meteorological

functions within IMETS. IMETS uses

AF meteorological software, but

IMETS is built on an Army vehicle,

uses Army tactical communications

and Army weather effects software.

The Army provides other tactical

equipment to AF CWTs through an

Army Table of Organizations and

Equipment (TOE).

United States Army Space and Missile

Defense Command (USASMDC)

The Space and Missile Defense

Battle Laboratory (SMDBL), a component of USASMDC, conducts experimentation, testing, and integration

activities for the purpose of providing

space based weather products to Army

and joint command and control system

users. In 1999, SMDBL deployed one

Deployable Weather Satellite

Workstation (DWSW) and one operator/trainer in support of the V Corps

Staff Weather Officer at Task Force

Hawk, Tirane, Albania. The DWSW

provided direct downlink of the

Meteosat 7 imagery every 30-minutes

into the SWO shelter. Imagery was

then applied to the Army aviation mission as well as force and asset protection.

The High Energy Laser Systems Test

Facility (HELSTF), a subcommand of

USASMDC located on White Sands

Missile Range, is designated as the

DOD National Test Range for high

energy laser test and evaluation. In

addition to laser systems test and evaluation, extensive use has been made of

on-site laser systems to perform damage and vulnerability testing on laserhardened materials, missile and aircraft components, and assorted battlefield equipment. The atmospheric sciences/meteorological mission is to

support HELSTF activities by providing atmospheric propagation and meteorological measurements, planning,

and analysis as required. These capabilities also support the safe storage,

handling, and use of the toxic laser

fuels.

United States Army Kwajalein Atoll

(USAKA) is a subcommand of USASMDC, which provides operational support to the test facilities at the

Kwajalein Missile Range (KMR). The

KMR meteorological services support

contractor performs meteorological

functions in support of missile operations and for synoptic purposes,

including surface, upper air, and meteorological satellite observations, and

the preparation of daily aviation,

marine and special weather observations for the range.

Army Corps of Engineers Civil

Operational Activities

The Corps of Engineers (COE) uses

a network of about 8,810 land-based

gauges. About 55 percent of the sites

collect meteorological data, 35 percent

a combination of hydrologic and meteorological data, and 10 percent hydrologic or water quality data. The Corps

funds or partially funds 61 percent

(4,500) of all the gauges it used.

Meteorological gauges commonly

measure precipitation and temperature.

All data is 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 600 of meteorological sites. Similarly, COE transfers funds to the United States

Geological Survey to maintain precipitation data collection from 500 sites,

while the COE maintains the rest.

Eight-two percent of all Corps sites

provide real-time data via satellite

microwave meterbursts, landlines, or

radio. Data from all COE networks are

available and used by other federal,

state and local agencies.

Eighth United States Army Support

Eighth United States Army (EUSA)

requires, and uses, Army resources to

conduct two major meteorological

services in direct support of Army

operations: collecting and disseminating upper air observations for artillery

support, and collecting and disseminating limited surface weather observations to support all tactical units and

operations.

Two artillery meteorological

(ARTYMET) crews with the Second

Infantry Division use AN/TMQ-41

Meteorological Measuring Sets to collect upper air observations for direct

use by field artillery units. ARTYMET

crews also collect routine (usually

daily) upper air observations for training; these observations are typically

fed into the global weather database.

Additionally, under the Forward

Area Limited Observing Program

(FALOP), Army personnel use tactical

weather kits to collect limited weather

observations in data sparse, forward

areas. Observations are typically collected by intelligence personnel at

brigade and battalion tactical operations centers (TOC) during contingencies or exercises and, in turn, are disseminated to and through AF weather

teams supporting Army air, ground, or

special operations. These observations

will be used by forecasters at the 607th

Weather Squadron (607 WS) Theater

Forecast Unit (TFU) to accurately predict mission limiting weather in the

DMZ.

The USAF is planning on the purchase of automated COTS observing

systems for eight locations in the area

of the DMZ. Observations from these

systems will be transmitted via phone

lines to pilots, as well as to forecasters

back in the 607WS TFU. They will

also be incorporated into the global

weather database to improve short

term forecasting in the northern ROK.

Army Operational Support Provided
SECTION 3 DOD 89

by USAF

USAF weather personnel assigned

to the 607th Weather Squadron (607

WS) provide fixed and tactical weather support to EUSA units and installations. 607 WS provides garrison and

tactical weather warning, observing,

forecast, special support, and staff

weather officer (SWO) services during

contingency, exercise, or armistice

operations. 607 WS units provide

direct, on-site support at eight EUSA

installations and at deployed locations.

Support is focused on air, ground, special operations, and other combat and

combat support missions. In FY 2000,

the 607 WS reengineered weather support in theater and the 607 WS TFU

took over forecasting responsibilities

for the eight EUSA locations. The

EUSA Cadre Weather Teams will now

be primarily responsible for providing

their customers with observations and

tailored support (Figure 3-DOD-11).

607 WS provides 97 trained weather

personnel and required fixed and tactical weather sensing, data processing,

and communications equipment.

EUSA provides supporting USAF

units needed tactical vehicles, MTOE,

and CTA equipment, and operating

funds (for expendables, maintenance,

etc.).

Training and Doctrine Command

(TRADOC) Programs

HQ TRADOC is responsible for

development and management of training programs, writing Army and Joint

weather support doctrine (concepts and

field manuals), and establishing the

weather requirements documents for

Army tactical weather support equipment. Headquarters, TRADOC is the

approval authority for Army-AF

weather doctrine, Army weather hardware requirements, and weather support policy.

Key mission area for the next few

years will be to coordinate Army

weather support requirements during

Air Force Weather Reengineering and

Army Task Force XXI Advance Army

Warfighting Experiments (AWEs).

Deployed weather support will

improve significantly with the digitization of these experimental Army units.

Customized battlefield weather "visualizations" transmitted via the IMETS

will take the place of the stand-up

weather briefings of the past. The

results of the AWEs will show new tactics, techniques, and procedures for the

exploitation of weather during military

operations. Identified software

enhancements will transition to the

appropriate materiel developer for further integration. Finally, these experiments provide an opportunity to educate Army leaders and their staffs on

the effects of weather on the battlefields of the future. 

The Schools and Battle Laboratories

The United States Army Intelligence

Center and Fort Huachuca

(USAIC&FH) is the functional proponent for Army tactical weather support.

USAIC&FH represents the warfighter

by developing solutions to satisfy

Army weather requirements. In addition, it serves as the proponent for the

"Owning the Weather" (OTW) program - a concept for exploiting weather as a force multiplier on the battlefield. The key component to OTW is

IMETS, which is being fielded by the

Army and operated by Air Force

Combat Weather Teams.

The USAIC&FH Weather Support

Team (WST) advises the USAIC&FH,

ARL, and Air Force Weather (AFW)

on Army weather support issues and

helps develop solutions to meet both

active and reserve forces' requirements. In addition, the WST monitors

weather support training to

Intelligence and AFW personnel supporting the Army (e.g., the Staff

Weather Officer Army Indoctrination

Course), and establishes requirements

documents for weather support equipment.

Over the last year, the WST updated

and expanded a large portion of the

weather effects critical threshold value

database to be incorporated into the

Integrated Weather Effects Decision

Aid (IWEDA). They also played a key

role in the following initiatives: development of a weather module for the

Federation of Intelligence,

Reconnaissance, Surveillance, and

Targeting Operations and Research

Models (FIRESTORM); Joint IWEDA

program; and Joint Target Acquisition

Weather Software (TAWS). The WST

participated in the ongoing Army

Force XXI and AFW Reengineering

process and programs. Finally, they

developed and wrote a new

Operational Requirements Document

(ORD) for IMETS, and developed

concepts for weather support into the

Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

(TUAV), and Brigade Combat Team.

The Staff Weather Officer at the

United States Army Combined Arms

Center facilitates modifications to the

TOE for Army CWTs, and through the

TRADOC System Manager for Army

Battle Command System and Battle

Command Battle Lab-Leavenworth,

provides environmental data for the

Command, Control, Communications,

Computer and Information (C4

I) network. In addition he works in the

White Cells during Army Warfighter

Experiments to ensure weather is representative and accounted for in the

modeled AO.

The United States Army Field

Artillery School (USAFAS), Fort Sill,

Oklahoma, is the proponent for upper

air meteorological support to the

Figure 3-DOD-11. Army CH-47

Transport helicopter.
90 DOD SECTION 3

Army. Artillery meteorological crews,

Active and Reserve, currently use the

AN/TMQ-50 to measure surface

weather parameters, and the

AN/TMQ-41 Meteorological

Measuring Set (MMS) to take upper

air observations. The MMS provides

weather data to the Field Artillery

Tactical Data System for ballistic calculations; to USAF CWTs for weather

forecasting; and to the Chemical

Officer for obscurant deployment, and

Nuclear, Biological, Chemical (NBC)

defense operations. We will be working with USAFAS to ensure that these

surface and upper air observations are

shipped back to weather centrals where

they can be ingested in to our newest

mesoscale models.

The Engineer School (USAES), Fort

Leonard Wood, Missouri, coordinates

weather support requirements for

Terrain Analysis and Topographic

Engineering. USAES develops methods of measuring and forecasting state

of the ground for trafficability assessments using input weather data fields.

Their mission also includes identifying

and documenting requirements to

interface meteorological and engineer

battlefield systems. Due to force cuts,

USAES no longer has a full time civilian meteorologist in the Terrain

Visualization Center, DCD.

(Operating Location B, 3rd Weather

Squadron, USAF, provides weather

observation services at Forney Army

Airfield, Fort Leonard Wood,

Missouri. OL-B is included in this

report only to the extent that Fort

Leonard Wood provides funding for its

expendables and overhead.)

The Army Military Police and

Chemical Schools now reside at

Ft Leonard Wood. Neither currently

employ staff meteorologists.

The Aviation Center at Ft Rucker

incorporates weather instruction and

procedures into rotor-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. 

The weather units at Ft Benning, Ft

Knox, and Ft Huachuca provide airfield observing and forecast support to

their respective Army posts.

United States Army Special Operations

Command (USASOC)

Weather support to USASOC provides for planning, command decision,

and mission execution weather forecasts and observations to improve efficiency, effectiveness, and safety of

operations for USASOC units.

USASOC personnel provide limited

meteorological observation services in

direct support of Army operations

using tactical weather kits to collect

limited weather observations in data

sparse, permissive and non-permissive

environments. Observations are typically collected by Army Special

Operations Forces at the team level

and are passed to operating bases for

use by Army commanders and staff, as

well as USAF SOWT personnel.

USAF weather personnel supporting

USASOC are assigned to the 10 CWS.

The 10 CWS provides garrison and

tactical weather support to USASOC

units including the 75th Ranger

Regiment and three subordinate

Battalions, the 160th Special

Operations Aviation Regiment and

three subordinate battalions, and five

Special Forces Groups and their subordinate battalions. Weather support

encompasses climatological information, mission forecasts, command decision forecasts, aviation forecasts and

observations, drop zone forecasts and

observations, special reconnaissance,

and Foreign Internal

Defense/Unconventional Warfare. The

10 CWS also provides staff support to

USASOC, the United States Special

Forces Command, and the United

States Army John F. Kennedy Special

Warfare Center and School. USASOC

provides supporting USAF units with

required tactical vehicles, communications equipment, tactical equipment,

and operating funds (for expendables,

maintenance, etc.).

USAREUR/7th Army

United States Army Europe

(USAREUR) and 7th Army require and

use Army resources to conduct meteorological services in direct support of

Army operations. These services

include collecting and disseminating

upper air observations for artillery support and collecting and disseminating

limited surface weather observations to

support all tactical units and operations.

7th Weather Squadron provides

USAREUR/7th Army in-garrison and

tactical weather intelligence and support. This includes observing services

for in-garrison, contingency and exercise operations, staff weather officer

(SWO) services as well as special support. The Operational Weather

Squadron (OWS) at Sembach AB provides operational-level forecast products for the EUCOM AOR, to include

all USAREUR units. Combat weather

flights evaluate and tailor these forecast products to produce mission execution forecasts.

The Automated Meteorological

Information System (AMIS) is the primary in-garrison weather equipment

for receiving graphics and alphanumeric data. Data is received via VSAT

and hard-wire circuits. The New

Tactical Forecast System (NTFS) is the

primary equipment used for deployed

locations with data received via NIPRNET and SIPRNET. Units also use the

NATO Automated Meteorological

Information System (NAMIS) to

receive NATO generated weather

products. NAMIS software is hosted

on a laptop and receives data via

VSAT. Satellite imagery (METEOSAT

and DMSP) is received via the Small
SECTION 3 DOD 91

Tactical Terminal (STT). Five IMETS

have been fielded within USAREUR.

Two Portable Automated Observing

Systems (PASOS) and a Tactical

Weather Radar (TWR) are deployed to

Task Force Falcon (TFF), Kosovo,

with two additional PASOSs scheduled

to be deployed in the near future.

USAREUR provides supporting

USAF units 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

FALOP consists of Army personnel

taking limited observations at forward

areas in the battlespace.

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 COE and the Army Materiel

Command (AMC) are the major contributors to weather research. The

Medical Research and Development

Command does research related to soldiers performance in the range of

weather conditions expected to be

encountered in all theaters of operations.

Corps of Engineers

The Corps of Engineers (COE)

Engineer Research and Development

Center (ERDC) performs military

engineering and civil works research

through its seven laboratories at 4 geographic sites (Champaign, Illinois, Fort

Belvoir, Virginia, Hanover, New

Hampshire, and Vicksburg,

Mississippi). The ERDC manages the

Military Engineering research program

addressing a wide range of topographic and combat engineering future operational capabilities (FOCs). The

ERDC also is responsible for reviewing all emerging Army systems for

environmental effects, as stated in

AR 70-1. Many of the tactical decision

aids (TDAs) developed within the military engineering program interpret the

impact of weather and terrain conditions on Army systems and operations.

They are based on weather and terrain

limitations, known as critical values.

Critical values define system limitations and are used by decision-makers

to take advantage over opposing

forces. Technology advancements are

transitioned to terrain and weather systems such as the IMETS, the Digital

Topographic Support System (DTSS),

the Army Tactical Command and

Control System (ATCCS). The COE

Topographic Engineering Center

(TEC), Fort Belvoir, Virginia, provides

basic and applied environmental support to Army R&D programs and coordinates the development of TDAs

relating to environmental effects on

combat systems, operations, and personnel. This support includes the

development of: (1) environmental

effects databases and models that are

relevant to military plans, operations

and the acquisition communities;

(2) models and techniques to assist in

the generation of proxy environmental

information (climate and terrain) for

data sparse areas and the integration of

models to enable the spreading of this

information spatially over map backgrounds; and (3) integrated software

modules that are designed to be

exploited in the synthetic environment

arena and techniques to portray natural

and induced battlefield environments,

thus enhancing computerized battle

simulations. TEC also contributes to

the development of policies and procedures for the consideration of realistic

natural environmental conditions for

application in the materiel acquisition

process. The Cold Regions Research

and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL),

Hanover, New Hampshire, conducts

research in sensor signal interaction

with snow, ice, and frozen soil, icing

accretion on surfaces and structures,

deicing technologies, and cold regions

surface-air boundary process. CRREL

develops databases and models predicting infrared and millimeter wave

weapon system performance, and the

capability of technology to enhance

military operations in cold environments. Other specific programs

include weather effects on environmental research for military training

lands, helicopter pre-flight deicing and

airborne icing avoidance, remote sensing for predicting snow coverage and

snow-water equivalence for snow melt

runoff, and modeling winter effects for

input into Army operational and training models and simulations

(Figure 3-DOD-12).

Army Materiel Command

The Army Materiel Command

(AMC) is responsible for the design,

development, test, and evaluation of

equipment to satisfy requirements for

meteorological support equipment.

AMC provides climatological and

meteorological support to RDTE projects involving electro-optics and

obscurants. It is also responsible for

determining weather effects critical

threshold values and environmental

sensitivities of battlefield systems.

AMC has several subcommands and

elements carrying out weather research

and development responsibilities.

The ARL Battlefield Environment

(BE) Division is the lead DOD agency

for research and development in the

Figure 3-DOD-12. CRREL research

supports Armys worldwide need for

trafficability studies and data.
92 DOD SECTION 3

portion of the atmosphere unique to the

Army warfighter's battlespace--the

planetary boundary layer. BE's mission is to provide the technology and

tools (1) for the Warfighter to exploit

weather on the battlefield, (2) for the

Commander to avoid exposing the

Soldier to environmental hazards, and

(3) for the Materiel Developer to minimize system weather impacts, supplying atmospheric effects information.

The joint Army/AF OTW initiative

will provide knowledge of current and

forecast battlefield environment conditions, along with their effects on systems, soldiers, operations, and tactics,

to contribute to the Army's decisive

advantage over its opponents. Within

the DOD, BE is the lead agency for

multi-service R&D programs in transport and dispersion modeling, boundary layer meteorology over land, and

mobile atmospheric profiling. In addition, BE contributes to tri-service goals

in the areas of theater data fusion and

predictions, boundary layer processes,

and atmospheric effects. The BE program is driven by the Army's need for

meteorological information at smaller

scales than used by either the AF,

Navy, or civilian community, and over

data-sparse geographic regions. While

the AF provides the Army with is basic

tactical weather support, the Army provides technology to support such service-unique requirements, and Army

systems, as well as distributing this

weather intelligence information to the

Army Battle Command Systems

(ABCS) on the battlefield.

The Army has begun an active re-programming to respond to the new AF

Weather Re-Engineering initiatives, and

will work to ensure the ongoing success

of the Army weather intelligence technology. BE continues to develop and

provide the software tools for the Army's

IMETS and works with the AF Weather

Agency and Combat Weather Center to

make IMETS an integral part of the total

battlefield weather support mission.

The BE Division within the ARL

Information Science and Technology

Directorate, consists of four Branches,

two each at the ARL primary site at

Adelphi, Maryland, and the White

Sand Missile Range, New Mexico.

The Adelphi, Maryland, Branches specialize in a basic research program,

while the WSMR Branches support an

applied research development program

for Army tactical applications. BE

opened an experimental site at

Blossom Point, Maryland, in mid1998, in a complex littoral region on

the north shore of the Potomac River,

and will conduct field experiments in

electro-optic and acoustic propagation,

as well as test weather modeling tools. 

At the Adelphi Laboratory Center

(ALC) in Maryland the two branches

are (1) the Atmospheric Acoustics and

Electro-Optics (A&EO) Propagation

Branch and the (2) the Boundary Layer

Meteorology and Aerosol Research

Branch (BLM&AR). The A&EO

Branch provides basic research in the

modeling and simulation of environmental effects on acoustic and electrooptics propagation, and laboratory and

field experimental research into environmental effects on acoustic and electro-optic propagation and the mitigation of those effects. The BLM&AR

Branch conducts a research program in

the micrometeorological processes and

structure of the atmospheric boundary

layer. This program focuses on the

interaction of the land-air interface

with wind fields, turbulence, and fluxes and on optical methods of detection

of aerosols (primarily chemical-biological agents) and the modeling of

their transport and dispersion in the

tactical environment.

The Weather Exploitation Branch,

Battlefield Environment Division's

R&D efforts involve several areas.

They address tactical weather data

assimilation and distribution, to

include exploitation of commercial and

military satellite technology to move

meteorological data to the battlefield

Tactical Operations Centers and

between echelons. They generate gridded meteorological databases to support C4

I systems, mission planning and

rehearsal, and integrate weather forecast analysis tools to identify the location and timing of hazardous and significant weather at small scales in the

boundary layer. They develop rulebased tactical decision aids for impacts

of weather on military systems, platforms, and operations. And, they integrate physics based weather effects

models and meteorological satellite

analysis algorithms with weather data

visualization tools for improved mission planning and situation awareness.

As part of the tactical weather product

development, the branch also performs

the following: configuration management and validation of new products;

improvements through end-user feedback from Advanced Warfighting

Experiments, TRADOC Concept

Experimentation Programs, and integration at the Army's Central Technical

Support Facility at Ft. Hood; and

delivery of software for integration

into IMETS. The IMETS integration

includes tactical weather overlays,

databases of dynamic gridded weather

parameters, weather effects decision

aids, and weather data visualization

tools, all of which can be executed in

the field using Common

Hardware/Software and Common

Operating Environments. 

BE develops the weather application

software for IMETS that is part of the

Army's effort to Digitize the

Battlefield and will provide weather

capabilities in the Army's First

Digitized Division (FDD) in FY 2000

and the First Digitized Corps in

FY 2001. From FY 1997 to the present, BE has successfully used the

Army's Task Force XXI AWE's to evaluate and improve its delivered IMETS

Block I and Block II software. In

FY 1999 and FY 2000 the BE/IMETS

tactical weather applications were

being upgraded and delivered for integration to the other C4

I tactical systems
SECTION 3 DOD 93

operating under the Army Battle

Command System, version 5.0

(ABCS 5.0) (Figure 3-DOD-13).

These IMETS applications incorporate

significant changes in the sharing of

data between Battlefield Functional

Areas by exploiting client/server relationships and the IMETS Gridded

Meteorological Database. The weather overlays are converted to use the

Joint Mapping Tool Kit (JMTK) software for map overlays. And the initial

integration of AF Weather Re-engineering includes passing meteorological data and products from AF central

hub sites to the Army battlefield TOC's

using WMO data standards such as

GRIB and BUFR. The weather impact

rules and critical values for the BEdeveloped IWEDA are being assembled jointly across the services to provide a common rule-base for weather

impact decision aids.

The Army Research Office (ARO),

Research Triangle Park, North

Carolina, manages the Army's extramural basic research program in the

atmospheric sciences. These programs

are concerned with understanding the

dynamics and kinematics processes of

the atmospheric boundary layer at

scales of interest to the Army (millimeters to 10's of kilometers) through

measurements, simulations, and theoretical considerations. The basic

research program is conducted through

the peer-reviewed, individual investigator program and occasional special

initiatives. The focus of the research is

on the atmospheric processes and

effects of the atmospheric boundary

layer where the Army operates.

Objectives of the research are to develop, from first principles, the physical

basis for understanding the boundary

layer processes, thereby leading to better understanding of atmospheric

effects on soldiers, materials, and

weapon systems. The research examines dispersion of battlefield materials,

the effects of heterogeneous terrain

features on airflow, and the development of natural obscurations throughout the diurnal cycle. An essential element of the research is the development of instrumentation to measure the

volumetric fields of wind velocity,

temperature, and moisture of the

boundary layer at turbulence time

scales. Other areas of special funding

are also managed. The Defense

University Research and

Instrumentation Program (DURIP)

provides funds for instrumentation

needed to support ongoing research

activities. The Defense Experimental

Program to Stimulate Competitive

Research (EPSCoR) participation is a

competition restricted to universities in

certain states that compete for additional basic research funds. Also basic

research under the Small Business

Innovative Research Program (SBIR)

is managed for selected topics. At the

Army Research Office, funding for

basic research remains relatively static.

Increased funding will come if special

program initiatives or requests are

approved. The primary focus will be

on analysis and understanding of data

taken in a recent field study of the stable boundary layer.

The CECOM Intelligence and

Electronic Warfare (IEW) Directorate

(Dir), Fort Monmouth, New Jersey,

assists the CECOM level II manager

and other internal organizations in

developing and fielding weather support systems; and helps both the

Program Manager, Intelligence Fusion

and Program Manager, Night

Vision/Reconnaissance, Surveillance,

and Target Acquisition with technical

management of weather programs.

Current programs supported are the

MMS, the Profiler (MMS-P), and

IMETS. A brief description of each of

these programs shows IEW Dir's

involvement and supplements earlier

discussions under the other MACOMs.

Meteorological Measuring Set (MMS),

AN/TMQ-41.

The National Guard is being modernized through the purchase 40

MMS's beginning in FY 1999 and continuing through FY 2002. This will be

the final Army buy of the MMS. The

Intelligence and Information Warfare

Directorate (I2

WD) is providing technical support to the system manager

(CECOM Logistics and Readiness

Center) for this effort. All Active

Army units have been fielded. 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). The contractor,

Environmental Technologies Group

(ETG), has previously built 42 systems

for the Army and National Guard, 21

systems for the Marines, and 11 systems for Foreign Military Sales (10 for

Canada, 1 for Bahrain). An FY 1999

contract bought 16 systems for NG

units and 7 for Egypt. These systems

were delivered in FY 2000 and fielded

in FY 2000 and FY 2001. Additional

NG systems are planned for FY 2001

and FY 2002.

Meteorological Measuring Set-Profiler

(MMS-P) System

The Meteorological Measurement

Set-Profiler (MMS-P) is a major

improvement over the MMS. It will

provide new capabilities to determine

target area MET. The MMS-P will

provide the Field Artillery with modernized and enhanced data collection

and automated analysis of current

weather conditions along the trajectory

and in the target area. The system will

consist of a suite of sensors and associFigure 3-DOD-13. Armys Owning

the Weather initiative will enable

combat units to use weather as a force

multiplier.
94 DOD SECTION 3

ated software models, which provide

information along the trajectory or at a

point where the munition is expected

to engage a target. Weather information will be generated by a mesoscale

atmospheric software model that will

provide updates every 30 minutes.

Modeling will be transparent to the

operator. Profiler will be a replacement to the MMS. It will interface

with Fire Support systems and IMETS.

CECOM is providing technical assistance to PM, NV/RSTA on the program. The current plan is to procure

four Engineering and Manufacturing

Development (EMD) models in

FY 2000, with testing and a production

decision scheduled for FY 2002.

Integrated Meteorological System

AN/TMQ-40B

The IMETS is the weather component of the Intelligence Electronic

Warfare (IEW) sub-element of the

Army Battle Command System

(ABCS). The IMETS provides commanders at all echelons with an automated tactical weather system that

receives, processes, and disseminates

weather observations, forecasts, battlefield visualization, and weather effects

decision aids to all Army Tactical

Command and Control System

(ATCCS) Battlefield Functional Areas

(BFAs). IMETS receives weather

information from polar-orbiting civilian and defense meteorological satellites, civilian forecast centers, the Air

Force Weather Agency, artillery meteorological sections and remote sensors.

IMETS processes and collates forecasts, observations, and climatological

data to produce timely and accurate

weather products tailored to the specific warfighter's needs. The most significant weather and environmental support to warfighters are the automated

tactical decision aids. These graphics

display the impact of the weather on

current or planned operations for both

friendly and enemy forces. The

warfighter can thus more effectively

employ his forces and weapons systems to achieve success in battle.

FY 2000 and FY 2001 efforts will

focus on completing fielding of the

AN/TMQ-40B version systems.

FY 2000 efforts will also include

developing support documentation to

achieve a Milestone III decision for the

IMETS Light Configuration system

currently scheduled for 4th Quarter of

FY 2001. The Light Configuration

system is one of the three different

configurations called for by the

Operational Requirements Document

(ORD). The ORD is expected to be

approved in 3rd Quarter of FY 2000.

Army Test and Evaluation Command

Developmental Test Command

(DTC), (formerly under Army Materiel

Command), providing operational support to 9 ranges and test sites with

MET Teams. Under responsibilities

established in Army Regulation

115-10/AF Joint Instruction 15-157,

the DTC MET Teams provide weather

support and atmospheric characterization to Army RDTE. MET Teams provide atmospheric data collection,

analysis, consultation, warning, and

forecast services for Army and other

DOD RDTE. MET Team FY 1999

funding has been level for 4 years following several years of decline, using a

combination of both programmed

funds and users funding. This enables

DTC to continue basic meteorological

support at Army RDTE ranges and

sites, but meteorological instrumentation will be acquired through Army

technical development resources or

through direct funding from RDTE

projects for test specific or unique

requirements. DTC MET Atmospheric

Sciences Team has a 5-year effort with

the National Center for Atmospheric

Research (NCAR) to greatly improve

"range scale" (mesoscale to

microscale), forecasting and analysis

technology. Using the MM5 model as

a base, this Four Dimensional Weather

(4DWX) System (Figure 3-DOD-14)

will present both real-time and forecast

three dimensional pictures of the MET

and other atmospheric characterization

parameters in, around, and up to 50K ft

over the Army's test ranges. The

4DWX system will provide improved

test scheduling, more accurate placement of sensors during a test, more

Figure 3-DOD-14. Topographic altitude contour and GOES-Vis Albedo plot

from Armys 4 Dimensional Weather System--4DWX.
SECTION 3 DOD 95

cost-effective measurements, data sets

and algorithms for virtual testing, and

instantaneous forensic analysis (instant

replay) of the conditions that occurred

during the test.

In addition to RDTE support, the

Dugway Meteorology and Obscurants

Division's Modeling and Assessment

Branch provides the following specialized services: (1) atmospheric model

verification and validation, to include

algorithm evaluation and the generation of validation data sets, (2) chemical/biological threat analysis, detection, and decontamination tests and

studies through the Joint Contact Point

(Project DO49), and (3) prototype

development of virtual proving ground

meteorological support. Division

members also serve on various national and international committees

addressing issues related to meteorological measurements and atmospheric

dispersion modeling. 

Medical Research and Materiel

Command

The United States Army Research

Institute of Environmental Medicine

(USARIEM) conducts basic and

applied research on the effects of heat,

cold, high terrestrial altitude, and nutritional status on the health and performance of individual soldiers and combat

crews operating Army systems.

Applied research in thermal physiology and biophysical modeling are

directed toward improving soldier performance and minimizing health risks

in climatic extremes. The sensitivity

of the soldier to local weather parameters (primarily ambient temperature,

dew point, wind speed, and solar radiation) defines an operational envelope

for unimpaired human performance.

The overall goals of USARIEM's

weather-related research programs are

to develop methods to effectively monitor and, where possible, extend the

operational envelope for both training

and operational scenarios.

Weather related research efforts

include the development and validation of automated methods to integrate

thermal strain prediction models with

real-time weather information

resources relevant to dismounted

infantry operations. Temporal and spatial scales of interest are meters to

kilometers and minutes to several

days.

The environmental heat stress monitor (HSM), a pocket-sized electronic

device, combines the USARIEM heat

strain prediction model with a miniaturized sensor suite to measure air temperature, humidity, wind speed, solar

radiation, and barometric pressure.

This device provides tailored local

guidance on optimal work/rest cycle

limits, safe work time, and hourly

drinking water needs for a wide range

of clothing types and work categories. 

The Operational Medicine

Environmental Grid Applications

(OMEGA- Formerly MERCURY) test

bed is an automated heat and cold

injury risk assessment system for battle-scale regions (up to 200 X 200 kilometers). It combines digital terrain

data and real-time weather information

with physiologically-based thermal

strain prediction models and displays

prevailing risk as color-coded map

overlays. This research tool has been

operating continuously since June

1996 at USARIEM and the Army

Ranger training facilities at Eglin Air

Force Base in Florida. OMEGA provides a robust, extensible platform for

evaluating thermal strain prediction

model performance prior to their transition to operational systems such as

IMETS.

As part of the Warfighter

Physiological Status Monitoring

(WPSM) program at USARIEM, technologies to support access and fusion

of real-time local environmental sensor

data with individual warfighter physiological sensor data are being investigated. The effective fusion of these

two real-time data streams would

enable physiological and performance

status prediction capability for individual warfighters. A Small Business

Innovative Research (SBIR) project to

design and build a very small wireless

network-capable, expendable, microenvironmental sensing system has

been initiated and the feasibility of onbody environmental sensors is also

being investigated.
AVIATION WEATHER MANAGEMENT

The Federal Aviation Administration

(FAA) has the leadership role for the

national aviation weather Program.

The FAA focus for Aviation Weather

has been to promote safety first, then

improve the National Airspace System

(NAS) efficiency to promote reductions in the delays and re-routing due

to weather. The Administrator has

launched The Safer Skies, A Focused

Safety Agenda, which includes special

analysis teams to document the series

of events leading to documented accidents, and other teams to develop

intervention actions to eliminate or

reduce the causes in the decision making process. 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 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 Aviation Weather

Directorate (ARW) in the Air Traffic

System Requirements Service (ARS)

has the responsibility to guide all initiatives through the AMS process and

organization, including the Integrated

Requirements Team, the Integrated

Product Team and the Decision

Boards; to assure the development

continues to meet the original need;

and to guide the activity should the

need be evolving. ARW has added

improvements to the AMS process

whereby non-system (i.e. service

improvement or rule changes) solutions will receive the same rigorous

evaluation and validation.

FAA has been focusing on four major

areas for aviation weather services.

This focus has provided some immediate benefits and, more importantly, will

strengthen the foundation for future

NAS services.

Roles and Responsibilities. The successful execution of a national aviation

weather program is first dependent

upon an explicit and mutually understood definition and acceptance of

roles and responsibilities both within

and outside of the FAA. The execution

of these roles and responsibilities have

been enhanced by the chartering and

complete staffing of the ARW, clarifying FAA lines of business, and completing intra-agency and interagency

plans.

FAA relies on other federal agencies

for weather services and support, especially NOAA's National Weather

Service (NWS) and its Aviation

Weather Center. Requirements validated by FAA for domestic and

International Civil Aviation

Organization (ICAO) users are coordinated annually and supported through

the agencies and contractual arrangements. These partnerships are documented through the publishing of two

documents--The National Aviation

Weather Program Strategic Plan and

The National Aviation Weather

Initiatives. Each document was fully

coordinated through the agencies and

industry.

Training. Aviation weather information, which is complex and highly perishable, is most useful when customers

can successfully plan, act, and respond

in ways that avoid accidents and

delays. FAA will improve the ability

of the aviation community to use

weather information through a review

and upgrade of airmen training and

certification programs. FAA will also

develop multimedia training tools to

support aviation safety and training

initiatives. Funding has been requested to further this effort.

Technology. Aviation weather technology includes the ways in which aviation weather information is gathered,

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

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 United States Coast Guard (USCG)

meteorological activities include the taking, collection, and transmission of marine and coastal weather warnings and

observations; deployment and maintenance of offshore environmental monitoring buoys; and the operation of longrange radionavigation networks.

FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION

SECTION 3 DOT 97
98 DOT SECTION 3

aviation weather information through

integration of federal and non-federal

resources. Automation, improved

product generation, and dissemination

to the cockpit offer early opportunities.

Investment Strategies. Sound investment strategies are characterized by

the integration of many activities, primarily those of identifying, planning,

and evaluating. FAA has developed a

sound investment strategy for a national

aviation weather program that:

 Communicates the aviation weather

objectives.

 Describes where the FAAwants to be.

 Considers all FAA and non-FAA

funding for aviation weather that

contributes to NAS performance.

 Develops and uses metrics that provide information on the performance of the national aviation weather

program.

AVIATION WEATHER ACQUISITION AND SERVICES

One of the primary functions of the

new organization is the development

and management of requirements for

the FAA Capital Investment Plan.

Recent projects 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 those projects.

Terminal Aviation Weather Programs

The Integrated Terminal Weather

System (ITWS) will integrate weather

data from sensors in the terminal area

to provide and display compatible,

consistent, real-time products that

require no additional interpretation by

controllers or pilots--the primary users.

ITWS will use data from automated

surface observing systems, Doppler

weather radars, and low-level windshear alert systems, together with

NWS data and products, to forecast

aviation impact parameters, such as

convection, visibility, icing, and wind

shear, including down bursts. Initial

capabilities will include sensors available now through the early years of the

21st Century. The development is now

in the demonstration phase at several

airports in various climatic regimes.

There will be 34 ITWSs which will

provide displays at 46 high activity airports that are supported by terminal

Doppler weather radars. Full production is expected by the end of calendar

year (CY) 2001 (Figure 3-DOT-1).

The Terminal Doppler Weather

Radar (TDWR) program consists of

the procurement and installation of a

new terminal weather radar based on

Doppler techniques. TDWR units will

be located to optimize the detection of

microbursts and wind shear at selected

high activity airports. In addition, it

will have the capability to identify

areas of precipitation and the locations

of thunderstorms (Figure 3-DOT-2).

Microbursts are weather phenomenon that consist of an intense down

draft with strong surface outflows.

They are particularly dangerous to aircraft that are landing or departing.

TDWR scanning strategy will be optimized for microburst/windshear detection. The radar will be located near the

airport operating areas in a way to best

scan the runways as well as the

approach and departure corridors. The

displays will be located in the tower

cab and Terminal Radar Approach

Control (TRACON).

FAA has 41 TDWR systems commissioned and the remaining 4 systems

will be commissioned by the end of

CY 2002. A software upgrade which

integrates TDWR and low level wind

shear alert system data has been integrated at 9 high traffic/high weather

threat airports

The Low Level Wind Shear Alert

System (LLWAS) provides pilots with

information on hazardous wind shear

conditions 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 or more

sensors near the periphery of the airport (Figure 3-DOT-3). A computer

Figure 3-DOT-1. The ITWS will integrate data from FAA and NWS sensors

and systems to provide a suite of weather informational products.
SECTION 3 DOT 99

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 LLWASRelocation/Sustainment (LLWAS-RS),

will include expanding the network of

sensors, developing improved algorithms for the expanded network, and

installing new information/alert displays. The new information/alert displays will enable controllers to provide

pilots with head wind gain or loss estimates for specific runways. These

improvements will increase the system's wind shear detection capability

and reduce false alarms.

Improvements are also expected to

reduce maintenance costs. Forty

LLWASRS are scheduled to be

deployed by CY 2001.

The Weather Systems Processor

(WSP) program will provide 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 windshear events will provide information

for controllers and pilots to help aircraft avoid those hazards. A prototype

has been demonstrated and limited

production has commenced. Full production deliveries are expected to be

completed in 2002.

The Terminal Weather Information

for Pilots (TWIP) program provides

text message descriptions and character graphic depiction of potentially

hazardous weather conditions in the

terminal area of airports with installed

TDWR systems. TWIP provides pilots

with information on regions of moderate to heavy precipitation, gust fronts

and microburst conditions. The TWIP

capability is incorporated in the

TDWR software application. Text

messages or character graphic depiction are received in the cockpit through

the Aeronautical Radio Incorporated

(ARINC) Communication Addressing

and Reporting System (ACARS) data

link system. A total of 45 TDWR systems will be deployed with 41 of those

currently installed and commissioned.

The TWIP capability is operational at

31 of the TDWR sites. Activation of

TWIP at the remaining sites is dependent on availability of NADIN II connectivity and program funding.

During FY 2000, the FAA Airborne

Flight Information System (FIS)

Policy will be implemented through

Government-Industry Project Performance Agreements (G-IPPAs) with two

industry FIS data link service

providers (ARNAV Systems, Inc. and

Honeywell International, Inc.).

Through the government-industry

agreements, the FAA provides access

to four VHF channels (136.425-

136.500) in the aeronautical spectrum

while industry provides the ground

infrastructure for data link broadcasts

of text and graphic FIS products at no

cost to the FAA. Under the agreements, a basic set of text products are

provided at no fee to the pilot users

while industry may charge subscription fees for other value-added text and

graphic products.

The FAA FIS data link program will

continue development of necessary

standards and guidelines supporting

inter-operability and operational use.

In addition, the need and feasibility for

Figure 3-DOT-2. FAA Terminal Doppler Weather Radars provide supplementary wind and precipitation conditions for airport approach and departure. 
100 DOT SECTION 3

establishing a national capability for

collecting and distributing electronic

pilot reports (E-PIREPs) from low-altitude general aviation operations will

be evaluated. Also, in FY 2001 a concept analysis will be initiated to define

the need for transition and evolution of

FIS data link services supporting the

future NAS architecture including Free

Flight operations.

Surface Weather Observing Program

The FAA has taken responsibility for

aviation weather observations at many

airports across the country. To provide

the appropriate observational service,

FAA is using automated systems,

human observers, or a mix of the two.

It has been necessary to place airports

into four categories according to the

number of operations per year, any

special designation for the airport, and

the frequency at which the airport is

impacted by weather.

 Level D service is provided by a

stand-alone Automated Weather

Observing System (AWOS) or an

Automated Surface Observing

System (ASOS). In the future,

Level D service may be available at

as many as 400 airports.

 Level C service includes the

ASOS/AWOS plus augmentation

by tower personnel. Tower personnel will add to the report observations of thunderstorms, tornadoes,

hail, tower visibility, volcanic ash,

and virga when the tower is in operation. Level C service includes

about 250 airports.

 Level B service includes all of the

weather parameters in Level C

service plus Runway Visual Range

(RVR) and the following parameters when observed--freezing drizzle versus freezing rain, ice pellets,

snow depth and 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.

FAA has deployed Automated

Weather Observing Systems (AWOS)

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 realtime 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-theshelf as a commercial product.

The FAA has negotiated with the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration (NOAA) to procure,

install, operate, and maintain

Automated Surface Observing

Systems (ASOS) at the remaining airports where the FAA provides observations and at additional non-towered

airports without weather reporting

capabilities. A production contract

was awarded in February 1991. The

FAA has 568 systems installed and will

have all commissioned by end

CY 2000.

In a new program, funds were made

available for 31 Aviation Weather

Sensor Systems (AWSS). While they

will have capability similar to ASOS,

the AWSS is a direct acquisition of the

FAA and not from the joint program.

Full production will begin in FY 2001

with commissioning completed in

FY 2002.

The AWOS/ASOS Data Acquisition

System (ADAS) will function primarily as a message concentrator and will

collect weather messages from AWOS

and ASOS equipment located at controlled and non-controlled airports

Figure 3-DOT-3. Artists drawing of LLWAS tower positions on an airfield.
SECTION 3 DOT 101

within each air route traffic control

center's (ARTCC) area of responsibility. ADAS will distribute minute-byminute AWOS/ASOS data to the

Weather and Radar Processor (WARP)

within the air route traffic control center in which it is installed. ADAS will

also distribute AWOS data to the

National Airspace Data Interchange

Network (NADIN) which will in turn

forward the data to Weather Message

Switching Center Replacement

(WMSCR) for further distribution.

Field implementation of ADAS has

been completed.

Automated Lightning Detection and

Reporting System (ALDARS).

ALDARS is a system adjunct to the

ADAS. It 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.

Stand Alone Weather Sensors. These

sensors are planned to be back-up for

some AWOS/ASOS sensors at locations where no other back-up capability is available. Full delivery is expected by CY 2001. 

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 currently five versions of

the non-Federal AWOS. An AWOS-A

provides only altimeter setting. The

AWOS I system contains sensors to

measure wind direction and speed,

ambient and dew point temperatures,

altimeter setting, and density altitude.

The AWOS II contains the AWOS I

sensors plus a visibility sensor; AWOS

III adds a cloud height sensor to an

AWOS II. AWOS IV will include

AWOS III capabilities plus the option

for precipitation identification, thunderstorm detection, and runway surface condition. Most importantly, all

versions are required to have the capability to broadcast a minute-by-minute

update of the current weather to the

pilot by radio, using a computer-generated voice output. AWOS III also

enables the pilot, as part of their preflight activities, to call the AWOS and

obtain the current weather observation.

In addition, the observation may be

transmitted to the database within the

national weather network.

There are more than 275 non-Federal

AWOS locations. Some of these are

capable of reporting through a geostationary communications satellite;

many more will acquire that capability

during the year. These observations

will be entered into the national network for use in support of the NAS and

the national weather network.

The New Generation Runway Visual

Range (RVR) program provides for a

new generation RVR sub-element of

the NAS. The RVR provides runway

visual range information to controllers

and users in support of precision landing and takeoff operations. The new

generation RVR incorporates state-ofthe-art sensor technology and embedded remote maintenance monitoring.

FAA plans to procure and install these

RVR systems at all new qualifying

locations. FAA plans also call for the

replacement of many existing RVRs in

the NAS inventory.

The RVR provides for near real-time

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

RVR products and distributes the products to controllers and other users. 

A total of 528 RVR visibility sensors

will be deployed at 264 airports.

Delivery of the new RVR sensors

began in November 1998. Sixty new

RVRs have been fielded with the rest

expected by the end of CY 2001.

Enhancements are planned to interface

with the control tower and the ASOS

by mid 2000.

En Route Aviation Weather Programs

The FAA is procuring the

Operational and Supportability

Implementation System (OASIS) to

improve weather products, flight information, aeronautical data collection,

analysis, and timeliness of dissemination and, thereby, enhance the safety

and efficiency of the NAS. OASIS

will replace the Model-1 Full Capacity

Flight Service Automation System,

which includes the Aviation Weather

Processor. OASIS will also integrate

the Interim Graphic Weather Display

System functions and include several

automated flight service data handling

capabilities. This configuration will be

its initial deployment capability.

Operational testing began in 1999; full

deployment will commence in

FY 2001.
102 DOT SECTION 3

Future enhancements leading to the

full capability deployment will

include: interactive alphanumeric and

graphic weather briefings, direct user

access terminal (DUAT) service functionality, automated special use airspace, and training support. OASIS

will support flight planning, weather

briefings, NOTAM service, search and

rescue, and pilot access terminal services.

The Next Generation Weather Radar

(NEXRAD), known operationally as

the Weather Surveillance Radar-1988

Doppler (WSR-88D), is a multiagency program that defined, developed, and implemented the new weather radar. Field implementation began

in 1990 and was completed in 1996.

There are a total of 161 WSR-88D systems deployed. The FAA sponsored 12

systems in Alaska, Hawaii, and the

Caribbean. DOC and DOD

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 will reduce flight

delays and improve flight planning

services through aviation weather

products related to wind, wind shear,

thunderstorm detection, storm movement prediction, precipitation, hail,

frontal activity, and mesocyclones and

tornadoes. WSR-88D data provided to

ATC through the WARP will increase

aviation safety and fuel efficiency.

In addition, the three funding agencies support the field sites through the

WSR-88D Operational Support

Facility (OSF) at Norman, Oklahoma.

The OSF provides software maintenance, operational troubleshooting,

configuration control, and training.

Planned product improvements

include a shift to an open architecture

and the development of more algorithms associated with specific weather events, such as hurricanes.

The Air Route Surveillance Radar

(ARSR-4) provides the ARTCCs with

accurate multiple weather levels out to

200 nautical miles. The ARSR-4 is the

first en route radar with the ability to

accurately report targets in weather.

The ARSR-4 can provide weather

information to supplement other

sources. The ARSR-4 is a joint

FAA/USAF funded project. Forty

joint radar sites were installed during

the 1992-1995 period.

Aviation Weather Processing Programs

The Weather and Radar Processor

(WARP), Stage 0 has replaced the

Meteorologists Weather Processor to

provide aviation weather information

to the Center Weather Service Units.

Stage 1 and 2 will automatically create

unique regional, WSR-88D-based,

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

weather information, to controllers

through the Display System

Replacement and to pilots via the FIS.

WARP will greatly enhance the dissemination of aviation weather information throughout the NAS. WARP is

currently undergoing operational testing and evaluation and will be fielded

at the ARTCCs in CY 2000 and early

2001

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) packet-switched

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 WMSCR, WARP, ADAS,

TMS, and the Consolidated NOTAM

System. NADIN II also may be used

as the intra-facility communications

system between these (collocated)

users during transition to end state.

The Weather Message Switching

Center Replacement (WMSCR)

replaced the Weather Message

Switching Center (WMSC) located at

FAA's National Communications

Center (NATCOM), Kansas City,

Missouri, with state-of-the-art technology. WMSCR performs all current

alphanumeric weather data handling

functions of the WMSC and the storage and distribution of NOTAMs.

WMSCR will rely on NADIN for a

majority of its communications support. The system will accommodate

graphic data and function as the primary FAA gateway to the NWS'

National Centers for Environmental

Prediction (NCEP)--the principal

source of NWS products for the NAS.

To provide for geographic redundancy, the system has nodes in the NADIN

buildings in Atlanta, Georgia, and Salt

Lake City, Utah. Each node supports

approximately one-half of the United

States and will continuously exchange

information with the other to ensure

that both nodes have identical national

databases. In the event of a nodal failure, the surviving one will assume
SECTION 3 DOT 103

responsibility for dissemination to the

entire network.

Currently, specifications for an

upgrade or replacement for the

WMSCR are being formulated. The

needs, when developed, will be

entered into the AMS process for validation and acceptance into the NAS

architecture.

The Flight Information Service (FIS)

is a new communications systems to

provide weather information to pilots

in the cockpit. FIS is a partnership

program among the government and

private industry with the government

providing the base information and the

bandwidth while the private companies

provide the broadcast and value-added

products. New products are screened

for technical suitability and value to

the pilots.

The Worldwide Aeronautical

Forecast System (WAFS) is a three

geosynchronous satellite-based system

for collecting and disseminating aviation weather information and products

to/from domestic or international aviation offices as well as in-flight aircraft.

The information and products are prepared at designated offices in

Washington, District of Columbia, and

Bracknell, United Kingdom. The

United States portion of WAFS is a

joint project of the FAA and NWS to

meet requirements of the ICAO member states. FAA funds the satellite

communications link and the NWS

provides the information/product

stream.

Two of the three satellites are funded

by the United States. The first is located over the western Atlantic with a

footprint covering western Africa and

Europe, the Atlantic Ocean, South

America, and North America (except

for the West Coast and Alaska). The

second United States-funded satellite

is positioned over the Pacific and covers the United States West Coast and

Alaska, the Pacific Ocean, and the

Pacific rim of Asia. The third satellite,

operated by the United Kingdom, is

stationed over the western Indian

Ocean and covers the remaining areas

of Europe, Asia, and Africa. The data

available via WAFS include flight

winds, observations, forecasts,

SIGMETs, AIRMETs, and hazards to

aviation including volcanic ash clouds.

AVIATION WEATHER RESEARCH

PROGRAM

Working closely with the Integrated

Product Team for Weather/Flight

Services Systems, ARW sponsors

research on specific aviation weather

phenomena which are hazardous

and/or limiting to aircraft operations.

This research is performed through

collaborative efforts with the National

Science Foundation (NSF), the

NOAA, the 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.

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 Gridded Forecast System

(AGFS). The Product Development

Team (PDT) for AFGS is working on

the development of products for dissemination on the Aviation Digital

Data System. New algorithms will be

developed to present hazardous conditions in the flight operations environment. They will develop a process for

automated production of the

SIGMETs.

Weather Support to Deicing Decision

Making (WSDDM). This system

develops products that provide forecasts on the intensity of snow and

freezing rain, and how or when these

phenomena will change in the short

term. This information is needed by

airport management to determine when

an aircraft will require deicing before

take-off. The water content of snow is

believed to be an important factor. The

output product is designed for nonmeteorological aviation users and has

been demonstrated at three different

airports. Development work has been

completed and FAA has made this system available to airport authorities who

wish to use it as a decision aid.

Ceiling and Visibility. A development and demonstration is underway

in the San Francisco Bay area. The

project will have unique sensors, the

data from which will be used in new

algorithms to develop new and

improved forecasts. The project will
104 DOT SECTION 3

continue over a number years as the

progress is evaluated. This project is

joint effort with other Federal agencies

and some of the effort is performed by

academic researchers.

Turbulence. In addition to the work

being performed by the Joint Safety

Analysis Team 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

some new graphics. Hardware and

software pre-planned product

improvements are are being pursued.

These efforts are joint among DOT,

DOD and DOC.
SECTION 3 DOT 105

FEDERAL PROGRAMS IN

SUPPORT OF ROAD WEATHER

Strategic Highway Research Program

The Strategic Highway Research

Program (SHRP) was established by

the United States Congress through

the1987 Highway Act. In this Act, the

Federal government obligated

$150 million over five years to

improve the performance and durability of our nation's roads and to make

those roads safer for both motorists

and highway workers. The SHRP program examined a number of different

subject areas, with the winter maintenance efforts falling under the highway

operations subject area. Products from

this program include specifications,

testing methods, equipment, and

advanced technologies.

Following the success of this initial,

5-year effort, the FHWA took on the

task of coordinating a national program to work with state and local highway agencies to effectively implement

and evaluate these products. This

phase, entitled SHRP Implementation,

was funded through the 1991 Highway

Act, entitled the Intermodal Surface

Transportation Efficiency Act. This

Act obligated $108 million over six

years, and was administered by a joint

effort between the FHWA, the

American Association of State

Highway and Transportation Officials

(AASHTO), and the Transportation

Research Board. 

Intelligent Transportation Systems

While the SHRP program was underway, the Department of Transportation

(DOT) was also investing in a significant program aimed at implementing

technologies for a host of other transportation challenges, namely the

Intelligent Transportation System

(ITS) program. Of the many goals of

the ITS program, one is to coordinate

and deploy some of the SHRP products

involving communications and control

in winter maintenance. Such implementations are guided by the National

ITS Architectures, which provides the

framework for road weather system

design and information exchange. The

development of ITS in the United

States is overseen by the ITS Joint

Program Office (ITS-JPO) within the

DOT. 

Development of Road Weather

Information Systems

The efforts following SHRP, as well

as the results of the ITS program, have

resulted in a host of improvements to

treatment of and response to weather in

surface transportation. Many of these

improvements have been fully evaluated, while others are still evolving or

under going further evaluation.

Road Weather Information Systems

(RWIS)

SHRP and other FHWA or State

DOT programs have identified the

cost-effectiveness of anti-icing - the

pretreatment of roads for better snow

removal and ice control. Anti-icing

relies heavily on Road Weather

Information Systems (RWIS), which

include the development of weather

products specifically aimed at the

highway community. RWIS initially

referred only to the fixed roadside sensor suites for pavement condition (temperature, chemical concentration, surface ice/snow/water) and surface

weather observations (temperature,

winds, relative humidity, visibility and

precipitation). Over time, RWIS has

broadened to include all weather-information sources used in road maintenance. Consequently, the more precise

term for the sensors, both fixed and

mobile, is the Environmental Sensor

Station (ESS). The ITS program,

which is based on open system principles, has drafted a standard around

ESS observations. The ESS standard

defines protocols for data passage from

the roadside to a central processing

unit. Figure 3-DOT-4 reflects the

widespread deployment of ESS

throughout the United States. But this

observing network is thin, with about

1,200 remote units to cover 4 million

highway route miles. Techniques such

as thermal mapping or use of ESS with

heat valve models are necessary to

extend coverage of road condition

information.

Advanced Transportation Weather

Information System (ATWIS)

Federally supported projects stemming from the first generation SHRP

RWIS projects have been important in

FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION

Figure 3-DOT-4. Pavement and ESS Technology Deployment.
106 DOT SECTION 3

Weather Information for Surface Transportation

"The Highway Environment"

Weather significantly impacts highway operations across the United States, resulting in added costs,

impaired safety and all too often resulting in catastrophic incidents. In December of 1990, fog contributed

to a devastating crash in which reduced visibility was a major contributor to a 99-vehicle pile up in Calhoun,

Tennessee. The incident resulted in 12 deaths and 44 injuries. More recently, west of Denver on November

22, 1999, two people were killed and 29 others were injured in two massive Interstate 70 pileups due to fog

and ice. Enhanced road weather information can assist in avoiding such tragic events.

The impact of adverse weather continually influences the day-to-day operations of our nation's roadways.

Be it a snow storm, ice on the pavement, rain, flooding, fog, dust, wind, hurricanes, or tornadoes, the users

of the transportation system (including commercial vehicle operators, long distance travelers, transit operators, commuters, etc.) are impacted by delays, crashes, and reduced pavement level of service. Weather

affects the visibility, tractability, maneuverability, vehicle stability, exhaust emissions and structural integrity of the surface transportation system. These factors in turn affect the safety, mobility, productivity and

environmental quality of the system.

It has been estimated that a one-day highway shutdown due to snow costs a metropolitan area between

$15 million and $76 million in lost salaries, sales, and taxes. Clearly weather is one of the most costly types

of incidents on the highway system, with significant economic and quality of life impacts. Managing these

incidents is also costly, with system operators spending significant amounts of time and money to keep the

system running smoothly. It is estimated that at least $2.0 billion is spent per year in the United States on

snow and ice control alone, and $5.0 billion is spent per year repairing weather-related infrastructure damage. While the indirect costs are not as well documented, they are no less significant. There are about 7,000

fatal crashes and 450,000 injury crashes each year that occur during adverse weather. In addition, the delays

to travelers due to reduced capacity are substantial, though very difficult to quantify.

Previous efforts in the areas of weather and winter mobility have demonstrated that these costs can be

reduced, through weather information systems that are tailored to the surface transportation environment.

However, to date most of these efforts have been designed for a subset of the population (i.e., for winter

maintenance purposes only), and are not well integrated with other traffic management and traveler information systems. Furthermore, they have been built independent of the larger meteorological community.

So despite the wealth of weather information currently available, this information is either insufficiently

presented, or is inadequate or inappropriate for the types of transportation decisions being made.

Consequently, the challenge is to develop integrated weather information systems that meet the decision

making needs of all users and operators, and to do so in a manner that is based on the open exchange of

information, and builds upon recent transportation and meteorological advancements. This is the vision of

the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Road Weather Management program.
SECTION 3 DOT 107

developing route-specific road condition information. The Advanced

Transportation Weather Information

System (ATWIS) was developed by

the University of North Dakota for

North and South Dakota, and the system has recently expanded into

Minnesota and Montana. The primary

purpose of the ATWIS research program is to demonstrate how current

technologies in weather forecasting,

weather analysis, telecommunications

and road condition monitoring can be

merged effectively to produce a safer

and more efficient transportation system for both commercial and general

travel. ATWIS operates its own mesoscale numerical model, analyzed to

road conditions on segments of the

Interstate freeway and arterial system

in its states. Information is conveyed

interactively to travelers, primarily via

cell phone. 

Key areas of interest of this study

include:

 public use and acceptance of road

weather information,

 the added value of highly accurate

weather forecasts,

 information dissemination methods,

and the role of telecommunications,

 the need for 24-hour operations,

 the role of road condition monitoring,

 how to generate efficient forecasts,

and

 commercial viability of the system.

ATWIS teams public and private

partners to meet the immediate and

future needs of rural transportation. As

a dynamic Information Service

Provider, University of North Dakota's

Regional Weather Information Center

operates a Transportation Management

Center, collecting, analyzing, and providing weather and road condition

information to the general public, and

State Departments of Transportation

(DOT).

FORETELL

With the intent of integrating RWIS

with other ITS services, the FORTELL

project was initiated by federal, state

and private funds, in Iowa, Missouri,

and Wisconsin. Developing similar

capabilities as seen in the ATWIS project, FORETELL focuses more on

detailed decision support for road maintenance and the development of heat

balance algorithms in combination with

its meso-scale numerical modeling.

FORETELL is a consortium made up of

federal, State, research agencies, and

private sector partners from diverse ITS

and meteorological backgrounds, that

share the common resolve to see

detailed road and weather information

become an everyday commercial reality.

Figure 3-DOT-5. Display of FORETELL Interactive Website
108 DOT SECTION 3

FORETELL enhances safety and

facilitates travel by linking road condition information with other types of

traveler information (e.g. incidents,

work zones, road closures, etc). 

FORETELL's objectives and benefits include:

 integrating RWIS across State borders,

 assimilating all of the existing

weather and road condition data

sources,

 cutting costs and substantially benefiting the environment by increasing the levels of forecasting detail,

 improving timeliness and the accuracy of road weather information,

and

 using multiple media for information dissemination.

FORETELL is based on an opensystem architecture, which enables

ease in evolution and information presentation. Figure 3-DOT-5 displays

information located on the FORETELL interactive website. Accidents,

road closures, congestion, weather

conditions, delays, lane closures, current weather conditions are among the

many types of information displayed

on the website.

Nationwide Expansion of Road

Weather Information

Early results from field operational

tests and other experiences have

demonstrated encouraging benefits of

utilizing technology to develop road

weather information. As these systems evolve, a clear pattern of regional services is emerging.

Figure 3-DOT-6 reflects these

regional road weather information

systems across the United States

ranging from the I-95 Corridor

Information Exchange Network

(IEN) project to RWIS in Washington

State (sponsored by Washington DOT

and the University of Washington).

Also included is the Highway

Closure and Restriction System

(HCRS) developed by Arizona DOT,

as well as the traveler information

system entitled Condition Acquisition

and Reporting System (CARS),

which built upon the FORETELL

project. Other projects include the

ATWIS project in North and South

Dakota and Minnesota, the Safe

Passage project in Montana, the Utah

DOT and University of Utah mesonet

project, the Southeastern Michigan

Snow and Ice Management (SEMSIM) project located in the Detroit

the metropolitan area, the OK-First

project in Oklahoma, and the Virtual

Traffic Management Center in Texas.

The Intelligent Road and Rail

Information System (IRRIS) is a

motorist information system for military movements that is working with

Texas to obtain dynamic road condition information. This figure raises a

number of questions, for example:

(1) should these regional developments limit their geographic scope or

should they continue to expand and

overlap? (2) how do we ensure that a

person driving from one service area

to another is able to obtain consistent

information? (3) what are the appropriate public and private weather

information rates? (4) how can different road condition models be reconciled or combined?

Current Benefits

The cost savings for a state's highway winter maintenance operations

have been achieved in the reduction of

personnel overtime costs and

decreased use of deicing chemicals and

abrasives. For example, Minnesota

DOT has calculated a 6:1 to 10:1 return

on investment in RWIS for winter

maintenance practices. Likewise,

RWIS and anti-icing has lead to costsavings for Wisconsin DOT--the use of

RWIS and anti-icing has reduced salt

use by 37,500 tons over one season.

This reduction equates to approximately

$1.1 million saved.

Another example of winter maintenance costs saving was in the state of

Indiana, the implementation of the

Computer Aided System for Planning

Efficient Routes (CASPER). The software is used to assist with the design of

routes needed to service the roadway

networks based, in part, on road weather conditions. Developers estimate

that the equipment and operating cost

for winter maintenance has been

reduced between $11 million and

$14 million.

FHWA's Road Weather Management

Program

The FHWA continues to make road

weather management a priority in their

Figure 3-DOT-6. Regional Weather Information systems.
SECTION 3 DOT 109

transportation operations program. As

described earlier, a significant amount

of federal dollars have been invested

over the course of the last 13+ years.

Recent expenditures, on the order of

$2 million/year, have also represented

a commitment to this program.

However, this expenditure represents

only a fraction of the amount of money

spent on road weather, as the state and

local agencies fund a number of their

own research and development projects. Such achievements and ongoing

efforts are fundamental to achieving

our vision, while the goals of the program in support of our vision have

been defined as: (1) to develop

improved road weather information

systems that meet the demands of all

users and operators; (2) to develop

improved tools and technologies for

road weather management and winter

maintenance; and (3) to improve traffic

operations/incident management procedures for all types of weather events.

By providing weather information

that is more accurate and easily understood, outcomes of improved mobility,

safety, and productivity will be

achieved.

There are many program efforts that

need to take place to achieve these

goals, and FHWA is central to most of

these, either as developer, coordinator,

or promoter. The following objectives

have been identified in an effort to

achieve our goals over the next five

years:

 At a national level build consensus

and continue to strengthen the relationship between meteorologists

and transportation professionals

thus providing the leadership for

state efforts and creating a common

vision for the overall program

design.

 Provide improved weather information by developing decision support systems that use better

processed weather data and

improved weather observation networks to furnish information that is

easily interpreted and that adequately combines all types of information that is required to make

informed decisions. 

 Develop advanced maintenance

technologies that are designed to meet

the needs of maintenance personnel.

 Develop road weather management

practices that define the approach

in which traffic and incident managers optimize the performance of

their system.

 In coordination with current federal

programs such as Professional

Capacity Building, Local

Technology Assistance Program,

etc., develop outreach and training

course material for program delivery, training, and promotion.

Current and Future Efforts

A number of other research efforts

have been completed or are underway

to reach our goals and objectives.

Perhaps the most significant is our

effort to document the road weather

decision support requirements needed

by end users to support more effective

decision making. Such an effort has

never been done before, yet is fundamental to all research, development,

and testing efforts. Other ongoing

efforts include the prototyping of a low

cost visibility sensor for the highway

environment, and remote sensors for

detecting ice on pavements. The

FHWA has also worked with our partners to test and evaluate systems that

automatically control anti-icing

sprayers on bridge decks. As previously mentioned, FHWA has also been

instrumental in the field operational

test called FORETELL, which is

developing and evaluating a weather

information system that integrates

advanced road weather prediction with

other types of traveler information.

Future efforts will focus on all technical aspects of the road transportation

system, including weather data collection, processing and dissemination, as

well as the institutional challenges surrounding system implementation. The

institutional challenges include coordination within state and local DOT,

such as between maintenance and travel management offices, as well as

across the transportation and meteorological communities. With regard to

technical areas of interest, data collection efforts will include optimizing the

siting of environmental sensor stations,

as well as incorporating road weather

observational data, such as pavement

and subsurface observations, into

broader meteorological observation

networks. Better processing includes

the application of higher resolution

weather models, and the development

of other road condition prediction

models (e.g. heat balance models) that

are needed to develop the appropriate

weather information. Such products

will be incorporated into better decision support systems, whose design is

based on the current efforts to document road weather decision support

requirements. Development of such

systems requires strong inter-federal

coordination between the transportation and meteorological communities.

Finally, the FHWA will continue to

develop outreach and training course

material for program delivery, training,

and promotion.

With respect to implementation, it is

important to note that unlike the FAA,

FHWA is not a modal operating

agency, and it represents many constituents, such as state, cities and local

governments. FHWA will take the

lead in initiating efforts, such as defining road weather decision support

requirements, and prototyping decision

support systems. However, the success

of this program largely depends on the

efforts of the operating agencies, as

well as the coordination across the

transportation and meteorological

communities. Therefore, it is expected

that the results of these efforts will lead

the owners and operators of the

nation's highways, the State and local

DOT, to invest in the implementation

of these systems nationwide.
110 DOT SECTION 3

National Coordination

In order to achieve the maximum

benefit and desired output from this

program area there must be a mutual

interest and commitment across the

transportation and meteorological

communities. Currently, efforts to

develop weather information systems

for surface transportation are moving

forward. These efforts are complicated

by the need for significant coordination between the transportation and

meteorological communities--to date

the two communities have had little

direct interaction on a national level.

As this working relationship builds, it

has become evident that the meteorological community must have a clear

idea of the surface transportation

weather requirements in order to

respond with the appropriate products

and services. Consequently, the transportation community must articulate

it's needs, and in a manner that enables

the meteorological community (both

public and private) to respond.

Likewise, the meteorological community must be committed to helping

resolve the problems that weather

inflicts upon the surface transportation

system.

Continued national-level consensus

building will be necessary both to provide leadership for state efforts and to

create a common vision for the overall

program design. It is important to

coordinate our efforts with others, as it

ensures that we are not duplicating

effort, while also keeping our goals

and objectives focused on the needs of

our constituents. The most apparent

groups to link to include: Federal, State

and local agencies both in the transportation and meteorological communities, standards groups, and national

committees and associations dealing

with surface transportation weather

and winter mobility. To date there

have been same significant achievements, such as the formation of the

OFCM Joint Action Group for Weather

Information for Surface Transportation

(JAG/WIST), and FHWA--FEMA

coordination for hurricane evacuation.

However, this is only considered the

first of many successful partnerships.

The FHWA looks forward to building

upon these successes to achieve the

needed improvement to the highway

environment.
SECTION 3 DOT 111

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.

USCGC HEALY, a new icebreaking

research vessel, was delivered to the

Coast Guard in November 1999 and is

undergoing shakedown tests of the

hull, machinery, and scientific equipment (Figure 3-DOT-7). The first

unrestricted science cruise is anticipated for 2001. HEALY, has a length of

420 feet, beam of 82 feet, and displaces

over 16,000 tons. Scientific systems

and gear include a bottom mapping

multi-beam sonar system; a sub-bottom profiling system; a conductivitydepth-temperature data system; an

expendable oceanographic probe system; an Acoustic Doppler Current

Profiler; a jumbo coring system; a continuous flow, seawater sampling system; a meteorological measurement

system; and a bow tower for clean air

experiments. To schedule time on

HEALY, see the UNOLS web site,

http://gso.uri.edu/unols/unols.html.

For more information, see the Coast

Guard web page for HEALY,

http://www.uscg.mil/pacarea/healy/.

USCG maintains the International

Ice Patrol (IIP) which uses sensorequipped aircraft to patrol the Grand

Banks of Newfoundland to locate and

track icebergs which pose a hazard to

North Atlantic shipping. Direct observations are supplemented and extrapolated using a numerical iceberg drift

and deterioration model. IIP determines the geographic limits of the iceberg hazard and, twice daily, broadcasts iceberg warning bulletins and ice

facsimile charts which define the limits

of the iceberg threat during the iceberg

season (spring and summer). IIP annually archives data on all confirmed and

suspected targets, and forward these

data to the National Snow and Ice Data

Center. These data can be accessed via

the IIP web page www.uscg.mil/

lantarea/iip/home.html. Archived data

contains all iceberg sighting data along

with the last model-predicted position

of each berg.

The Coast Guard participates with

the Navy and NOAA in conducting the

National Ice Center, a multi-agency

operational center that produces analyses and forecasts of Arctic, Antarctic,

Great Lakes, and coastal ice conditions.

The Coast Guard also collaborates

with NOAA in operating the National

Data Buoy Center (NDBC) which

deploys and maintains NOAA's automated network of environmental monitoring platforms in the deep ocean and

coastal regions. Twelve Coast Guard

personnel fill key technical and logistics support positions within NDBC,

with the senior Coast Guard officer

assigned serving as the NDBC Deputy

Director Coast Guard cutters support

the deployment and retrieval of data

buoys, and provide periodic maintenance visits to both buoys and coastal

stations, expending approximately 180

cutter days annually. Coast Guard aircraft, small boats, and shore facilities

also provide NDBC support.

Meteorological activities are coordinated by the Icebreaking Division of

the Office of Aids to Navigation at

Coast Guard Headquarters. Field management of Coast Guard meteorological support services is accomplished as

the Coast Guard Area and District levels.

UNITED STATES COAST GUARD

Figure 3-DOT-7. USCGC HEALEY,

the Coast Guards new icebreaking

research vessel, conducting ice trials.
METEOROLOGICAL PROGRAMS

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). The JAWF monitors

the daily weather patterns around the

world, and serves as the Department's

focal point for weather data received

from the World Meteorological

Organization's (WMO) Global Weather

Observing System. These data are

used at JAWF and other USDA agencies for a number of agricultural applications. WAOB agricultural meteorologists convert the weather data into

information to assess crop development and yield potential of all major

commodity crops for the major producing areas of the world. Special

weekly briefings are provided to the

Secretary of Agriculture and to the

economic and commodity analysts of

USDA. The Senate and House

Agricultural Committees also request

periodic agricultural weather briefings

that focus on the severity and impact of

drought, heat wave, and excessive wetness on major crop areas around the

Nation. 

Historically, the Forest Service (FS)

has collected meteorological data to

assist in the control of forest fires and

in the management of smoke from prescribed burning. Other activities also

require weather data to ensure sound

management decisions. To support

these needs and requirements, a

national weather program was established to coordinate all FS meteorological activities and to meet the increasing need for diverse weather information. The major objectives of the program are to: (1) improve quality control of weather data, (2) improve the

design and operation of data collection

from networks, (3) increase data

recovery from the weather stations,

and (4) upgrade station maintenance.

Meteorological data collected from

manual weather stations and Remote

Automated Weather Stations (RAWS)

support research of weather effects on

forestry management, forest fires,

smoke management, visibility protection in wilderness areas, and atmospheric deposition (Figure 3-USDA-1).

A weather information management

system and a library to archive all FS

weather data are being developed in

cooperation with regional climate centers. The FS monitoring network will

provide essential data for use in Global

Change Research Program (GCRP)

work.

Currently, the FS operates more than

900 RAWS and manual stations, many

in the western United States. Air temperature, relative humidity, soil moisture, wind direction and speed, and

precipitation are transmitted via

NOAA's Geostationary Operational

Environmental Satellite (GOES)

telemetry. These data are received via

a direct-readout ground site in Boise,

Idaho, in cooperation with the Bureau

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE WEATHER PROGRAMS

Weather is the most important factor influencing the Nation's variability in crop yields and related production. The

Nation's food and fiber products are a critical resource impacting our domestic and international economic position and

have taken on new dimensions in foreign affairs and national security. The recent expansion in export markets has

reduced stocks and benefitted our farm sectors as global consumption of total grains has exceeded production in 3 of

the last 4 years. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) conducts supporting research that focuses on

understanding the interactions of weather and climate with plants, animals, forests, and forest ecological systems, and

assists the Department of Commerce in determining farmers' needs for weather information and in disseminating that

information to them.

SECTION 3 USDA 113

Figure 3-USDA-1. Forest Service meteorological programs include supporting

firefighting activities during summer fire season.
114 USDA SECTION 3

of Land Management. The main use of

the data is in the calculation of the fire

danger rating for the FS and cooperating agencies. These data are also used

by other resource managers, such as,

road engineers, wildlife biologists, and

hydrologists who monitor precipitation; silviculturalists (who are attempting to maximize tree-planting opportunities); and ecologists, soil specialists,

and fisheries biologists (who monitor

the effects of runoff). Another major

user of RAWS data is the NWS for fire

weather forecasting and flood warnings.

The Natural Resources Conservation

Service (NRCS) operates a network of

1,400 manual snow courses and over

550 automated data collection sites in

conjunction with the Snow Telemetry

(SNOTEL) project for the western

United States and Alaska. The primary

objective of the project is to forecast

water supplies and streamflow for the

coming spring run-off season. These

measurements are made in cooperation

with other federal, state, and local

agencies, power companies, irrigation

companies, and the provincial government of British Columbia.

Water-supply forecasts help irrigators make the most effective use of

available streamflow for achieving

their agricultural production goals.

Farmers, who collectively irrigate

more than 10 million acres of land in

the western United States, benefit from

these water supply forecasts. Other

federal agencies and private organizations also use water supply forecast

information to help them carry out

their missions. These forecasts also

help the federal government in administering international water treaties.

NRCS continues to upgrade the

SNOTEL data collection system. The

effort includes upgrading the data collection sites in the existing SNOTEL

system with new state-of-the-art equipment and adding additional sites. The

data collection site upgrades include

replacement of snow pillows, transducers, damaged precipitation gages,

antennas, towers, solar panels, battery

temperature sensors, and deteriorated

shelter houses.

The Foreign Agricultural Service's

(FAS) satellite remote-sensing program, operated by the Production

Estimates and Crop Assessment

Division (PECAD), is a critical element in USDA's analysis of global

crop conditions and agricultural production providing timely, accurate, and

unbiased estimates of global area,

yield, and production. The PECAD

mission of alert analysis requires rapid

system response. Working in conjunction with the Farm Services Agency

(FSA), PECAD provides alerts as well

as routine crop condition assessments

for crops in the United States. FAS

provides early warning of environmental changes that affect the production

and quality of commodities and renewable resources. PECAD is the world's

most extensive and longest running (20

years) operational user of commercial

satellite data for crop condition assessments, using numerous satellite platforms.

The FAS/PECAD analysts employ a

proven "convergence of evidence"

approach to crop assessment -- incorporating NOAA AVHRR, LandSat,

and SPOT imagery, crop models, global weather data, United States agricultural attache reports, field travel, and

ancillary data to forecast foreign grain,

oilseed, and cotton production. To

complement the remote sensing image

data sets, weather data are also

processed from 6,912 of the United

Nations' WMO stations and from

approximately 88,500 grid cells of the

Air Force gridded weather data are

processed on a daily basis. Crop models are based on daily data loaded from

meteorological stations and/or Air

Force gridded weather data. Some

models add Vegetative Index Number

(VIN) information. The goal of a crop

model is to provide a number that can

be quantified to yield per acre. 

FAS/PECAD routinely forecasts

global grain production to within

roughly 3 percent of final output. FAS

remote sensing supports Department of

State assessments of food needs as situations arise. FAS prepares detailed

analyses of global weather events,

such as drought in Ukraine, dryness in

China and North Korea, and flooding

in Mexico and Central America.

PECAD also provides in depth coverage of significant crop developments

in specific countries, including the

1999 record Argentine soybean crop,

bumper wheat crop in Australia, and

bumper soybean crop in Brazil.

The Farm Service Agency (FSA),

continued to share with FAS the cost of

analyzing imagery of the United

States. Timely analysis of United

States crop conditions, combined with

weather data, crop model results, and

GIS products made possible the development of accurate and timely projections and comprehensive evaluations

of crop disaster situations. During the

1999 growing season in the United

States, the domestic analysts of

FAS/PECAD provided early warning

on anomalous crop conditions, including the severe droughts in the MidAtlantic States and Eastern Corn Belt

as well as flooding from hurricanes

and subsequent rainfall in North

Carolina and southern Virginia. The

impact of the sixth consecutive wet

spring and early summer on agricultural interests in North and South Dakota

was determined and reported in interagency briefings and published on the

internal FSA/FAS web-site. FSA continued to be a partner in the National

Aerial Photography Program (NAPP)

and National Digital Orthoquad

Program (NDOP). FSA started to field

re-engineered business processes that

combine the use of digital orthophotography, GIS, GPS, and satellite

imagery to replace the use of hardcopy

NAPP aerial photography and 35mm

slides.
SECTION 3 USDA 115

SUPPORTING RESEARCH

The mission of the USDA supporting

research program is to develop and disseminate information and techniques

to ensure high quality commodities

and products while minimizing any

adverse effects of agriculture on the

environment. As part of the USDA

reorganization, the Undersecretary for

Research, Education, and Economics

was created. This reorganization

included the merger of the Cooperative

State Research Service and the

Extension Service, and the transfer of

the Economic Research Service and

the National Agricultural Statistics

Service (NASS).

The research efforts of the

Agricultural Research Service (ARS)

relate directly to the effects of climate

on agricultural production and the natural resource base. These efforts are

directed toward developing technologies and systems for: (1) managing

precipitation and solar energy for optimum crop production; (2) improving

our understanding of water-plantatmosphere interactions; (3) optimizing the use of energy, water, and agricultural chemicals; (4) reducing plant

and livestock losses from pests and

environmental stress; (5) developing

improved techniques for irrigation and

drainage; and (6) minimizing the

adverse effects of climate and weather,

including atmospheric contaminants,

on the environment.

The Cooperative State Research,

Education, and Extensive Service

(CSREES) coordinates research programs in the state agricultural experiment stations, the 1890 Land Grant

Distributions, and cooperating forestry

schools. These institutions conduct a

wide variety of research applicable to

agriculture and forestry. Meteorological research in these institutions is

practically all climatological. A proportion of each state's program is consolidated into broad regional research

projects. Animals and plants are subjected to many climatic stresses and,

therefore, are the focus of this

research. Research on the changes in

levels of ultraviolet (UV) radiation as

part of the GCRP was significantly

expanded through the CSREES competitive grants program in FY 1994.

The work is coordinated with EPA's

UV radiation program and will support assessment efforts to develop

related national policy on the environment.

Investigations by NASS support

domestic crop estimating programs for

all major commodities. Promising

studies are underway to develop models relating weather parameters and

associated variables to corn ear weight

and wheat head weight. Previous

efforts to develop models for shortterm forecasting have had only limited

success. Research will continue in this

area with the expectation that the relationships between weather variables

and crop yield will improve as better

plant process models become available

and more information, such as soil

moisture, are operationally observed.

A NASS program to explore the use

of satellite and weather data for assessing crop conditions is continuing. A

preliminary investigation using polarorbiting meteorological satellite data

showed a good relationship between

crop conditions and reflectance data as

determined by the agreement between

measured and forecast final corn and

soybean yields. The crop conditions

assessment procedures, based on meteorological satellite data, are being

automated and near real-time applications are being explored.

FS research includes efforts to:

(1) understand and control forest fire

initiation by lightning, (2) improve the

translation of mid-range forecast elements to describe forestry conditions,

(3) incorporate drought information

into management decision-making,

and (4) better describe how regional

climatic variability affects the use of

daily weather information by foresters.

The FS long-term monitoring network

will provide critical data for use in the

GCRP work.
The Department of Energy (DOE)

continues to address its mission areas

of national security, science and technology, energy security, and environmental quality. Atmospheric science

research and operations have been an

integral part of DOE and its predecessor agencies since the cold war era. It

is vital to understand the nature of the

atmospheric domain with its various

dynamic and chemical aspects of energy-related phenomena and how it

interacts with the ocean and terrestrial

domains. Today's global climate

change debates and outcomes are relying on information collected through

basic atmospheric science research

programs that one day will reduce substantial uncertainties in these areas.

DOE coordinates programmatic

activities throughout its various

offices, such as Defense Programs

(DP), Science (SC), Environmental

Management (EM), and Energy

Efficiency and Renewables (EE).

Some of these program offices are

responsible for the management of scientific research programs, such as the

Atmospheric Release Advisory

Capability (ARAC), Global Climate

Change Research (GCCR), and various clean up activities at former production sites.

Meteorological services at DOE

facilities range from cutting-edge basic

research to providing daily operational

support. Some examples of research

and development are investigations of

potential global climatic change, radiation and cloud studies, and studies of

atmospheric boundary layer processes.

Operational support programs include

daily customized weather forecasting

services, special project support,

on-site meteorological monitoring programs, climatology services, and emergency response program support.

Some DOE sites maintain 24-hour

weather watches for severe weather

conditions that could impact site operations, damage property, or threaten

lives.

Several DOE field offices and their

associated sites and facilities, such as

Idaho National Engineering and

Environmental Laboratory (Idaho

Falls, Idaho), Oak Ridge Reservation

(Oak Ridge, Tennessee), Nevada Test

Site (Las Vegas, Nevada), Hanford

(Richland, Washington), and Savannah

River Site (Aiken, South Carolina)

cover large areas. Several DOE sites

are situated in areas of complex topography and heterogeneous surface characteristics, creating mesoscale conditions that locally influence on-site

weather. For these reasons, and to protect public health and safety and environment, on-site meteorological monitoring programs have been and remain

an essential part of DOE atmospheric

science programs.

Some DOE sites enhance the spatial

resolution of the National Weather

Service (NWS) observing network by

taking standard surface and upper-air

observations. Many of these sites are

in remote areas where weather observations would otherwise be limited.

Weather observations taken at a few

DOE field sites are entered into the

database via the NWS meteorological

data distribution and display system.

This distribution and display system

interconnects field offices and serves

as the distribution system for NWS

meteorological products that are centrally produced by the National

Centers for Environmental Prediction

(NCEP). Other DOE sites employ

Automated Field Operations and

Services (AFOS) units connected to

the NWS AFOS network through

NOAA Air Resources Laboratory

(ARL)/Special Operations and

Research Division (SORD), Las

Vegas, Nevada.

An accidental release of radioactive

or chemically toxic material into the

atmosphere can have potentially serious health effects and environmental

consequences. Meteorological processes

play a key role in determining the fate

of radioactive or toxic chemical pollutants released into the atmosphere.

Consequently, a central theme within

the DOE community has been to protect public health, safety, and the environment on and around DOE facilities

by measuring and characterizing

atmospheric processes.

In recognition of this need, DOE has

established and supported on-site

meteorological monitoring programs

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY OPERATIONAL AND RESEARCH

WEATHER PROGRAMS

For nearly 50 years, the Department of Energy (DOE) and its predecessors, the Atomic Energy Commission and the

Energy Research and Development Administration, have established and supported meteorological operations and

atmospheric research at the DOE field offices. The need for meteorological services began in 1944 with the development, fabrication, and testing of atomic weapons and the national security and safety issues associated with them.

Meteorological program requirements were subsequently augmented by the passage of environmental protection legislation, which is enforced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and by several DOE Orders that specify

requirements for meteorological services to protect public health and safety and the environment.

SECTION 3 DOE 117
118 DOE SECTION 3

since 1944 (i.e., Hanford site). Each

meteorological program is primarily

directed towards the support of emergency response programs and in the

protection of the environment and

safety and health of the on-site work

force and the public. In addition,

research on the modeling of the transport, dispersion, deposition, and resuspension of radioactive and toxic materials is undertaken to refine the models

used in these endeavors. On-site

weather forecasting services tailored

specifically for the special operational

and emergency management requirements at each DOE site provides necessary support to the safety and health

of site personnel and the public.

Much of the research and most of the

operational support has been provided

by the atmospheric research programs

at the six major field offices directly

involved in national defense programs.

Over the years, these programs have

grown to address many environmental,

safety, and health issues. Due to the

complexity of these activities, it was

recognized that efforts should be made

to coordinate meteorological operations and research among the field

offices to enhance cost effectiveness.

The following narrative highlights

meteorological activities at fourteen

DOE sites:

Nevada Test Site (NTS)

The NTS is managed and operated

by the DOE Nevada Operations Office

(DOE/NV). The NTS has been the

Nations' underground nuclear weapons

testing facility and is now used to support sub-critical experiments and other

national defense missions of the

United States. The NTS occupies

1,350 square miles of south central

Nevada and is approximately 75 miles

northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. The

topography of the NTS is complex

with a system of dry lake beds and

mountains. Elevations range from

nearly 2,700 feet (ft) above mean sea

level (MSL) to 7,600 ft MSL. The climate is arid.

Meteorological services are provided

to DOE/NV by components of the

Department of Commerce (DOC),

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration (NOAA). The DOC

has had a presence on the NTS for

more than 45 years through various

Interagency Agreements. During this

time, NOAA personnel have built a

solid technical reputation in meteorological operations and emergency

response. Presently, NOAA support is

provided by the 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. SORD

has developed a rapid emergency

response capability for the unlikely

occurrence of an accidental release of

radioactive or hazardous material into

the atmosphere.

Both basic and applied research is

carried out on problems of mutual

interest to DOE and to NOAA.

Emphasis is on the maintenance of

meteorological support to national

defense projects and to the stewardship

of nuclear weapons. These capabilities

focus on those facets of meteorology

having a direct bearing on the transport, dispersion, deposition (i.e., fallout), and resuspension of radioactive

and/or toxic materials. Other research

includes documentation and study of

extreme precipitation events, desert

thunderstorms, cloud-to-ground lightning, and environmental issues related

to air quality and visibility.

ARL/SORD provides full meteorological support to all DOE/NV operations on and off the NTS. Meteorology

plays a key role in environmental, safety, and health responsibilities of

DOE/NV. The SORD staff is responsible for conducting a modern program

in support of nuclear and non-nuclear

projects authorized by DOE/NV.

Furthermore, the mission of SORD

involves technical support to the emergency preparedness and response

activities of DOE/NV. SORD operates

a comprehensive meteorological monitoring program for the NTS, and provides meteorological and climatology

services required to support the

DOE/NV and contractor programs at

the NTS and elsewhere, as necessary.

Personnel at SORD also consult with

senior scientists and engineers at the

DOE National Laboratories, National

Aeronautical and Space

Administration (NASA), private contractors, Desert Research Institute

(DRI), United States Geological

Services (USGS), United States Forest

Services (USFS), and other NOAA

laboratories.

The SORD meteorological monitoring network consists of thirty-one (31)

10m towers and two 30m towers.

Wind direction and speed is measured

at the 10m level on all the towers and

temperature and relative humidity is

sampled at the 2m level. Data from

these towers are transmitted via

microwave radio to a central processor

that checks the data, creates data files,

and archives the data every 15 minutes.

The data files are accessed by microcomputer to create graphics products

for operational use and for immediate

display at 15-minute intervals. 

SORD also operates two 915MHz

vertical profilers on the NTS--one

located in the middle of Yucca Flat

and one at the Hazardous Materials

Spill Center (HMSC) in Frenchman

Flat near Mercury, Nevada. In addition, a NOAA full surface radiation

(SURFRAD) budget station is operated and maintained at the Desert Rock

Meteorological Observatory (DRA)

located in the southern part of the

NTS. Upper-air soundings are taken

twice daily, at 00 and 12 Universal

Time Coordinated (UTC) from the

DRA facility. SORD also operates

mobile upper-air sounding systems

and mobile pilot balloon (PIBAL)

equipment to support special projects

requiring winds aloft data in realtime.
SECTION 3 DOE 119

Large-scale meteorological data and

National Center for Environmental

Prediction (NCEP) weather forecast

products are received via AFOS and

AWIPS, or from University Center for

Atmospheric Research (UCAR) and

ARL-Silver Spring. SORD is the DOE

node for distribution of NOAA/NCEP

AFOS products. Other weather products supplied to DOE contractors, the

National Laboratories (e.g., SNL,

LANL, and LLNL), the NWS, and

Nellis AFB include real-time cloud-toground lightning flash graphical products and local forecast products.

SORD has also recently implemented

the Regional Atmospheric Modeling

System (RAMS) that can predict

boundary layer air flow over complex

terrain. RAMS accesses the NCEP

predictive model outputs and is run at

the University of Nevada at Las Vegas

Supercomputer Center on a daily basis.

SORD provides meteorological

monitoring support and project-specific weather forecast services to the

Nuclear Emergency Search Team

(NEST), the Federal Radiological

Monitoring and Assessment Center

(FRMAC), and the Accident Response

Group (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/ARG

operations and personnel, issuing sitespecific mesoscale wind, stability, and

weather forecasts, aviation weather

support, and providing consultation to

the On-Scene Commander and to

National Laboratories personnel.

SORD maintains a web site

(www.sord.nv.doe.gov) that includes

graphical products that display current

meteorological conditions on the NTS,

including data from SORD vertical

profilers and climatological data.

Idaho National Engineering and

Environmental Laboratory (INEEL)

INEEL is managed by the Idaho

Operations Office and is on 890 square

miles of rolling, arid terrain in southeastern Idaho at the foot of the Lost

River and Lemhi mountain ranges.

The primary mission of the INEEL for

years has been nuclear reactor research

with a focus on cleanup and environmental restoration. Meteorological

services and supporting research are

provided to INEEL via NOAA ARL

Field Research Division (FRD). The

Division, under administration from

various agencies, has provided support

to INEEL for over 50 years. Its current

mission to DOE/ID is to support emergency response and operations with

real-time meteorological data, climatological data, weather predictions, dispersion calculations, and consultation.

ARL/FRD maintains other capabilities

that are not funded directly by DOE.

ARL/FRD designs, arranges, and conducts field studies as needed to evaluate the performance of transport and

dispersion models over local, regional,

and continental scales, and to obtain

high quality databases for model

improvement. An airborne geosciences program is also maintained to

measure fluxes of carbon dioxide,

water vapor, and other atmospheric

constituents that affect climate. These

interactions provide ARL/FRD staff

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 thirty-three meteorological

towers that are deployed both on-site

and off-site. 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 (m)

tall and provide wind speed and direction at 15m and air temperature at

2 and 15m. Fifteen of the 15m towers

also provide relative humidity at 2m,

precipitation, and global solar radiation, eleven provide barometric pressure. The other three towers range

from 46 to 76m 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 915MHz radar wind profiler and

Radio Acoustic Sounding System

(RASS). A Doppler SODAR supplements the wind profile at lower levels

with higher resolution data.

Meteorological data are quality-controlled through automated and manual

processes.

INEEL meteorological monitoring

and emergency response efforts are

enhanced with the use of an ARL/FRD

meteorological data display and visualization program known as INEELViz.

This program has been widely

deployed at 50 sites on and around the

INEEL for access by federal, state, and

Indian tribes via the Internet. Within

INEELViz, meteorological data are

displayed in real-time and overlaid on

maps of the local area that include

political and terrain features. In addition, the local MDIFF puff dispersion

model can be accessed through the

INEELViz front-end and the model

output can be displayed as trajectories

or concentration isopleths on the

INEELViz display screen. The incorporation of RSAC dose conversions

permits the user to also view real-time

dose estimates from the model output.

These features have become very useful enhancements to the INEEL emergency response capability.

Partnerships forged with DOE-ID,

the State of Idaho INEEL Oversight

Program, and the Shoshone-Bannock

Indian Tribes have resulted in addition-
120 DOE SECTION 3

al 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)

The Lawrence Livermore National

Laboratory (LLNL) is located in a valley in California's Coast Range

Mountains about 25 miles east of

Oakland. LLNL covers approximately

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: the Environmental

Protection Department (EPD) and the

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 via the

World Wide Web (http://wwwmetdat.llnl.gov/).

Within the LLNL Earth and

Environmental Sciences Directorate,

ASD conducts research on climate and

weather processes on local to global

scales on the following issues: 

(1) Understanding the transport, diffusion, deposition, transformation,

and atmospheric effects of accidental releases or pollutants;

(2) Developing and testing models

for improved representation of

atmospheric processes on building,

urban, regional, and global scales;

(3) Understanding the uptake and

removal of carbon dioxide emitted

through fossil fuel combustion by

the biosphere and oceans so that the

effects of future emissions may be

accurately predicted;

(4) Understanding the role of pollutants from fossil fuel emissions in

determining greenhouse gas and

aerosol concentrations and climate

forcing;

(5) Understanding and predicting

the extent to which stratospheric

ozone may decrease as a result of

anthropogenic emissions;

(6) Understanding and quantifying

the natural variability of the climate

system; and,

(7) Understanding and quantifying

interactions between the biosphere

and climate. Some of these efforts

stem from the need to be able to

predict the regional to global environment and its changing nature

over the next few decades, so that

policy makers will have the information needed for the formulation

of national energy policy.

LLNL ASD scientists contribute to

two long-term DOE research programs--ARM and the Chemical

Biological Non-proliferation Program

(CBNP) as well as lead two other programs--PCMDI and ARAC. The

Program for Climate Model Diagnosis

and Inter-comparison (PCMDI) develops and distributes software tools to

facilitate model diagnosis and intercomparison, documents the features of

models that are in use by the world

climate community, and archives

extensive collections of model output

data. The Program also provides quality global observational products for

application as model validation data

(http://www-pcmdi.llnl.gov/).

Since 1979, LLNL has provided

emergency response services via the

Atmospheric Release Advisory

Capability (ARAC) program. ARAC

is a centralized federal resource

responsible to DOE, the Department

of Defense (DOD), and other federal

agencies under the auspices of the

Federal Radiological Emergency

Response Plan (FRERP). The ARAC

mission is to deliver realistic real-time

graphical dose and exposure assessments to emergency decision-makers

to assist in the protection of populations at risk for releases of radiological and other hazardous material to the

atmosphere. ARAC supports all elements of the DOE Emergency

Preparedness and Response Program,

NEST, ARG, FRMAC, and the

Radiological Assistance Program

(RAP). 

ARAC maintains and operates the

National Atmospheric Release

Advisory Center (NARAC). NARAC

consists of automated continuous

worldwide meteorological data acquisition, detailed worldwide terrain and

geographic mapping databases, and a

suite of three-dimensional, complex

terrain, atmospheric dispersion models

prepared to assess explosions, fires,

vents, spills, or other releases of radiological or hazardous material.

ARAC has an entirely new emergency

response system with state-of-the-art,

high-resolution, terrain-following,

variable-gridded diagnostic meteorological and dispersion models including new user interfaces and extensive

graphical displays. In addition, the

system includes relocatable prognostic

model that provides high-resolution

2-3 day forecasts in the region of interest. 

NARAC provides a 24-hour on-call

response, using redundant computer

systems with uninterruptible power.

NARAC provides on-site and off-site

emergency response services to about

40 DOE and DOD facilities around the

United States via a Site Workstation

System linked to Livermore. Each

Site Workstation also collects on-site

meteorological data from one or more

towers. The response time for the

delivery of an initial ARAC assessment is less than 15 minutes for a

computer-linked site and 45-90 minutes for a non-computer-linked site.

ARAC has responded to over 80 realworld events and conducted thousands
SECTION 3 DOE 121

of exercises with supported sites and

agencies. 

More information on the ARAC program can be located on the Internet

(http://www-ep.es.llnl.gov/wwwep/atm/ARAC/arac.html) and an educational presentation of some past

ARAC responses is located at

http://air.llnl.gov/.

Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR)

The ORR is home to four DOE sites:

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

(ORNL), the Y-12 Plant, the East

Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP,

formerly K-25 Site), and the Oak

Ridge Institute for Science and

Education (ORISE). Managed by the

Oak Ridge Operations Office (ORO),

the ORR encompasses nearly

100 square miles of hilly and heavily

vegetated terrain in eastern Tennessee.

Meteorological network systems

which support day-to-day operations

are managed and operated at the three

main sites by Lockheed Martin

Energy Systems, Lockheed Martin

Energy Research and Bechtel Jacobs

Company. These network systems

provide data that support environmental management (permitting, facility

siting and environmental impact

assessment), facility safety (safety

analyses), emergency management

(hazards and consequence assessment), operations (work planning)

and substantial research.

The meteorological data acquisition

program at ETTP has two main towers. K-1209 is 60m high while K1208 is 30m in height. In addition,

two 10m battery-powered supplemental towers are still operating. A

SODAR system, near the K-1209

tower also remains operational.

Lastly, real-time output from an automatic lightning detection system that

captures strike data from as far away

as 100 nautical miles, a NEXRAD

radar system, and The Weather

Channel are available to each of the

control rooms and emergency

response facilities.

The Y-12 Plant has two meteorological towers (60m and 100m) located at

the east and west ends of the site.

ETTP and Y-12 Plant meteorological

data is fed into the ORR Emergency

Operations Center (EOC) and at emergency control centers for hazard assessment, consequence assessment, and

protective action recommendations.

The data acquisition program at the

ORNL consists of three (two 30m and

one 100m) meteorological towers.

Meteorological data is fed to an ORNL

central computer system for analysis

and dissemination.

The NOAA Air Resources

Laboratory/Atmospheric Turbulence

and Diffusion Division (ARL/ATDD)

is located in Oak Ridge near the ORR.

The primary mission of ATDD is

atmospheric research. Substantial

research programs at ATDD are undertaken with the assistance of staff from

ORISE/Oak Ridge Associated

Universities (ORAU) and scientists

from other national laboratories and

organizations in the United States and

abroad. ARL/ATDD also works closely with the ORAU to enhance educational opportunities in atmospheric science.

ARL/ATDD research attention is

focused on the physics of the lower

atmosphere, with special emphasis on

the processes contributing to atmospheric transport, dispersion, and airsurface exchange, and on the development and improvement of predictive

capabilities using the results of this

research. Many other projects are

underway such as surface energy balance and CO2 exchange studies and

long-term studies of CO2 exchange

aimed at process-level understanding.

Operationally, ARL/ATDD personnel

provide meteorological consultation

and supplemental data for air quality

analyses, environmental reports, and

hazard 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.

Sandia National Laboratory (SNL)

The DOE Kirtland Area Office manages SNL in Albuquerque, New

Mexico, 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

Environmental Operations Center

(EOC) in the Laboratory Services

Division (LSD). The mission is to

provide meteorological support for

various operations including:

(1) emergency response, (2) environmental surveillance and characterization; and (3) regulatory compliance.

The monitoring network consists of

six 10m and two 60m towers used to

measure wind direction and speed,

ambient temperature, and relative

humidity. There are also three precipitation gauges, two barometric pressure sensors, and one solar radiation

pyranometer in the network.

Key research activities are provided

through the Energy and Critical

Infrastructure Center in the Energy,

Information, and Technology

Division. SNL/NM scientists are

involved in the Atmospheric

Radiation Measurement (ARM) program and the Surface Heat Budget of
122 DOE SECTION 3

the Arctic Ocean (SHEBA). The

ARM project is a combined measurement and modeling program

(Figure 3-DOE-1). 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.

Los Alamos National Laboratory

(LANL)

LANL is operated by the University of

California under the responsibility of the

Albuquerque Operations Office, and is

spread across 43 square miles (112 km2)

of the Pajarito Plateau at the foot of the

Jemez Mountains that extend up to

around 900m above the plateau. LANL

is about 30 miles northwest of Santa Fe

in north central New Mexico. The

Pajarito Plateau slopes to the east-southeast, dropping 400m 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

23m to 92m), a mono-static Doppler

SODAR, and three supplemental precipitation stations. Data from four instrumented meteorological towers that are

located on the Pajarito plateau drives a

diagnostic wind field for the program's

plume modeling capability. A fifth

tower is located in Los Alamos Canyon

to give information on the larger

canyons in the area, and a sixth tower is

located on top of Pajarito Mountain to

measure ambient conditions. The

SODAR gives information on winds up

to the level of the Pajarito Mountain

tower.

More than 100 instruments, consisting of over 20 different types of sensors, are used to collect data throughout the network. Variables measured

by the program can be grouped into the

categories of wind, SODAR-derived

wind, atmospheric state, precipitationrelated, radiative fluxes, eddy heat

fluxes, subsurface measurements, and

fuel moisture. Data collected by the

network are checked for quality before

its archival, and raw data and real-time

displays of graphs and tables are made

available via the Internet.

The LANL Air Quality Group provides regulatory and environmental

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 off-site. 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

Figure 3-DOE-1. Program overview of DOEs Atmospheric Radiation

Measurement (ARM) Program.
SECTION 3 DOE 123

monitoring capabilities of the Air

Quality Group are supplemented by

the field team of the Atmospheric and

Climate Sciences Group, that operates

various sensor systems including a

unique Raman lidar system to obtain

images of atmospheric water vapor

distributions.

Research within the LANL

Atmospheric and Climate Sciences

Group supports DOE missions in both

the defense and civilian sectors, such

as work in the propagation of verylow-frequency sound ("infra-sound")

waves. Modeling studies contributed

to understanding of propagation and,

in particular, sources of infrasound.

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

infra-sound researchers are ongoing.

The Meteorology Team within the

Atmospheric and Climate Sciences

Group at Los Alamos National

Laboratory conducts analysis and

modeling on microscale to mesoscale

atmospheric flows and phenomena. In

support of the DOE Chemical and

Biological Non-proliferation Program,

a model for High Resolution and

Strong Gradient (HIGRAD) applications

is being used to study the effects of

radiative heating and shading around

groups of buildings. The objective of

this study is to determine how these

processes may influence the transport

of agents within the urban environment. On larger scales, the team is

examining the influence of flow merger and urban roughness on the vertical

transport and mixing of pollutants with

the Regional Atmospheric Modeling

System (RAMS) for several western

United States valleys and basins. This

project is in support of the DOE

Environmental Meteorology Program

and for the Environmental Protection

Agency (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 Atmospheric and Climate

Sciences Group 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 NCAR Community

Climate Model (CCM3), and a "flux

coupler" to link the media consistently.

The two GCM's and the CICE model

exchange heat, momentum, and water

mass across the air-sea boundary. A

ten-year synchronized simulation

revealed the synoptic weather events,

seasonal cycles and inter-annual variations.

Observations related to understanding global climate are the focus of the

Tropical Western Pacific (TWP)

Program Office LANL, an element of

the DOE ARM Program. The TWP

Program Office is responsible for the

development and operation of the

TWP CART locale, a large expanse of

tropical ocean and maritime continent

lying roughly between 10o

S and 10o

N latitude and from 135oE to 150oW

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.
124 DOE SECTION 3

Pantex Plant

The Pantex Plant covers 15,977 acres

and is located 27 kilometers (17 miles)

northeast of Amarillo, Texas, in Carson

County. The Plant was a World War II

munitions factory and was converted to a

nuclear weapons assembly facility in

1951. Today, it is the nation's only

assembly/disassembly facility supporting the nuclear weapons arsenal. Pantex

Plant is a government-owned, contractor-operated facility. DOE oversees

operation of Pantex Plant through the

Amarillo Area Office, which reports to

the Albuquerque Operations Office.

Mason and Hanger Corporation have

been the operating contractor since 1956.

The Waste and Environmental

Management Department (WEMD) of

the Applied Technology Division 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

(10m and 60m) are collected and used

by the DOE ARAC site work station,

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 ARAC emergency

response models that could be used for

off-normal events involving radionuclides. Annual dispersion model calculations, of off site radiation doses

from on site sources, required by

40 CFR 61, Subpart H, National

Emission Standards for Hazardous Air

Pollutants (NESHAP), are accomplished by WEMD using the EPA

approved CAP88PC model and the

Pantex meteorological tower data

processed into the STAR format.

WEMD 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 Battelle-Pantex.

Emergency repairs and replacement of

sensors are also handled by the BLM

Idaho depot. Temperature and wind

sensors are replaced semi-annually

with calibrated and certified sensors.

The barometer is replaced annually.

During the semi-annual preventive

maintenance visits, all of the other

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.

No special meteorological activities

are planned at Pantex for FY 2000;

however, efforts are underway to display the meteorological tower data on

the Pantex Plant Intranet for use by

Plant personnel. There are no current

or projected supporting meteorological

research activities planned at Pantex.

Savannah River Site (SRS)

The SRS is under the responsibility

of the Savannah River Operations

Office (SR) and operated by the

Westinghouse Savannah River

Company. SRS is located in southwestern South Carolina, along the

banks of the Savannah River. The SRS

covers an area of approximately 300

square miles. It is heavily vegetated

with evergreen trees and contains many

streams, a swamp, and a 2,700-acre

reservoir built as a cooling pond for the

plant reactors. The topography of SRS

is characterized by gently rolling

forested hills with an adjacent flood

plain near the Savannah River. The climate at SRS is typical of the southeastern United States with long, hot and

humid summers and short mild winters.

The Atmospheric Technologies

Group (ATG) of the Savannah River

Technology Center (SRTC) developed

the SRS meteorological monitoring and

modeling program in the early 1970's.

This program supports the SRS operations in the areas of emergency

response consequence assessment,

radiological and non-radiological air

quality calculations for regulatory compliance, safety analyses, environmental

impacts, engineering studies, environmental research and non-proliferation

activities.

Meteorological activities include

daily weather forecasting services in

support of operations at SRS, with particular emphasis on severe weather

impacts. Local meteorological data

are obtained from a network of eight

200-foot meteorological observing

towers located near the major production sites. The instrumentation on

these towers includes sensitive bidirectional vanes (i.e., bi-vanes), cup

anemometers, resistance thermometers

and lithium chloride humidity sensors.

Additional meteorological instrumentation is located at the Central

Climatology Facility located near the

geographical center of the site to measure precipitation, evaporation, barometric pressure, soil temperature, solar

and long wave radiation. Central

Climatology includes a 200-foot tower

instrumented at four levels. A network

of twelve additional rain gauges (that

are read daily) is located within SRS.

Additional local upper-air data are collected from three acoustic Doppler

radars, an airsonde system, and a tethersonde system. Portable towers are

used for case studies.

A collaborative agreement with surrounding counties involves assisting

them to install and operate several

local meteorological towers at nearby
SECTION 3 DOE 125

chemical plants. Data from these towers are being integrated into the SRS

meteorological archiving and display

system the Weather Information and

Display System (WINDS).

The WINDS is the primary consequence assessment system for atmospheric and hydrologic releases from

SRS operations. A suite of atmospheric models linked to real-time site wide

atmospheric monitoring provides

transport, dispersion and consequence

calculations for emergency response.

The WIND system underwent a complete re-engineering to improve the

computer system reliability, performance and serviceability. The re-engineering involved distributing the data

processing and utilizing new data

acquisition hardware and relational

data base software. New workstation

clustering for data management and

PC/NT user workstations for local

model operation and graphical user

interfacing for displays were added.

An advanced non-hydrostatic, threedimensional, prognostic atmospheric

model is run twice daily on the SRTCs

CRAY computer separate domains:

(1) the Central Savannah River Area

(CSRA), (2) kilometer grid resolution); and (3) the area encompassing

South Carolina and Georgia (20 kilometer resolution).

The CSRA model provides forecasts

with a minimum of six hours useable

forecast fields. The Georgia-South

Carolina model run provides forecasts

with a minimum of 24 hours useable

forecast fields. These forecast fields

are integrated into the WIND system

consequence assessment models.

Additional model runs are conducted

on an expanded domain to include the

entire southeastern United States on an

ad hoc basis when the SRS is threatened by hurricanes.

An aqueous model is also resident on

WINDS and linked to real-time stream

flow monitors operated by the USGS.

This model enables consequence

assessments for emergency response to

site streams and the Savannah River.

Regional, national, and international

meteorological data are received from

a commercial weather data provider

via satellite in real-time. Weather

workstations provide surface and

upper observations, analyzed and forecast weather parameter fields from the

NWS and the European Modeling

Center. These data are input into an

advanced, three dimensional, prognostic, atmospheric modeling system for

applications locally in the southeastern

United States and globally. Satellite

and Doppler radar data are also available in near real-time.

Rocky Flats Environmental

Technology Site (RFETS)

The RFETS is managed by the

Rocky Flats Operations Office and is

located approximately 16 miles northwest of downtown Denver, Colorado.

One of the smaller DOE sites, the facility occupies a 10 square mile area

along the foothills of the Rocky

Mountain Front Range.

A 61m meteorological tower at the

west-end of the site continuously monitors meteorological conditions at surface, 10, 25, and 60m above ground

level. A backup, 10m tower is located

nearby to ensure 100 percent data

recovery. 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 and 10m 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 RFETS.

Through a cooperative agreement

with the Colorado Department of

Public Health and Environment, 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 3-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 path and impacts

from any radiological emergency at the

site. Called the Computer-Assisted

Protective Action Recommendation

System (CAPARS), the new capability

addresses the need for fast, accurate

plume predictions in a complex atmosphere.

CAPARS provides a variety of

plume, weather, hazard, and related

products with the accuracy and speed

needed for response to an emergency

at RFETS. Eleven integrated major

subsystems form the overall CAPARS

capability. The State of Colorado has

formally accepted the CAPARS modeling system for emergency response

and planning applications at RFETS.

A specialized planning version of the
126 DOE SECTION 3

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.

Hanford Site

For more than 55 years, meteorological services have been provided to the

Richland Operations Office and the

Hanford Site. For the last 33 years,

this program has been managed by the

Battelle Pacific Northwest National

Laboratory) (PNNL). 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 Richland.

The facility covers 560 square miles

within the arid and sparsely vegetated

Columbia River basin in southeastern

Washington. 

Global Climate Research Program

focuses on the study of basic geophysical processes and on the development

of databases that are critical for understanding global and regional climate

change. The ARM program is

designed to characterize empirically

the radiative processes in the atmosphere with high spatial, temporal, and

spectral resolution and accuracy at

three climatically distinct sites--the

Southern Great Plains of Oklahoma;

the tropical Western Pacific just off the

northern part of Papua, New Guinea;

and the north slope of Barrows,

Alaska. In addition, carbon dioxide

emissions research is aimed at providing a scientific basis for forecasting

future emissions of carbon dioxide and

other important gases of radiative

importance.

The PNNL Meteorological and

Climatological Services Project

(MSCP) office provides meteorological monitoring and operational support. The monitoring system consists

of an array of twenty-six 10m towers,

three 60m towers and one 125m tower

instrumented with temperature and

wind direction and speed sensors.

Atmospheric pressure and precipitation data are also collected. Data from

this network are transmitted via UHF

radio to a computer that decodes the

data and plots graphics products for

immediate display and use by Hanford

Meteorological Station personnel.

Other meteorological data are received

via the NWS/DOE AFOS network.

Meteorological services include emergency response functions, weather

forecasting for on-site operations and

special projects, and climatological

support. MSCP support to the Hanford

site includes: (1) extensive data acquisition via a site-wide meteorological

monitoring network; (2) weather forecasting services 24-hours/day

(Monday through Friday), and

8-hours/day on weekends and holidays; (3) hourly surface observations,

and 6-hourly synoptic observations;

and, (4) monthly and annual climatological data summaries, plus meteorological input to annual environmental

reports.

Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL)

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 the

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

20m and 35m. The BNL site is rectangular and approximately 5,200 acres in

area. Winds are predominantly southwesterly, and plume dispersion studies

show that it is essential to monitor

winds well beyond laboratory borders.

The NWS New York City Weather

Forecast Office is located at BNL.

This office has an umbrella of coverage that includes an estimated population of 1 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,

10m and 88m, 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 real-time

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

east-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

3 hours and, in the case of a hazardous

material or radiological release, a
SECTION 3 DOE 127

member of the Meteorological

Services Group will assist the emergency coordinator with regular forecasts and information on local wind

fields and gustiness. Areas of meteorological research include:

(1) instrumentation development for

field studies of atmospheric constituents, air-sea interaction, and

laboratory experiments;

(2) gaseous tracer studies of atmospheric transport and dispersion; 

(3) aerosol formation and behavior;

(4) atmospheric pollution studies; 

(5) modeling of atmospheric chemical

reactions;

(6) acid rain studies both in the field

and in the laboratory;

(7) theoretical and observational

studies of radiative transfer and

fluxes; and,

(8) analysis of data and development

of parameterizations relevant to

global climate change.

The Atmospheric Radiation

Measurement (ARM) Program provides the stimulus for a wide range of

climate-related studies. The ARM

ocean monitoring program is developing instrumentation and a broad shipand buoy-based observational network

in the tropical western Pacific Ocean.

The Atmospheric Chemistry Program

(ACP) provides the Atmospheric

Chemistry Division's concern with

aerosol sources, transport, and fate in

the global atmosphere and the overall,

and little understood, impact of

aerosols on global climate dynamics.

The ARM External Data Center is the

center for collection, archival, and dissemination of all climate-related data

sets for the ARM program

(Figure 3-DOE-2)

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 NASA Solar Irradiance Network

and continuous short wave absorption

measurements are made here. In a

related NASA study, oceanic aerosol

optical depths are measured and used

to validate absorption algorithms in the

SeaWiFS ocean color program.

The Optical Remote Sensing group

within the Department of Advanced

Technology 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 (1.25m) 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 2-3km 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.

Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP)

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

(WIPP) is operated by Westinghouse

Electric Company's Waste Isolation

Division for the DOE Carlsbad Area

Office. A cornerstone of the DOE's

national clean-up strategy, the WIPP is

designed to permanently dispose of

transuranic radioactive waste generated by defense-related activities in the

Salado salt formation 2,150 ft 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

(EM) Section performs meteorological

monitoring as part of the Non-radiological Environmental Monitoring

Program. The primary meteorological

station provides measurement of wind

direction and speed, temperature at 2,

10, and 50m, as well as ground level

measurements of barometric pressure,

relative humidity, precipitation, and

solar radiation. The main function of

the station is to generate data for operational support, emergency response

and regulatory dispersion modeling

applications. Parameters are monitored continuously and the data are

stored in the Central Monitoring

System, a computerized system including automated parameter checks, realtime displays in the Central

Monitoring Room, and data archiving.

Meteorological data are compiled and

distributed to stakeholders, including

the NOAA NWS, on a monthly basis.

In addition to the primary meteorological station, the Far Field Station

serves as a secondary meteorological

station and measures wind direction

and speed at 10 meters as well as temperature, barometric pressure at

ground level. System upgrades are

currently being considered for this station.

WIPP also, under a cooperative

agreement with the NWS, maintains a

Cooperative Weather Observing

Station at the Far Field Station. Data

from this station are compiled monthly

and the Record of Climatological

Observations form is submitted to the

Weather Forecast Office in Midland,

Texas. Under the same cooperative

agreement, the Midland office is given

Figure 3-DOE-2. Battelle operates the

Gulfstream-1 as a research facility

under contract with the DOEs

Atmospheric Chemistry Program.
128 DOE SECTION 3

access to real-time data from the primary meteorological station.

Weldon Springs Site Remedial Action

Project (WSSRAP)

Various facilities at Weldon Springs

in St. Charles County, Missouri were

no longer needed, and a Remedial

Action Plan (RAP) was developed to

restore the site to its environmental

baseline. This activity is being coordinated under the Weldon Springs Site

Remedial Action Plan (WSSRAP),

under the management of Jacobs

Engineering Company.

Fourteen interim response actions were

developed and approved by WSSRAP.

Interim response actions are activities

that will not change the ultimate disposal method but will mitigate or eliminate

conditions that pose immediate or potential threats to worker safety, public

health, or the environment. Some of the

interim actions taken were removal of

exposed friable asbestos, overhead piping, polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB)

electrical equipment, power poles and

wires, demolition of all buildings, isolation and capping of Ash Pond, and capping of other highly contaminated areas.

Additional areas to undergo remediation

are scheduled through 2001, which is the

projected date for completion of all

remediation activities.

Within the Environmental

Monitoring Plan is a meteorological

monitoring program, which has a monitoring station. The meteorological

monitoring station is located along the

eastern perimeter of the chemical plant

site more than 400 ft from the nearest

building and is considered representative of all areas undergoing remediation. The WSSRAP meteorological

station continuously records wind

speed and wind direction at 10m above

ground level, as well as horizontal

wind fluctuation, barometric pressure,

relative humidity, incoming solar radiation, and precipitation intensity. The

sensors are designed for and calibrated

within measurement ranges encompassing all credible meteorological

conditions at the site.

The meteorological monitoring program include numerous program functions at WSSRAP:

(1) Meteorological information to

support emergency response activities in the event of an unscheduled

chemical or radiological release;

(2) Information for atmospheric dispersion modeling to provide an

environmental safety and health

contribution to engineering design

of site facilities;

(3) Rainfall, temperature, and wind

speed data to support wetland and

lake ecological studies and for support of foliar vegetation absorption

analysis;

(4) Precipitation data to support the

correlation of aquifer level fluctuations in the quarry and Femme

Osage Slough;

(5) Environmental reporting including the annual Weldon Spring Site

Environmental Report and the

Effluent Information System/OnSite Discharge Information System

Report;

(6) Wind speed data needed for

compliance with Occupational

Safety and Health Administration

(OSHA) construction management

activities;

(7) Precipitation data to support the

National Pollutant Discharge

Elimination System storm water

permit application; and,

(8) Temperature and relative humidity data to support environmental

safety and health field activities

during periods of extreme heat and

cold.

Yucca Mountain Project Office

(YMPO)

An extensive air quality and meteorology monitoring program has been

established at YMPO that is managed

and operated by Science Applications

International Corporation (SAIC),

Summerlin, Nevada.

This program supports the site characterization and licensing of the site

that DOE Office of Civilian Waste of

Radioactive Materials has preliminarily selected for the disposal of highlevel radioactive waste.

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 (the

Council) was established in December

1994. The mission of the Council is to

coordinate meteorological support and

research to meet DOE objectives. The

objectives of the council are to:

(1) promote cost-effective support for

all DOE facilities; (2) plan for future

needs, requirements, and missions;

(3) advocate awareness of atmospheric

science applications and benefits to

DOE; and, (4) advocate the use of

common methods, procedures, and

standards.

Council oversight is provided by a

steering committee consisting of DOE

headquarters and field element representatives. Products of the DMCC

include analysis of meteorological

requirements embedded in DOE orders

and guidance, site meteorological program peer reviews, and, as needed,

customized technical assistance.

Assist visits have been conducted at

DOE/NV, WIPP, Pantex, and

DOE/OR. A follow-up assist visit was

also conducted at WIPP. Additional

assist visits are in the planning stages

and will be conducted over the next

several years. The DMCC web page

has been broadened and can be

accessed at www.sord.nv.doe.gov.

Planned DMCC products include a

DOE meteorological human resources

directory, an updated meteorological

requirement analysis, site meteorological program assist visit reports, and

additional upgrades to the DMCC web

page.
Bureau of Land Management

The Bureau of Land Management

(BLM) is one of five Federal Land

Management agencies which have centralized wildland fire weather operations at the National Interagency Fire

Center (NIFC), Boise, Idaho

(Figure 3-DOI-1). 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. This new system is called the

BLM Wildland Fire Management

Information Site (WFMIS)

(www.nifc.blm.gov). Many of the

capabilities that were centrally located

in the old IAMS have been moved to

other web sites.

The principal inputs to WFMIS are

Remote Automatic Weather Station

(RAWS) and National Lightning

Detection Network (NLDN) information. Additional fire management

information is summarized and made

available via the Western Regional

Climate Center (WRCC)

(www.wrcc.sage.dri.edu) and the

United States Forest Service Wildland

Fire Assessment System (WFAS)

(//svinet2.fs.fed.us/land/wfas/) web

sites

The BLM's RAWS Program primarily collects meteorological data for fire

weather forecasting. In past years, the

network also provided considerable

support to non-fire entities and is operated throughout the year. However,

with increased pressure on operational

dollars, the BLM Office of Fire and

Aviation Management has decided to

restructure its network. Plans were to

reduce the fire network by about

one-fourth in the western states.

However, after considerable study and

optimization, actual reductions have

been about 15 percent. With continued

funding pressures, the requirement to

replace aging equipment, and the considerable costs associated with maintaining such a large network, BLM

Fire Management's strategy was to

reduce the total number of RAWS,

move to a single station classification

(all stations configured the same),

operate only during the traditional

western fire season (RAWS no longer

maintained in winter months), and to

use any savings in operating funds to

replace aging equipment and upgrade

the remaining network. However,

once again, the expanded use of Fire

Managements RAWS data set by other

non-fire users has generated funding to

permit year-round operation of the

entire network. The BLM's Resource

Management and Oregon O&C (WestSide) RAWS networks will continue to

operate and be supported as in the past.

These networks are much smaller and

have specific program requirements

that differ from fire management.

In 1997, the BLM began contracting

with a private vendor via the National

Weather Service (NWS) for lightning

location data. Data is 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.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR WEATHER PROGRAMS

The Department of the Interior's (DOI) Atmospheric Science activities are primarily research and, historically, have

been reported through the Subcommittee for Atmospheric Research. However, budgetary information for the Bureau

of Land Management's operational wildfire weather data collection system is reported in this Federal Plan. The narrative below describes the full-range of meteorological activity in the Interior Department.

SECTION 3 DOI 129

Figure 3-DOI-1. National Interagency Coordination Center coordinates with

the GACCs for wildland fire supplies and resources.
130 DOI SECTION 3

The BLM's Remote Sensing Fire

Weather Support Unit at NIFC provides a full range of specialized management, maintenance, data, and support services for the BLM and numerous other government agencies. This

interagency staffed and funded facility

performs work under long-term interagency agreements with those agencies

within the government having similar

equipment and requirements. Staffing

levels within this group are being

adjusted to meet the overall interagency requirements.

In addition to the meteorological

monitoring BLM conducts primarily to

support wildland fire management

activities, BLM also performs site-specific climate monitoring at over

200 manual weather station locations

on the public lands in the eleven western states and Alaska. The operation of

these sites ranges from seasonal to

annual measurements of precipitation,

temperature, soil moisture, and other

meteorological parameters necessary

to assess local climatic influences.

These data are primarily used for natural resources management and planning at the local level.

In 1991, the BLM Global Change

Research Program established five

monitoring sites in BLM wilderness

and wilderness study areas to establish

baseline conditions for assessment of

long-term ecosystem trends. A total of

20 sites were planned for the initial

5-year period. A standardized monitoring platform is operating at these

sites and includes measurements of climate and atmospheric chemistry.

National Park Service

The National Park Service (NPS)

monitors air quality and visibility in

several national parks and monuments.

Gaseous pollutants data are collected

on continuous and integrated (24-hour)

bases. Surface meteorological data are

collected and analyzed for hourly averages. Precipitation chemistry is determined on week-long integrated rainfall

samples. Twenty-four hour, average

particle concentrations (mass, elemental analyses, some chemical constituent analyses) are measured twice

weekly. Atmospheric light extinction

is measured continuously and relayed

to a central location for analyses.

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.

United States Geological Survey

The Survey's Water Resources

Division (WRD) collects streamflow,

precipitation, and other climatological

data for a number of projects concerning rainfall/runoff, water quality and

hydrologic processes. Currently, the

Geological Survey collects hydrometeorological data from approximately

5,130 remote data collection platforms

(DCP). The data are transmitted to

Wallops, Virginia, via GOES and

rebroadcast to a domestic communication satellite (DOMSAT). Data are

received from the DOMSAT by local

readout ground stations (LRGS) procured by the Geological Survey under

a 1992 contract. The USGS currently

operates 15 LRGS' which provide near

real-time data to the Survey's computerized National Water Information

System. The USGS also collects precipitation samples in a number of studies for the determination of atmospheric contribution to the chemical constituent loads to runoff and for defining

the effect of atmospheric deposition on

water quality and the aquatic environment.

The USGS is continuing a joint

research program with the National

Aeronautics and Space Administration

(NASA) and the Department of

Agriculture (USDA) to map snowpack

water equivalent or depth using satellite passive microwave observations

from the Defense Meteorological

Satellite Program SSM/I sensor. The

satellite observations are being compared to snowpack data from a variety

of sources: USDA's Natural Resources

Conservation Service (NRCS) automatic Snotel sites; National Weather

Service (NWS) sites; and observations

by USGS field teams which include

grain size, density, and stratigraphy.

The object of the program is to develop algorithms to extract snow depth or

water equivalent information from the

satellite observations for near real-time

assessments and for climatological

studies using the two decade long

satellite record. An algorithm has been

developed which combines the satellite

observations with surface temperature

measurements to account for changing

snowpack grain size--a factor that was

not included in previous algorithms.

The Survey also carries out research

in past climate change, regional

hydrology, the carbon cycle, coastal

erosion, volcanic activity, and glaciology. As part of its glaciology program,

the Survey maintains a benchmark proFigure 3-DOI-2. Aerial photographs

capture the recession of the South

Cascade Glacier in the State of

Washington.
SECTION 3 DOI 131

gram on three benchmark glaciers representative of different climatic zones

of the western United States--one in

Washington (Figure 3-DOI-2), one on

the south coast of Alaska, and one in

the interior of Alaska. At each glacier,

the program measures the winter snow

accumulation, summer snow and ice

ablation, air temperature, and runoff in

the glacier basin. Analysis of this 37-

year record is providing a greater

understanding of the climate variability and its effects on water resources of

the western United States. Both the

snowpack and glaciology program

now incorporate data supplied by the

intelligence community through the

coordination of the Civil Applications

Committee (CAC) (Figure 3-DOI-3).

The Survey's Geologic Division,

through the USGS Geomagnetism

Group in Golden, Colorado, collects

data on temporal variations of the

Earth's magnetic field from a global

network of over 70 geomagnetic observatories. These observatories (which

include 14 operated directly by USGS)

all belong to the INTERMAGNET

program. Under INTERMAGNET,

data from a global network of geomagnetic observatories are transmitted in

near real-time via satellites and computer links (E-mail) to collection and

dissemination points called

Geomagnetic Information Nodes

(GIN's). Five GIN's are now located in

Europe, North America, and Asia.

Magnetic field data are key inputs to

the National Space Environment

Forecast and Warning Program, which

is coordinated by the OFCM, and to

the new inter-agency National Space

Weather Program. These data are used

for nowcasting, forecasting, and modeling of "space weather"--particularly

the effects of geomagnetic disturbances. These effects range from:

satellite computer upsets and early reentry, to disruption of radio communications, to degradation of navigation

systems (such as GPS), and to outages

of power distribution grids. The roles

and responsibilities of agencies participating in the National Space

Environment and Warning Program

are detailed in the "National Plan for

Space Environment Services and

Supporting Research, 1993-1997"

(FCM-P10-1993) which was prepared

by the OFCM Committee for Space

Environment Forecasting.

The Survey participates in OFCM's

Working Group for Volcanic Ash

(WG/VA). This working group is

preparing A National Framework for

Volcanic Ash Hazards to Aviation.

Through its Volcanic Hazards

Program, the Survey is responsible for

monitoring approximately 56 historically active volcanoes in the United

States--44 are in Alaska. Until the

1980s, the Alaskan volcanoes had been

largely unstudied. Despite the low

population density of much of the

state, Alaska's volcanoes underlie the

heavily traveled air routes of the North

Pacific region.

During recent years, the Survey's

Alaskan Volcano Observatory (AVO)

has expanded its network of real-time

seismic monitoring stations. The

expansion brought 21 of the state's volcanoes under continuous, real-time

surveillance. Data and information

from the AVO monitoring activities are

integrated directly into the regional

operational activities of the FAA,

DOD, and NWS to provide warnings

for pilots and aircraft operators in the

Alaskan region.

Internationally, the OFCM WG/VA

has supported expansion of the USGS

Figure 3-DOI-3. USGS monitors the decreasing mass of glaciers in

Washington and Alaska.
132 DOI SECTION 3

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) transit the

international Northern Pacific routes

near these historically active volcanos.

Approximately one-half these flights

are United States carriers. AVO,

through its working agreement with

the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption

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.

Bureau of Reclamation

The Bureau of Reclamation activities

requiring the collection and use of

meteorological data include water

scheduling, flood hydrology, irrigation

project management, and reservoir

operations as well as projects related to

hydroelectric energy resources. One

example of this is the Agricultural

Water Resources Decision Support

(AWARDS) (http://yampa.earthsci.do.

usbr.gov:8080/awards/) system.

AWARDS integrates high-resolution

NEXRAD radar rainfall estimates, surface environmental data, crop models,

and quantitative precipitation forecasts

with watershed reservoir-canal systems and irrigation district water distribution systems. AWARDS provides

operational support for (1) early warnings to reduce hydrologic risk for loss

of property and lives, (2) improved

efficiency in canal and reservoir operations, and (3) improved efficiency in

irrigation scheduling for water conservation and water quality.

The Rio Grande Basin AWARDS

system has been modified to compute

consumptive use of crops and riparian

vegetation for irrigation diversions and

reaches of rivers served in the Upper

Rio Grande Basin. This activity is

accomplished in close cooperation

with the NWS Forecast Office, West

Gulf River Forecast Center, and the

multi-agency Upper Rio Grande Water

Operations Modeling team. Daily

results of this EvapoTranspiration (ET)

Toolbox are posted on the internet for

water managers, irrigation districts,

and municipal water users.

(http://yampa.earthsci.do.usbr.gov:8080/

awar ds/Nm/riogrande.html )

(Figure 3-DOI-4) Daily ET Toolbox

calculations are also imported into

RiverWare--the river basin water operations modeling system. Similar work

is planned for the Yakima Basin where

the ET Toolbox will also be linked

directly to a daily water operations

model to determine consumptive losses and depletions. These models assist

water managers in water conservation

decision-making. AWARDS systems

are also being implemented for the

Tualatin and Rogue River Basins in

western Oregon and in the South Platte

in northeastern Colorado.

Reclamation researchers finalized

the NEXRAD Operational Support

Figure 3-DOI-4. AWARDS System Interactive display enables users to click

radar grid cells (within the white dashed line boundary) for a pop-up of the

24-hour estimated Crop Water Use charts. The user can also click on the

weather stations for pop-up of the Daily Weather Data charts.
SECTION 3 DOI 133

Facility (OSF) report on the Snow

Accumulation Algorithm (SAA).

Researchers will continue improvement efforts and also apply the algorithm to Reclamation watersheds

through their Research and

Technology Transfer Program and

NOAAs Global Energy and Water

Cycle Experiment (GEWEX)

Continental-Scale International

Program (GCIP) cooperative partnership. GEWEX is part of the World

Climate Research Program. The SAA

development was a cooperative effort

with the tri-agency WSR-88D OSF in

Norman, Oklahoma. The prototype is

being successfully field tested in the

northern Plains from Minnesota to

Montana on a daily basis and results

are displayed on the Web for

Reclamation's water managers as well

as NWS forecasters and River Forecast

Centers. Previous work demonstrated

the prototype capabilities at Albany,

New York, Cleveland, Ohio, and

Minneapolis Minnesota. Work is

planned to apply these algorithms and

precipitation estimation techniques for

the GEWEX Applications Prediction

Program (GAPP) in the West beginning in FY 2002.

Reclamation's NEXRAD research

team is also conducting cooperative

work with the National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administrations (NOAA)

GCIP. This work involves developing

a correction scheme for known snowfall underestimation at far range

caused by the curvature of the earth

and the vertical profile of radar reflectivity. Reflectivity during snowfall has

maximum values near the ground. In

addition, Reclamation and GCIP are

cooperating on providing snow water

equivalent (SWE) estimates to the

NOAA National Operational

Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center

which will incorporate them into their

overall scheme of SWE and snow

cover mapping for the nation. These

spatial snow distributions are used by

NWS River Forecast Centers and other

agencies as input to runoff and streamflow models. Therefore, improved

knowledge of SWE and snow cover

distributions, resulting from including

NEXRAD radar estimates, will provide more accurate steamflow forecasts. Improved forecasting will, in

turn, allow better management of

water resources.

Reclamation meteorologists are

working on modifying their snow

accumulation algorithm into a

Precipitation Accumulation Algorithm

(PAA). This algorithm will provide a

means of real-time estimation of precipitation rates and water equivalent

over areas of particular interest. For

example, Reclamation water managers

need real-time warnings concerning

flash flooding into reservoirs for which

dam safety is a concern. Another

example is accurate estimation of rainfall onto irrigation districts as part of

the AWARDS system discussed earlier.

Multi-agency work on projecting

potential effects of climate change and

climate variability on western water

resources and Bureau operations is

continuing under collaborative work

with NOAAs GCIP, Office of Global

Programs, and the National Centers for

Environmental Prediction (NCEP).

The NWS RFCs provide detailed

streamflow forecasts for Reclamation's

operations. Of note is technology

transfer efforts in the Central Valley

Operations Office in Sacramento,

California, where a direct workstation

link to the NWS River Forecast

System and other hydrometeorological

forecast products is providing

Reclamation's water managers access

to detailed products of immediate

value to water management operations.

This direct link to NWS products has

proven invaluable for Central Valley

Project Operations, particularly during

periods of heavy precipitation and

extreme events when timely information is readily available to water operations managers.

Other multi-agency studies are

underway with the Los Alamos

National Laboratory's remote sensing

and coupled atmospheric and hydrologic modeling teams. Raman LIDAR

measurements of water vapor fluxes

over the riparian zones of the Bosque

del Apache and crops are enhancing

our knowledge of consumptive losses

from salt cedar and cottonwood trees,

and crop ET. Coupled modeling

efforts to improve local mesoscale predictions of precipitation and runoff in

the Upper Rio Grande Basin have

begun using NCEP large-scale MRF

models to initialize the Regional

Atmospheric Modeling System and

provide forecast stream flows using the

USGS Modular Modeling System.

This effort is part of the NSF sponsored Sustainable Semi-arid Science

and Technology Center research at the

University of Arizona.

Another collaborative effort is beginning with ERL's Climate Diagnostics

Center's Western Water Initiative in

collaboration with the Cooperative

Institute for Research in

Environmental Sciences (CIRES).

This effort involves the validation,

quantification of uncertainty, and

development of water management

applications for extended weather and

climate forecasts. This Office of

Global Programs sponsored research

complements the GAPP and upcoming

Water Cycles multi-agency applied

Managing Water in the American West

(Bureau of Reclamation web site)
134 DOI SECTION 3

hydrometeorological research programs. 

A Technology Advancement study of

heavy precipitation events in collaboration with NCEP and the National

Center for Atmospheric Research

(NCAR) is examining the utility of

mesoscale models for simulation and

prediction of extreme precipitation

events. These efforts are taking current technologies and applying them to

very heavy precipitation events to

determine maximum precipitation and

better understand limits of extreme

precipitation in watersheds above

Reclamation facilities for safety of

dams studies and early warning applications. Additionally, under the

Technology Advancement program,

Reclamation and representatives from

the NWS Office of Hydrology are currently in the process of updating rainfall-frequency estimates for both the

Ohio River Region and Upper

Midwest Region of the United States.

Results of these studies will eventually

replace those estimates obtained in

Technical Papers Nos. 40 & 49

(Weather Bureau 1961 and 1964,

respectively).

Currently, Reclamation's

HYDROMET system collects data

from approximately 400 hydrometeorological DCPs which transmit data in

the "real-time" through the GOES to

the Bureau's DRGS in Boise, Idaho.

AGRIMET is another network of

60 DCPs dedicated to analysis of crop

water use and water conservation in

the Pacific Northwest. Data collected

and products created in Boise are electronically transferred to other Bureau,

federal, and state offices. Funding for

Reclamation's Global Change

Response Program ended in the mid1990s. Reclamation's weather modification research program has not been

funded since 1989 except for reimbursable work.

Minerals Management Service

The Minerals Management Service's

(MMS) Environmental Studies

Program gathers offshore environmental data for use in the management of

offshore oil and gas resources.

Currently, MMS is funding the continued operation of five meteorological

buoys which transmit data via NOAA

satellites. Two buoys are located in the

Gulf of Mexico and two in the Pacific

Ocean off California. The MMS also

utilizes data from other buoys funded

by NOAA. The buoys collect air temperature, sea surface temperature, wind

direction, wind speed, wave height,

and wave spectrum data.

In FY 1998, the MMS started data

collection from two 915-MHz profilers

with RASS to study the atmospheric

boundary layer over the Gulf of

Mexico. One profiler is located on a

platform about 6 miles off the central

Louisiana coast; the other is placed in

deeper waters about 130 km from

shore. Hourly observations are transmitted to the NWS via GOES satellite

on a real-time basis for use in prognostic models. Data collection started in

June 1998 and will last for three years. 

Each site also collects surface data on

wind, temperature, relative humidity,

atmospheric pressure, and sea surface

temperature. The MMS initiated a

3 year study to synthesize the data

from the two profilers along with data

from various other sources in the Gulf

of Mexico and adjacent onshore area.

The goal of this effort is to establish a

data base on marine boundary layer

and atmospheric dispersion characteristics in the Gulf.

The MMS has requested the offshore

oil and gas industry to establish a network of meteorological stations in the

offshore area around the Breton

National Wilderness Area in Louisiana

to collect data for air quality modeling.

Meteorological surface data will be

collected from a number of offshore

platforms and buoys. In addition, three

radar profilers with RASS will be

installed to collect upper air data. This

effort is being funded by industry and

data collection is expected to start in

April 2000. Data will be collected for

one year.

Bureau of Indian Affairs

The Bureau of Indian Affairs collects

atmospheric data to evaluate potentially irrigable Indian Trust lands in the

Southwest. The Bureau also shares

fire weather data with other Federal

agencies while participating in fire

weather forecasting at NIFC.
Stratospheric ozone depletion has

been recognized as a critical health and

environmental problem for more than a

decade. Under DOS leadership, the

United States worked to negotiate

international agreements to phase out

ozone-depleting substances, which

should lead to a recovery of the ozone

layer in the next century. To date,

these treaties have been signed and ratified by more than 170 countries

(including the United States), representing 99 percent of the world's production of ozone depleting substances.

The IPCC, which is jointly sponsored by the World Meteorological

Organization (WMO) and the United

Nations Environment Program

(UNEP), held its first session in 1988.

This organization serves as a government forum to assess the state of scientific and technical information regarding climate change. The IPCC is currently organized in three working

groups, examining: (1) the state of the

science, (2) impacts and adaptation,

and (3) mitigation. The IPCC released

its first and second assessment reports

in 1990 and 1995, respectively, and a

third assessment report from each of

the working groups is scheduled for

publication in the middle of 2001. In

addition to preparing assessment

reports, the IPCC also contributed to

international negotiations through

preparation and review of special

reports and development of methodologies requested by the Framework

Convention on Climate Change

(FCCC).

The FCCC was negotiated beginning

in February 1991; the Convention was

open for signature in Rio de Janeiro at

the Earth Summit in June 1992. As of

April 2000, it had been ratified by

184 countries, including the United

States. The first meeting of the

Conference of the Parties to the

Convention was held in Berlin in

March/April 1995. The Convention

calls for all countries to develop inventories of their emissions and sinks of

greenhouse gases and calls upon developed countries and economies in transition to aim to return these emissions

to their 1990 levels by the year 2000.

In December 1997, Parties to the

Convention reached agreement on the

Kyoto Protocol, which establishes targets for the reduction of greenhouse

gas emissions in developed countries

and countries with economies in transition.

In addition to its primary role in the

fora listed above, DOS is active on the

Committee on Environment and

Natural Resources (CENR) of the

National Science and Technology

Council. The CENR was established

in 1993 to coordinate scientific domestic programs. Furthermore, while the

emphasis on global environmental

issues is a key new component of the

department's focus, traditional DOS

responsibilities, described in earlier

federal plans, continue. These include,

but are not limited to, international

aspects of food policy, disaster warnings and assistance, WMO and UNEP

activities, and international meteorological programs.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE CLIMATE AND ATMOSPHERIC PROGRAMS

The Department of State (DOS) plays an active role in international climate/meteorological policy making as a result

of the growing worldwide concern with global environmental issues, including the depletion of the stratospheric ozone

layer and climate change. The role of DOS has principally revolved around preparation and negotiation of the United

States position in three fora: (1) the Conference of the Parties to the Vienna Convention and its Montreal Protocol on

Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, (2) the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); and (3) negotiation under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

SECTION 3 DOS 135
Meteorological support to the EPA

Office of Research and Development,

the EPA Office of Air and Radiation,

the EPA Regional Offices, and to state

and local agencies includes: (1) development and application of air quality

dispersion models for pollution control, direct and indirect exposure

assessments, and strategy creation;

(2) preparation and performance of

dispersion studies and air quality

model evaluations; and (3) review of

meteorological aspects of environmental impact statements, state implementation plans, and variance requests.

Meteorological expertise and guidance

are also provided for the air quality

standard, modeling guideline, and policy development activities of the EPA.

In light of the 1990 Amendments to

the Clean Air Act, air quality models

and the manner in which they are used

are expected to evolve considerably

over the next few years. In the area of

pollutant deposition, the evaluation of

nitrogen, oxidant, sulfur and aerosol

chemistries will 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 recent revisions

to the National Ambient Air Quality

Standards for ozone and particulate

pollution. These inter-pollutant effects

include trade-offs among controls on

ozone, sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides,

and volatile organic compounds, as

well as developing predictable methods of forecasting the impacts on various measures of air quality.

With respect to inhalable particulate

model development, dispersion models

are being enhanced to accurately predict aerosol growth from precursors

over local and regional transport distances. To assist in the evaluation of

the contribution of various sources to

regional air degradation, inert tracer

and tagged species numerical models

have been developed. These models

will introduce separate calculations for

inert or reactive chemical species emitted from a particular source or region.

The calculations will proceed to simulate transport and transformation to a

receptor point, where the contribution of

the particular source could be isolated.

With respect to oxidant air quality

modeling, the roles of biogenic volatile

organic compounds, rural nitrogen

oxides, and vertical transport will be

elucidated. A better understanding will

be developed of the fundamental

aspects of the ozone nonattainment

problem such as differences in urban

and rural rates of and/or sources of

photochemical production and the

interaction through transport of these

ozone precursors. Much of this

research will be performed under the

program previously known as the

North American Research Strategy on

Tropospheric Ozone, but now known

as NARSTO.

Atmospheric research in the areas of

climate and climate change includes

ozone distribution in the global troposphere, the relationship between that

ozone distribution and climate (including temporal and spatial aspects), and

regional climate studies addressing the

interaction of climate with the biosphere. The climatology program

involves both analytical and statistical

climatology as well as support for

regional-scale climate model development. Climate change issues and their

feedbacks with the biosphere are being

stressed.

Research in human exposure modeling includes microenvironmental monitoring and modeling, and development of exposure assessment tools.

Microenvironmental algorithms are

being developed based on field data to

predict air quality in buildings,

attached garages, and street canyons.

These improved algorithms are then

incorporated into microenvironmental

simulation models for conducting

human exposure assessments within

enclosed spaces in which specific

human activities occur.

In addition to these 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, and regional. Other

efforts include construction and application of air pollution climatologies;

modeling of agricultural pesticide

spray drift and of fugitive particles

from surface coal mines; modeling of

trace metal deposition to the Great

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCYWEATHER PROGRAMS

The 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 meteorological programs to support regulatory applications. Applied research and meteorological support are furnished primarily by the EPA National Exposure

Research Laboratory and the EPA 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 provides approximately 50 research meteorologists to the EPA.

SECTION 3 EPA 137
138 EPA SECTION 3

Lakes, nutrient deposition to

Chesapeake Bay, and mercury deposition to the Florida Everglades; modeling of accidental releases of toxic compounds forming dense gas clouds;

determination and description of pollutant effects on atmospheric parameters;

and conversely, determination of meteorological effects on air quality.

Atmospheric flow and dispersion

experimental data obtained from wind

tunnel, water channel/towing tank, and

convection tank experiments in the

EPA Fluid Modeling Facility

(Figure 3-EPA-1) will be used to continue development and evaluation of

these models in the FY 2001-2002

period, along with providing

researchers with insight into the basic

physical processes that affect pollutant

dispersion around natural and manmade obstacles. The convection tank

will be used to simulate and develop

improved models for open burning and

open detonation of surplus and obsolete military munitions

(Figure 3-EPA-2).

EPA participation in the interagency

High Performance Computing and

Communications (HPCC) Program is

enabling increased efficiency in air

quality meteorological modeling

through research on parallel implementation of the Mesoscale

Meteorological Model (MM5), with

the subsequent transfer of these

achieved efficiencies to the user community. The HPCC Program contributed to development of the

Models-3/Community Multi-scale Air

Quality (CMAQ) modeling system, a

flexible environmental modeling and

decision support tool to deal with multiple scales (urban to regional) and

multiple pollutants simultaneously,

thus facilitating a more comprehensive

and cost effective "one atmosphere"

approach to related single-stressor and

multi-stressor human and ecosystem

problems. Models-3 provides a

framework to support the constant evolution of environmental models to handle more complex issues such as fine

particulates, visibility, toxic pollutants,

and multi-media (air and water) environmental assessments in an integrated

manner.

Over the past twenty-five years,

numerous air quality simulation models have been developed to estimate

reductions of ambient air pollutants

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 and spatially in the

atmosphere. The principal purpose of

the Models-3/CMAQ project was to

develop a "one atmosphere" model that

integrates the major atmospheric pollution regimes in a multi-scale, multipollutant modeling system, with highlevel computational access by both sciFigure 3-EPA-1. The EPA Fluid Modeling Facility conducts laboratory simulations of atmospheric flow and dispersion using a meteorological wind tunnel

(top) and a convection tank.
SECTION 3 EPA 139

entific and air quality management

users for socio-economic applications

in community health assessments and

ecosystem sustainability studies.

After seven years of development,

Models-3/CMAQ was released in

June 1998 and is being updated annually for use by Federal agencies,

States, industry, and academia. It is

also intended to serve as a community

framework for continual advancement

and use of environmental assessment

tools. Models-3/CMAQ is available

on 8mm Exabyte tapes 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. For more information, visit the Models-3 web site at

http://www.epa.gov/asmdnerl/models3/

The evolving Multimedia Integrated

Modeling System (MIMS) research

seeks to improve the environmental

management community's ability to

evaluate the impact of air quality and

watershed management practices, at

multiple scales, on stream and estuarine conditions. Toward this goal the

primary objectives are to (1) develop a

prototype multiscale integrated modeling system with predictive meteorological capability for transport and fate of

nutrients and chemical stressors;

(2) enable the use of remotely sensed

and monitored meteorological and air

quality data, and process-based parameter estimation techniques in multiscale ecosystem assessment models;

and (3) develop an easy to use computer-based problem solving environment

with ready access to data, models, and

integrated visualization and analysis

tools for use in exposure-risk assessments, ecosystem restoration design,

and policy development and refinement from regional to local scales. The

MIMS development extends the open

architecture approach demonstrated in

the third generation modeling system,

Models-3/CMAQ, to provide a framework for selecting meteorological,

chemical, physical, and biological

process components to build customized models for specific problems/domains, and to facilitate interaction among media specific models.

The EPA also maintains relations

with foreign countries to promote

exchange of research meteorologists

and research results pertaining to meteorological aspects of air pollution.

One of the most active areas of cooperative research is with Russia under

the 1972 Nixon-Podgorny Agreement

forming the US/USSR Joint

Committee on Cooperation in the Field

of Environmental Protection and under

the 1993 Gore-Chernomyrdin

Agreement forming the US/Russia

Commission on Economic and

Technological Cooperation. Other

agreements are in place with Canada,

Japan, China, and Mexico, and with

several European countries under the

NATO Committee on Challenges of

Modern Society (CCMS).

Figure 3-EPA-2. This series of photographs from a convection tank experiment shows the rise of a bouyant puff in a convection boundary layer capped

by an inversion. These laboratory simulations were used to develop improved

models for predicting the transport and fate of pollutants released during the

open burning and open detonation of obsolete munitions.

Time History of Puff Rise and Dispersion

average of 33 releases

6-ton detonation
In carrying out its role, FEMA works

with all of the agencies to assure that

the delivery of meteorology-related

information is conducted in keeping

with established goals and objectives.

As administrator of the National Flood

Insurance Program (NFIP), FEMA

publishes Flood Insurance Rate Maps

for all flood-prone communities,

which serve as the official demarcation

for flood risk. FEMA administers the

National Hurricane Program and, for

regions subject to hurricanes, publishes hurricane evacuation maps based on

model simulation results from the

National Weather Service's National

Hurricane Center.

FEMA's priority interests with

OFCM are in supporting FEMA's predisaster initiatives (including Project

Impact) and in promoting standards

and procedures which will enhance the

ability of the Nation to mitigate and

recover from emergencies and disasters. These interests extend to national

standards for geographic information

systems (GIS) used for delivery of

meteorological products and services

by other agencies. FEMA also actively supports the 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

FEMA National Hurricane Program

hurricane evacuation studies, and other

FEMA's risk analysis activities, such

as the Multi-Hazard Loss Estimation

Methodology (HAZUS). The

Technical Services Division is the

principal contact for hurricane evacuation studies and flood risk analysis as

well as the FEMA contact point for

meteorology-related matters.

(www.fema.gov) (Figure 3-FEMA-1).

FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY

WEATHER PROGRAMS

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is the central agency within the federal government responsible

for emergency preparedness training and exercises, mitigation, response, and recovery. Working closely with state and

local governments, FEMA funds and provides leadership for pre-disaster mitigation activities, emergency programs and

offers technical guidance and training. FEMA also coordinates federal disaster relief resources following catastrophic

disasters. These Presidentially-declared activities ensure a broad-based program to protect life and property and provide recovery assistance after a disaster. The agency was formed in 1979 by Presidential Executive Order 12127,

replacing five former agencies and consolidating the Nation's emergency-related programs, including meteorological

emergencies.

SECTION 3 FEMA 141

Figure 3-FEMA-1. FEMA Building performance assessment team

viewing a damaged structure on Dauphin Island, Alabama.
OPERATIONS

The goal of the National Aeronautics

and Space Administration (NASA)

operations program is to provide the

specialized meteorological data needed

by forecasters at Cape Canaveral Air

Station and the Spaceflight

Meteorology Group at Johnson Space

Center (JSC) to support the Space

Shuttle and Expendable Launch

Vehicle programs. The focus is on

detecting and forecasting the

mesoscale weather events that strongly

impact ground processing, launch, and

landing operations. 

This goal requires exploitation of the

latest technology. The Applied

Meteorology Unit (AMU), collocated

with the Air Force's Range Weather

Operations, provides a facility to evaluate and, if warranted, transition new

meteorological technology into operations. For instance, the AMU strives to

develop techniques and systems to

help predict and avoid the impacts of

Kennedy Spaceflight Center's (KSC)

frequent mesoscale summer thunderstorms which endanger the ground processing, launch, and landing operations

of the American Space Program-Space

Shuttle, Department of Defense

(DOD), and commercial. Special

attention has been given to evaluating

mesoscale numerical models. The

AMU functions under a joint NASA,

Air Force, and National Weather

Service (NWS) Memorandum of

Understanding. AMU tasks during

FY 2000 include: (1) develop statistical short-range forecast tools and tools

to forecast thunderstorm anvil development, movement, and dissipation;

(2) provide technical advice to the

Eastern Range (ER) on the procurement, development, testing, and integration of weather infrastructure items;

(3) improve use and exploitation of the

5cm WSR-74C radar with SIGMET

processor; (4) detect and analyze chaff

signatures for source region(s); (5)

analyze performance of the models

that predict path of toxic and debris

clouds after an unplanned explosion of

a satellite launch rocket; (6) evaluate

the ER Dispersion Assessment System

(ERDAS), especially its meteorological component; (7) install the Local

Data Integration System, developed by

the AMU, at NWS and at JSC's

Spaceflight Meteorology Group; and

(8) provide technical advice to the

Planet Mars Ascent Vehicle program

(which will return samples from the

Martian surface to earth), and on electric field measurements and lightning

detection for incorporation into future

Mars exploration programs.

The development of a new toxic

model system ERDAS was completed

in March 1999. NASA was the contracting agency for ERDAS development; funding was sent to NASA KSC

by the Air Force. Operational implementation is complete. However, the

AMU continues to work on Range

Standardization and Automation

(RSA). RSA is a major Air Force program to evaluate and document the

day-to-day capabilities and limitations

of ERDAS. Deliveries of weather sensors, models, and control and display

systems began in FY 2000 and will

conclude in FY 2001. Transfer of the

KSC 50 MHz Doppler Radar Wind

Profiler to the ER and modernization

of its electronic components is proposed. There are considerable issues

related to the pending changes to the

Eastern and Western Ranges' meteorological infrastructures. The Air Force

and NASA weather communities have

expended considerable resources to

solving potential major deficiencies.

NASA KSC, JSC, and Marshall Space

flight Center (MSFC) depend heavily

on this infrastructure for their weather

support.

SUPPORTING RESEARCH

The supporting research activities are

sponsored by the NASA's Earth

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

WEATHER PROGRAMS

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Headquarters Weather Support Office has continued to

improve NASA's weather support capabilities for both manned and unmanned space launch vehicles. It is expected that

these improvements will strengthen and enhance the information provided to the ground-based decision-makers and

astronaut observers to insure that NASA achieves the best operational posture for Space Shuttle launches and landings.

The goal of the operations program is to provide the specialized meteorological data needed by operational forecasters

at Cape Canaveral Air Station of Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and Johnson Space Center to support the Space Shuttle

program. The focus is on detecting and forecasting the mesoscale weather events which strongly impact Shuttle ground

processing, launches, and landing operations. NASAs 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 143
144 NASA SECTION 3

Science Enterprise (ESE). The purpose of the ESE is to observe the global Earth environment, to understand

the mechanisms that underlie natural

and human-induced environmental

changes, and to identify consequences

that could impact human societies. In

short, the purpose of the Enterprise is

to provide scientific answers to the

fundamental question:

How is the Earth changing and

what are the consequences for

human civilization?

A fundamental discovery made during the 20th Century is the existence of

a multiplicity of linkages between

diverse natural phenomena and interactions between the individual components of the Earth system. As a result,

a new "Earth system science" concept

was developed, with the aim of investigating the complex behavior of the

total Earth environment in which the

global atmosphere, the oceans, the

solid Earth and ice-covered regions of

the Earth, and the biosphere all function as a single interactive system.

Earth system science is an area of

research with immense benefits to the

Nation, yielding new knowledge and

tools for weather forecasting, agriculture, water resource management,

urban and land use planning, and other

areas of economic and environmental

importance. In concert with other

agencies and the global research community, ESE is providing the scientific

foundation needed for the complex

policy choices that lie ahead on the

road to sustainable development. ESE

has established three broad goals:

(1) to expand scientific knowledge of

the Earth system using NASA's unique

capabilities from the vantage points of

space, aircraft, and in situ platforms;

(2) to disseminate information about

the Earth system; and (3) to enable

productive use of Earth science program science and technology in the

public and private sectors. NASA has

long been pursuing a vision of an interdisciplinary Earth system science.

Traditional scientific disciplines have

already progressed a long way in the

study of the atmosphere, biosphere,

land, and oceans as quasi-independent

components of a stationary Earth system, while treating the interfaces

between components as prescribed

boundary conditions. Building on

these scientific achievements, the strategy of Earth system science is to promote a "coordinated [research] effort

between adjacent scientific disciplines

and observation programs focused on

common interrelated problems that

affect the Earth as a whole" (Toward

an International Biosphere-Geosphere

Program; National Research Council

(NRC), 1983). The ultimate goal of

the NASA ESE is to achieve this synthesis and understand the interactive

physical, chemical, and biological

processes that govern the total Earth

system. With this knowledge, NASA

and its partners will develop prediction

capabilities to quantify the effects of

natural and human-induced changes on

the global environment. Operational

agencies, such as the National Oceanic

and Atmospheric Administration

(NOAA) and United States Geological

Survey (USGS), who are partners in

this effort, can use these capabilities to

improve weather and climate forecasting, natural resource management, and

other services on which the Nation

relies.

STRATEGY FOR ACHIEVING

GOALS

The first Earth Science Research

Plan, published in 1996, laid out a

strategy for study in five Earth system

science areas of: (1) maturing scientific understanding and significant societal importance; (2) land-cover and land

use changes; (3) short-term climate

events, natural hazards research, and

applications; (4) long-term climate

change research; and (5) atmospheric

ozone research. The plan also outlined

some 20 related areas of research,

which round out the Earth science contribution to Earth system science.

NRC recognized the complexity of

global Earth environment issues, the

multiplicity of interactions between

component processes and the crossdisciplinary connections they evoke

(Research Pathways for the Next

Decade-Overview; NRC, 1998). In the

face of such complexity, the NRC outlined a diversity of unsolved scientific

questions that call for further study, but

also emphasized the need for a

focused, scientific strategy, concentrating efforts and resources on critical

scientific problems that are most relevant to national policy issues.

Responding to the latter recommendation, the ESE is developing a targeted

research program, focused on an

updated set of specific science questions that can be addressed effectively

with NASA's capabilities, and formulating comprehensive research strategies that can lead to definitive scientific answers, as well as effective applications of those scientific results.

The key research topics studied by

NASA's ESE fall largely into three categories: forcings, responses, and the

processes that link the two and provide

feedback mechanisms. This conceptual approach applies in essence to all

research areas of NASA's Earth sci-
SECTION 3 NASA 145

ence program, although it is particularly relevant to the problem of climate

change--a major Earth science-related

issue facing the countries of the world.

The ESE has articulated a set of science questions which its observational

programs and research, modeling, and

analysis activities are directed at

answering.

§ How does the Earth change naturally?

§ What are the primary forcings of

the Earth system by human activities?

§ How does the Earth system

respond to natural and humaninduced changes?

§ What are the consequences of

changes in the Earth system for

human civilization?

§ How can we predict the changes in

the Earth system that will take place

in the future?

NASA expects that expanded scientific knowledge of Earth processes and

the utilization of advanced space-based

and airborne observing techniques or

facilities developed by NASA will

result in practical applications beneficial to all citizens. Examples of these

applications may include the prediction of impacts of environmental

changes on fisheries, agriculture, and

water resources; quantitative weather

and hydrologic forecasts over an

extended range of one-to-two weeks;

and prediction of seasonal or longerrange climate variations, global air

quality forecasts, and natural hazards

risk assessments. NASA ESE has a

role in demonstrating the potential

applications.

The pursuit of Earth system science

would be impractical without the continuous, global observations provided

by satellite-borne instruments.

NASA's Earth science research program comprises an integrated slate of

spacecraft and in situ measurement

capabilities; data and information management systems to acquire, process,

archive, and distribute global data sets;

and research and analysis projects to

convert data into new knowledge of

the Earth system. Numerous users in

academia, industry, federal, state, and

local government use this knowledge

to produce products and services

essential to achieving sustainable

development. Enabling us to get at the

answers to the science questions, our

top priority continues to be our existing near-term commitments with the

launch of our first series of EOS and

selected Earth probe missions that are

nearing completion. In addition,

NASA is committed to deliver a functioning data and information system to

support the processing, archival, and

distribution of data products for these

missions. These satellites will propel

the Enterprise into a new era of data

collection, research, and analysis for

which both the national and international Earth science community has

been preparing over the last decade.

The Earth Observing System (EOS),

the centerpiece of Earth science, is a

program of multiple spacecraft (the

Terra, Aqua (formerly PM), Chemistry,

Landsat-7, Jason-1, ICEsat, ACRIMSAT and follow-on missions) and

interdisciplinary science investigations

to provide a data set of key parameters

needed to understand global climate

change. The first EOS satellite launches began in 1999. Preceding the EOS

were a number of individual satellite

and Shuttle-based missions that are

helping to reveal basic processes. The

Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite

(UARS), launched in 1991, collects

data on atmospheric chemistry. The

Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer

(TOMS) instruments, launched in

1978, 1991, and 1996, measure ozone

distribution and depletion. Two

TOMS instruments were launched in

1996, one on the Japanese Advanced

Earth Observing System (ADEOS)

mission and the other on a dedicated

United States Earth Probe

(Figure 3-NASA-1). France and the

United States collaborated on the

Ocean Topography Experiment

(TOPEX/Poseidon), launched in 1992,

to study ocean topography and circulation. QuikScat, which was launched

after a one-year development, is providing measurements originally provided by the NASA Scatterometer

(NSCAT), which mapped ocean winds

for one year prior to an on-orbit failure

of the Japanese ADEOS-I. In 1997,

the Tropical Rainfall Measuring

Mission (TRMM) was launched to

provide the first-ever measurements of

tropical precipitation. Also in 1997,

ESE began purchasing ocean color

data from a commercial vendor based

on our joint investment in the SeaWifs

instrument.

Complementing EOS, under the

Earth Probes Program, will be a series

of small, rapid development Earth

System Science Pathfinder (ESSP)

missions to study emerging science

questions and to use innovative measurement techniques in support of EOS.

The first two ESSP missions,

Vegetation Canopy LIDAR (VCL) and

Gravity Recovery and Climate

Experiment (GRACE) are scheduled

for launch in 2000 and 2001, respectively. The next ESSP missions were

selected in December 1998. The first

is the Pathfinder Instruments for Cloud

and Aerosol Spaceborne Observations

-Climatologie Etendue des Nuages et

des Aerosols (PICASSO-CENA) mission. The second is the CloudSat mission. Both are scheduled for launch in

2003. The scientific objectives of the

Figure 3-NASA-1. Artist drawing of

ADEOS spacecraft in Earth orbit.

(Source: NASA web site)
146 NASA SECTION 3

TOMS project are to measure the longterm changes in total ozone and to verify the chemical models of the stratosphere used to predict future trends.

The TOMS Flight Model-5 has been

completed and was scheduled to fly as

a cooperative mission with Russia in

late 2000. However, Russia has indicated that it cannot meet that launch

date. Presently, NASA has completed

its re-planning and will be ready to fly

FM-5, as QuikToms, on a United

States vehicle and spacecraft in August

2000.

In developing its measurement/mission strategy, the ESE desires to reduce

the risk to overall program objectives

from any single mission failure by

developing smaller, less expensive

missions and implementing shorter

development cycles from mission definition to launch. Shorter development

times will allow more flexible responses to current and evolving scientific

priorities and more effective uses of

the latest technologies. In accordance

with this philosophy, the implementation of each successive future mission

in the ESE flight program will be

based on specific solicitation alternatives (e. g. Announcement of Opportunity, Request for Proposal, etc.) and

competitive selection of instrument

payloads and implementation options.

In each solicitation, NASA will ask

commercial industry to come forward

and offer science-quality data that

meet NASA requirements. It is important, under this new approach, that

instrument technology developments

be conducted largely before the relevant mission payload selection. A science and applications-based, spacebased measurement concept set is

indispensable to guide these pre-mission technology developments, particularly, the Enterprise's Instrument

Incubator Program. Our goal is to

reach a mission development cycle of

2-3 years from the time of selection.

NASA ESE is developing a science

implementation plan, which will drive

the selection of Earth observation

satellite missions in the 2003-2010

time frame. An early, high priority in

this time frame is the National PolarOrbiting Operational Environmental

Satellite System (NPOESS)

Preparatory Program (NPP). NPP will

provide continuity with the Terra and

Aqua missions as well as serve as a

demonstration of instruments for the

converged weather satellite program

(Figure 3-NASA-2). NASA and the

Integrated Program Office (IPO) jointly fund the NPP mission. The IPO

consists of representative from the

three agencies participating in

NPOESS - NASA, NOAA, and the Air

Force.

Data from Earth science missions,

both current and future, will be captured, processed into useful information, and broadly distributed by the

EOS Data Information System

(EOSDIS). EOSDIS will ensure that

data from these diverse missions

remain available in active archives for

use by current and future scientists.

Since these data are expected to find

uses well-beyond the Earth science

research community, EOSDIS will

ultimately be accessible by environmental decision-makers, resource

managers, commercial firms, social

scientists, and the general academic

community, educators, state, and local

government--anyone who wants the

information.

Following the recommendation of

the NRC, NASA is exploring the creation of a federation of Earth science

information partners in academia,

industry, and government to broaden

the participation in the creation and

distribution of EOSDIS information

products. As a federation pilot project,

24 organizations were competitively

selected in December 1997 to become

Earth Science Information Partners

(ESIPs) to develop innovative science

and applications products. This effort

is part of a broader analysis of how

ESE's approach to data and information systems services should evolve in

the future.

The intellectual capital behind Earth

science missions, and the key to generating new knowledge from them, is

vested in an active program of research

and analysis. Over 1,500 scientific

research tasks from nearly every state

within the United States are funded by

the Earth science research and analysis

program. Scientists from seventeen

other nations, funded by their own

countries and collaborating with

United States researchers, are also part

Figure 3-NASA-2. NPOES spacecraft in Earth orbit.
SECTION 3 NASA 147

of the Earth science program. These

researchers develop Earth system models from Earth science data, conduct

laboratory and field experiments, run

aircraft campaigns, develop new

instruments, and thus expand the frontier of our understanding of our planet.

ESE-funded scientists are recognized

as world leaders in their fields, as

exemplified by the award of the 1995

Nobel Prize in chemistry to two scientists who first recognized that cholorflorocarbons provided a threat to upper

atmospheric ozone (Figure 3-NASA-3).

The research and analysis program is

also the basis for generation of application pilot programs that enable universities, commercial firms, and state

and local governments to turn scientific understanding into economically

valuable products and services.

From FY 2000 on, there is increased

emphasis on a viable Applications,

Commercial, and Education (ACE)

program that bridges our focused

research and analysis and mission science investments with the Applications

and Commercial Remote Sensing

Program towards demonstration of

new remote sensing data products for

industry and regional and local decision-makers. The need is to focus on

the dissemination of information to

non-traditional Earth science customers, such as states, counties, and

regional managers and decision-makers. This budget identifies initial funding requirements for the Digital Earth

Initiative designed to develop usable,

remote sensing-based information

products for state and local users

around the Nation and beyond. A base

program is funded to put the essential

tools in place and pilot several key

demonstration projects. Eventually,

NASA anticipates that our demonstration of this concept will allow products

to reach a much broader user base--

practically every state in the Union.

The challenges of Earth System

Science, sustainable development, and

mitigation of risks to people, property

and the environment from natural disasters, require collaborative efforts

among a broad range of national and

international partners. NASA's Earth

science research program constitutes

its contribution to the United States

Global Change Research Program

(USGCRP), an interagency effort to

understand the processes and patterns

of global change. The USGCRP coordinates research among ten United

States government agencies.

NASA is by far the largest partner in

the USGCRP, providing the bulk of

USGCRP's space-based observational

needs. NASA has extensive collaboration with the NOAA on climate-related

issues. The ESE is the responsible

managing agent in NASA for the

development of NOAA's operational

environmental satellites. NOAA,

NASA, and DOD jointly work to

achieve the convergence of civilian

and military weather satellite systems.

NASA collaborates with the USGS on

a range of land surface, solid Earth,

and hydrology research projects.

NASA and USGS collaborate in the

Landsat-7 program and NASA, DOD,

and USGS are working together on a

third flight of the Shuttle Radar

Laboratory modified to yield a digital

terrain map of most of the Earth's surface. NASA participates in the World

Climate Research Program, the

International Geosphere/Biosphere

Figure 3-NASA-3. Observations of the Antarctic Ozone hole by NASAs Total

Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) Earth Probe show the progressive depletion of ozone. Values below 150 Dobson units indicate extremely low levels.
148 NASA SECTION 3

Program, and the ozone assessments of

the World Meteorological

Organization.

International cooperation is an essential element in the Earth science program. Earth science addresses global

issues and requires international

involvement in its implementation and

application. Acquiring and analyzing

the information necessary to address

the science questions is a bigger task

than a single nation can undertake.

Furthermore, the acceptance and use of

the scientific knowledge in policy and

resource management decisions

around the world require the engagement of the international scientific

community. Global data and global

participation are needed to devise a

global response to environmental

change. In addition, integrating our

complementary science programs can

result in fiscal benefits to the NASA

program. For this reason, NASA has

sought and nurtured international partnerships spanning science, data and

information systems, and flight missions. Most of Earth science's satellite

missions have international participation, ranging from simple data sharing

agreements to joint missions involving

provision of instruments, spacecraft,

and launch services. In the past three

years, over 60 international agreements have been concluded and more

than 40 more are pending. In some

capacity, Earth science programs

involve international partners from

over 35 nations including Argentina,

Armenia, Australia, Belgium, Brazil,

Canada, Chile, China, Denmark,

Egypt, France, Germany, India, Israel,

Italy, Japan, Mongolia, Russia, South

Africa, Ukraine, and others.

In addition to ensuring a robust science program, this budget contains a

vigorous Advanced Technology program that supports development of key

technologies to enable our future science missions. In addition to our baseline technology program that includes

the New Millennium Program (NMP),

Instrument Incubator and High

Performance Computing and

Communications (HPCC), an

Advanced Technology Initiative will

identify and invest in critical instrument, spacecraft, and information system technologies.

The ESE will lead the way in the

development of highly capable, remote

and in situ instruments and the information system technologies needed to

support coupled Earth system models.

Together, they will enable affordable

investigation and broad understanding

of the global Earth system. The ESE

will emphasize the development of

information system architectures to

increase the number of users of

Enterprise information from hundreds

to tens of thousands, with the goal of

providing easy access to global information for science, education, and

applications. Finally, ESE will work in

partnership with industry and operational organizations to develop the

capabilities and infrastructure to facilitate the transition of sustained measurements and information dissemination to commercial enterprises.

ESE's technology strategy seeks to

leverage the entire range of technology

development programs offering benefits in cost, performance, and timeliness of future Earth science process

and monitoring campaigns. ESE's

strategy is to establish strong links to

other government programs in order to

maximize mutual benefit to use open

competitions for ESE-sponsored technology programs to attract the best

ideas and capabilities from the broad

technology community, including

industry and academia. Technology

efforts will be made in the following

areas:

Advanced instrument and measurement technologies for new and/or

lower cost scientific investigations;

Cutting-edge technologies, processes, techniques, and engineering

capabilities that reduce development, operations costs, and mission

risk and that support rapid implementation of productive, economical, and timely missions;

Advanced end-to-end mission information system technologies: technologies affecting the data flow

from origination at the instrument

detector through data archiving for

collecting and disseminating information about the Earth system, and

enabling the productive use of

Enterprise science and technology

in the public and private sectors.

Terra (formerly AM) was recently

launched on December 18, 1999

(Figure 3-NASA-4). Terra will provide key measurements that will significantly contribute to our understanding of the total Earth system. The

instrument complement will obtain

information about the physical and

radiative properties of clouds, air-land

and air-sea exchanges of energy, carbon, and water, measurements of trace

gases, and volcanology.

Landsat-7 was also launched in

1999. Landsat-7's single instrument,

the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus

(ETM+), is making high spatial resolution measurements of land surface and

surrounding coastal regions. This mission is successfully providing data

continuity with previous Landsat

measurements. Landsat data is used

for global change research, regional

Figure 3-NASA-4. Terra mission

logo (Source: GSFC Web site)
SECTION 3 NASA 149

environmental change studies, and

other civil and commercial purposes.

With the EOS missions, such as

QuikScat, Terra, Landsat-7, and

ACRIMSAT that were launched in

1999, NASA is beginning to turn flight

data into information. In addition to

the EOSDIS that will produce data

products for a wide range of users,

NASA is engaging in a variety of

activities to extend the utility of Earth

Science data to a broader range of

users, such as regional Earth science

applications centers and Earth science

information partners. Efforts are also

under way to fuse science data, socioeconomic data, and other data sets that

can be "geo-referenced" in readily

understandable data visualizations.

The first of two cooperative missions

with the Russian Space Agency (RSA),

the Meteor-3M (1) Stratospheric Gas

and Aerosol Experiment (SAGE III)

mission, had been planned for launch

in 1999. At this time, it is uncertain

that the Russians will meet their commitment to be ready to launch

SAGE III in FY 2000. The instrument

is completed and in storage at LaRC in

the meantime but will not be shipped

due to safety-related issues until the

spacecraft is ready to accommodate its

integration. This mission will collect

global profiles of key gaseous species

from the troposphere to the mesosphere. The science team will investigate spatial and temporal variability

and investigate the effects of aerosols

and clouds on the Earth's environment.

The Russian METEOR-3M (2) spacecraft had planned to carry the last

planned TOMS into orbit in 2000, providing continuity in the essential measurement of the total column of ozone

in the stratosphere. This past year,

NASA learned that Russia would not

be able to meet its goals for producing

a spacecraft and launch vehicle for the

TOMS instrument. Since then, NASA

and the RSA mutually agreed to terminate cooperative activities on the project. NASA is currently implementing

QuikToms using an United States provided launch vehicle and spacecraft.

The QuikScat spacecraft was

launched in April 1999. QuikScat, carrying instruments to collect sea surface

wind data, is filling the gap in such

critical data between ADEOS-I, which

failed in June 1997 after seven months

on-orbit, and ADEOS-II. The availability of components of the Seawinds

instrument originally planned for

launch on Japan's ADEOS II was

accelerated to fly on QuikScat. Japan

has yet to decide on the timing and

form of an ADEOS II mission (or missions), but the ESE still intends to fly a

Seawinds instrument in that context as

the follow-on instrument to QuikScat.

It now appears that ADEOS-II will be

launched no earlier than late 2001 with

the delay due in part to a failure of a

Japanese launch vehicle.

The Active Cavity Radiometer

Irradiance Monitor Satellite

(ACRIMSat) was launched on

December 20, 1999 providing for the

continuation of the long-term, quantitative understanding of the solar forcing of Earth's climate.

The measurements to be made by

these and other future Earth science

missions as well as current on-orbit

missions provide data products that are

used extensively in the Earth science

program. These activities are providing an ever increasing scientific understanding of global environment and the

effects of natural and human sources of

change.

AVIATION WEATHER RESEARCH

NASA is performing research that

will substantially improve the display

of weather information in the cockpit,

will provide dramatic improvements in

synthetic vision (electronic vision aids

to see at night in poor visibility), turbulence detection, and icing protection. The research applies to commercial aviation as well as general aviation. Some of the research makes

extensive use of data from the Global

Positioning System (GPS) satellite network.

Figure 3-NASA-5. Aviation Weather Information Cockpit display.
150 NASA SECTION 3

Aviation Safety Program

NASA's Aviation Safety Program is

aggressively pursuing three primary

areas:

 Aviation Weather Information

Distribution and Presentation: This

effort includes combining the

inputs from a variety of sources of

weather data into a convenient,

cockpit display that is simple and

easy for the pilot to comprehend. It

will likely be a multi-function flat

panel display that will display all

forms of weather, terrain and traffic

hazards (Figure 3-NASA-5 and

Figure 3-NASA-6).

 Synthetic Vision in the Cockpit:

Synthetic Vision is electronically

enhanced vision for the pilot. It

combines a very detailed world

wide terrain map (obtained from a

recent Space Shuttle mapping mission), precise GPS navigation data,

and integrity-monitoring sensors to

provide a realistic view of the

world through a cockpit head-updisplay (HUD) or panel mounted

display. The pilot will look through

the HUD as he or she looks out the

window. This see-through HUD

will make the world look like a

bright sunny day even when the airplane is approaching a fogged-in

airport at midnight--one that would

be shut down under today's operating rules.

 Turbulence Detection: This project

is the development of aircraftmounted, forward looking turbulence detectors that look several

kilometers ahead of the aircraft

using Lidar and radar sensors. A

suitable cockpit warning device

would alert pilots of impending

encounters. There is also work in

ground based detection

(Figure 3-NASA-7).

NASA's Icing Research is pursuing a

large number of areas that affect aircraft in flight. Primary examples of

this effort are:

 The development of icing training

videos and other materials will help

educate pilots on all aspects of aviation icing.

 The development of improved

wind tunnel and analytical techniques to predict icing accumulation patterns on wings, tails, and

inlets will help designers improve

future aircraft and engines.

 Forward looking, aircraft mounted

detectors will detect moisture laden

clouds miles ahead of the aircraft.

Adding air temperature, pressure,

and humidity to the data received

from the sensors, computers will

compute the icing potential of the

approaching cloud and will display

"high risk areas" to the pilot in an

easily read, color cockpit display.

 Sensors that measure the accumulated ice on aircraft in-flight will

automatically activate, new, low

cost de-icing devices that will shed

the ice before the aircraft gets in

danger.

 The potential for satellite detection

of icing conditions is being investigated.

General Aviation

NASA's General Aviation element is

actively researching new, low power,

and low cost pneumatic and electrical

ice removal technology. Also in development are low cost displays that

Figure 3-NASA-6. Communication and distribution channels for Aviation

weather information.
SECTION 3 NASA 151

graphically show icing weather information so icing conditions can be

avoided during flight planning.

Terminal Area Productivity

NASA's Terminal Area Productivity

element is contributing via these areas

(program ends September 30, 2000):

 Wake vortex detection/prediction to

improve the efficiency of aircraft

spacing.

 A heads up display that electronically displays the edges of taxiways

and runways, shows ground traffic

and marks clearance routes to gates

and/or runways. All this is overlaid

on the pilot's "real world" view out

the window while stereo headphones allow the pilot to hear

ground traffic from the direction

the other aircraft really are. This

technology will be a great aid to

vision in poor visibility--especially

at unfamiliar airports.

 A look down electronic display

shows a bird's eye view of the airport as if the pilot were looking at

the airport on a bright sunny day

from about 1,000 feet above the airport. The position of all runways,

taxiways, buildings, and ground

traffic is clearly displayed--as is the

exact route the pilot is cleared to

take to get to the gate or the runway. Another huge aid to vision in

bad weather.

As with virtually all of NASA's aviation research, most of the research

mentioned above also helps pilots in

good weather too.

Figure 3-NASA-7. NASAs Aviation Safety Program plans to detect

atmospheric turbulence through the use of advanced technologies.
Within the NRC, the Office of

Nuclear Reactor Regulation and the

Office of Nuclear Material Safety and

Safeguards conducts reviews of facility siting, design, construction and

operation of nuclear facilities as well

as conducting rulemaking to establish

regulatory requirements. These

reviews include consideration of meteorological factors. The NRC Regional

Offices assure that commitments by

NRC licensees are carried out and,

with NRC Incident Response

Operations, also conduct NRC

responses to nuclear facility emergencies. The Office of Nuclear

Regulatory Research conducts

research activities to identify potential

safety issues and to provide the technical basis to address these issues and to

prepare the agency to regulate the use

of new technology. The Office of

Research 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.

The primary meteorological area in

which the NRC will have an interest

during FY 2001 and beyond is

improvements in the meteorological

capabilities of the NRC and the operators of nuclear facilities to cope with

emergencies involving the unplanned

releases of radioactive materials. In

addition, meteorological data will be

used to provide input to the assessment

of the radiological impacts of routine

airborne releases from facilities and

the assessment of the potential radiological impacts of engineering changes

in plant design or operation proposed

by licensees should unplanned releases 

occur. Also, this information is important to assess the climatological

impacts on the isolation of long-lived

wastes. The NRC also maintains an

interest in the transport and dispersion

of airborne, hazardous non-radioactive

materials and extreme and severe

meteorological events and their potential effects 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 153

Figure 3-NRC-1. NRC is responsible

for licensing activities for a potential

high level waste repository located at

Yucca Mountain, Nevada. 

(Source: NRC Website)
The Division of Atmospheric

Sciences manages NSFs basic atmospheric research support. This research

focuses on new and fundamental

knowledge needed to better understand

the atmosphere and related sciences

and to manage atmospheric science

programs including natural disaster

reduction, space weather, global

change, and air quality.

Natural Disaster Reduction. NSF

supports two interagency programs

under natural disaster reduction and

mitigation: the United States Weather

Research Program (USWRP) and the

National Space Weather Program

(NSWP). 

The USWRP is an interagency effort

to perform the research and technology

transfer needed to improve the delivery

of weather services to the country.

Participating agencies include NSF,

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration (NOAA), National

Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Navy's Office of

Naval Research (ONR). NSF supports

fundamental and applied research to

meet the USWRP objectives. Initial

foci are:

 better understanding and forecasting of hurricane track and intensity;

 better quantitative precipitation

forecasting;

 optimal use of observations in

numerical models; and 

 the societal/economic impacts of

improved weather information. 

The total research support for FY 2000

was $13.9 million. In FY 2001, support of this research is expected to be

$13.9 million.

The objective of the NSWP is to perform the research and technology

transfer needed to improve the specification and forecasts of space weather

events that can cause disruption and

failure of space-borne and groundbased technological systems and can

endanger human health. Participating

agencies are: NSF, NASA, NOAA,

Federal Aviation Administration

(FAA), Department of Defense (DOD)

-Air Force and Navys ONR,

Department of Energy, and

Department of the Interior. The

FY 2000 shared budget was $14.0 million with NSF supplying $2.4 million.

The total funding for FY 2001 is

expected to increase slightly to

$2.7 million.

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 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 2000 USGCRP funding was

$181.7 million and in FY 2001 is

expected to be $181.7 million. The

Division of Atmospheric Sciences

USGCRP funding for FY 2000 was

$44.0 million with FY 2001 funding

expected to be $44 million.

Air Quality. NSF supported fundamental research in the area of air quality helps develop improved understanding of the sources, formation, and

atmospheric processing of ambient air

pollutants. Atmospheric oxidant

species (and their precursors), sulfur

dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon

monoxide, fine particles, and acid deposition (and its precursors) are important atmospheric constituents that

influence air quality. Field experiments, laboratory studies, instrumentation development, new methods of

chemical analysis, and improved models of atmospheric chemical transport

and depositional phenomena are examples of air quality research supported

by NSF. These categories provide scientific and technical input for management and control of atmospheric pollutant gases and particles. NSF funding

for FY 2000 was $1.5 million and is

expected to stay the same for FY 2001.

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-155
APPENDIX A

MISSION AND STAFFING OF THE

OFFICE OF THE FEDERAL COORDINATOR FOR METEOROLOGY

The mission of the OFCM is to

ensure the effective use of federal

meteorological resources by leading

the systematic coordination of operational weather requirements and services, and supporting research, among

the federal agencies. To discharge its

mission, OFCM has 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

OFCMs 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, and working groups.

FEDERAL COORDINATION AND PLANNING

APPENDIX A 157
158 APPENDIX A

N ATURAL DISASTER

REDUCTION

54th Interdepartmental Hurricane

Conference (IHC) (February 14-18, 2000)

OFCM annually hosts the

Interdepartmental Hurricane

Conference to provide a forum for the

responsible federal agencies, together

with representatives of the user communities such as emergency management, to review the nation's hurricane

forecast and warning program and to

make recommendations on how to

improve the program in the future.

Houston, Texas was chosen as the site

for the 54th IHC to commemorate the

100th anniversary of the 1900 hurricane which devastated the

Galveston/Houston area. The theme

for the conference was 20th Century

Highlights and Prospects for the

Future. An important objective of the

conference was to more closely link

hurricane operations with ongoing

research efforts. Revisions were made

to the National Hurricane Operations

Plan which provides the basis for hurricane reconnaissance and forecast and

warning operations for the 2000 season. Workshops included hurricane

inland flooding, transitioning research

to operations, weather reconnaissance

of the future, and improving user community coordination. A ceremony

commemorating the 1900 storm was

planned in conjunction with the

Galveston Historical Foundation and

hosted by the Honorable Roger

Quiroga, Mayor of Galveston, on

Thursday afternoon, February 17,

2000.

1900 Galveston Storm Commemoration

OFCM made arrangements for the

Under Secretary of Commerce for

Oceans and Atmosphere to participate

in the September 8-9, 2000, commemoration of the 1900 Galveston Storm.

Dr. D. James Baker is an honored guest

and will provide greeting remarks at

the September 8 Centennial Tribute, at

which CBS Evening News anchor Dan

Rather will deliver the keynote

address. Dr. Baker will also participate

in the September 9 dedication of the

Place of Remembrance Monument at

the seawall in Galveston.

Post-Storm Data Acquisition

The OFCM-sponsored Working

Group for Natural Disaster

Reduction/Post-Storm Data

Acquisition coordinated efforts to

examine the devastation that resulted

from the tornado outbreak that

occurred in southwest Georgia in midFebruary 2000. Aerial photography

support was provided by the Air

Force's Civil Air Patrol. The support

provided by the Civil Air Patrol, which

was negotiated by the working group

and documented in a memorandum of

understanding, has proven to be both

timely and very cost effective.

WEATHER INFORMATION FOR

SURFACE TRANSPORTATION

(WIST)

The OFCM and United States

Department of Transportation - Federal

Highway Administration (USDOTFHWA) co-sponsored Symposium on

Weather Information for Surface

Transportation: Delivering Improved

Safety and Efficiency for Tomorrow

was held November 30 - December 2,

1999, at the Holiday Inn, Silver

Spring, Maryland. This first event of

its kind was attended by more than 120

individuals, an unprecedented crosssection of the transportation and

weather communities (federal government, states and cities, urban and rural

transportation agencies, professional

and trade organizations, and government and commercial weather service

providers). Keynote speakers were Dr.

Stephen Van Beek, Associate Deputy

Secretary of Transportation, and Dr. D.

James Baker, Under Secretary of

Commerce for Oceans and

Atmosphere and FCMSSR Chairman.

The goal of the symposium was to

establish the national needs and

The Federal Committee for

Meteorological Services and

Supporting Research (FCMSSR),

established in 1964, provides policylevel agency representation and guidance to the Federal Coordinator to

address agency differences that arise

during the coordination of meteorological activities and the preparation of

federal plans. The Under Secretary of

Commerce for Oceans and

Atmosphere, who is also the

Administrator of the National Oceanic

and Atmospheric Administration

(NOAA), serves as the FCMSSR Chair.

The 15 federal agencies that engage

in meteorological activities or have a

need for meteorological services are

represented on FCMSSR. The

FCMSSR membership includes:

DOC, DOD, DOT, the Departments of

Agriculture (USDA), Energy (DOE),

Interior (DOI), and State (DOS), and

the Environmental Protection Agency

(EPA), Federal Emergency

Management Agency (FEMA),

National Aeronautics and Space

Administration (NASA), National

Science Foundation (NSF), National

Transportation Safety Board (NTSB),

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

(NRC), the Office of Science and

Technology Policy (OSTP), and the

Office of Management and Budget

(OMB).

HIGHLIGHTS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2000

AND PLANS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2001

FEDERAL COMMITTEE FOR METEOROLOGICAL SERVICES

AND SUPPORTING RESEARCH
APPENDIX A 159

requirements for weather information

associated with decision-making

actions involving surface transportation. Significant progress was made

towards this goal, and an initial draft of

a requirements document will be completed Fall 2000. A second WIST

Symposium is planned for December

4-6, 2000, in Rockville, Maryland.

The second WIST Symposium will

focus on (a) refinement of WIST

requirements, (b) identifying "who can

do what today," and (c) initial discussions on a National Weather

Information System for Surface

Transportation. In addition to previous

attendees, OFCM anticipates increased

attendance from government and commercial weather service providers,

state and municipal DOTs and transit

authorities, and other interested parties

within the Intelligent Transportation

Society (ITS) community. 

AVIATION WEATHER FORUM

The OFCM and United States

Department of Transportation - Federal

Aviation Administration (USDOTFAA) co-sponsored user forum

Aviation Weather: Opportunities for

Implementation was held July 25-26,

2000, at the Bethesda Ramada Hotel

and Conference Center, Bethesda,

Maryland. The forum brought together key government agency representatives, as well as a cross section of professionals representing commercial,

business, and general aviation; the

forum dynamics clearly demonstrated

unanimous interest in aviation safety,

efficiency and effectiveness for the

benefit of all. The forum focused on

five major areas common to National

Aviation Weather Initiatives. They are:

product development; product dissemination; cockpit multifunctional displays; training; and decision support

systems. Reports were given on work

being done in eight service areas identified by the aviation community,

including: ceiling and visibility; convective hazards; en route winds and

temperatures; ground de-icing and

anti-icing; in-flight icing; terminal

wind and temperature hazards; turbulence; and volcanic ash and other airborne hazardous materials. Keynote

speakers were Mr. Peter H. Challan,

Deputy Associate Administrator for

Air Traffic Services, FAA, and Mr.

Scott B. Gudes, Deputy Under

Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere,

Department of Commerce. The goal of

the forum was to highlight work

accomplished, identify opportunities

for immediate or near-term implementation, and assess where user and

industry efforts are helping government agencies achieve the National

Aviation Weather Program objectives.

WORKSHOP ON MULTISCALE

ATMOSPHERIC DISPERSION

MODELING WITHIN THE

FEDERAL COMMUNITY

The OFCM sponsored Workshop on

Multiscale Atmospheric Dispersion

Modeling within the Federal

Community was held June 6-8, 2000,

at the Town Center Hotel, Silver

Spring, Maryland. The workshop was

attended by over fifty participants who

represented nine federal agencies

involved in dispersion modeling. The

requirements for dispersion modeling

within the federal government are

derived from various agency missions

including emergency response, national security, public health, and transportation safety that respond to events

with both natural and human causes.

Such events as volcanic ash, chemical,

biological and nuclear releases, pollution, and smoke from forest fires represent potential threats to the health and

well being of the population and are of

concern to both emergency managers

and government officials. The goal of

the workshop was to bring users and

developers of dispersion models

together to improve the coordination in

the development and operational use of

dispersion models. This workshop

provided an opportunity to assess the

current state of dispersion modeling

and to identify barriers that need to be

overcome in order to meet the wide

range of requirements.

SPACE WEATHER

Space weather refers to conditions

on the sun and in the solar wind, magnetosphere, ionosphere, and thermosphere that can influence the performance and reliability of space-borne and

ground-based technological systems,

and can endanger human life or health.

Space weather storms can cause disruption of satellites, communications,

navigation, and electric power distribution grids. The overarching goal of

the National Space Weather Program,

which is managed by an OFCM program council, is to achieve an active,

synergistic, interagency system to provide timely, accurate, and reliable

space weather warnings, observations,

specifications, and forecasts within the

next ten years. The National Space

Weather Program Strategic Plan outlined a strategy to guide the planning

and implementation of the National

Space Weather Program. During FY

2000 OFCM space weather groups

prepared a second edition of the

National Space Weather Program

Implementation Plan. It was developed concurrently with the National

Security Space Architect's Space

Weather Architecture and describes the

linkage to and incorporation of that

architecture into the National Space

Weather Program. It also builds on the

previous Implementation Plan and

reports on the significant accomplishments in research, operations, technology transition, education, and outreach. The Plan also updates the program's timelines and offers specific

recommendations to carry the program

forward.

IMPLEMENTATION OF COORDINATING INFRASTRUCTURE

OFCM completed the restructuring

of the interagency coordinating
160 APPENDIX A

process which has reduced the number

of groups and results in a better fit with

agencies' perspectives and 21st Century

focus areas and priorities. The Federal

and Interdepartmental Committees for

Meteorological Services and

Supporting Research continue to provide policy and program guidance to

OFCM, which will address the most

important cross-cutting issues and support those initiatives where the end

value has a clear societal benefit. The

National Space Weather and National

Aviation Weather Program Councils

remain the same. The standing committees have become: Environmental

Services, Operations and Research

Needs; Climate Monitoring and

Services; Operational Processing

Centers; Integrated Observing

Systems; Environmental Information

Systems and Communications; and

Cooperative Research. Working

Groups have been reduced in number

and cover broader areas, and Joint

Action Groups are established as needed for limited periods of time to focus

on specific issues. Implementation

included identifying Chairpersons and

members for OFCM's groups to get

stronger participation from many agencies, identifying important issues, and

arranging for meetings of the interagency groups. Terms of References

are being finalized. The expanded

responsibilities of the office include

high pay-off areas such as natural disaster reduction, aviation safety, urban

meteorology and air quality, marine

and ocean environmental services,

weather support to surface transportation, climate services, radio spectrum

policy, information dissemination

technologies, integrated observing systems, and ensuring a long-term climate

record.

NATIONAL HURRICANE

CONFERENCE

OFCM worked with the National

Weather Service to organize a panel on

"Improving Public Response to

Hurricane Warnings" for the April 17-

21, 2000, National Hurricane

Conference in New Orleans,

Louisiana. The purpose of the panel

was to elicit suggestions from the

panel members and the conference

attendees on how to improve public

response. These suggestions will be

used to improve current and future hurricane operations. The panel encouraged cross-cutting participation by

several conference groups (meteorology, emergency management, universities, media, Red Cross, insurance companies, etc.). Areas covered include

societal response/behavioral aspects,

communications, education, and public outreach. Recommendations for

follow-on work included areas such as

societal vulnerability mapping, focusing on education, delivering a frequent

and consistent message to the public,

assessing what is being done and what

is needed to improve public response,

working on communications issues,

and adopting a standard for communications with the public. Dr. D. James

Baker, Under Secretary of Commerce

for Oceans and Atmosphere, was a

keynote speaker for the National

Hurricane Conference. OFCM

arranged for Dr. Baker to be first on the

agenda for the General Session kickoff.

NATIONAL RESEARCH

COUNCIL/NA TIONAL

ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Joint Meeting of the Federal

Committee for Meteorological

Services and Supporting Research

(FCMSSR) and National Research

Council/National Academy of

Sciences Board on Atmospheric

Sciences and Climate (BASC)

The first joint meeting between

FCMSSR and BASC was held October

25, 1999, at the National Academy of

Sciences Main Building on

Constitution Avenue, Washington,

D.C. The meeting was co-chaired by

Dr. D. James Baker, Under Secretary

of Commerce for Oceans and

Atmosphere and FCMSSR Chairman,

and Dr. Eric J. Baron, Professor at

Pennsylvania State University and Cochair of BASC. The meeting provided

an opportunity to strengthen ties

between the federal meteorological

community, academia, and the private

sector. It made clear the need for

improvements in weather and climate

services, the importance of transitioning research to operations, and the

need to do more to capture the socioeconomic value of weather, climate,

and environmental information services. FCMSSR and BASC attendees

agreed that the meeting was very valuable. Actions are being worked on and

will be reported at the upcoming

November 14, 2000, FCMSSR meeting, which will be attended by the Cochair and Director of BASC. The

August 8-11, 2000, BASC Summer

Study on Climate Services at Woods

Hole, Massachusetts, was a result of

the joint FCMSSR/BASC meeting. 

BASC 21st Century Report

Recommendation--A Strategy for

Atmospheric Information

OFCM is planning a workshop to

respond to and address Leadership and

Management Recommendation 1 of

the BASC report The Atmospheric

Sciences Entering the Twenty-First

Century, which states: The Federal

Coordinator for Meteorological

Services and Supporting Research

should lead a thorough examination of

the issues that arise as the national system for providing atmospheric information becomes more distributed.

Key federal organizations, the private

sector, academe, and professional

organizations should all be represented

in such a study and should help develop a strategic plan. Important issues

include: What criteria should govern

the design of an optimal atmospheric

information system? Should the government seek to recover costs of observations from the public by mechanisms
APPENDIX A 161

other than taxes? Who is to be responsible for forecasts for critical activities

such as agriculture and aviation?

Should federal agencies be responsible

for supporting research to improve

forecasts for such critical activities?

What is the appropriate role for academic research, both basic and applied,

in such an evolving weather information system, and how should such

research be supported so that it

remains vigorous and contributes to

national goals?

COMMITTEE ON

ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL

RESOURCES

OFCM continued to develop its

interactions with the Committee on

Environment and Natural Resources

(CENR) Subcommittee on Natural

Disaster Reduction (SNDR). OFCM

senior meteorologist staff participated

in meetings of SNDR throughout the

year. And OFCM and SNDR will cosponsor a workshop on Risk

Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis

in late January or early February 2001.

Also, regarding risk assessment, an

OFCM senior meteorologist helped

conduct a panel session on risk assessment for natural disasters at the 25th

Annual Hazards Research and

Applications Workshop, July 9-12,

2000, in Boulder, Colorado. An

OFCM senior meteorologist will also

serve on a two day focus group

September 28-29, 2000, at FEMA's

Emergency Management Institute in

Emmitsburg, Maryland, to help develop a classroom based, upper division

college course on "Hazards Risk

Assessment."

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

METEOROLOGICAL

COORDINATING COUNCIL

OFCM has continued its close liaison with the DOE Meteorological

Coordinating Council (DMCC) whose

mission is to coordinate meteorological support and atmospheric research

to meet internal DOE objectives.

OFCM plans to attend the joint meeting of the Subcommittee on

Consequence Assessment and

Protective Actions (SCAPA), the

DMCC, and the Nuclear Utility

Meteorological data User Group

(NUMUG) in Las Vegas, Nevada,

October 16-20, 2000. During the

DMCC portion of the meeting, OFCM

will brief on OFCM activities, and

results and actions from the OFCM

sponsored Workshop on Multiscale

Atmospheric Dispersion Modeling

within the Federal Community which

was held June 6-8, 2000, in Silver

Spring, Maryland.

AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL

SOCIETY AND THE WEATHER

CHANNEL FORUM

OFCM participated in the

Workshop on Policy Issues in

Hurricane Preparedness and

Response developed by the

Atmospheric Policy Program of the

American Meteorological Society and

sponsored by The Weather Channel,

June 6-7, 2000, at The National Press

Club, Washington, D.C. The workshop considered the following question: What policy changes are needed

to produce weather services, media

communications, and emergency management decisions that will optimize

hurricane preparedness and response?

The opening address of the workshop

was given by Dr. D. James Baker,

Under Secretary of Commerce for

Oceans and Atmosphere. An OFCM

senior meteorologist briefed the forum

on the recent National Hurricane

Conference panel on Improving Public

Response to Hurricane Warnings to

assist the forum's deliberations concerning hurricane response.

AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL

SOCIETY

During FY 2000 OFCM joined

eleven leading environmental science

and service corporations in supporting

undergraduate scholarships in the

atmospheric and related oceanic and

hydrologic sciences. The scholarships,

awarded for the junior and senior

years, are designed to encourage outstanding undergraduates to pursue

careers in the fields covered by the

awards. OFCM plans to continue this

support in FY 2001. OFCM also supports American Meteorological

Society endeavors by participating in

AMS conferences and workshops and

other environmental science education

and outreach programs.

NATO MEETING

OFCM hosted a meeting of the

NATO Military Committee

Meteorological Group (MCMG)

Working Group for Operations, Plans

and Communications (OPC), June 27-

30, 2000. MCMG is composed of

national representatives and representatives of major NATO Commanders

which provides meteorological policy

guidance to the Military Committee,

the major NATO Commanders, and the

NATO nations. OPC addresses planning and operational issues for meteorological support to NATO exercises

and operations and develops meteorological communications capabilities

and standard procedures for communications and exchanging meteorological

data. 

PUBLICATIONS AND OFCM'S

WEBSITE

The following plans and publications

were prepared in hardcopy form and

also placed on OFCM's website

(www.ofcm.gov):

 The Federal Plan for

Meteorological Services and

Supporting Research -- Fiscal Year

2000

 National Hurricane Operations

Plan
162 APPENDIX A

 The National Space Weather

Program: Implementation Plan

(2nd Edition)

 54th Interdepartmental Hurricane

Conference (Minutes)

 Proceedings for the Symposium

"Weather Information for Surface

Transportation: Delivering

Improved Safety and Efficiency for

Tomorrow"

 Proceedings of the "Workshop on

Multiscale Atmospheric Dispersion

Modeling within the Federal

Community"

 Proceedings of the Aviation

Weather User Forum "Aviation

Weather: Opportunities for

Implementation"

The following documents are planned

for publication during FY 2001:

 National Plan for Post-Storm Data

Acquisition

 A National Framework for

Volcanic Ash Hazards to Aviation

 The Federal Plan for

Meteorological Services and

Supporting Research -- Fiscal Year

2001

 National Hurricane Operations

Plan

 55th Interdepartmental Hurricane

Conference (Minutes)

 Proceedings for 2nd Symposium on

Weather Information for Surface

Transportation

 Proceedings for Risk Assessment

and Cost-Benefit Analysis

Workshop

 Proceedings for Severe Local

Weather Workshop

 Proceedings for Workshop on

BASC 21st Century Report

Recommendation -- A Strategy for

Atmospheric Information

During FY 2000, OFCM continued

to make substantial progress on its use

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

placed its current publications on its

website, and keeps the website current

with information regarding workshops

and symposia being conducted by the

office. OFCM will continue to make

information available on the Internet

during FY 2001.
APPENDIX B

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

APPENDIX B 163

4DWX Four Dimensional Weather (Army)

AASHTO American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (FHWA)

ABCS Army Battle Command System (Army)

ABL Airborne Laser (AF)

AC Active Component (DOD)

ACARS ARINC Communication Addressing and Reporting System

ACE Aviation Combat Element (USMC)

ACP Atmospheric Chemistry Program (DOE)

ACRIMSAT Active Cavity Radiometer Irradiance Monitor Satellite (NASA)

ADAS AWOS/ASOS Data Acquisition System (FAA)

ADEOS Advanced Earth Observing System (NASA)

AERONET Aerosol Robotic Network (NASA)

AESS Allied Environmental Support System (Navy)

AF Air Force (USAF) 

AFB Air Force Base 

AFCCC Air Force Combat Climatology Center

AFCWC Air Force Global Combat Weather Center 

AFJI Air Force Joint Instruction

AFRL Air Force Research Laboratory

AFTAC Air Force Technical Applications Center

AFW Air Force Weather

AFWA Air Force Weather Agency

AFWIN Air Force Weather Information Network

AHPS Advanced Hydrologic Prediction System (NOAA/NWS)

AGFS Aviation Gridded Forecast System (FAA)

AIP Airport Improvement Program (FAA)

AIRMoN Atmospheric Integrated Research Monitoring Network (NOAA/OAR)

AIRS Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (NASA)

AL Aeronomy Laboratory (NOAA/ERL)

ALC Adelphi Laboratory Center (Army)

ALDARS Automated Lightning Detection and Reporting System (FAA)

AMC Army Matériel Command (Army)

AMDAR Automatic Meteorological Data and Reporting

AMIS Automated Meteorological Information System (AF)

AMOS Automated Meteorological Observing System (Navy)

AMSU Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit

AMU Applied Meteorology Unit (NASA)

ANG Air National Guard

AOC Aircraft Operations Center (NOAA)

AOML Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (NOAA/ERL)

AOR Area of Responsibility (AF)

AOT Aerosol Optical Thickness

APT Automatic Picture Transmission

AR Army Regulation

ARAC Atmospheric Release Advisory Capability (DOE)

ARCS Atmospheric Radiation CART Sites (NOAA/OAR)

ARG Accident Response Group (DOE)

ARGOS French Satellite Data Collection System 

ARINC Aeronautical Radio Incorporated

ARL Army Research Laboratory (Army)

Air Resources Laboratory (NOAA)

ARM Atmospheric Radiation Monitoring (DOE)

ARNG Army National Guard
164 APPENDIX B

ARO Army Research Office

ARS Agricultural Research Service (USDA)

Air Traffic System Requirements Service (FAA)

ARSR Air Route Surveillance Radar (FAA)

ARTCC Air Route Traffic Control Center (FAA)

ARTYMET Artillery Meteorological (Army)

ARW Aviation Weather Directorate (FAA)

ASD Atmospheric Sciences Division (DOE)

ASDAR Aircraft to Satellite Data Relay

ASNE Air and Space Natural Environment (AF)

ASOS Automated Surface Observing System 

ASR Airport Surveillance Radar (FAA)

ATC Air Traffic Control (FAA)

ATCCS Army Tactical Command and Control System

ATDD Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division (NOAA/ARL) 

ATWIS Advanced Transportation Weather Information System (FHWA)

AVHRR Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (NOAA)

AVO Alaskan Volcano Observatory (DOI/USGS)

AWARDS Agricultural Water Resources Decision Support (DOI/BUREC)

AWC Aviation Weather Center (NOAA/NCEP)

AWDS Automated Weather Distribution System (AF)

AWE Army Warfighting Experiments

AWIPS Advanced Weather Interactive Processing Systems (NOAA)

AWN Automated Weather Network (AF)

AWOS Automated Weather Observing System (FAA)

AWR Aviation Weather Research (FAA)

AWSS Aviation Weather Sensor System (FAA)

BASC Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate

BE Battlefield Environment (Army)

BED Battlefield Environment Directorate (Army)

BFA Battlefield Functional Areas (Army)

BLM Bureau of Land Management (DOI)

BNL Brookhaven National Laboratory (DOE)

BUFR Binary Universal Form for the Representation of Meteorological Data

BUREC Bureau of Reclamation (DOI)

C2 Command and control (DOD)

C4I Command, Control, Communications, Computer and Information (DOD)

CAAM Computer Assisted Artillery Meteorology (Army)

CALJET California Land-falling Jets Experiment (NOAA/OAR)

CAMEX Convective and Moisture Experiment (NASA)

CAP Civil Air Patrol

CAPARS Computer-Assisted Protective Action Recommendation System (DOE)

CARDS Comprehensive Aerological Reference Data Set (NOAA/NCDC)

CARS Condition Acquisition and Reporting System (FHWA)

CASPER Computer Aided System For Planning Efficient Routes (FHWA)

CAWIS Committee for Automated Weather Information Systems (OFCM)

CBNP Chemical Biological Non-Proliferation Program (DOE)

CBOFS Chesapeake Bay Oceanographic Forecasting System (NOAA/NOS)

CCM3 Community Climate Model-3

CDA Command and Data Acquisition 

CDAS Command and Data Acquisition Station 

CDFS Cloud Depiction and Forecast System (AF)

CEASE Compact Environment Anomaly Sensor (AF)

CECOM Communications and Electronics Command (Army)

CEMSCS Central Environmental Satellite Computer System (NOAA/NESDIS)

CENR Committee on Environment and Natural Resources
APPENDIX B 165

CEOS Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (NOAA/NWS)

CERES Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System (NASA)

CHAMMP Computer Hardware Advanced Mathematics and Model Physics (DOE)

CIASTA Cooperative Institute for Atmospheric Studies and Terrestrial Applications (NOAA/OAR)

CIDE Communications Interfaces and Data Exchange (OFCM)

CINC Commanders-in-Chief (DOD)

CIRES Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (NOAA)

CMAQ Community Multi-scale Air Quality (EPA)

CME Coronal Mass Ejection (AF)

CMFC Coordinating METOC Forecast Center (Navy)

COADS Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set (NOAA/NCDC) 

COAMPS Coupled Oceanographic and Atmospheric Model (Navy)

COARE Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment

COE Corps of Engineers (Army)

COMET Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology, Education and Training

CONUS Continental United States 

COPC Committee for Operational Processing Centers (OFCM)

CORMS Continuous Real-time Monitoring System (NOAA/NOS)

COTS Commercial Off-the-Shelf

CPC Climate Prediction Center (NOAA/NCEP)

CRADA Cooperative Research and Development Agreement

CRN Climate Reference Network (NOAA)

CRREL Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (Army)

CS Climate Services (OFCM) 

CSREES Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extensive Service (USDA)

CSSM Cloud Scene Simulation Model (AF)

CTA Common Table of Allowances (Army)

CTBT Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (DOE)

CTWFC CINC Target Weather Forecast Center (AF)

CWSU Center Weather Service Unit (FAA)

CWT Combat Weather Team (AF)

CY Calendar Year

DAC Data Assembly Center (NOAA/OAR)

DAMPS Distributed Atmospheric Modeling Prediction System (Navy)

DCO Data Collection Office (NOAA/NWS)

DCP Data Collection Package

DCS Data Collection System (NOAA/NESDIS)

DISS Digital Ionospheric Sounding System (AF)

DMCC DOE Meteorological Coordinating Council

DMSO Defense Modeling and Simulation Office (AF)

DMSP Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (AF)

DOC Department of Commerce 

DOD Department of Defense 

DOE Department of Energy 

DOI Department of Interior 

DOMSAT Domestic Communications Satellite

DOS Department of State 

DOT Department of Transportation

DRA Desert Rock Meteorological Observatory (DOE)

DRGS Direct readout ground stations (DOI)

DURIP Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (Army)

DRWP Doppler Radar Wind Profiler (NASA)

DTC Developmental Test Command (Army)

DTSS Digital Topographic Support System (Army)
166 APPENDIX B

DUAT Direct User Access Terminal (FAA)

DWSW Deployable Weather Satellite Workstation (Army)

ECDIS Electronic Chart Display Information System (NOAA/NOS)

ECMWF European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting

EDAS Eta Data Assimilation System (NOAA/NESDIS)

EDIS Environmental Data and Information Service (NOAA)

EMC Environmental Modeling Center (NOAA/NCEP)

ENSO El Niño-Southern Oscillation

EO electro-optical

Earth Observation (NASA)

EOC Emergency Operations Center

EOS Earth Observing System (NASA)

EOSDIS EOS Data and Information System (NASA)

EPA Environmental Protection Agency 

EPD Environmental Protection Division (DOE)

E-PIREPS Electronic Pilot Reports (FAA)

EPSCoR Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitivee Research (DOD)

ER Eastern Range (NASA)

ERBS Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (NASA)

ERC Extended Research Checkout

ERDAS Eastern Range Dispersion Assessment System (NASA)

ERDC Engineering Research and Development Center (Army)

ERL Environmental Research Laboratories (NOAA)

ESD/IPC Environmental Satellite Distribution/Interactive Processing Center (NOAA/NESDIS)

ESE Earth Science Enterprise (NASA)

ESS Environmental Sensor Station (FHWA)

ESIP Earth Science Information Partners (NASA)

ESSP Earth System Science Pathfinders (NASA)

ETL Environmental Technology Laboratory (NOAA/ERL)

ETTP East Tennessee Technology Park (DOE)

ETM+ Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (NASA)

EUMETSAT European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites

EUSA Eighth U.S. Army

EUV Extreme Ultraviolet

FAA Federal Aviation Administration

FALOP Forward Areal Limited Observing Program (AF)

FAS Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA)

FCCC Framework Convention on Climate Change (DOS)

FCMSSR Federal Committee for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research 

FDD First Digitized Division (Army)

FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency 

FHWA Federal Highway Administration

FIRESTORM Federation of Intelligence, Reconnaissance, Surveillance, and Targeting Operations and

Research Models (Army)

FIRETEC Fire Behavior Model (DOE)

FLENUMMETOCCEN Fleet Meteorology and Oceanography Center, Monterey, California

FMF Fleet Marine Force

FMH Federal Meteorological Handbook (OFCM)

FNMOC Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center (Navy)

FOA Field operating agency (AF)

FOC Future Operational Capability (Army)

FORSCOM U.S. Army Forces Command

FOSDIC Film Optical Sensing Device for Input to Computer

FOV Field of vision

FRD Field Research Division (NOAA/ARL)
APPENDIX B 167

FRERP Federal Radiological Emergency Response Plan (DOE)

FRMAC Federal Radiological Monitoring and Assessment Center (DOE)

FRRS Federal Records Retention System

FS-21 Forecasting System 21st Century

FS Forest Service (USDA)

FSA Farm Services Agency (USDA)

FSL Forecast Systems Laboratory (NOAA/ERL)

FTE Full-time Equivalent

FTP File Transfer Protocol

FU Forecast Unit

FY fiscal year 

G-IV Gulfstream IV (NOAA)

GAC Global Area Coverage

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

GEOSAR Geostationary Earth Orbit Search and Rescue (NOAA/NESDIS)

GEWEX Global Energy and Water-Balance Experiment

GFDL Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (NOAA/ERL)

GHCN Global Historical Climatology Network

G-IPPA Government-Industry Project Performance Agreement (FAA)

GIN Geomagnetic Information Nodes (DOI)

GIS Geographic Information System

GLD Global Lagrangian Drifters (NOAA/OAR)

GLONASS Global Navigation Satellite System (NOAA/NESDIS)

GMS Geostationary Meteorological Satellite (Japan)

GMSRA GOES Multi-Spectral Rainfall Algorithms (NESDIS)

GOES Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (NOAA)

GOOS Global Ocean Observing System

GOS Global Observing System (WWP)

GOSSP Global Observing Systems Space Panel

GPCP Global Precipitation Climatology Program

GPS Global Positioning System

GPS/MET GPS for Meteorology

GRACE Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (NASA)

GRIB Gridded Binary (FM 92-X Ext.)

GSFC Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA)

GSN GCOS Surface Network (WWP)

GTS Global Telecommunications System (WWP)

GTSPP Global Temperature-Salinity Pilot Project

GTWAPS Global Theater Weather Analysis and Prediction System (AF)

GUAN GCOS Upper Air Network (WWP)

HaL Hurricanes at Landfall (NOAA.OAR)

HCRS Highway Closure and Restriction System (FHWA)

HELSTF High Energy Laser System Test Facility (Army)

HF High frequency (AF)

HFRB High frequency radio broadcast (DOD)

HIGRAD High Resolution and Strong Gradient

HIRS/3 High Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder (NOAA/NESDIS)
168 APPENDIX B

HMSC Hazardous Materials Spill Center (DOE)

HMMWV High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle (Army)

HPC Hydrometeorological Prediction Center (NOAA/NCEP)

HPCC High Performance Computing and Communications

HRD Hurricane Research Division (NOAA/ERL)

HRPT High Resolution Picture Transmission (NOAA/NESDIS)

HUD Head-up display (NASA)

IAMS Initial Attack Management System (DOI)

ICAO International Civil Aviation Organization

ICMSSR Interdepartmental Committee for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research 

ICSU International Council of Scientific Unions

IDCS International Data Collection System (WWP) 

IEN Information Exchange Network (FHWA)

IEW Intelligence and Electronic Warfare (Army)

IFFA Interactive Flash Flood Analyzer (NOAA/NESDIS)

IGBP International Geosphere Biosphere Programme (WWP)

IHC Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference (OFCM)

IIP International Ice Patrol (USCG)

IMDES Interdepartmental Meteorological Data Exchange System 

IMETS Integrated Meteorological System (Army)

Incident Meteorologists (NOAA/NWS)

IMEX Inner Magnetosphere Explorer (NASA)

IMOSS Interim Mobile Oceanography Support System (Navy)

IMS Ionospheric Measuring System (AF)

INEEL Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (DOE)

INSAT India's Indian National Satellite (WWP)

IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (WWP/DOS)

IPO Integrated Program Office

IR infrared

IRRIS Intelligent Road and Rail Information System (FHWA)

IRTSS Infrared Target Scene Simulation Software (AF)

ISCCP International Satellite Cloud Climatology Program

ISIS Integrated Solar Irradiance Study (NOAA/OAR)

ISPM Interplanetary Shock Propagation Models (AF)

ISOON Improved Solar Optical Observing Network (AF)

ITCZ Inter-tropical convergence zone

ITS Intelligent Transportation System (FHWA)

ITS-JPO ITS Joint Program Office FHWA)

ITWS Integrated Terminal Weather System (FAA)

IWEDA Integrated Weather Effects Decision Aid (Army)

IWRS Improved Weather Reconnaissance System

IWRPC Improved Weather Reconnaissance System Program Council

J-TRWS Joint TESS Remote Workstation (Navy)

JAG Joint Action Group

JASL Joint Archive for Sea Level

JAWF Joint Agricultural Weather Facility (USDA)

JGOFS Joint Global Ocean Flux Study

JMTK Joint Mapping Took Kit (Army)

JMV Joint METOC Viewer (Navy)

JPL Joint Propulsion Laboratory (NASA)

JSC Johnson Space Center (NASA)

JTWC Joint Typhoon Warning Center (AF/Navy)

KM Kilometer

KMR Kwajalein Missile Range (Army)
APPENDIX B 169

KSC Kennedy Space Center

LAC Local Area Coverage

LAN local area network

LANL Los Almos National Library (DOE)

LAPS Local Analysis and Prediction System (NOAA/FSL)

LLNL Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (DOE)

LLWAS Low Level Wind Shear Alert System (FAA)

LLWAS-RS LLWAS-Relocation/Sustainment (FAA)

LRGS local readout ground stations (DOI)

MACOM Major Army Command

MAGTF Marine Air Ground Task Force

MAIS Military Aircrew Information System (AF)

MAJCOM Major Command (AF)

MB Millibars

MC Meteorological Codes

MDCRS Meteorological Data Communications and Reporting System (WWP)

MDS Meteorological Distribution System (Army)

MEPED Medium Energy Proton and Electron Detector (NOAA/NESDIS)

MES Marine Environmental Services (OFCM)

MET Mobile Environmental Teams (Navy)

Meteorological Teams (Army)

METMF(R) Meteorological Mobile Facility (Replacement) (Navy)

METOC Meteorological and Oceanographic (DOD)

MIMS Multimedia Integrated Modeling System (EPA)

MISR Multi-Angle Imaging Spectrometer (NASA)

MIST Meteorological Information Standard Terminal (AF)

MM5 Mesoscale Meteorological Model-Version 5.0 (AF)

MME Mobile Meteorological Equipment (OFCM)

MMS Meteorological Measuring System (Army)

Mineral Management Service (DOI)

MMS-P Meteorological Measuring System-Profiler (Army)

MOA Memorandum of Agreement

MOBY Marine Optical Buoy (NOAA/NESDIS)

MOCE Marine Optical Characterization Experiment (NOAA/NESDIA)

MODIS Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (NASA)

MOS Manual Observing System (AF)

MPC Marine Prediction Center (NOAA/NCEP)

MS Monitoring the Stratosphere (OFCM)

MSCP Meteorological and Climate Services Project (DOE)

MSEA Modeling and Simulatin Executive Agent (AF)

MSFC Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA)

MSL Mean sea level

MSM Magnetospheric Specification Model (AF)

MST Meteorological Support Teams (USMC)

MSU Microwave Sounding Unit (NOAA/NESDIS)

MTN Main Telecommunications Network (WWP)

MTPE Mission to Planet Earth (NASA)

MWSS Marine Wing Support Squadron

NADIN National Airspace Data Interchange Network (FAA)

NAMIS NATO Automated Meteorological Information System (AF)

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 on Tropospheric Ozone (EPA)
170 APPENDIX B

NAS National Airspace System (FAA)

National Academy of Sciences

NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration 

NASS National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA)

NATCOM National Communications Center (FAA)

NAVICECEN Naval Ice Center

NAVOCEANO Naval Oceanographic Office 

NAVLANTMETOCCEN Naval Atlantic Meteorology and Oceanography Center, Norfolk, Virginia

NAVMETOCCOM Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command

NAVPACMETOCCEN Naval Pacific Meteorology and Oceanography Center, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

NAWPC National Aviation Weather Program Council (OFCM)

NBC Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical (DOD)

NC NOAA Corps Operations

NCAR National Center for Atmospheric Research 

NCDC National Climatic Data Center (NOAA/NESDIS)

NCEP National Center for Environmental Prediction (NOAA/NWS)

NCO NCEP Central Operations (NOAA/NCEP)

Non-commissioned officer (DOD)

NDBC National Data Buoy Center (NOAA/NWS)

NDI non-developmental item

NDOP National Digital Orthoquad Program (USDA)

NDRI Natural Disaster Reduction Initiative (NOAA)

NESDIS National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NOAA)

NESHAP National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (DOE)

NESS National Environmental Satellite Service (NOAA)

NEST Nuclear Emergency Search Team (DOE)

NEXRAD Next Generation Weather Radar (WSR-88D)

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)

NGRVR New Generation Runway Visual Range (FAA)

NHC National Hurricane Center (NOAA/NWS)

NHOP National Hurricane Operations Plan (OFCM)

NIC National Ice Center (DOT/USCG)

NIFC National Interagency Fire Center (DOI)

NIPRNET Non-secure Internet Protocol Network (AF)

NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology (DOC)

NITES Naval Integrated Tactical Environmental Subsystem

NLDN National Lightning Detection Network (FAA)

NMC National Meteorological Center(s) (WWP)

NMOC Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command

NMP New Mellenium Program (NASA)

NMTN National Telecommunications Network (WWP)

NNDC NOAA National Data Center (NOAA/NESDIS)

NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

NODC National Oceanographic Data Center (NOAA/NESDIS)

NODDS Naval Oceanographic Data Distribution System

NOGAPS Navy Operational Global Atmospheric Prediction System

NOS National Ocean Service (NOAA) 

NOTAMS Notices to Airman (FAA)

NOWS NVG Operations Weather Software (AF)

NPN NOAA Profiler Network

NPOESS National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System

NPP NPOESS Preparatory Program (NASA)

NPS National Park Service (DOI)
APPENDIX B 171

NRC Nuclear Regulatory Commission 

NRCS Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA)

NRL Naval Research Laboratory

NRO National Reconnaissance Office (AF)

NSCAT NASA Scatterometer (NASA)

NSF National Science Foundation 

NSIDC National Snow and Ice Data Center (NOAA)

NSSL National Severe Storms Laboratory (NOAA)

NSTC National Science and Technology Council

NSWP National Space Weather Program (OFCM)

N-TFS New Tactical Forecast System (AF)

NTS Nevada Test Site (DOE)

NTSB National Transportation Safety Board 

NV Nevada Operations Office (DOE)

NVG night vision goggle (DOD)

NWLON National Water-Level Observation Network (NOAA/NOS)

NWP Numerical Weather Predication

NWS National Weather Service 

OAR Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (NOAA)

OASIS Operational and Supportability Implementation System (FAA)

OCAP Operating Consortium of ASDAR Participants (WWP)

ODCSINT Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence (Army)

ODCSOPS Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations (Army)

OES Office of Earth Sciences (NASA)

OFCM Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology 

OGP Office of Global Programs (NOAA)

OMB Office of Management and Budget

ONR Office of Naval Research

OPAREA Fleet Operational Area (Navy)

OPARS Optimum Path Aircraft Routing System (Navy)

OPS-II Operational Weather Squadron Production System, Phase 2

OP-SEND Operationalized Space Environment Network Display (AF)

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 (Navy)

ORISE Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (DOE)

ORR Oak Ridge Reservation (DOE)

ORNL Oak Ridge National Laboratory (DOE)

ORO Oak Ridge Operations (DOE)

OS-21 Observing System-21st Century (AF)

OSDPD Office of Satellite Data Processing and Distribution (NOAA/NESDIS)

OSEI Operational Significant Event Imagery (NOAA/NESDIS)

OSF Operational Support Facility (NOAA)

OSO Office of Satellite Operations (NOAA/NESDIS)

OSTEP Ocean Systems Test and Evaluation Program (NOAA/NOS)

OSTP Office of Sciencey and Technology Policy

OTH Over the horizon (NOAA/OAR)

OTW Owning the Weather (Army)

OTSR Optimum Track Ship Routing (Navy)

OWS Operational Weather Squadron (AF)

OWSE Operational World Weather Watch Systems Evaluation (WWP)

PAC Procurement, Acquisition, and Construction (NOAA/NWS)

PACS Polar Acquisition and Control Subsystem (NOAA/NESDIS)

PASOS Portable Automated Observing System (AF)
172 APPENDIX B

PC Program Council (OFCM)

PCMDI Program for Climate Model Diagnosis and Intercomparison (DOE)

PD Project Director (Army)

PECAD Production Estimates and Corp Assessment Division (USDA)

PIBAL Pilot Balloon

PIRATA Pilot Research Moored Array in the Tropical Atlantic (NOAA/OAR)

PIREP Pilot Report

PMEL Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (NOAA/ERL)

PNNL Pacific Northwest National Laboratories (DOE)

POES Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite (NOAA)

POP Parallel Ocean Program (DOE)

POPS Primary Oceanographic Prediction System (Navy)

PORTS Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System (NOAA/NOS)

PRISM Parameterized Real-time Ionospheric and Specification Model (AF)

PSDA Post-Storm Data Acquisition (OFCM)

PSR Polarimetric Scanning Radiometer (NOAA/OAR)

PUP Principal User Processor

QPF Quantitative Precipitation Forecast (NOAA/NCEP)

R&D Research and Development 

RAFC Regional Area Forecast Center (WWP)

RAMS Regional Atmopsheric Modeling System

RAMSDIS RAMM Branch Advanced Meteorological Satellite Demonstration and

Interpretation System (NOAA/NESDIS)

RAP Radiological Assistance Program (DOE)

RARC Regional Atmospheric Response Center (DOE)

RASS Radio Acoustic Sounding System (NOAA/OAR)

RAWS Remote Automatic Weather Station (USDA/DOI)

RC Reserve Component (DOD)

RDTE Research and Development, Test and Evaluation (Army)

REEPER Relativistic Electorn and Energetic Proton Experiment (AF)

RFETS Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (DOE)

RFC River Forecast Center (NOAA/NWS)

RMTN Regional Telecommunications Network (WWP)

RPC Rapid Prototype Center (NOAA/SEC)

RSA Range Standardization and Automation (NASA)

RSMC Regional/Specialized Meteorological Centers (WWP)

RTH Regional Telecommunications Hub (WWP)

RUC Rapid Update Cycle (NOAA)

RVR Runway Visual Range (FAA)

RWIS Road Weather Information System (FHWA)

S2 Intelligence Section (Army)

SAA Satellite Active Archive

Snow Accumulation Algorithm (DOI/BLM)

SAR Synthetic Aperture Radar (NOAA/NESDIS)

SARSAT Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking

SBIR Small Business Innovative Research Program (DOD)

SBUV Solar Backscatter Ultra-violet Instrument (NOAA/NESDIS)

SCINDA Scintillation Network Decision Aid (AF)

SDHS Satellite Data Handling System (AF)

SEC Space Environmental Center (NOAA/NCEP)

SEM Space Environment Monitor (NOAA)

SEMSIM Southeastern Michigan Snow and Ice Management (FHWA)

SFMR Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer

SHEBA Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean (DOE)
APPENDIX B 173

SHRP Stragetic Highway Research Program (FHWA)

SMEI Solar Mass Ejection Imager (AF)

SMDC Space and Missile Defense Command (DOE)

SMOOS Shipboard Meteorological and Oceanographic Observing Sensor (Navy)

SNDR Subcommittee on Natural Disaster Reduction

SNL Sandia National Laboratory (DOE)

SNOTEL Snow Telemetry (USDA)

SOCC Satellite Operations Control Center (NOAA/NESDIS)

SODAR Sound Detection and Ranging (DOE)

SOF Special Operations Forces (Army)

SOLAS Safety of Life at Sea (NOAA/NCEP)

SORD Special Operations and Research Division (NOAA/ARL)

SPAWARSYSCOM Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command

SPC Storm Prediction Center (NOAA/NCEP)

SR Savannah River (DOE)

SRBL Solar Radio Burst Locator (AF)

SRS Savannah River Site (DOE)

SRTC Savannah River Technology Center (DOE)

SST Sea surface temperature

SSU Stratospheric Sounding Unit (NOAA)

STIWG Satellite Telemetry Interagency Working Group (OFCM)

STOA Shock Time of Arrival (AF)

STP Solar-Terrestrial Physics

STT Small Tactical Terminal (AF)

SURFRAD Surface Radiation (DOE)

SWAFS Space Weather Analysis and Forecasting System (AF)

SWE Snow Water Equivalent (DOI/BUREC)

SWIM Solar Wind Interplanetary Measurements (AF)

SWO Staff weather officer (AF)

SWXS Space Weather Squadron (AF)

SXI Solar X-Ray Imager (AF)

T2 Technology transfer

TAF Aerodrome Forecast

TAO Tropical Atmosphere Ocean

TACMET-MOD Tactical Meteorological Observing System Modification (AF)

TACWX Tactical weather (DOD)

TAWS Tactical Acquisition Weather Software (AF)

TDA Tactical Decision Aid (Army)

TDWR Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (FAA)

TEA-21 Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (FHWA)

TEC Topographic Engineering Center (Army)

TED Total Electron Detector (NOAA/NESDIS)

TESS Tactical Environmental Support System (Navy)

TF Terminal Forecast

TFF Task Force Falcon (Army)

TFS Tactical Forecast System (AF)

TFU Theater Forecast Unit (AF)

TIROS Television Infrared Observation Satellite (NOAA/NESDIS)

TMI TRMM Microwave Imager (NASA)

TOC Tactical Operations Center (Army)

TOE Table of Organization and Equipment (Army)

TOFS Tactical Observing and Forecasting System (AF)

TOGA Tropical Ocean and Global Atmosphere 

TOMS Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (NASA)

TOVS TIROS N Operational Vertical Sounder (NOAA/NESDIS)

TPC Tropical Prediction Center (NOAA/NCEP)
174 APPENDIX B

TPW Total Precipitable Water (NOAA/NESDIS)

TRACON Terminal Radar Approach Control (FAA)

TRADOC Training and Doctrine Command (Army)

TRMM Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (NASA)

TUAN Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (Army)

TWIP Terminal Weather Information for Pilots (FAA)

TWP Tropical Western Pacific (DOE)

TWR Tactical Weather Radar (AF)

UARS Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (NASA)

UCAR University Corporation for Atmospheric Research

UN United Nations 

UNEP United Nations Environment Program (WWP/DOS)

USA U.S. Army

USAES U.S. Army Engineer School

USAF U.S. Air Force 

USAFAS U.S. Army Field Artillery School

USAIC&FH U.S. Army Intelligence Center & Fort Huachuca

USAKA U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll

USAR U.S. Army Reserve

USAREUR U.S. Army Europe

USARIEM U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine

USARPAC U.S. Army Pacific

USASMDC U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command

USASOC U.S. Army Special Operations Command

USCG U.S. Coast Guard 

USDA U.S. Department of Agriculture

USGCRP U.S. Global Change Research Program

USGS U.S. Geological Survey

USHCN U.S. Historical Climatology Network

USIABP U.S. Interagency Arctic Buoy Program (NOAA/NESDIS)

USMC U.S. Marine Corps

USMCC U.S. SARSAT Mission Control Center (NOAA/NESDIS)

USN U.S. Navy

USWRP U.S. Weather Research Program

UTC Universal Time Coordinated (Zulu)

UV Ultra-violet

VA Volcanic Ash 

VAS VISSR Atmospheric Sounder 

VCL Vegetation Canopy LIDAR (NASA)

VCP Voluntary Cooperation Program

VIN Vegetative Index Number (USDA)

VIRS Visible and Infrared Scanner (NASA)

VISSR Visible and Infrared Spin Scan Radiometer 

VOS Voluntary Observing Ship (WWP)

VTS Vessel Traffic System (NOAA/NOS)

WAFC World Area Forecast Center (WWP)

WAFS World Area Forecast System (WWP) 

WAM Wave model (Navy)

WAMPS Weather Automated Mission Planning Software

WAOB World Agricultural Outlook Board (USDA)

WARP Weather and Radar Processor (FAA)

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
APPENDIX B 175

WGCV Working Group on Calibration and Validation (NOAA/NESDIS)

WIDA Weather Impact Decision Aids (AF)

WINDS Weather Information and Display System (DOE)

WIPP Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (DOE)

WIST Weather Information for Surface Transportation (FHWA)

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)

WRD Water Resources Division (DOI/USGS)

WRF Weather Research and Forecast (NOAA/OAR)

WSP Weather Systems Processor (FAA)

WSR-88D Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (NEXRAD)

WSSRAP Weldon Springs Site Remdcial Action Project (DOE)

WST Weather Support Team (Army)

WSU Weather Support Unit (AF)

WTU Weather Technology Unit (AF)

WWP World Weather Program 

WWW World Weather Watch (WMO)

World wide web

XOW Director of Weather (AF)
APPENDIX C

PREVIOUS FEATURE ARTICLES

APPENDIX C 177

1999 FY 2000 Natural Disaster Reduction--Reducing the OFCM Staff in collaboration with

Impacts of Natural Hazards Dr. William Hooke, OAR, and

Ms. Keli Tarp, NOAA Public Affairs

1998 FY 1999 Aviation Weather: Taking A Leadership Role FAA's Aviation Weather Policy Division

(ARW-100) Staff

1997 FY 1998 Owning The Weather--An Army Force Mr. Richard J. Szymber, Army

Multiplier

1996 FY 1997 Space Weather - A New Challenge for Col Jud Stailey, USAF

Meteorologists

1995 FY 1996 The Role of Federal Agencies in International Mr. Blaine K. Tsugawa, OFCM

Aviation Meteorology

1994 FY 1995 Data Continuity in the Climatological Record Dr. Nathaniel B. Guttman, NCDC

Mr. Andrew H. Horvitz, NWS

Mr. Arthur L. Booth, NOAA-EOSDIS

1993 FY 1994 Training and Professional Development in the Mr. Eli Jacks, NWS

Modernized Weather Services Mr. LeRoy Spayd, NWS

1992 FY 1993 Mesoscale Meteorology Mr. Floyd F. Hauth, OFCM

1991 FY 1992 Some Recent Developments in Lightning Dr. Donald R. MacGorman, NOAA

Mapping Systems Dr. Frederick R. Mosher, NOAA

Ms. Jan S. Lewis, NOAA

1990 FY 1991 The Next Generation Weather Radar - Mr. E. Don Sarreals, NEXRAD JSPO 

A System for Locating and Tracking 

Severe Weather

1989 FY 1990 Strategic Plan for the Modernization and Verbatim reproduction of a plan

Associated Restructuring of the required by Congress and submitted

National Weather Service by DOC and OMB

1988 FY 1989 Supercomputers for Meteorological Services (Source or author unknown)

and Supporting Research
APPENDIX D

GOALS AND ORGANIZATION

The WWP goals to extend the time,

accuracy, range, and scope of weather

prediction and to understand the physical basis of climate and climatic

change. The ability of the United

States and other nations to use their

existing scientific capability to understand the climate and to increase their

weather predicting skills is limited by

the lack of global weather data.

Available weather data are inadequately observed over a significant portion

of the Earth's surface, especially over

isolated areas including the oceans.

Development of the technology and

the systems to obtain these observations, especially over the oceans, presents formidable problems. With the

use of satellites, aircraft, ships, radar,

anchored and drifting buoys, and balloons, however, an integrated system

can be developed to observe and collect comprehensive data about the

atmosphere over the entire globe. This

system is too complex to be implemented by a single nation--a fact clearly recognized by the leaders of many

nations whose international cooperation in meteorology has been a tradition for more than a century. In 1961,

this continuing need for international

cooperation prompted the President of

the United States to propose to the

United Nations (UN) the establishment

of an international effort in weather

prediction. The UN responded by calling upon the World Meteorological

Organization (WMO) and the

International Council of Scientific

Unions (ICSU) to develop measures to

improve weather forecasting capabilities and to advance the knowledge of

the basic physical forces that determine climate.

The WMO, with 185 Members, is a

specialized agency created by the UN

to facilitate international cooperation

in the fields of meteorology and

hydrology. The WMO responded to

the UN request with the concept of the

World Weather Watch (WWW), an

operational system to bring the global

atmosphere under improved surveillance and to provide for the rapid collection and exchange of weather data

as well as for the dissemination of

weather products from centralized processing centers.

More recently, the WMO, through its

commission structure, is working

towards the design and implementation

of improved observations for a Global

Climate Observing System (GCOS)

through enhancements to the Global

Observing System (GOS) and other

appropriate measures. These efforts

are expected to yield an enhanced GOS

for both operational and research purposes and are part of the effort to

strengthen the WMO's commitment to

improve the understanding of climate

and related environmental matters, as

articulated by the Second World

Climate Conference in 1990 and

repeated at the UN Conference on the

Environment and Development.

The responsibilities of United States

federal agencies in the WWP are as

follows:

 Department of Commerce (DOC).

Represents the United States at

WMO and, through the National

Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration (NOAA), provides

the focal point to coordinate our

Nation's efforts in these international programs, implements those

service improvements in the existing international weather system

for which the United States accepts

responsibility, and develops new

technology.

 Department of State (DOS).

Maintains relations with developing nations and, through NOAA

and the WMO, assists developing

nations in improving their national

weather services. DOS also develops appropriate multilateral and

bilateral arrangements to further

international participation.

 National Science Foundation

(NSF). Stimulates and supports

basic research by non-government

scientists on atmospheric and

ocean circulations and modeling.

It also promotes the education and

training of atmospheric and ocean

scientists at universities.

 Department of Defense (DOD).

Although the mission of DOD weather services is basically internal, the

nature of DOD's operations is global.

As such, the observation, telecommunications, and data-processing programs of the military weather services provide significant indirect support

to the WWW through DOD's interface with NOAA's National Weather

Service (NWS). Information from

the research and development activities of these services is exchanged

routinely with other similar national

agencies and is often presented at

national forums.

WORLD WEATHER PROGRAM

The Department of Commerce (DOC) was designated by the President, following Senate Concurrent Resolution 67

(1968), to be the lead agency for coordinating United States participation in the World Weather Program (WWP). Until

1983, DOC published a separate report on WWP Plans. Beginning with the 1983 edition of the Federal Plan for

Meteorological Services and Supporting Research, a section on the WWP has been included, obviating the need for a

separate report. The last segment of this narrative includes information on bilateral and regional international cooperative activities which are not under the WWP.

APPENDIX D 179
180 APPENDIX D

 Department of Transportation

(DOT). Through the United States

Coast Guard, provides personnel

to support NOAA's National Data

Buoy Center (NDBC) in developing, operating, and evaluating data

buoy systems. Coast Guard cutters

and aircraft provide operational

support to deploy, service, and

retrieve buoys built for test or

operational purposes. DOT's

observation and telecommunications programs also provide significant indirect support to the WWW

through DOT's interaction with the

NWS.

 National Aeronautics and Space

Administration (NASA). Performs

research and develops aerospace

technology required for an effective global weather system.

THE WORLD WEATHER WATCH

The WWW is an integrated services

system which functions on three levels--global, regional, and national.

The WWW is divided into three

essential elements that are closely

linked and interdependent--the Global

Data Processing System (GDPS),

Global Telecommunication System

(GTS), and GOS.

These elements are coordinated and

closely integrated through three

WWW support functions: (1) the data

management function coordinates,

monitors, and manages the flow of

data and products within the WWW

system to assure their quality and

timely delivery. It also includes the

definition and use of code forms for

data exchange; (2) the systems support activity provides guidance, technical and scientific information, and

training to those involved in the planning, development, and operation of

WWW components; and (3) the

implementation and coordination

function assures the timely completion of the WWW implementation and

effective support and maintenance of

the WWW system.

Global Observing System

The GOS is a coordinated system of

methods, techniques, and facilities for

making meteorological observations

on a worldwide scale. It is a composite

system containing surface-based and

space-based (satellite) subsystems.

The main elements of the subsystem

are:

 Regional, basic-synoptic networks,

staffed and automated, for both

surface and upper-air observations.

 Fixed sea stations, composed of

ocean weather stations, fixed and

anchored platform stations, and

island and coastal stations.

 Mobile sea stations, including

moving ships.

 Moored and drifting buoys.

 Aircraft meteorological stations,

including automated aircraft

reporting systems.

The space-based (satellite) subsystem provides vital support for meteorological and hydrological predictions

and warnings. The use of satellites

enables the routine collection of environmental observations from even the

most remote locations. Two categories

of satellites are used: polar orbiters

and geostationary.

Presently, operational meteorological

satellites in polar orbits are operated by

Russia (the METEOR-3 series) and the

United States. The United States operates

the civilian NOAA Polar-orbiting

Operational Environmental Satellite

(POES) series along with the Defense

Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP)

series of polar-orbiting spacecraft.

NOAA currently launches satellites, alternately, into afternoon and morning orbits

to maintain an uninterrupted stream of

global data. The current operational

NOAA polar-orbiting satellites are

NOAA-14 (launched in an afternoon orbit

in December 1994) and NOAA-12

(launched in a morning orbit in May

1991). The current operational DMSP

polar-orbiting satellites are F-12 (launched

in August 1994), F-13 (launched in March

1995), and F-14 (launched in April 1997).

Operational geostationary weather

satellites are currently operated by

Japan, China, India, Russia, the United

States, and the European Operational

Satellite Consortium (EUMETSAT).

Japan's Geostationary Meteorological

Satellite (GMS) is positioned at 140o

E,

India's Indian National Satellite

(INSAT) is at 74o

E, Russia's

GOMS/Elektro #1 satellite is at 76oE

(operational since June 1996), and

EUMETSAT's METEOSAT is at 0o.

The United States normally operates

two Geostationary Operational

Environmental Satellites (GOES)--one

at 75o

W and the other at 135oW.

GOES-8, launched in April 1994, is

operational at 75o

W and GOES-9,

launched in May 1995, is operational

at 135o

W. The China-GOES FY2 was

launched June 10, 1997.

To help ensure data continuity from

geostationary orbit, NOAA has signed

a long-term mutual back-up agreement

with EUMETSAT. The successful

launch of GOES-10 now gives the

United States an on-orbit spare capability reducing the impact when

GOES-8 or GOES-9 fails.

In the future, NOAA's POES will be

combined with the DMSP to form a

converged system called NPOESS

(National Polar-orbiting Operational

Environmental Satellite System).

NOAA, DOD, and NASA are working

together to implement NPOESS and

have created an Integrated Program

Office (IPO). NOAA heads the IPO

and is responsible for operating the

NPOESS and for relations with national and international civilian users of

the system. DOD has the lead responsibility for NPOESS acquisitions,

launch, and systems integration.

NOAA will facilitate the development

and incorporation of new, cost-effective technologies to enhance the

NPOESS capabilities. Negotiations

continue with the Europeans for their

assumption of NOAA's morning polar

orbit mission just after the turn of the
APPENDIX D 181

century. This complements longstanding plans by NOAA and the meteorological operational satellites. In parallel with the United States converged

system, EUMETSAT will assume the

responsibility of the "morning" polar

orbiter with its new METOP series.

Broadcast of data from both the

NOAA and GOES series of United

States satellites is free, unrestricted,

and does not require any prior notification. Data can be received directly by

any properly-equipped ground station

within the satellites' line-of-sight. The

United States, through NOAA, develops information and products from

these data for further distribution over

the GTS.

The WWW is a flexible system

which can be adapted to changing

technology and operational conditions.

The latest technological and scientific

developments in observations, data

processing, and telecommunications

are under constant review with an eye

towards improving the GOS, GDPS,

and GTS. 

Over the last few years, several systems intended to improve the operation

of the GOS have continued to undergo

development and deployment. Among

these systems is the family of automated aircraft reporting systems known as

the Automated Meteorological-logical

Data and Reporting (AMDAR) systems. This family of systems includes

the Aircraft to Satellite Data Relay

(ASDAR) System and the ARINC

Communications Addressing and

Reporting System (ACARS). ARINC

is Aeronautical Radio Incorporated--a

wholly owned subsidiary of the airlines. ASDAR uses a dedicated onboard processor connected to the aircraft avionics system and transmits

observations automatically via the

meteorological geosynchronous satellites of the International Data

Collection System (IDCS). ASDAR

uses hardware which was developed in

the 1980's and was fitted to the aircraft,

requiring relatively expensive and

time-consuming certification and

installation. It has the important

advantage of using the meteorological

satellite communications facility

which is free for this type of message.

On the other hand, ACARS uses the

plane's own avionics system thus

requiring no certification or alteration

to the airframe. It does, however, use

the airlines' communications system

which could entail communication

costs.

To date, a total of 20 units out of the

23 ASDAR systems originally purchased have been fitted on aircraft

and are operational and reporting.

Ten units are operational on aircraft of

British Airways, three on KLM, two

each on aircraft of Air Mauritius and

South African Airways, and one each

on aircraft of SAUDIA, Lufthansa,

and Aerolineas Argentinas. An additional unit is being installed on an aircraft of SAUDIA; the final ASDAR

installation will be installed on a second Boeing 747 of Aerolineas

Argentinas in September 1998.

ASDAR transmits one observation

every 7 minutes in level flight and

observations are also made at selected

pressure levels in ascent and descent.

The number of observations per day

received from any one unit depends

on how long the particular aircraft is

in the air. This number of observations could be as high as 280, but on

average the number per day is about

150. For the total ASDAR-equipped

fleet, the average number of reports

received is about 1,400 daily (due to

routine maintenance of the aircraft

and when the unit is inoperative).

With regard to data coverage, about

50 percent of the ASDAR-equipped

aircraft fly between Europe and North

America, and the others to destinations in Asia, Africa, Australia, and

South America. More than 85 percent

of reports are received at Bracknell,

United Kingdom within 1 hour and 99

percent within 2 hours. ASDAR data

quality is high with a typical rate of

rejected reports of less than 1 percent

of all reports.

The United States AMDAR program,

called Meteorological Data Communications and Reporting System

(MDCRS), began in the early 1980's

and is a cooperative effort among

ARINC, the NWS, and the FAA. It

grew slowly in the first 10 years, but

has grown rapidly during the decade of

the 1990's. Over 55,000 reports of

wind and temperature are sent every

day in the Binary Universal Form for

Representation of Meteorological Data

(BUFR) code. These MDCRS reports

are provided by four airlines: Delta,

Northwest, United, and United Parcel

Service (UPS). American Airlines has

just joined the program and will provide the full suite of data; Federal

Express has agreed to supply their

flight following data that includes

weather information transmitted every

30 minutes.

Two new MDCRS programs are

being developed: water vapor and

turbulence. A new water vapor sensor was installed on a UPS B-757

aircraft and, over the next several

years, up to 160 units are slated for

installation on UPS and other airlines for a full test and evaluation of

the sensor. A new turbulence algorithm, developed by the National

Center for Atmospheric Research

(NCAR) is being installed on

approximately 200 United Airlines

aircraft. Plans call for the turbulence algorithm to be installed on

other carriers as well.

Large quantities of weather

reports, particularly over oceanic

and other data-sparse areas, will be

realized via satellite communications and navigation systems. This

source of data is of interest to the

United States and others of the international aeronautical community,

especially Numerical Weather

Prediction (NWP) Centers including

World Area Forecast Centers

(WAFCs).
182 APPENDIX D

The Forty-Ninth Session of WMO's

Executive Council (Geneva, June

1997) endorsed a proposal by the

Operating Consortium of ASDAR

Participants (OCAP) that a Panel on

Aircraft Meteorological Data

Reporting composed of Members of

WMO that operate, or intend to operate, national AMDAR Programs to

coordinate and promote global

AMDAR development be established.

The second meeting of the AMDAR

Panel was held in Geneva,

Switzerland, on October 19-22, 1999.

The Inaugural Meeting of the Panel,

held in 1998, provided the foundation

for the implementation of the AMDAR

Program and set out the goal to coordinate and promote global AMDAR

development in order to enhance the

upper air component of the GOS.

Thirteen members and seven international organizations took part in the

meeting.

In addition to these aircraft-based

systems, other observation systems are

being deployed to improve the GOS.

For example, there has been deployment of substantial numbers of drifting

buoys. A number of nations, including

the United States, have implemented

experimental or quasi-operational networks or single sites of ground-based

Doppler radars called wind profilers to

provide nearly continuous wind soundings. A network of 32 tropospheric

wind profilers is being operated quasioperationally at 404 MHZ primarily in

the central part of the United States.

Some threat exists to their continued

operation because of the likely sale of

the 404 MHZ frequency. Three new

profilers operating at 449 MHZ are

being installed in the State of Alaska

later in 1998. Also a significant number of boundary layer profilers are

being installed to monitor air quality.

All the data from the tropospheric profilers are available on the GTS and on

the Internet.

To improve the methodology used in

developing and deploying observing

systems, NOAA in 1997, established

the North American Atmospheric

Observing System (NAOS) program.

The group has representatives from

several federal agencies along with

representatives from Canada and

Mexico. NAOS objectives are to:

(1) define a cost-effective, requirements-driven "best mix" of observing

platforms and instruments and

(2) reduce observing system risks and

uncertainties. While the initial focus

of the program will be to modernize

the composite upper-air network,

NAOS is expected to guide the

resource-allocation process for most

future observing systems developed

and/or fielded by NOAA. Several

projects of NAOS have been undertaken to assess the utility of the MDCRS

data in numerical models, including

the impact of replacing some numbers

of rawinsonde sites with MDCRS

soundings, an assessment of forecaster

use of MDCRS, and the impact on

short-range forecasting. These two

studies are planned to be concluded in

1998.

The concept of the Operational

WWW Systems Evaluation (OWSE)

has also been developed as a framework for regional implementation.

The OWSE-Africa, which was created

to evaluate the very extensive use of

METEOSAT to improve telecommunications and data availability in Africa,

has been completed. It was designed

to implement and test the data collection system for receipt of meteorological observations from various countries in Africa. Thus far, approximately 100 data collection platforms have

been installed in Kenya, Ethiopia,

Ghana, Sudan, Nigeria, Sierra Leone,

Zaire, Egypt, Madagascar, St. Helena,

Guinea, and Cape Verde. Evaluations

have been carried out to gauge the

improvement of observation receipt

and preliminary results show that highreceipt rates are achieved when systems are operating. Further, results

indicate that high-receipt rates may be

achieved for data originating in Africa,

but infrastructure and maintenance

issues remain in order for full operational deployment to be successful.

Efforts are underway to design and

implement a GCOS, building upon the

WWW, Global Atmospheric Watch,

Integrated Global Ocean Services

System, and other existing systems to

further the knowledge and understanding of climate and the prediction of climate and climate change. Efforts to

date have established planning groups

to address needs and requirements for

atmospheric, oceanic, and land-surface

data. Upper-air and surface-observing

networks are being defined to provide

basic measurements for the GCOS.

Links to existing organizational structures are being established and a high

priority has been given to making

observational enhancements. The

GCOS Upper Air Network (GUAN)

and the GCOS Surface Network

(GSN) have been established.

Global Data Processing System

The purpose of GDPS is to make

available all processed information

required for both real-time and nonreal-time applications. GDPS provides

products and processed information,

based on recent advances in atmospheric science, using powerful numerical computer methods. Members

have real-time, unrestricted access

through the GTS to GDPS products

which allow all countries to benefit

from their participation in the WWW. 

The GDPS is organized as a threelevel system. It consists of World

Meteorological Centers (WMC),

Regional/Specialized Meteorological

Centers (RSMC), and National

Meteorological Centers (NMC).

NMCs carry out GDPS functions at the

national level. In general, real-time

functions of the system involve preprocessing of data including real-time

quality control, analysis, and prognosis, including derivation of appropriate

meteorological parameters. The nonreal-time functions include data collec-
APPENDIX D 183

tion and archival, and additional quality control, storage, and retrieval, to

include cataloging observational data

and processed information for operational and special applications and for

research.

WMCs are located in Melbourne,

Moscow, and Washington; they provide guidance products used for general short, medium, and long-range

weather forecasts on a global scale.

Melbourne specializes in forecast

products for the Southern Hemisphere.

The RSMCs with geographical specialization are located at Algiers,

Algeria; Antananarivo, Malagasy;

Beijing, China; Bracknell, United

Kingdom; Brasilia, Brazil; Buenos

Aires, Argentina; Cairo, Egypt; Dakar,

Senegal; Darwin, Australia; Jeddah,

Saudi Arabia; Khabarovsk, Russia;

Lagos, Nigeria; Melbourne, Australia;

Miami, Florida; Montreal, Canada;

Moscow, Russia; Nairobi, Kenya; New

Delhi, India; Novosibirsk, Russia;

Offenbach, Germany; Rome, Italy;

Tashkent, Uzbekistan; Tokyo, Japan;

Tunis, Tunisia; Washington D.C.,

United States; and Wellington, New

Zealand.

RSMCs with activity specialization

are found at The European Center for

Medium Range Forecasts; Réunion

Island (France); Toulouse, France;

Washington D.C., United States; and

Nadi. Fiji.

The regional centers at Bracknell,

Miami, Montreal, New Delhi, and

Tokyo have dual geographical and

activity specialization responsibilities.

These centers provide regional products used for short and medium-range

forecasting of small, mesoscale, and

large scale meteorological systems by

WMCs. Products of RSMCs can be

used by members at the national level

for further processing or interpretation

to provide assistance or service to

users.

In the World Area Forecast System

(WAFS), two centers (Washington and

London) are designated by the

International Civil Aviation

Organization (ICAO) as World Area

Forecast Centers (WAFC). They issue

upper-wind and temperature forecasts

with global coverage to associated

Regional Area Forecast Centers

(RAFC). The regional centers also

prepare and distribute forecasts of

weather elements defined by ICAO as

significant weather.

The gradual implementation of the

final phase of the WAFS has begun and

will continue over the next few years.

The planned final phase call for the

two WAFCs to prepare and issue computer-based wind and temperature

forecasts as they now do. In addition,

those centers will automate all of the

significant weather elements. While

some of these elements are now prepared automatically, others are developed through forecaster-initiated

graphic interaction.

The dissemination of aeronautical

information via global satellite broadcast began in 1995. The United States

provides the links to two of the three

satellites specified in the system.

Global Telecommunication System

The GTS provides communication

services for the collection, exchange,

and distribution of observational data

and processed information among the

WMCs, RSMCs, and NMCs of the

WWW to meet the member needs for

real-time or quasi-real-time exchange

of information for both operational

and research purposes. The GTS also

supports other WMO programs, joint

programs with other inter-national

organizations, and environmental

programs as decided by the WMO

Congress and is organized on three

levels:

 The Main Telecommunication

Network (MTN).

 The Regional Meteorological

Telecommunication Networks

(RMTN).

 The National Meteorological

Telecommunication Networks

(NMTN).

The GTS is supported by the

telecommunications functions of the

WMCs, Regional Telecommunications

Hubs (RTH), RSMCs, and NMCs.

The MTN links the WMCs at

Melbourne, Moscow, and Washington

with the RTHs at Algiers; Beijing;

Bracknell; Brasilia; Buenos Aires;

Cairo; Dakar; Jeddah; Maracay,

Venezuela; Nairobi; New Delhi;

Norrköping, Sweden; Offenbach;

Prague; Rome; Sofia; Tokyo;

Toulouse; and Wellington. It ensures

the rapid and reliable exchange of

observational data and processed information required by the members.

The RMTNs consist of an integrated

system of links which interconnects

RTHs, NMCs, and RSMCs to WMCs.

The RMTNs provide for the collection

of observational data and the selective

distribution of meteorological information to member nations.

In summary, the GTS enables the

NMCs to receive and distribute observational data and meteorological information to meet the requirements of

members. Ongoing WWW activities

include:

 GTS network redesign to take into

consideration new technical opportunities, such as Internet-like services.

 Improvement of the capacity of

MTN links and inclusion of graphics

(e.g., Washington-Brasilia,

Washington-Buenos Aires,

Washington-Tokyo). 

 Continued implementation of satellite-serviced data collection platforms to enhance the collec-tion of

meteorological data from upper-air

and surface-observing sites.

 Continued implementation of satellite direct-readout stations that are

compatible with polar-orbiting satellites and the WEFAX (weather facsimile) component of the geostationary satellites. The need to convert

WEFAX to LRIT and APT to LRPT

formats will have to be undertaken

during the next decade.
184 APPENDIX D

Voluntary Cooperation Program (VCP)

From the beginning of WWW, it was

clear that all countries need better

weather observations and improved

communications systems. To help

remedy deficiencies and to fully implement the WWW, the WMO established

a Voluntary Assistance Program in

1967. The name of the program was

changed to Voluntary Cooperation

Program (VCP) in 1979.

The WMO-VCP helps the developing countries to implement the WWW

program by providing equipment,

services, and long-term and short-term

study fellowships. Since the inception

of the VCP, the United States has provided short-term fellowships in electronics, communications, operation

and maintenance of weather data collection systems and electrolytic hydrogen generators, and tropical meteorology and river flood forecasting to students from more than 50 countries.

Long-term fellowships, through which

the students receive baccalaureate or

advanced degrees, have been completed by candidates from over 48 countries. Highest priorities are given to

those facilities needed to support the

global aspects of WWW. The goal of

VCP is to eliminate deficiencies in

global observations and communications and to establish ground-readout

stations for Automatic Picture

Transmission reception so that the

countries may benefit more fully from

weather satellite services.

The DOS provides funding for VCP

projects with NOAA administering and

carrying out programs designed to aid

meteorological/hydrological and climate projects in recipient countries. 

VCP Projects for 2001 include:

 Implementation and updating of

surface and upper-air observational

programs in the tropics, the

Southern Hemisphere, and Africa

as resources and priorities permit.

 Support of WAFS applications and

utilization.

 Continued support for the implementation of VCP projects in Latin

America and the Caribbean areas

in support of the hurricane and

tropical storm programs.

 Connecting National Meteorological

Services to the Internet as a lowcost way to collect and enhance a

global data base.

BILATERAL AND REGIONAL

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATIVE PROGRAMS

United States - Peoples Republic of

China Protocol in the Field of

Atmospheric Science and Technology

For more than 15 years, this protocol

has covered a broad area of research

and operational activities in the field of

atmospheric science and technology.

Program areas include the following:

 Climate Studies (which includes

scientific experiments and research

on monsoons and Tropical Ocean

Global Atmosphere).

 Mesoscale Meteorology (which

includes operational techniques for

forecasting torrential rains).

 Training and Participation.

 Atmospheric Chemistry.

 Satellite Meteorology 

and Meteorological Satellites.

 Modernization Activities.

The cooperative activities between

the United States and China under this

program have decreased over the past

2 years. The main cooperative activity

has been within the Training and

Participation Program with a dozen

Chinese scientists and trainees working at NOAA facilities for up to

18 months.

United States-Mexico Meteorological

and Hydrologic Program

The United States and Mexico have

signed a cooperative agreement to

enhance the scope of their cooperation

in the fields of meteorology, hydrology, and climatology which began over

50 years ago. The new agreement

facilitates the following activities:

 The international dissemination of

observations from meteorological

and hydrologic observation systems.

 The exchange of meteorological,

hydrologic, and related data and

products between the United States

and Mexico.

 The cooperation necessary to

assure prompt transmission

through telecommunications networks of these data and products.

Over the past few years, the Mexican

Meteorological Service has undergone

some modernization which included

upgrading upper-air observation systems and installing Doppler weather

radars. This cooperative agreement

will facilitate the exchange of data and

information to the benefit of both

countries.