I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 6093 

To improve the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s weather 

research, support improvements in weather forecasting and prediction, 

expand commercial opportunities for the provision of weather data, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 26, 2023 

Mr. LUCAS (for himself, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. MILLER of Ohio, Mr. WEBER of 

Texas, Mr. BABIN, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. MIKE GARCIA of California, Mrs. 

BICE, Mr. OBERNOLTE, Mr. FLEISCHMANN, Ms. TENNEY, Mr. MCCORMICK, Mr. COLLINS, and Mr. KEAN of New Jersey) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science, Space, and 

Technology 

A BILL 

To improve the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s weather research, support improvements in 

weather forecasting and prediction, expand commercial 

opportunities for the provision of weather data, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation ReauthorVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:48 Oct 30, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6093.IH H6093
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1 ization Act of 2023’’ or the ‘‘Weather Act Reauthorization 

2 Act of 2023’’. 

3 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

4 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Definitions. 

TITLE I—REAUTHORIZATION OF THE WEATHER RESEARCH AND 

FORECASTING INNOVATION ACT OF 2017 

Sec. 101. Public safety priority. 

Sec. 102. United States weather research and forecasting. 

Sec. 103. Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment 

(VORTEX). 

Sec. 104. Hurricane forecast improvement program. 

Sec. 105. Tsunami warning, education, and research. 

Sec. 106. Observing system planning. 

Sec. 107. Observing system simulation experiments. 

Sec. 108. Computing resources prioritization. 

Sec. 109. Earth prediction innovation center. 

Sec. 110. Satellite architecture planning. 

Sec. 111. Improving uncrewed activities. 

Sec. 112. Interagency Council for Advancing Meteorological Services. 

Sec. 113. Ocean observations. 

Sec. 114. Consolidation of reports. 

TITLE II—ENHANCING FEDERAL WEATHER FORECASTING AND 

INNOVATION 

Sec. 201. Weather innovation for the next generation. 

Sec. 202. Next generation radar. 

Sec. 203. Data voids in highly vulnerable areas of the United States. 

Sec. 204. Atmospheric rivers forecast improvement program. 

Sec. 205. Coastal flooding and storm surge forecast improvement program. 

Sec. 206. Aviation weather and data innovation. 

Sec. 207. NESDIS joint venture partnership transition program. 

Sec. 208. Advanced weather interactive processing system. 

TITLE III—COMMERCIAL WEATHER AND ENVIRONMENTAL 

OBSERVATIONS 

Sec. 301. Commercial Data Program. 

Sec. 302. Commercial Data Pilot Program. 

Sec. 303. Contracting authority and avoidance of duplication. 

Sec. 304. Data assimilation, management, and sharing practices. 

Sec. 305. Clerical amendment. 

TITLE IV—COMMUNICATING WEATHER TO THE PUBLIC 

Sec. 401. Definitions. 

Sec. 402. Hazardous weather or water event risk communication. 

Sec. 403. Hazard communication research and engagement. 

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Sec. 404. National Weather Service communications improvement. 

Sec. 405. NOAA Weather Radio modernization. 

Sec. 406. Post-storm surveys and assessments. 

Sec. 407. Government Accountability Office report on alert dissemination for 

hazardous weather or water events. 

Sec. 408. Data collection management and protection. 

TITLE V—IMPROVING WEATHER INFORMATION FOR 

AGRICULTURE AND WATER MANAGEMENT 

Sec. 501. Weather and climate information in agriculture and water management. 

Sec. 502. National Integrated Drought Information System. 

Sec. 503. National Mesonet Program. 

Sec. 504. National Coordinated Soil Moisture Monitoring Network. 

Sec. 505. National water center. 

Sec. 506. Satellite transfers report. 

1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—In this Act, the terms ‘‘seasonal’’, 

3 ‘‘State’’, ‘‘subseasonal’’, ‘‘Under Secretary’’, ‘‘weather en4 terprise’’, ‘‘weather data’’, and ‘‘weather industry’’ have 

5 the meanings given such terms in section 2 of the Weather 

6 Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 

7 U.S.C. 8501). 

8 (b) WEATHER DATA DEFINED.—Section 2 of the 

9 Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 

10 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8501) is amended— 

11 (1) by redesignating paragraph (5) as para12 graph (6); and 

13 (2) by inserting after paragraph (4) the fol14 lowing new paragraph: 

15 ‘‘(5) WEATHER DATA.—The term ‘weather 

16 data’ means information used to track and predict 

17 weather conditions and patterns, including forecasts, 

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1 observations, and derivative products from such in2 formation.’’. 

3 TITLE I—REAUTHORIZATION OF 

4 THE WEATHER RESEARCH 

5 AND FORECASTING INNOVA6 TION ACT OF 2017 

7 SEC. 101. PUBLIC SAFETY PRIORITY. 

8 Section 101 of the Weather Research and Fore9 casting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8511) is 

10 amended by adding at the end the following new sentence: 

11 ‘‘The Under Secretary shall ensure the National Oceanic 

12 and Atmospheric Administration remains focused on pro13 viding accurate and timely weather forecasts that protect 

14 lives and property and enhance the national economy by 

15 disseminating to the public and core partners through 

16 nimble, flexible, and mobile methods critical weather infor17 mation and impact-based decision support services.’’. 

18 SEC. 102. UNITED STATES WEATHER RESEARCH AND FORE19 CASTING. 

20 Section 110 of the Weather Research and Fore21 casting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8519) is 

22 amended to read as follows: 

23 ‘‘SEC. 110. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

24 ‘‘(a) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

25 are authorized to be appropriated to the Office of Oceanic 

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1 and Atmospheric Research to carry out this title the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(1) $155,000,000 for fiscal year 2024, of 

4 which— 

5 ‘‘(A) $90,000,000 is authorized for weath6 er laboratories and cooperative institutes; 

7 ‘‘(B) $30,000,000 is authorized for the 

8 United States Weather Research Program; 

9 ‘‘(C) $20,000,000 is authorized for tor10 nado, severe storm, and next generation radar 

11 research; and 

12 ‘‘(D) $15,000,000 is authorized for the 

13 joint technology transfer initiative described in 

14 section 102(b)(4) of this title. 

15 ‘‘(2) $156,550,000 for fiscal year 2025, of 

16 which— 

17 ‘‘(A) $90,900,000 is authorized for weath18 er laboratories and cooperative institutes; 

19 ‘‘(B) $30,300,000 is authorized for the 

20 United States Weather Research Program; 

21 ‘‘(C) $20,200,000 is authorized for tor22 nado, severe storm, and next generation radar 

23 research; and 

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1 ‘‘(D) $15,150,000 is authorized for the 

2 joint technology transfer initiative described in 

3 section 102(b)(4) of this title. 

4 ‘‘(3) $158,116,000 for fiscal year 2026, of 

5 which— 

6 ‘‘(A) $91,809,000 is authorized for weath7 er laboratories and cooperative institutes; 

8 ‘‘(B) $30,603,000 is authorized for the 

9 United States Weather Research Program; 

10 ‘‘(C) $20,402,000 is authorized for tor11 nado, severe storm, and next generation radar 

12 research; and 

13 ‘‘(D) $15,302,000 is authorized for the 

14 joint technology transfer initiative described in 

15 section 102(b)(4) of this title. 

16 ‘‘(4) $159,697,000 for fiscal year 2027, of 

17 which— 

18 ‘‘(A) $92,727,000 is authorized for weath19 er laboratories and cooperative institutes; 

20 ‘‘(B) $30,909,000 is authorized for the 

21 United States Weather Research Program; 

22 ‘‘(C) $20,606,000 is authorized for tor23 nado, severe storm, and next generation radar 

24 research; and 

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1 ‘‘(D) $15,455,000 is authorized for the 

2 joint technology transfer initiative described in 

3 section 102(b)(4) of this title. 

4 ‘‘(5) $161,294,000 for fiscal year 2028, of 

5 which— 

6 ‘‘(A) $93,654,000 is authorized for weath7 er laboratories and cooperative institutes; 

8 ‘‘(B) $31,218,000 is authorized for the 

9 United States Weather Research Program; 

10 ‘‘(C) $20,812,000 is authorized for tor11 nado, severe storm, and next generation radar 

12 research; and 

13 ‘‘(D) $15,609,000 is authorized for the 

14 joint technology transfer initiative described in 

15 section 8512(b)(4) of this title. 

16 ‘‘(b) LIMITATION.—No additional funds are author17 ized to carry out this title or the amendments made by 

18 this title.’’. 

19 SEC. 103. VERIFICATION OF THE ORIGINS OF ROTATION IN 

20 TORNADOES EXPERIMENT (VORTEX). 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 103 of the Weather Re22 search and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 

23 8513) is amended to read as follows: 

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1 ‘‘SEC. 103. VERIFICATION OF THE ORIGINS OF ROTATION IN 

2 TORNADOES EXPERIMENT (VORTEX). 

3 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary, in collabo4 ration with the United States weather industry and aca5 demic partners, shall maintain a program for rapidly im6 proving tornado forecasts, predictions, and warnings, in7 cluding forecaster training in radar interpretation and in8 formation integration from new sources. 

9 ‘‘(b) GOAL.—The goal of the program under sub10 section (a) shall be to develop and extend accurate tornado 

11 forecasts, predictions, and warnings in order to reduce the 

12 loss of life or property related to tornadoes, with a focus 

13 on the following: 

14 ‘‘(1) Improving the effectiveness and timeliness 

15 of tornado forecasts, predictions, and warnings. 

16 ‘‘(2) Optimizing lead time and providing action17 able information beyond one hour in advance. 

18 ‘‘(3) Transitioning from warn-on-detection to 

19 warn-on-forecast. 

20 ‘‘(c) INNOVATIVE OBSERVATIONS.—The Under Sec21 retary shall ensure the program under subsection (a) peri22 odically examines, tests, and evaluates the value of incor23 porating innovative observations, such as novel sensor 

24 technologies, observation tools or networks, crewed or 

25 uncrewed systems, and hosted instruments on commercial 

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1 aircrafts, vessels, and satellites, with respect to the im2 provement of tornado forecasts, predictions, and warnings. 

3 ‘‘(d) ACTIVITIES.—The Under Secretary shall award 

4 grants for research, including relating to the following: 

5 ‘‘(1) Implementing key goals and achieving pro6 gram milestones to the maximum extent practicable 

7 as outlined by the National Oceanic and Atmos8 pheric Administration’s 2019 report, ‘Tornado 

9 Warning Improvement and Extension Program 

10 Plan’. 

11 ‘‘(2) In coordination with the National Science 

12 and Technology Council’s Social and Behavioral 

13 Sciences Subcommittee, improving the social, behav14 ioral, risk, communication, and economic sciences re15 garding vulnerabilities, risk communication, and de16 livery of information critical for reducing the loss of 

17 life or property related to tornadoes. 

18 ‘‘(3) Improving the physical sciences, computer 

19 modeling, and tools related to tornado formation, the 

20 impacts of tornadoes on the built and natural envi21 ronment, and the interaction of tornadoes and hurri22 canes. 

23 ‘‘(e) WARNINGS.—In carrying out subsection (a), the 

24 Under Secretary, in coordination with the program estab25 lished under section 406, shall— 

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1 ‘‘(1) conduct and transition to operations the 

2 research necessary to develop and deploy prob3 abilistic weather forecast guidance technology for 

4 tornadoes and related weather phenomena; 

5 ‘‘(2) incorporate into tornado modeling and 

6 forecasting, as appropriate, social, behavioral, risk, 

7 communication, and economic sciences; 

8 ‘‘(3) enhance workforce training on radar inter9 pretation and use of tornado warning systems; and 

10 ‘‘(4) expand computational resources to support 

11 higher-resolution modeling to advance the capability 

12 for warn-on-forecast. 

13 ‘‘(f) TORNADO RATING SYSTEM.—The Under Sec14 retary, in collaboration with local communities and emer15 gency managers, shall— 

16 ‘‘(1) evaluate the system used as of the date of 

17 the enactment of this section to rate the severity of 

18 tornadoes; 

19 ‘‘(2) determine whether updates to such system 

20 are required to ensure such ratings accurately reflect 

21 the severity of tornados; and 

22 ‘‘(3) if determined necessary, update such sys23 tem. 

24 ‘‘(g) ANNUAL BUDGET.—The Under Secretary shall, 

25 not less frequently than annually, submit to Congress a 

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1 proposed budget corresponding with carrying out this sec2 tion.’’. 

3 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

4 in section 1(b) of the Weather Research and Forecasting 

5 Innovation Act of 2017 is amended by amending the item 

6 relating to section 103 to read as follows: 

‘‘Sec. 103. Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment 

(VORTEX).’’. 

7 SEC. 104. HURRICANE FORECAST IMPROVEMENT PRO8 GRAM. 

9 Section 104 of the Weather Research and Fore10 casting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8514) is 

11 amended to read as follows: 

12 ‘‘SEC. 104. HURRICANE FORECAST IMPROVEMENT PRO13 GRAM. 

14 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary, in collabo15 ration with the United States weather industry and aca16 demic partners, shall maintain a program to improve hur17 ricane forecasting, predictions, and warnings. 

18 ‘‘(b) GOAL.—The goal of the program under sub19 section (a) shall be to develop and extend accurate hurri20 cane forecasts, predictions, and warnings in order to re21 duce the loss of life or property related to hurricanes, with 

22 a focus on the following: 

23 ‘‘(1) Improving the understanding and pre24 diction of rapid intensification and projected path of 

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1 hurricanes, including probabilistic methods for hurri2 cane hazard mapping. 

3 ‘‘(2) Improving the forecast and impact-based 

4 communication of inland flooding, compound flood5 ing, and storm surges from hurricanes, in coordina6 tion with the program established under section 205. 

7 ‘‘(3) Incorporating social, behavioral, risk, com8 munication, and economic sciences to clearly inform 

9 response to prevent the loss of life or property, such 

10 as evacuation or shelter in place. 

11 ‘‘(4) Evaluating and incorporating, as appro12 priate, innovative observations, such as novel sensor 

13 technologies, observation tools or networks, crewed 

14 or uncrewed systems, and hosted instruments on 

15 commercial aircrafts, vessels, and satellites. 

16 ‘‘(c) ACTIVITIES.—The Under Secretary shall award 

17 grants for research, including relating to the following: 

18 ‘‘(1) Implementing key strategies and following 

19 priorities and objectives outlined by the National 

20 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 2019 re21 port ‘Hurricane Forecast Improvement Program’. 

22 ‘‘(2) In coordination with the National Science 

23 and Technology Council’s Social and Behavioral 

24 Sciences Subcommittee and other relevant inter25 agency committees, improving the social, behavioral, 

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1 risk, communications, and economic sciences related 

2 to vulnerabilities, risk communication, and delivery 

3 of information critical for reducing the loss of life or 

4 property related to hurricanes. 

5 ‘‘(3) Improving the physical sciences, oper6 ational modeling, and tools related to hurricane for7 mation, the impacts of wind and water-based hurri8 cane hazards on the built and natural environment, 

9 and the interaction of hurricanes and tornadoes. 

10 ‘‘(d) WARNINGS.—In carrying out subsection (a), the 

11 Under Secretary, in coordination with the program estab12 lished under section 406, shall— 

13 ‘‘(1) conduct and transition to operations the 

14 research necessary to develop and deploy prob15 abilistic weather forecast guidance technology relat16 ing to hurricanes and related weather phenomena; 

17 ‘‘(2) incorporate into hurricane modeling and 

18 forecasting, as appropriate, social, behavioral, risk, 

19 communication, and economic sciences research; and 

20 ‘‘(3) expand computational resources to support 

21 and improve higher-resolution operational modeling 

22 of hurricanes and related weather phenomena. 

23 ‘‘(e) ANNUAL BUDGET.—The Under Secretary shall, 

24 not less frequently than annually, submit to Congress a 

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1 proposed budget corresponding with carrying out this sec2 tion.’’. 

3 SEC. 105. TSUNAMI WARNING, EDUCATION, AND RESEARCH. 

4 The Tsunami Warning, Education, and Research Act 

5 of 2017 is amended— 

6 (1) in paragraph (5) of section 804(d) (33 

7 U.S.C. 3203(d))— 

8 (A) in subparagraph (D), by striking 

9 ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; 

10 (B) in subparagraph (E), by striking the 

11 period and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

12 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

13 subparagraph: 

14 ‘‘(F) align the analytic techniques and 

15 methodologies of the existing tsunami warning 

16 centers supported or maintained under para17 graph (1) to ensure seamless continuity of oper18 ations and mitigate risk of operational failure 

19 by prioritizing investments that include— 

20 ‘‘(i) replacing end of life equipment; 

21 ‘‘(ii) ensuring product consistency; 

22 ‘‘(iii) enabling consistent operational 

23 process for backup capabilities; 

24 ‘‘(iv) mitigating existing operational 

25 security risks; and 

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1 ‘‘(v) meeting information security re2 quirements specified in chapter 35 of title 

3 44, United States Code.’’; and 

4 (2) by amending section 809 (33 U.S.C. 3207) 

5 to read as follows: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 809. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

7 ‘‘From funds authorized to be appropriated to the 

8 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, there 

9 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this title 

10 $15,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2028.’’. 

11 SEC. 106. OBSERVING SYSTEM PLANNING. 

12 Section 106 of the Weather Research and Fore13 casting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8516) is 

14 amended— 

15 (1) in paragraph (3)— 

16 (A) by inserting ‘‘Federal’’ before ‘‘observ17 ing capabilities’’; and 

18 (B) by striking ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; 

19 (2) in paragraph (4)— 

20 (A) by inserting ‘‘, including private sector 

21 partnerships or commercial acquisition,’’ after 

22 ‘‘options’’; and 

23 (B) by striking the period and inserting a 

24 semicolon; and 

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1 (3) by adding at the end the following new 

2 paragraphs: 

3 ‘‘(5) compare costs and schedule, including 

4 cost-benefit analysis, of Federal and private sector 

5 supplemental options to fill the observation data re6 quirements under paragraph (1) and gaps identified 

7 pursuant to paragraph (3); and 

8 ‘‘(6) not later than one year after the date of 

9 the enactment of this paragraph, submit to Congress 

10 a report that provides an analysis of the technical, 

11 schedule, cost, and cost benefit analyses to place an 

12 operational polar-orbiting environmental satellite ca13 pability in the early morning orbit to support the 

14 weather enterprise and the Administration’s mis15 sion.’’. 

16 SEC. 107. OBSERVING SYSTEM SIMULATION EXPERIMENTS. 

17 Section 107 of the Weather Research and Fore18 casting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8517) is 

19 amended— 

20 (1) in subsection (b)(3), by striking ‘‘providing 

21 data’’ and inserting ‘‘comparison to current or ex22 perimental commercial system capabilities that pro23 vide data’’; 

24 (2) in subsection (c)(1), by striking ‘‘, including 

25 polar-orbiting and geostationary satellite systems,’’; 

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1 (3) by striking subsection (d); and 

2 (4) by redesignating subsection (e) as sub3 section (d). 

4 SEC. 108. COMPUTING RESOURCES PRIORITIZATION. 

5 Section 108 of the Weather Research and Fore6 casting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8518) is 

7 amended by striking subsection (a)(3)(C) and all that fol8 lows through subsection (b)(7) and inserting the following 

9 new subsections: 

10 ‘‘(b) COMPUTING RESEARCH INITIATIVE.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary, in 

12 collaboration with the Secretary of Energy, shall 

13 carry out an initiative, which may leverage Depart14 ment of Energy high performance computers, cloud 

15 computing, or expertise, to run advanced coupled 

16 models in order to conduct proof of concept sce17 narios in comparison with current issued forecasts 

18 and models. The Under Secretary and Secretary of 

19 Energy shall carry out the initiative through a com20 petitive, merit-reviewed process, and consider appli21 cations from Federal agencies, National Labora22 tories, institutions of higher education (as such term 

23 is defined in section 101 of the Higher Education 

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1 tions, and other appropriate entities (or a consortia 

2 thereof). 

3 ‘‘(2) COMPONENTS.—In carrying out the initia4 tive under paragraph (1), the Under Secretary shall 

5 prevent duplication and coordinate research efforts 

6 in artificial intelligence, high performance com7 puting, cloud computing, quantum computing, mod8 eling and simulation, machine learning, data assimi9 lation, large scale data analytics, and predictive 

10 analysis across the National Oceanic and Atmos11 pheric Administration, and may— 

12 ‘‘(A) conduct comparative research be13 tween National Weather Service issued fore14 casts and operational models to predictions and 

15 models developed to run on high performance 

16 computers or with cloud computing resources; 

17 ‘‘(B) share relevant modeling system and 

18 applications innovations developed through such 

19 initiative, including Unified Forecast System20 based applications, through community-based 

21 activities; 

22 ‘‘(C) leverage coordinating activities man23 aged by the National Science and Technology 

24 Council, the Interagency Council for Advancing 

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1 Meteorological Services, and other relevant 

2 interagency entities; 

3 ‘‘(D) provide sufficient capacity for long4 term archive and access of model output to sup5 port research and long-term study; 

6 ‘‘(E) determine computing decisions based 

7 on an agile requirements framework; and 

8 ‘‘(F) support the training, recruitment, 

9 and retention of the next generation weather, 

10 water, and climate computing workforce 

11 through incentives and pathways for career de12 velopment and employment opportunities. 

13 ‘‘(3) RESEARCH SECURITY.—The activities au14 thorized under this section shall be applied in a 

15 manner consistent with subtitle D of title VI of the 

16 Research and Development, Competition, and Inno17 vation Act (enacted as division B of Public Law 

18 117–167; 42 U.S.C. 19231 et seq.). 

19 ‘‘(4) TERMINATION.—The authority under this 

20 subsection shall terminate five years after the date 

21 of the enactment of this subsection. 

22 ‘‘(c) ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE INVESTMENTS.— 

23 The Under Secretary shall leverage artificial intelligence 

24 and machine learning technologies to facilitate, optimize, 

25 and further leverage advanced computing to accomplish 

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1 critical missions of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

2 Administration by enhancing existing and forthcoming 

3 high-performance and cloud computing infrastructure or 

4 systems. 

5 ‘‘(d) CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE.—The Under Sec6 retary may establish centers of excellence to aid the adop7 tion of next-generation artificial intelligence and machine 

8 learning enabled advanced computing capabilities. Each 

9 such center may carry out activities that include the fol10 lowing: 

11 ‘‘(1) Leveraging robust public-private partner12 ship models to provide access to training, experience, 

13 and long-term development of workforce and infra14 structure. 

15 ‘‘(2) Developing and optimizing tools, libraries, 

16 algorithms, data structures, and other supporting 

17 software necessary for specific applications on high 

18 performance computing systems. 

19 ‘‘(3) Applying modern artificial intelligence, 

20 deep machine-learning, and advanced data analysis 

21 technologies to address current and future mission 

22 challenges. 

23 ‘‘(4) To the maximum extent practicable, ex24 plore quantum computing and related application 

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1 ties to improve the accuracy and resolution of weath2 er predictions. 

3 ‘‘(e) MULTI-YEAR CONTRACTS.—The Under Sec4 retary may enter into multi-year contracts in accordance 

5 with section 3903 of title 41, United States Code, and 

6 shall ensure compliance with all clauses provided in such 

7 section to support operational research and development 

8 related to high performance and cloud computing infra9 structure or systems. 

10 ‘‘(f) REPORT.—Not later than two years after the 

11 date of the enactment of this subsection, the Under Sec12 retary shall submit to the Committee on Science, Space, 

13 and Technology of the House of Representatives and the 

14 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

15 and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of 

16 the Senate a report evaluating the following: 

17 ‘‘(1) The effectiveness of the initiative required 

18 under subsection (b), including applied research dis19 coveries and advanced modeling improvements 

20 achieved. 

21 ‘‘(2) A best estimate of the overall value of 

22 high-resolution probabilistic forecast guidance for 

23 hazardous weather or water events (as such term is 

24 defined in section 406) using a next-generation 

25 weather forecast and warning framework. 

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1 ‘‘(3) The needs for cloud computing, quantum 

2 computing, or high-performance computing, visual3 ization, and dissemination collaboration between the 

4 Department of Energy and the National Oceanic 

5 and Atmospheric Administration. 

6 ‘‘(4) A timeline and guidance for implementa7 tion of the following: 

8 ‘‘(A) High-resolution numerical weather 

9 prediction models. 

10 ‘‘(B) Methods for meeting the cloud com11 puting, quantum computing, or high-perform12 ance computing, visualization, and dissemina13 tion needs identified under paragraph (3).’’. 

14 SEC. 109. EARTH PREDICTION INNOVATION CENTER. 

15 Paragraph (5) of section 102(b) of the Weather Re16 search and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 

17 8512(b)) is amended— 

18 (1) in subparagraph (D), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

19 after the semicolon; and 

20 (2) by striking subparagraph (E) and inserting 

21 the following new subparagraphs: 

22 ‘‘(E) developing community weather re23 search modeling systems that— 

24 ‘‘(i) are accessible by the public in ac25 cordance with section 10601 of the James 

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1 M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization 

2 Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (15 U.S.C. 

3 8512a) and available for archive and long4 term study; 

5 ‘‘(ii) meet basic end-user requirements 

6 for running on public computers and net7 works located outside of secure National 

8 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

9 information and technology systems; 

10 ‘‘(iii) utilize, whenever appropriate 

11 and cost-effective, innovative strategies and 

12 methods, including cloud-based computing 

13 capabilities, for hosting and management 

14 of part or all of the system described in 

15 this subparagraph; 

16 ‘‘(iv) utilize modeling systems that 

17 allow for interoperability with new model 

18 components, modules, and next-generation 

19 software and coding languages; 

20 ‘‘(v) allow for open testing and inte21 gration of promising operational model im22 provements from the broader community; 

23 ‘‘(vi) access as close to a real-time 

24 basis as possible operational data and 

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1 chased data for use in Earth Prediction 

2 Innovation Center research and develop3 ment testing grounds pursuant to redis4 tribution restrictions, licensing agreements, 

5 and applicable existing laws and regula6 tions; and 

7 ‘‘(vii) provide supported and portable 

8 versions of the unified forecast system, in9 cluding applications for hurricane, space 

10 weather, ocean, cryosphere, air quality, 

11 and coastal models, that can reproduce 

12 current operational global and regional 

13 model prediction; and 

14 ‘‘(F) establishing a National Oceanic and 

15 Atmospheric Administration Data Lake, to be 

16 maintained by the Administration, a commercial 

17 partner, or non-profit entity, that consolidates 

18 and maintains a publicly available and continu19 ously updated collection of data and metadata 

20 used in numerical weather prediction for use in 

21 the Earth Prediction Innovation Center’s model 

22 testing, pursuant to redistribution restrictions, 

23 licensing agreements, and applicable existing 

24 laws and regulations.’’. 

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1 SEC. 110. SATELLITE ARCHITECTURE PLANNING. 

2 Section 301 of the Weather Research and Fore3 casting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8531) is 

4 amended— 

5 (1) in subsection (a), by striking paragraph (1) 

6 and redesignating paragraphs (2), (3), and (4) as 

7 paragraphs (1), (2), and (3), respectively; 

8 (2) by amending subsection (b) to read as fol9 lows: 

10 ‘‘(b) NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMIN11 ISTRATION SATELLITE SYSTEMS AND DATA.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall 

13 maintain a fleet of Administration space-based ob14 servation platforms that provide critical operations15 focused data and information to support the Na16 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 

17 mission to monitor the global environment in order 

18 to protect lives and property from extreme weather 

19 and other natural phenomena. 

20 ‘‘(2) COLLABORATION.—The Under Secretary 

21 shall implement recommendations from the NOAA 

22 Observing Systems Council to ensure an appropriate 

23 mix of government, academic, commercial sector, 

24 and international partnerships in the provision of 

25 data and information, including a broadened effort 

26 on data acquisition through the Commercial Data 

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1 Program under section 302 when cost effective and 

2 beneficial to the Administration. 

3 ‘‘(3) PRIORITY.—The Under Secretary shall en4 sure that Administration platforms maintained 

5 under paragraph (1) prioritize the development of 

6 products and services that are tailored to meet the 

7 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 

8 mission. 

9 ‘‘(4) NATIONAL CENTERS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL

10 INFORMATION.—The Under Secretary shall maintain 

11 the National Centers for Environmental Information 

12 to provide a long-term archive and access to the Ad13 ministration’s national and global data and 

14 metadata.’’; and 

15 (3) in subsection (f)(1), by striking ‘‘2023’’ and 

16 inserting ‘‘2030’’. 

17 SEC. 111. IMPROVING UNCREWED ACTIVITIES. 

18 Subparagraph (G) of section 102(b)(3) of the Weath19 er Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 

20 U.S.C. 8512(b)(3)) is amended by striking ‘‘, including 

21 commercial observing systems’’ and inserting ‘‘, including 

22 stationary and mobile commercial observing systems, such 

23 as uncrewed aircraft and marine systems, to provide ob24 servations of the atmosphere and ocean, and other obserVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:48 Oct 30, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00026 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6093.IH H6093
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1 vations, in cooperation with the Office of Marine and Avia2 tion Operations’’. 

3 SEC. 112. INTERAGENCY COUNCIL FOR ADVANCING METE4 OROLOGICAL SERVICES. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 402 of the Weather Re6 search and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 

7 8542) is amended— 

8 (1) in subsection (a)— 

9 (A) by striking ‘‘Advancing Weather Serv10 ices’’ and inserting ‘‘Advancing Meteorological 

11 Services (in this section referred to as the 

12 ‘Interagency Council’)’’; and 

13 (B) by striking ‘‘Committee’’ each place it 

14 appears and inserting ‘‘Council’’; 

15 (2) by amending subsections (b) and (c) to read 

16 as follows: 

17 ‘‘(b) CO-CHAIRS.—The Director of the Office of 

18 Science and Technology Policy and the Under Secretary 

19 shall serve as co-chairs of the Interagency Council. The 

20 Under Secretary shall serve as the Federal Coordinator 

21 for Meteorology. 

22 ‘‘(c) FURTHER COORDINATION.—The Director of the 

23 Office of Science and Technology Policy shall take such 

24 steps as are necessary to coordinate the activities of the 

25 Federal Government with stakeholders in the United 

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1 States weather industry, academic partners, State govern2 ments, and emergency managers, including by imple3 menting mechanisms to encourage and enable the partici4 pation of non-Federal employees in the functions of the 

5 Interagency Council.’’; 

6 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub7 sections: 

8 ‘‘(d) FUNCTIONS.—The Interagency Council shall be 

9 the formal mechanism by which all relevant Federal de10 partments and agencies coordinate implementation of pol11 icy and practices to ensure United States global leadership 

12 in meteorological services. In doing so, the Interagency 

13 Council shall review programs and support relevant weath14 er research and forecast innovation activities, as well as 

15 other related implementation activities, related to Federal 

16 meteorological services, including by carrying out the fol17 lowing: 

18 ‘‘(1) Identifying and helping prioritize meteoro19 logical research and service delivery needs, including 

20 relating to observations, operational systems, com21 munications, and infrastructure. 

22 ‘‘(2) Providing recommendations to streamline 

23 or consolidate activities and develop greater effi24 ciencies in cross-agency activities. 

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1 ‘‘(3) Leveraging Earth system science research 

2 outcomes of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

3 Administration, the National Aeronautics and Space 

4 Administration, and other relevant Federal depart5 ments and agencies, including research outcomes re6 lated to the relevant recommended key science and 

7 applications questions and priorities in the National 

8 Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s 

9 2018 report ‘Thriving on Our Changing Planet: A 

10 Decadal Strategy for Earth Observation from 

11 Space’, to understand and predict high-impact 

12 weather phenomena. 

13 ‘‘(4) Facilitating the expansion and strength14 ening of partnerships with private sector entities to 

15 advance meteorological research, communications, 

16 and computing in collaboration with the Earth sys17 tem science, service, and stakeholder communities. 

18 ‘‘(5) Sharing information regarding meteorolog19 ical research improvement needs and science oppor20 tunities across relevant Federal departments and 

21 agencies. 

22 ‘‘(6) Providing advice to all relevant Federal de23 partments and agencies regarding potential collabo24 rations and expected level of resources needed to 

25 maintain and operate the Interagency Council. 

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1 ‘‘(7) Enhancing communication and coordina2 tion and promoting sharing within relevant Federal 

3 departments and agencies and across the Inter4 agency Council. 

5 ‘‘(8) Developing, recruiting, and sustaining a 

6 professional and diverse workforce for meteorological 

7 research and services. 

8 ‘‘(e) DATA INVENTORY.—The Interagency Council, in 

9 coordination and avoidance of duplication with the United 

10 States Group on Earth Observations, shall promote data 

11 and metadata access and archive activities to increase ac12 cessibility, interoperability, and reusability by maintaining 

13 a data inventory of meteorological observations. Not less 

14 frequently than annually for a period of five years begin15 ning on the date of the enactment of this subsection, the 

16 Interagency Council shall solicit updated information from 

17 private sector entities identifying current and near future 

18 sources of such data. Such data shall be made available 

19 to member departments and agencies under subsection 

20 (a). 

21 ‘‘(f) COORDINATION OFFICE.—The Interagency Me22 teorological Coordination Office shall provide to the Inter23 agency Council such administrative and logistical support 

24 as the Interagency Council may require, as determined by 

25 the co-chairs. 

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1 ‘‘(g) COST SHARE.—Member departments and agen2 cies of the Interagency Council under subsection (a) may 

3 provide reimbursable financial support to the Interagency 

4 Meteorological Coordinating Office to enhance cost-shar5 ing and collaboration related to weather research and fore6 cast innovation activities. 

7 ‘‘(h) REPORT.—Not later than one year after the 

8 date of the enactment of this subsection and annually 

9 thereafter, the Interagency Council shall publish a report 

10 which identifies among member agencies the following: 

11 ‘‘(1) Federal programs that use meteorological 

12 observations, data sources, and capabilities. 

13 ‘‘(2) Federal programs that acquire such data 

14 from private sector entities. 

15 ‘‘(3) Advancements in meteorological data col16 lection, assimilation, and forecasting that could im17 prove Federal programmatic operational capabilities. 

18 ‘‘(4) Barriers to acquiring meteorological obser19 vations, data sources, and capabilities that could be 

20 used to better meet Federal programmatic needs.’’. 

21 (b) REFERENCES.—Any reference to the Interagency 

22 Committee for Advancing Weather Services in any law, 

23 rule, regulation, paper, record, map, or other such docu24 ment of the United States shall be deemed to be a refVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:48 Oct 30, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00031 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6093.IH H6093
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1 erence to the Interagency Council for Advancing Meteoro2 logical Services. 

3 SEC. 113. OCEAN OBSERVATIONS. 

4 Subsection (b) of section 12304 of the Integrated 

5 Coastal and Ocean Observation System Act of 2009 (33 

6 U.S.C. 3603) is amended by adding at the end the fol7 lowing new paragraph: 

8 ‘‘(5) SHIPS OF OPPORTUNITY PILOT PRO9 GRAM.— 

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator, in 

11 coordination with the heads of relevant Federal 

12 departments and agencies, shall, subject to rel13 evant regulations and certifications, establish a 

14 pilot program to contract with research or com15 mercial ship operators for data collection and 

16 assess the potential costs, benefits, and viability 

17 of a global network of ocean and atmospheric 

18 observing instruments operating on research or 

19 commercial ocean vessels, including in the Arc20 tic, in order to supplement the Integrated 

21 Coastal and Ocean Observation System in im22 proving understanding of coastal and ocean sys23 tems and their relationships to human activi24 ties. 

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1 ‘‘(B) STANDARDS AND SPECIFICATIONS.— 

2 The Administrator shall ensure that data ac3 quired through the pilot program established 

4 pursuant to subparagraph (A) meets the most 

5 recent standards and specifications required for 

6 observation services and data as published pur7 suant to subsection (c) of section 302 of the 

8 Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation 

9 Act of 2017. 

10 ‘‘(C) REPORT.—Not later than five years 

11 after the date of the enactment of this para12 graph, the Administrator, in consultation with 

13 the Secretary of Transportation, shall submit to 

14 Congress a report on the requirements for a 

15 global network of ocean and atmospheric instru16 ments operating on research or commercial 

17 ocean vessels for measurement and data trans18 mission. 

19 ‘‘(D) SUNSET.—This paragraph shall ter20 minate on the earlier of— 

21 ‘‘(i) September 30, 2029; or 

22 ‘‘(ii) one year after the date on which 

23 the report required under subparagraph 

24 (B) is submitted by the Administrator.’’. 

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1 SEC. 114. CONSOLIDATION OF REPORTS. 

2 (a) WEATHER RESEARCH AND FORECASTING INNO3 VATION ACT OF 2017.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Weather Research and 

5 Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 is amended— 

6 (A) in section 403 (15 U.S.C. 8543)— 

7 (i) in subsection (a), by inserting 

8 ‘‘the’’ after ‘‘Director of’’; and 

9 (ii) by striking subsection (d); and 

10 (B) by striking sections 408 through 411 

11 and section 414 and redesignating sections 412 

12 and 413 as sections 408 and 409, respectively. 

13 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.—The table of 

14 contents in section 1(b) of the Weather Research 

15 and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 is amended 

16 by striking the items relating to sections 408 

17 through 414 and inserting the following new items: 

‘‘Sec. 408. Weather enterprise outreach. 

‘‘Sec. 409. Hurricane hunter aircraft.’’. 

18 (b) NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMIN19 ISTRATION AUTHORIZATION ACT OF 1992.—Section 106 

20 of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

21 Authorization Act of 1992 (Public Law 102–567; 106 

22 Stat. 4274) is amended by striking subsection (c) (15 

23 U.S.C. 1537). 

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1 TITLE II—ENHANCING FEDERAL 

2 WEATHER FORECASTING AND 

3 INNOVATION 

4 SEC. 201. WEATHER INNOVATION FOR THE NEXT GENERA5 TION. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

7 date of the enactment of this Act, the Under Secretary 

8 shall establish a Research, Development, Test, and Eval9 uation Program (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Pro10 gram’’) to ensure the continued performance of weather 

11 radar capabilities, including systems currently being devel12 oped, with obstructions in the line of sight of such radar. 

13 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—In carrying out the Program, 

14 the Under Secretary, in consultation with the Interagency 

15 Council for Advancing Meteorological Services, shall— 

16 (1) partner with the private sector, academia, 

17 Federal, State, and local government entities, and 

18 any other entity the Under Secretary considers ap19 propriate; 

20 (2) identify, evaluate, and test existing or near21 commercial technologies and solutions that improve 

22 radar coverage and performance, including by miti23 gating the potential impact of obstructions on 

24 weather radar; 

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1 (3) to the maximum extent practicable, research 

2 additional solutions that could mitigate the effects of 

3 obstructions on weather radar, such as— 

4 (A) signal processing algorithms; 

5 (B) short-term forecasting algorithms to 

6 replace contaminated data; 

7 (C) the use of dual polarization character8 istics in mitigating the effects of wind turbines 

9 on weather radar; and 

10 (D) gap filling radars to provide supple11 mental or replacement observations in impacted 

12 areas; and 

13 (4) develop, support, or partner with developers 

14 to provide commercially viable technical mitigation 

15 solutions for obstructions to weather radar capabili16 ties that are compatible with the operational require17 ments of the weather radar systems. 

18 (c) PRIORITY.—In carrying out subsection (b), the 

19 Under Secretary shall prioritize consideration of the fol20 lowing technology-based mitigation solutions: 

21 (1) Phased array weather radar systems. 

22 (2) Supplementing or replacing contaminated 

23 data with commercial radar data. 

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1 (3) The utilization of data from private sector 

2 associated meteorological towers or similar capabili3 ties. 

4 (4) The display on local forecasting equipment 

5 of wind farm boundaries and consolidated wind farm 

6 areas. 

7 (5) The installation and provision of access to 

8 rain gauges. 

9 (6) Any other technology-based mitigation solu10 tion the Under Secretary determines could improve 

11 radar coverage by overcoming obstructions, beam 

12 blockage, or ghost echoes. 

13 (d) REPORT; RECOMMENDATION.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than two years 

15 after the date of the enactment of this section and 

16 annually thereafter until the Program terminates 

17 pursuant to subsection (e), the Under Secretary 

18 shall submit to Congress a report on the implemen19 tation of the Program, including an evaluation of 

20 each technology-based mitigation solution identified 

21 for priority consideration pursuant to subsection (c), 

22 and a recommendation regarding additional identi23 fication and testing of new technologies based on 

24 such consideration. 

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1 (2) FINAL RECOMMENDATION.—Not later than 

2 five years after the date of the enactment of this 

3 section, the Under Secretary shall provide to Con4 gress a recommendation on whether additional re5 search, testing, and development through the Pro6 gram established under subsection (a) is needed, and 

7 a determination of whether a cessation of field re8 search, testing, development and evaluation is appro9 priate. 

10 (e) TERMINATION.—The authority of the Under Sec11 retary to carry out the Program shall terminate on the 

12 earlier of— 

13 (1) September 30, 2029; or 

14 (2) one year after the date on which the final 

15 recommendation required under subsection (d)(2) is 

16 submitted by the Under Secretary. 

17 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

18 (1) BEAM BLOCKAGE.—The term ‘‘beam block19 age’’ means a signal that is partially or fully blocked 

20 due to an obstruction. 

21 (2) GHOST ECHO.—The term ‘‘ghost echo’’ 

22 means radar signal reflectivity or velocity return er23 rors in radar data due to the proximity of an ob24 struction. 

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1 (3) OBSTRUCTION.—The term ‘‘obstruction’’ in2 cludes the following: 

3 (A) a wind turbine that could limit the ef4 fectiveness of a weather radar system; 

5 (B) any building that disrupts or limits the 

6 effectiveness of a weather radar system; or 

7 (C) any other natural or human built 

8 structure that affects a weather radar system. 

9 SEC. 202. NEXT GENERATION RADAR. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall de11 velop a plan to replace the Next Generation Weather 

12 Radar of the National Weather Service (‘‘NEXRAD’’) 

13 system in existence as of the date of the enactment of this 

14 section. 

15 (b) PROCUREMENT DEADLINE.—The Under Sec16 retary shall take such actions as may be necessary to en17 sure the replacement described in subsection (a) is com18 pleted by not later than September 30, 2040. 

19 (c) ELEMENTS.—The plan developed pursuant to 

20 subsection (a) shall include the following: 

21 (1) Estimates of quantifiable improvements in 

22 radar performance and service delivery, including 

23 coverage and accuracy, to be made from replacement 

24 of the NEXRAD system referred to in such sub25 section. 

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1 (2) Development of a digital phased array radar 

2 test article designed to test and determine the speci3 fications and requirements for such replacement. 

4 (3) Establishment of a weather surveillance 

5 radar testbed for the following: 

6 (A) Evaluation of commercial radars with 

7 the potential to replace or supplement the 

8 NEXRAD system. 

9 (B) Providing technical assistance for com10 mercial replacement or supplemental radars, in11 cluding data void filling radars in regions where 

12 geographical topography prevents full utilization 

13 of conventional systems. 

14 (4) Consultation and input solicited from mete15 orologists, emergency managers, and public safety 

16 officials regarding the specifications and require17 ments for the replacement of the NEXRAD system 

18 referred in such subsection. 

19 (d) RADAR-AS-A-SERVICE.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—In order to supplement data 

21 voids in radar coverage in existence as of the date 

22 of the enactment of this section and ensure the con23 tinued performance of weather radar capabilities, 

24 the Under Secretary may utilize and contract with 

25 third party entities to fill such low-level and wideVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:48 Oct 30, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00040 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6093.IH H6093
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1 area radar data voids using diverse weather radars 

2 and data assimilation technologies to better detect 

3 significant precipitation and severe weather over a 

4 greater area across the population. 

5 (2) CONSIDERATIONS.—In carrying out the ac6 tivities under paragraph (1), the Under Secretary 

7 may consider— 

8 (A) utilizing and contracting with third9 party entities that have participated in the 

10 testbed established in accordance with sub11 section (c)(3); and 

12 (B) weather camera systems and services, 

13 including systems and services in consultation 

14 with the Federal Aviation Administration, as 

15 viable technologies to supplement weather fore16 casting and prediction needs. 

17 (e) UPDATES TO CONGRESS.—The Under Secretary 

18 shall provide to the Committee on Science, Space, and 

19 Technology of the House of Representatives and the Com20 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

21 Senate periodic updates on the implementation of this sec22 tion. 

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1 SEC. 203. DATA VOIDS IN HIGHLY VULNERABLE AREAS OF 

2 THE UNITED STATES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary, in coordi4 nation with the Director of the National Weather Service 

5 and the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Manage6 ment Agency, in consultation with the United States 

7 weather industry, academic partners, and in accordance 

8 with activities implemented through existing regional at9 mospheric, coastal, ocean, and Great Lakes observing sys10 tems, shall carry out activities to ensure equitable and 

11 comprehensive weather observation coverage and emer12 gency information sharing in the United States, including 

13 relating to the following: 

14 (1) Reviewing areas in the continental United 

15 States and the territories that are considered under16 observed, underserved, or highly vulnerable for 

17 weather phenomenon, including urban and offshore 

18 regions, and identifying associated challenges to pro19 viding such coverage. 

20 (2) Increasing weather observations and devel21 oping new weather observational capabilities, such as 

22 urban heat island mapping campaigns, with respect 

23 to under-observed, underserved, or highly vulnerable 

24 regions. 

25 (3) Establishing or supporting testbeds to de26 velop and integrate new weather, water, and climate 

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1 observation or emergency information sharing tools, 

2 such as next generational radars for weather obser3 vations, in under-observed, underserved, or highly 

4 vulnerable regions. 

5 (4) To the maximum extent practicable, ad6 vancing weather and water forecasting and climate 

7 modeling capabilities for under-observed, under8 served, or highly vulnerable regions. 

9 (5) Undertaking workforce development efforts 

10 for emergency management officials and meteorolo11 gists in under-observed, underserved, or highly vul12 nerable areas, including urban regions, of the United 

13 States. 

14 (6) Using data void filling observations to bet15 ter resolve extreme rainfall in complex topography. 

16 (7) Contributing to a national integrated heat 

17 health information systems. 

18 (b) PILOT PROGRAM.—In carrying out this section, 

19 the Under Secretary, acting through the Director of the 

20 National Weather Service and the Administrator of the 

21 Federal Emergency Management Agency, shall establish 

22 an interagency partnership to support pilot projects that 

23 accelerate coordination and use of localized weather, 

24 water, and climate data and impact-based communications 

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1 in infrastructure and emergency management decisions by 

2 Federal, State, and local officials. 

3 (c) PRIORITY.—At least one pilot project under sub4 section (b) shall address key science challenges to using 

5 mesonet data in local decision making and development 

6 of new tools and training for owners and operators of crit7 ical infrastructure (as such term is defined in section 

8 1016(e) of Public Law 107–56 (42 U.S.C. 5195c(e))), 

9 such as dams, energy generation and distribution facili10 ties, nuclear power plants, and transportation networks. 

11 SEC. 204. ATMOSPHERIC RIVERS FORECAST IMPROVEMENT 

12 PROGRAM. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary, in collabo14 ration with the United States weather industry and aca15 demic partners, shall establish an atmospheric river fore16 cast improvement program (in this section referred to as 

17 the ‘‘program’’). 

18 (b) GOAL.—The goal of the program shall be to re19 duce through the development and extension of accurate, 

20 effective, and actionable forecasts and warnings the loss 

21 of life or property from atmospheric rivers, including by— 

22 (1) establishing quantitative atmospheric river 

23 forecast skill metrics that include quantifying the 

24 benefits of dynamical modeling, data assimilation, 

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1 abilistic forecasts of landfall location, extreme wind 

2 and precipitation, and cascading impacts; 

3 (2) developing an atmospheric river forecast 

4 system within the unified forecast system, and ad5 vancing next-generation coupled modeling systems, 

6 with the capability of providing seasonal to short7 range atmospheric river forecasts that include fore8 cast of snow accumulation and other hydrologic com9 ponents; 

10 (3) advancing scientific understanding of the 

11 roles of atmospheric rivers in subseasonal to sea12 sonal precipitation and probabilistic predictions at 

13 subseasonal and seasonal scales; 

14 (4) developing tools and improved forecast 

15 products to predict periods of active or inactive at16 mospheric river landfalls and inland penetration over 

17 the western United States with a focus on address18 ing stakeholder and public needs related to per19 ceiving, comprehending, and responding to atmos20 pheric river forecast improvements; and 

21 (5) enhancing research transition to operations 

22 through the Administration’s testbeds, including the 

23 evaluation of physical and social science, technology, 

24 and other research to develop products and services 

25 for implementation and use by relevant stakeholders. 

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1 (c) INNOVATIVE OBSERVATIONS AND MODELING.— 

2 The Under Secretary shall ensure the program periodically 

3 examines, tests, and evaluates the value of incorporating 

4 innovative observations, such as novel sensor technologies, 

5 observation networks, soil moisture monitoring systems, 

6 reservoir storage data, observations from crewed or 

7 uncrewed systems, and hosted instruments on commercial 

8 aircrafts, vessels, and satellites, and data assimilation 

9 tools, with respect to the improvement of atmospheric 

10 river forecasts, predictions, and warnings. 

11 (d) PROGRAM PLAN.—Not later than 180 days after 

12 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Under Secretary 

13 shall develop a plan that details the specific research, de14 velopment, data acquisition, and technology transfer ac15 tivities, as well as corresponding resources, limitations, 

16 and timelines, necessary to achieve the goal of the pro17 gram under subsection (b). 

18 (e) ANNUAL BUDGET FOR PLAN SUBMITTAL.—After 

19 the development of the plan pursuant to subsection (d), 

20 the Under Secretary shall, not less frequently than annu21 ally, submit to Congress a proposed budget corresponding 

22 with the activities identified in such plan. 

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1 SEC. 205. COASTAL FLOODING AND STORM SURGE FORE2 CAST IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary, in collabo4 ration with the Integrated Ocean Observing System, the 

5 United States weather industry, and academic partners, 

6 shall establish a coastal flooding and storm surge forecast 

7 improvement program (in this section referred to as the 

8 ‘‘program’’). 

9 (b) GOAL.—The goal of the program shall be to re10 duce through the development and extension of accurate, 

11 effective, actionable, and probable forecasts and warnings 

12 the loss of life or property from coastal flooding, including 

13 high tide flooding, and storm surge events. 

14 (c) PRIORITY.—In implementing the program, the 

15 Under Secretary shall prioritize activities that carry out 

16 the following: 

17 (1) Improving understanding and capacity for 

18 real-time operational prediction of the ocean’s role in 

19 coastal flooding, including high tide flooding, and 

20 storm surge events. 

21 (2) Improving the capacity to mitigate or pre22 vent the impacts of coastal flooding, including high 

23 tide flooding, and storm surge events, including by 

24 improving the understanding and capacity of coastal 

25 communities to perceive, comprehend, and respond 

26 to forecast information. 

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1 (3) Incorporating data from in situ distributed 

2 sensors into models. 

3 (4) Developing probabilistic coastal flooding, in4 cluding high tide flooding, and storm surge esti5 mates to complement worst-case scenario estimates, 

6 including for use in long-term planning and risk 

7 management by States, Tribal governments, local8 ities, and emergency managers in coordination with 

9 the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as ap10 propriate. 

11 (5) Establishing skill metrics for coastal inun12 dation forecasting that quantify the benefits of dy13 namical modeling, data assimilation, and machine 

14 learning improvements in the probabilistic forecast 

15 of coastal flooding, including high tide flooding, and 

16 storm surge risk and impacts. 

17 (6) Improving operational regional storm surge 

18 and wave prediction models to enhance probabilistic 

19 guidance and messaging. 

20 (d) INNOVATIVE OBSERVATIONS AND MODELING.— 

21 The Under Secretary shall ensure the program periodically 

22 examines, tests, and evaluates the value of incorporating 

23 enhanced model physics, hybrid dynamical or machine 

24 learning based prediction systems, and innovative observa25 tions, such as novel sensor technologies, observation netVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:48 Oct 30, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00048 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6093.IH H6093
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1 works, crewed or uncrewed systems, and hosted instru2 ments on commercial aircrafts, vessels, and satellites, with 

3 respect to the improvement of coastal flooding, including 

4 high tide flooding, and storm surge forecasts, predictions, 

5 and warnings. 

6 (e) PROGRAM PLAN.—Not later than 180 days after 

7 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Under Secretary 

8 shall develop a plan that details the specific research, de9 velopment, data acquisition, and technology transfer ac10 tivities, as well as corresponding resources and timelines, 

11 necessary to achieve the goal of the program under sub12 section (b). 

13 (f) ANNUAL BUDGET FOR PLAN SUBMITTAL.—After 

14 the development of the plan pursuant to subsection (e), 

15 the Under Secretary shall, not less frequently than annu16 ally, submit to Congress a proposed budget corresponding 

17 with the activities identified in such plan. 

18 SEC. 206. AVIATION WEATHER AND DATA INNOVATION. 

19 (a) PROGRAM.—The Under Secretary shall maintain 

20 an airborne observation program (in this section referred 

21 to as the ‘‘program’’) for the acquisition of atmospheric 

22 sensor data and the deployment of critical atmospheric 

23 sensors, including in partnership with the weather enter24 prise. 

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1 (b) ACTIVITIES.—The program shall include activi2 ties that carry out the following: 

3 (1) Procurement of weather data available from 

4 commercial aircraft, as determined by the Under 

5 Secretary. 

6 (2) Acquisition of additional vertical profile ob7 servations that provide spatial and temporal density, 

8 as determined by the Under Secretary. 

9 (3) Analysis of procured data when incor10 porated into the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

11 Administration’s unified forecast system in order to 

12 provide improved forecast information for aircraft. 

13 (c) BUDGET.—The Under Secretary shall, not less 

14 frequently than annually, submit to Congress a proposed 

15 budget corresponding with the activities described in sub16 section (b), including and analysis of activities that can 

17 be complemented by National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

18 Administration aircraft. 

19 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—From 

20 amounts made available to the Commercial Data Program 

21 under section 302 of the Weather Research and Fore22 casting Innovation Act of 2017, there is authorized to be 

23 appropriated up to $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 

24 2024 through 2028 to carry out the program. 

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1 (e) AVIATION WEATHER AND TURBULENCE FORE2 CASTING.—The Director of the National Weather Service 

3 shall include turbulence events, icing conditions, or other 

4 phenomena in the forecasting capabilities of the National 

5 Weather Service’s Aviation Weather Center, and deliver 

6 operational forecasts with consistent, timely, and accurate 

7 weather and turbulence information for the airspace sys8 tem and the protection of lives and property. 

9 (f) COORDINATION.—In carrying out subsection (e), 

10 the Director of the National Weather Service shall give 

11 consideration to recommendations from the Administrator 

12 of the Federal Aviation Administration in furtherance of 

13 section 44720 of title 49, United States Code, and improve 

14 weather and turbulence forecasting capabilities by— 

15 (1) designating or establishing within the Fed16 eral Government an interagency working group to 

17 determine weather and environmental data or obser18 vation requirements, needs, and potential solutions 

19 related to aviation weather and turbulence modeling 

20 or forecasting; 

21 (2) identifying current and future potential 

22 data gaps related to turbulence events or phenomena 

23 that can— 

24 (A) identify or inform route specific flight 

25 planning; and 

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1 (B) be supplemented or filled by commer2 cial aviation tools; 

3 (3) transitioning research initiatives and pilot 

4 programs, including a pilot program of instrumenta5 tion for observing greenhouse gases and other at6 mospheric factors deployed on commercial aircraft 

7 and supporting the evaluation of a sustained observ8 ing network using such platforms, into operations 

9 that improve the forecasting missions of the Aviation 

10 Weather Center; 

11 (4) developing and deploying improved prob12 abilistic aviation weather forecast guidance tech13 nology; and 

14 (5) updating interagency agreements as appro15 priate, including to address reimbursable agree16 ments. 

17 (g) NEXT GENERATION AVIATION RESEARCH.— 

18 Paragraph (3) of section 102(b) of the Weather Research 

19 and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 

20 8512(b)), is amended— 

21 (1) by redesignating subparagraphs (F) and 

22 (G) as subparagraphs (G) and (H), respectively; and 

23 (2) by inserting after subparagraph (E) the fol24 lowing new subparagraph: 

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1 ‘‘(F) aviation weather phenomena, includ2 ing atmospheric composition and turbulence, to 

3 improve scientific understanding and forecast 

4 capabilities for the airspace system;’’. 

5 SEC. 207. NESDIS JOINT VENTURE PARTNERSHIP TRANSI6 TION PROGRAM. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Assistant Administrator of 

8 the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Informa9 tion Service, in consultation with the Administrator of the 

10 National Aeronautics and Space Administration, shall ad11 minister broad agency announcements and other trans12 actional authority or contracting mechanisms, on an an13 nual or more frequent basis, to support a joint venture 

14 partnership program that allows the Service to prioritize 

15 engagement with the private sector, academia, and other 

16 Federal departments and agencies. 

17 (b) TRANSITION PROGRAM.—To support the develop18 ment of next-generation technologies, missions, data sys19 tems, spacecraft, and instrument design, the Assistant Ad20 ministrator of the National Environmental Satellite, Data, 

21 and Information Service, in consultation with the Admin22 istrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Adminis23 tration, shall maintain a program to transition selected 

24 awards from research and study phases into demonstra25 tion. In selecting awardees for demonstrations, the AssistVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:48 Oct 30, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00053 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6093.IH H6093
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1 ant Administrator shall consider technologies, missions, 

2 data systems, spacecraft, and instrument design that— 

3 (1) improve upon the National Oceanic and At4 mospheric Administration’s satellite architecture; 

5 (2) have a direct impact on implementing the 

6 recommendations of the Administration’s 2018 Sat7 ellite Observing System Architecture Study, ‘‘Build8 ing a Plan for NOAA’s 21st Century Satellite Ob9 serving System’’; and 

10 (3) meet current or future mission require11 ments. 

12 (c) OPERATIONAL PLANNING.—In carrying out the 

13 transition program under subsection (b), the Assistant 

14 Administrator of the National Environmental Satellite, 

15 Data, and Information Service shall monitor demonstra16 tion phase progress and plan for promising results that 

17 meet mission requirements to be transitioned into Na18 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s oper19 ational satellite architecture. 

20 (d) ANNUAL PLAN.—The Assistant Administrator of 

21 the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Informa22 tion Service shall submit to the Committee on Science, 

23 Space, and Technology, and the Committee on Commerce, 

24 Science, and Transportation an annual plan that outlines 

25 the progress made in the joint venture partnership proVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:48 Oct 30, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00054 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6093.IH H6093
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1 gram under subsection (a), the transition program for 

2 demonstrations under section (b), and transition to oper3 ational architecture planning under subsection (c). 

4 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—From 

5 amounts authorized to be appropriated to the National 

6 Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, 

7 there is authorized to be appropriated $20,000,000 for fis8 cal years 2024 through 2028 to carry out to this section. 

9 SEC. 208. ADVANCED WEATHER INTERACTIVE PROCESSING 

10 SYSTEM. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary, acting 

12 through the Director of the National Weather Service, 

13 shall develop a strategy to transition operations of the Ad14 vanced Weather Interactive Processing System to an oper15 ational cloud-based environment in order to enable a more 

16 nimble, flexible, and mobile workforce. 

17 (b) SERVICES.—The Under Secretary shall ensure 

18 that the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System 

19 in an operational cloud-based environment referred to in 

20 subsection (a) provides impact-based decision support 

21 services to emergency managers at the Federal, State, 

22 local, and Tribal levels, and continues to provide the fol23 lowing services: 

24 (1) Integrating and displaying forecast data, in25 cluding meteorological, hydrological, climate, ocean, 

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1 satellite, and radar data, for National Weather Serv2 ice field offices and national centers. 

3 (2) Acquiring and processing observational data 

4 from sensors and local sources. 

5 (3) Providing an interactive communications 

6 system, including the satellite broadcast network, to 

7 connect relevant National Weather Service employ8 ees and sites. 

9 (4) Initiating the dissemination of weather, 

10 water, marine, ecological, climate, aviation, and 

11 space warnings and forecasts in a rapid and highly 

12 reliable manner. 

13 (c) ELEMENTS.—The transition strategy developed 

14 pursuant to subsection (a) may include the following: 

15 (1) Establishment or support of testbeds, pilot 

16 projects, and functional testing activities to facilitate 

17 remote evaluation and automated testing. 

18 (2) Coordinated training efforts needed for 

19 Federal and non-Federal users and operators of the 

20 Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System in 

21 an operational cloud-based environment referred to 

22 in subsection (a). 

23 (3) Evaluation of bandwidth requirements to 

24 achieve a quality user experience. 

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1 (4) Installation of circuits to reduce lapses in 

2 network operations and support backup functions. 

3 (5) Establishment of a cloud-based, remotely 

4 accessible repository for data referred to in sub5 section (b)(2). 

6 (6) Development and deployment of virtualized 

7 systems to replace physical hardware at operational 

8 sites. 

9 (7) Evaluation of commercial cloud providers, 

10 including hybrid approaches, to meet mission needs. 

11 (8) Development, testing, demonstration, eval12 uation, and operationalization of forecast and warn13 ing products, consistent with the mission and sci14 entific expertise of the Administration. 

15 (d) TRANSITION DEADLINE.—The Under Secretary 

16 shall take such actions as may be necessary to ensure the 

17 transition strategy described in subsection (a) is completed 

18 by not later than September 30, 2030. 

19 (e) UPDATES TO CONGRESS.—The Under Secretary 

20 shall submit to the Committee on Science, Space, and 

21 Technology of the House of Representatives and the Com22 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

23 Senate periodic updates on the implementation of this sec24 tion. 

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1 (f) CONTINUED INNOVATION.—Nothing in this sec2 tion may be construed as prohibiting the development of 

3 new forecast capabilities, sub-systems, or implementing 

4 modeling advancements on the operational computing sys5 tems of the Administration. 

6 TITLE III—COMMERCIAL WEATH7 ER AND ENVIRONMENTAL OB8 SERVATIONS 

9 SEC. 301. COMMERCIAL DATA PROGRAM. 

10 The Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation 

11 Act of 2017 is amended by striking section 302 (15 U.S.C. 

12 8532) and inserting the following new section: 

13 ‘‘SEC. 302. COMMERCIAL DATA PROGRAM. 

14 ‘‘(a) PROGRAM ESTABLISHMENT.—The Under Sec15 retary, in coordination with the heads of appropriate of16 fices of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis17 tration, shall maintain a Commercial Data Program to ob18 tain weather and environmental data and services from 

19 private sector entities for operational use. 

20 ‘‘(b) PROGRAM ELEMENTS.—The Under Secretary 

21 shall acquire satellite, ground-based, airborne, or marine22 based in situ, remote sensing, or crowd-sourced data and 

23 services for operational use relating to weather and envi24 ronmental forecasting and modeling. The Under Secretary 

25 shall ensure the Commercial Data Program coordinates, 

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1 collaborates, and shares data purchases and data needs 

2 across the Administration, including among the following: 

3 ‘‘(1) The National Mesonet Program. 

4 ‘‘(2) The Aircraft Based Observation Program. 

5 ‘‘(3) The U.S. Integrated Ocean Observation 

6 Program, including existing regional associations. 

7 ‘‘(4) The National Integrated Drought Informa8 tion System, including the National Coordinated Soil 

9 Moisture Monitoring Network. 

10 ‘‘(5) The Global Ocean Monitoring and Observ11 ing Program. 

12 ‘‘(6) The National Data Buoy Center. 

13 ‘‘(7) The Uncrewed Systems Operation Center. 

14 ‘‘(8) The Ocean Exploration Program. 

15 ‘‘(9) Any other program or office the Under 

16 Secretary determines appropriate. 

17 ‘‘(c) STANDARDS AND SPECIFICATIONS.—Not later 

18 than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this sec19 tion and on a continuous basis thereafter, the Under Sec20 retary shall publish data, metadata, and service standards 

21 and specifications required for acquired observation serv22 ices and data for use, licensing, and attribution to ensure 

23 quality, impact, and compatibility of such services and 

24 data with National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministraVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:48 Oct 30, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00059 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6093.IH H6093
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1 tion modeling capabilities, meteorological situational 

2 awareness, and forecasting. 

3 ‘‘(d) PRIORITIZATION.—The Under Secretary shall 

4 prioritize obtaining surface-based, airborne-based, space5 based, and coastal- and ocean-based data, metadata, and 

6 services for operational use that participate in the Com7 mercial Data Pilot Program of the National Oceanic and 

8 Atmospheric Administration. 

9 ‘‘(e) OBSERVING SYSTEMS COUNCIL.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall 

11 maintain the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad12 ministration Observing Systems Council (in this sub13 section referred to as the ‘Council’) to provide stra14 tegic recommendations, guidance, and consent re15 garding the prioritization, design, development, ac16 quisition, upgrading, lifecycle, performance moni17 toring, and retiring of major observing systems port18 folio components, including related to the acquisition 

19 of commercial weather and environmental data and 

20 services. 

21 ‘‘(2) LINE OFFICE COORDINATION.—All line of22 fices and programs of the National Oceanic and At23 mospheric Administration engaged in observing sys24 tems portfolio design, technology, development, exe25 cution, and operation shall seek guidance and conVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:48 Oct 30, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00060 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6093.IH H6093
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1 sent from the Council to ensure coordination and ad2 herence to uniform policies. 

3 ‘‘(3) DATA GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE.—The 

4 Under Secretary shall maintain a Data Governance 

5 Committee within the Council. The Committee shall 

6 develop and approve procedural directives, guides, or 

7 handbooks relevant to management of data and in8 formation, including commercial data, and coordi9 nate data governance and management practices 

10 across the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad11 ministration to promote consistent processes. 

12 ‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be 

14 appropriated $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 

15 2024 through 2028 to carry out this section. 

16 ‘‘(2) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 

17 Congress that the Under Secretary should seek to 

18 enter into contracts or other appropriate agreements 

19 that enable the expenditure, to the maximum extent 

20 practicable, of amounts authorized to be appro21 priated or otherwise made available in a fiscal year 

22 to carry out this section. 

23 ‘‘(g) DATA AND HOSTED PAYLOADS.—Notwith24 standing any other provision of law, the Secretary of Com25 merce may enter into agreements relating to the following: 

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1 ‘‘(1) The purchase of weather and environ2 mental data and services through contracts with 

3 commercial data and service providers. 

4 ‘‘(2) The placement of weather instruments on 

5 co-hosted Federal, international, or private space, 

6 airborne, maritime, or ground platforms. 

7 ‘‘(h) OMBUDSMAN.—The Under Secretary shall es8 tablish or designate at least one Ombudsman position 

9 within the Office of Research, Transition, and Applica10 tions to implement the recommendations of the Observing 

11 System Council under subsection (e) related to commercial 

12 weather and environmental data and services acquisitions. 

13 Such an Ombudsman shall act as the liaison between com14 mercial data and service providers and the National Oce15 anic and Atmospheric Administration with respect to re16 ceiving recommendations and resolving issues related to 

17 engagement, testing, contracting, or other areas related 

18 to the Administration’s efforts to acquire commercial 

19 weather and environmental data and services. 

20 ‘‘(i) REPORT.—Not later than two years after the 

21 date of the enactment of this section, the Under Secretary 

22 shall submit to the Committee on Science, Space, and 

23 Technology of the House of Representatives and the Com24 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 

25 Senate a report evaluating the activities and needed auVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:48 Oct 30, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00062 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6093.IH H6093
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1 thorities related to data governance and management 

2 practices, including acquisition, collection, documentation, 

3 quality control, validation, reprocessing, storage, retrieval, 

4 dissemination, and long-term preservation activities across 

5 all National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration line, 

6 staff, and corporate offices.’’. 

7 SEC. 302. COMMERCIAL DATA PILOT PROGRAM. 

8 The Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation 

9 Act of 2017 is amended by striking section 303 (15 U.S.C. 

10 8533) and inserting the following new section: 

11 ‘‘SEC. 303. COMMERCIAL DATA PILOT PROGRAM. 

12 ‘‘(a) PROGRAM ESTABLISHMENT.—Within the Com13 mercial Data Program under section 302, there shall be 

14 a Commercial Data Pilot Program to engage with external 

15 partners and providers to test and develop shared stand16 ards and methodologies for quality, use, licensing, and at17 tribution of observation services and data, and to ensure 

18 quality, impact, and compatibility of such services and 

19 data with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra20 tion modeling capabilities, meteorological situational 

21 awareness, and forecasting. The Program is authorized to 

22 test and evaluate all sources and types of observation serv23 ices, imagery, products, and data from private sector enti24 ties, including new and innovative surface-based, airborneVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:48 Oct 30, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00063 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6093.IH H6093
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1 based, space-based, and coastal- and ocean-based data, 

2 metadata, and model components. 

3 ‘‘(b) CRITERIA.—The Under Secretary shall ensure 

4 that data acquired through the Commercial Data Pilot 

5 Program described in subsection (a) meets the most recent 

6 standards and specifications required for observation serv7 ices and data as published pursuant to section 302(c). 

8 ‘‘(c) PILOT CONTRACTS.—The Under Secretary shall, 

9 through an open competition, regularly enter into pilot 

10 contracts with private sector entities capable of providing 

11 observation services and data referred to in subsection (a) 

12 that meet the standards and specifications published pur13 suant to section 302(c) for so providing such services and 

14 data in a manner that allows the Under Secretary to cali15 brate and evaluate such services and data for use in Na16 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration activities. 

17 ‘‘(d) ASSESSMENT OF VIABILITY.—The Under Sec18 retary shall annually assess and submit to the Committee 

19 on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate 

20 and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of 

21 the House of Representatives a summary of the pilot con22 tracts entered into pursuant to subsection (c), the extent 

23 to which such contracts meet the standards and specifica24 tions published pursuant to section 302(c), and any addiVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:48 Oct 30, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00064 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6093.IH H6093
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1 tional information determined necessary related to the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(1) The viability of assimilating observation 

4 services and data from private sector entities into 

5 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

6 forecasts and models. 

7 ‘‘(2) The expected value added or improvements 

8 from such services and data so assimilated into Na9 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fore10 casts and models. 

11 ‘‘(3) The accuracy, quality, timeliness, validity, 

12 reliability, usability, information technology security, 

13 and cost-effectiveness of obtaining observation serv14 ices and data from private sector entities. 

15 ‘‘(4) Steps to integrate within one year such 

16 services and data into operational use by the Na17 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or 

18 any associated challenges in doing so. 

19 ‘‘(e) OBTAINING FUTURE DATA.—If an assessment 

20 under subsection (d) demonstrates the ability of commer21 cial services and data to meet the standards and specifica22 tions published pursuant to section 302(c), the Under Sec23 retary shall— 

24 ‘‘(1) when cost-effective and feasible, obtain ob25 servation services and data from private sector entiVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:48 Oct 30, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00065 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6093.IH H6093
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1 ties through the Commercial Data Program under 

2 section 302; 

3 ‘‘(2) as early as possible in the acquisition proc4 ess for any future National Oceanic and Atmos5 pheric Administration satellite system, determine 

6 whether there is a suitable, cost-effective, commer7 cial capability available or that will be available to 

8 meet applicable instrument, spacecraft, or system re9 quirements before completion of the critical design 

10 phase of such planned satellite system; 

11 ‘‘(3) if a suitable, cost-effective, commercial ca12 pability is or will be available as described in para13 graph (2), determine whether and how such capa14 bility is in the national interest if developed as a 

15 solely governmental system; and 

16 ‘‘(4) submit to the Committee on Commerce, 

17 Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the 

18 Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the 

19 House of Representatives a report detailing any de20 terminations made under paragraphs (2) and (3). 

21 ‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—From 

22 amounts authorized to be appropriated pursuant to sec23 tion 302 to carry out such section, not less than 15 per24 cent of such amounts each fiscal year are authorized to 

25 be appropriated to carry out this section.’’. 

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1 SEC. 303. CONTRACTING AUTHORITY AND AVOIDANCE OF 

2 DUPLICATION. 

3 Title III of the Weather Research and Forecasting 

4 Innovation Act of 2017 is amended by adding at the end 

5 the following new section: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 304. CONTRACTING AUTHORITY AND AVOIDANCE OF 

7 DUPLICATION. 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Consistent with other Federal 

9 agencies that contract and partner with private sector en10 tities, the Under Secretary is authorized to use con11 tracting mechanisms and enter into agreements that uti12 lize multiyear contract options. In carrying out sections 

13 302 and 303, the Under Secretary shall, to the greatest 

14 extent possible— 

15 ‘‘(1) enter into year-long or multiyear contract 

16 options using contracting mechanisms that foster re17 siliency of datatypes purchased; 

18 ‘‘(2) partner and contract with multiple obser19 vation service and data providers simultaneously to 

20 reduce risks of data gaps and improve mission 

21 robustness; and 

22 ‘‘(3) utilize authorities, such as additional 

23 forms of transaction agreements under section 301, 

24 that allow for innovative partnerships with private 

25 sector entities. 

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1 ‘‘(b) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—Nothing in this title may be 

2 construed as infringing on the acquisition authority or 

3 strategy of Federal entities authorized under title 10, 

4 United States Code. 

5 ‘‘(c) UNNECESSARY DUPLICATION.—In meeting the 

6 requirements under this title, the Under Secretary shall 

7 avoid unnecessary duplication between the National Oce8 anic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Aero9 nautics and Space Administration, other Federal depart10 ments and agencies, and private sector entities, including 

11 relating to corresponding expenditures of funds and em12 ployment of personnel by— 

13 ‘‘(1) coordinating existing activities with other 

14 civilian Federal departments and agencies which 

15 provide, contract, or partner with private sector enti16 ties to acquire, weather and environmental observa17 tions and data; and 

18 ‘‘(2) coordinating and soliciting weather and en19 vironmental observations and data requirements and 

20 needs from other civilian Federal departments and 

21 agencies to be acquired by the Commercial Data 

22 Program under section 302. 

23 ‘‘(d) FAIR COMPENSATION FOR INTERAGENCY

24 NEEDS.—The Under Secretary, to the maximum extent 

25 practicable, shall ensure that Federal departments and 

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1 agencies utilizing services and data under sections 302 

2 and 303 fairly compensate the National Oceanic and At3 mospheric Administration, or the non-Federal entities pro4 viding such services or data, as appropriate, for use.’’. 

5 SEC. 304. DATA ASSIMILATION, MANAGEMENT, AND SHAR6 ING PRACTICES. 

7 Title III of the Weather Research and Forecasting 

8 Innovation Act of 2017, as amended by section 303 of this 

9 Act, is further amended by adding at the end the following 

10 new section: 

11 ‘‘SEC. 305. DATA ASSIMILATION, MANAGEMENT, AND SHAR12 ING PRACTICES. 

13 ‘‘(a) DATA STANDARDS.—The Under Secretary, in 

14 collaboration with the weather enterprise, shall seek to es15 tablish consistent and open data and metadata standards 

16 to support open science, including simple cloud-optimized 

17 data formats and application programming interfaces that 

18 support findability, accessibility, usability, and 

19 preservability. 

20 ‘‘(b) DATA INFRASTRUCTURE.— 

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary, in 

22 consultation with the Chief Information Officer and 

23 appropriate program heads, shall consolidate and ar24 range data infrastructure needs to ensure efficient 

25 and effective data transfer between National Oceanic 

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1 and Atmospheric Administration offices by consid2 ering the use of commercial cloud technologies, or 

3 similar hybrid structures, to host and transmit data 

4 and metadata. 

5 ‘‘(2) FEDERAL PARTNERSHIPS.—In carrying 

6 out paragraph (1), the Under Secretary may partner 

7 with the heads of other Federal departments and 

8 agencies, including the National Aeronautics and 

9 Space Administration, the Department of Energy, 

10 the United States Space Force, the United States 

11 Coast Guard, the United States Navy, the Federal 

12 Aviation Administration, the United States Forest 

13 Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, the 

14 National Science Foundation, and the United States 

15 Geological Survey, to collocate data with joint utility 

16 and support a transition to cloud architectures, in17 cluding commercial cloud networks. 

18 ‘‘(3) LONG TERM DATA ARCHIVE.—The Under 

19 Secretary shall ensure the long-term management, 

20 maintenance, and stewardship of archival data and 

21 metadata acquired through the Commercial Data 

22 Program under section 302 is conducted within the 

23 National Centers for Environmental Information. 

24 ‘‘(c) DATA SHARING WITH THE WEATHER ENTER25 PRISE.—To the greatest extent practicable, the Under 

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1 Secretary shall make accessible to members of the weather 

2 enterprise that are United States persons data not subject 

3 to redistribution contract permissions and purchased 

4 through the Commercial Data Program under section 302 

5 or shared through international government partners. If 

6 purchased data must be assimilated into numerical weath7 er prediction models or automated forecast guidance to 

8 satisfy redistribution contract permissions, the Under Sec9 retary shall make accessible without delay to members of 

10 the weather enterprise that are United States persons the 

11 numerical weather prediction model or automated forecast 

12 guidance output, as the case may be. 

13 ‘‘(d) DATA ASSIMILATION.— 

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary, in 

15 coordination with the Commercial Data Program 

16 under section 302, the National Centers for Envi17 ronmental Information, and any other offices within 

18 the Administration, shall establish a program to 

19 test, advance, and implement data assimilation 

20 methods, which may include artificial intelligence, 

21 machine learning, data pre- and post-processing, ef22 ficient input and output, and next-generation algo23 rithms. 

24 ‘‘(2) DATA ASSIMILATION UNIVERSITY CONSOR25 TIUM.—Through the program established pursuant 

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1 to paragraph (1), the Under Secretary shall estab2 lish a consortium consisting of institutions of higher 

3 education (as such term is defined in section 101 of 

4 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

5 1001)) to address critical research challenges for 

6 data assimilation and foster a growing data assimi7 lation workforce. The consortium shall seek to— 

8 ‘‘(A) solve critical research issues for data 

9 assimilation through innovative research; 

10 ‘‘(B) increase significantly the number of 

11 students, including graduate level and Ph.D. 

12 candidates, in data assimilation; 

13 ‘‘(C) utilize modern software and frame14 works, such as the Joint Effort for Data As15 similation Integration, to conduct data assimila16 tion research and development and facilitate re17 search to operations efforts; 

18 ‘‘(D) identify and prioritize critical re19 search areas in data assimilation and facilitate 

20 operations to research efforts; 

21 ‘‘(E) establish and enable an effective col22 laboration infrastructure between National Oce23 anic and Atmospheric Administration facilities, 

24 such as labs, centers, or joint agency institutes, 

25 and the research community, including a mechVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:48 Oct 30, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00072 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6093.IH H6093
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1 anism for external partners to host Administra2 tion employees; and 

3 ‘‘(F) establish mechanisms to enable all 

4 members of the consortium to archive and ac5 cess data required to support the work under 

6 this subsection. 

7 ‘‘(3) COORDINATION.—In carrying out this sub8 section, the Under Secretary shall ensure the Na9 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and 

10 its associated activities focus on research to oper11 ations and operations to research, including by co12 ordinating and collaborating with the Joint Center 

13 for Satellite Data Assimilation. 

14 ‘‘(e) STUDY ON DATA MANAGEMENT.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days 

16 after the data of the enactment of this section, the 

17 Under Secretary shall seek to enter into an agree18 ment with a non-Federal entity to conduct a study 

19 on matters concerning data practices and manage20 ment needs at the National Oceanic and Atmos21 pheric Administration. In conducting the study, the 

22 outside entity shall— 

23 ‘‘(A) assess the costs and benefits of cur24 rent data management needs for observational 

25 and operational mission requirements; 

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1 ‘‘(B) develop recommendations regarding 

2 how to make more robust and cost-effective the 

3 data portfolio of the Administration; 

4 ‘‘(C) identify data infrastructure tech5 nologies and needs that are essential to the per6 formance of modeling systems of the Adminis7 tration; 

8 ‘‘(D) assess the sharing needs and prac9 tices of the Administration for both internal 

10 and external sharing dissemination; and 

11 ‘‘(E) develop recommendations for methods 

12 of data infrastructure sharing, including data 

13 purchased from the commercial sector. 

14 ‘‘(2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

15 From amounts authorized to be appropriated to the 

16 Commercial Data Program under section 302, there 

17 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out the 

18 study under paragraph (1) $1,000,000, to remain 

19 available until expended.’’. 

20 SEC. 305. CLERICAL AMENDMENT. 

21 The table of contents in section 1(b) of the Weather 

22 Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 is 

23 amended by striking the items relating to sections 302 and 

24 303 and inserting the following new items: 

‘‘Sec. 302. Commercial Data Program. 

‘‘Sec. 303. Commercial Data Pilot Program. 

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‘‘Sec. 304. Contracting authority and avoidance of duplication. 

‘‘Sec. 305. Data assimilation, management, and sharing practices.’’. 

1 TITLE IV—COMMUNICATING 

2 WEATHER TO THE PUBLIC 

3 SEC. 401. DEFINITIONS. 

4 In this title: 

5 (1) HAZARDOUS WEATHER OR WATER

6 EVENTS.—The term ‘‘hazardous weather or water 

7 events’’ has the meaning given such term in section 

8 406 of the Weather Research and Forecasting Inno9 vation Act of 2017 (Public Law 115–25; 131 Stat. 

10 109), as amended by section 402 of this Act. 

11 (2) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 

12 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 

13 meaning given such term in section 101 of the High14 er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001). 

15 (3) NOAA WEATHER RADIO.—The term 

16 ‘‘NOAA Weather Radio’’ means the National Oce17 anic and Atmospheric Administration Weather Radio 

18 All Hazards network. 

19 (4) PUBLIC CLOUD.—The term ‘‘public cloud’’ 

20 means an information technology model in which 

21 service providers make computing services, including 

22 compute and storage and develop-and-deploy envi23 ronments and applications, available on-demand to 

24 organizations and individuals over the public interVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:48 Oct 30, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00075 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6093.IH H6093
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1 net or other means that allows for the widest dis2 semination of information. 

3 (5) WATCH; WARNING.—The terms ‘‘watch’’ 

4 and ‘‘warning’’ have the meanings given such terms 

5 in section 406 of the Weather Research and Fore6 casting Innovation Act of 2017 (Public Law 115–25; 

7 131 Stat. 109), as amended by section 402 of this 

8 Act. 

9 SEC. 402. HAZARDOUS WEATHER OR WATER EVENT RISK 

10 COMMUNICATION. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 406 of the Weather Re12 search and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (Public 

13 Law 115–25; 131 Stat. 109) is amended to read as fol14 lows: 

15 ‘‘SEC. 406. HAZARDOUS WEATHER OR WATER EVENT RISK 

16 COMMUNICATION. 

17 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

18 ‘‘(1) HAZARDOUS WEATHER OR WATER

19 EVENTS.—The term ‘hazardous weather or water 

20 events’ means weather or water events that have a 

21 high risk of loss of life or property, including the fol22 lowing: 

23 ‘‘(A) Severe storms, such as hurricanes 

24 and short-fused, small-scale hazardous weather 

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1 storms, including large hail, damaging winds, 

2 tornadoes, and flash floods. 

3 ‘‘(B) Winter storms, such as freezing or 

4 frozen precipitation (including freezing rain, 

5 sleet, and snow), or combined effects of freezing 

6 or frozen precipitation and strong winds. 

7 ‘‘(C) Other weather hazards, such as ex8 treme heat or cold, wildfire, drought, dense fog, 

9 high winds, and river, coastal, or lakeshore 

10 flooding. 

11 ‘‘(2) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.— 

12 The term ‘institution of higher education’ has the 

13 meaning given such term in section 101 of the High14 er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001). 

15 ‘‘(3) WATCH; WARNING.— 

16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The terms ‘watch’ and 

17 ‘warning’, with respect to a hazardous weather 

18 or water event, mean products issued by the 

19 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra20 tion, intended for consumption by the general 

21 public, to alert the general public to the poten22 tial for or presence of such event and to inform 

23 action to prevent loss of life or property. 

24 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—The terms ‘watch’ and 

25 ‘warning’ do not include technical or specialized 

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1 meteorological or hydrological forecasts, out2 looks, or model guidance products. 

3 ‘‘(b) SYSTEM COMMUNICATIONS.—The Under Sec4 retary shall maintain and improve the system of the Na5 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration by which 

6 the risks of hazardous weather or water events are com7 municated to the general public, with the goal of informing 

8 response to prevent loss of life or property. 

9 ‘‘(c) HAZARD RISK COMMUNICATION IMPROVEMENT

10 AND SIMPLIFICATION.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To carry out subsection 

12 (b), the Under Secretary shall maintain a social, be13 havioral, risk, communication, and economic sciences 

14 program (in this section referred to as the ‘Pro15 gram’), for the purpose of simplifying and improving 

16 the communication of hazardous weather or water 

17 events. 

18 ‘‘(2) TERMINOLOGY.—The Program, in coordi19 nation with social, behavioral, risk, communication, 

20 and economic science community and user feedback, 

21 shall identify, eliminate, or modify unnecessary, re22 dundant, or confusing terms for communications re23 garding hazardous weather or water events and add 

24 new terminology, as appropriate. 

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1 ‘‘(3) COMMUNICATIONS IMPROVEMENT.—The 

2 Program shall improve the form, content, and meth3 ods of communications regarding hazardous weather 

4 or water events and associated risks to more clearly 

5 inform response to prevent the loss of life or prop6 erty. 

7 ‘‘(4) EVALUATIONS.—The Program, in coordi8 nation with the performance and evaluation 

9 branches of the National Weather Service and Oce10 anic and Atmospheric Research, shall develop 

11 metrics for such branches to track and evaluate the 

12 degree to which communications regarding haz13 ardous weather or water events inform response. 

14 ‘‘(5) SUPPORT PLAN.—The Program shall de15 velop a plan for the purpose of carrying out para16 graph (3). Such plan shall be periodically updated 

17 and informed by internal and extramural research 

18 and the results of the evaluation of communications 

19 regarding hazardous weather or water events and as20 sociated risks under paragraph (4). 

21 ‘‘(6) METHODS.—In carrying out this section, 

22 the Program shall develop and implement rec23 ommendations that— 

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1 nomic, risk, and communications science re2 search; 

3 ‘‘(B) are validated by social, behavioral, 

4 risk, and communications science, taking into 

5 account the importance of methods that support 

6 reproduction and replication of scientific stud7 ies, use of rigorous statistical analyses, and, as 

8 applicable, data analysis supported by artificial 

9 intelligence and machine learning technologies; 

10 ‘‘(C) account for the needs of various de11 mographics, vulnerable populations, and geo12 graphic regions; 

13 ‘‘(D) account for the differences between 

14 various types of hazardous weather or water 

15 events; 

16 ‘‘(E) respond to the needs of Federal, 

17 State, and local government partners and media 

18 partners; and 

19 ‘‘(F) account for necessary changes in the 

20 infrastructure, technology, and protocols for de21 veloping and disseminating watches and warn22 ings. 

23 ‘‘(7) COORDINATION.—In carrying out this sec24 tion, the Program shall coordinate with the fol25 lowing: 

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1 ‘‘(A) Federal partners, including National 

2 Laboratories, cooperative institutes, and re3 gional integrated sciences and assessments pro4 grams. 

5 ‘‘(B) State and local government partners. 

6 ‘‘(C) Tribal governments. 

7 ‘‘(D) Institutions of higher education or a 

8 consortia thereof. 

9 ‘‘(E) Media partners. 

10 ‘‘(8) TIMELINESS AND CONSISTENCY.—The 

11 Program shall develop best practices and guidance 

12 for ensuring timely and consistent communications 

13 across public facing platforms that disseminate in14 formation related to hazardous weather or water 

15 events.’’. 

16 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—Section 1(b) of the 

17 Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 

18 2017 is amended by amending the item relating to section 

19 406 to read as follows: 

‘‘Sec. 406. Hazardous Weather or Water Event Risk Communication.’’. 

20 SEC. 403. HAZARD COMMUNICATION RESEARCH AND EN21 GAGEMENT. 

22 Section 406 of the Weather Research and Fore23 casting Innovation Act of 2017 (Public Law 115–25; 131 

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1 ther amended by adding at the end the following new sub2 section: 

3 ‘‘(d) HAZARD COMMUNICATION RESEARCH AND EN4 GAGEMENT.— 

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall 

6 maintain, as appropriate, a program to— 

7 ‘‘(A) modernize the development and com8 munication of risk-based, statistically reliable, 

9 probabilistic hazard information, with the goal 

10 of informing appropriate responses to haz11 ardous weather or water events; and 

12 ‘‘(B) improve the fundamental social, be13 havioral, economic, risk, and communication 

14 science relating to communications, including 

15 by means of collecting voluntary data, regarding 

16 hazardous weather or water events. 

17 ‘‘(2) COORDINATION.—In carrying out the pro18 gram under paragraph (1), the Under Secretary 

19 shall coordinate and communicate with States, Trib20 al governments, localities, and emergency managers 

21 regarding research priorities and results. 

22 ‘‘(3) PILOT PROGRAM FOR TORNADO HAZARD

23 COMMUNICATION REQUIRED.—To further research 

24 into communications regarding hazardous weather 

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1 tion with the VORTEX program under section 103 

2 and in collaboration with one or more eligible insti3 tutions (or a consortia thereof), shall establish a 

4 pilot program for tornado hazard communication to 

5 test the effectiveness of implementing research into 

6 operations with respect to tornadoes. 

7 ‘‘(4) ELIGIBLE INSTITUTION DEFINED.—In this 

8 subsection, the term ‘eligible institution’ means any 

9 of the following: 

10 ‘‘(A) An institution of higher education, 

11 nonprofit organization, or other institution lo12 cated in a jurisdiction eligible to participate in 

13 the program under section 113 of the National 

14 Science Foundation Authorization Act of 1988 

15 (42 U.S.C. 1862g). 

16 ‘‘(B) An institution of higher education, 

17 nonprofit organization, or other institution lo18 cated in proximity to a Weather Forecast Office 

19 of the National Weather Service.’’. 

20 SEC. 404. NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COMMUNICATIONS 

21 IMPROVEMENT. 

22 (a) IMPROVEMENT OF NWS INSTANT MESSAGING

23 SERVICE.—The Director of the National Weather Service 

24 shall improve the instant messaging service used by per25 sonnel of the National Weather Service by implementing, 

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1 not later than October 1, 2027, a commercial off-the-shelf 

2 communications solution that replaces the instant mes3 saging service commonly referred to as ‘‘NWSChat’’. 

4 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—The communications solution 

5 implemented under this section shall— 

6 (1) be hosted on the public cloud; and 

7 (2) satisfy requirements set forth by the Direc8 tor to ensure such solution— 

9 (A) best accommodates future growth; 

10 (B) performs successfully with increased 

11 numbers of users; 

12 (C) is easy to use for the majority of users; 

13 and 

14 (D) is similar to systems already in com15 mercial use. 

16 (c) FUNDING.—From amounts made available for 

17 Operations, Research, and Facilities, the Director of the 

18 National Weather Service shall allocate up to $3,000,000 

19 for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2027 to carry out 

20 this section. 

21 SEC. 405. NOAA WEATHER RADIO MODERNIZATION. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall, to the 

23 maximum extent practicable, expand coverage of the 

24 NOAA Weather Radio and ensure its reliability. In car25 rying out this subsection, the Under Secretary shall— 

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1 (1) maintain support for existing systems serv2 ing areas not covered by or having poor quality cel3 lular service; 

4 (2) ensure consistent maintenance and oper5 ations monitoring, with timely repairs to broadcast 

6 transmitter site equipment and antennas; 

7 (3) enhance the ability to amplify Non-Weather 

8 Emergency Messages via NOAA Weather Radio as 

9 necessary; and 

10 (4) acquire additional transmitters as required 

11 to expand coverage to rural and underserved com12 munities, units of the National Park System, and 

13 National Recreation Areas. 

14 (b) MODERNIZATION INITIATIVE.—To the maximum 

15 extent practicable, the Under Secretary shall enhance 

16 NOAA Weather Radio to ensure its capabilities and cov17 erage remain valuable to the public. In carrying out this 

18 section, the Under Secretary shall— 

19 (1) upgrade telecommunications infrastructure 

20 to accelerate the transition of broadcasts to internet 

21 protocol-based communications over non-copper 

22 media; 

23 (2) accelerate software upgrades to the Ad24 vanced Weather Interactive Processing System, or 

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1 the relevant system successors, to implement partial 

2 county notifications and alerts; 

3 (3) consult with relevant stakeholders, including 

4 the private sector, to enhance accessibility and 

5 usability of NOAA Weather Radio data and feeds; 

6 (4) develop options, including satellite backup 

7 capability and commercial provider partnerships, for 

8 NOAA Weather Radio continuity in the event of 

9 Weather Forecast Office outages; 

10 (5) research and develop alternative options, in11 cluding microwave capabilities, to transmit NOAA 

12 Weather Radio signals to transmitters that are re13 mote or do not have internet protocol capability; and 

14 (6) transition critical applications to the Inte15 grated Dissemination Program, or the relevant pro16 gram successors. 

17 (c) PRIORITY.—In carrying out subsection (b), the 

18 Under Secretary shall prioritize practices, capabilities, and 

19 technologies recommended in accordance with the assess20 ment under subsection (d) to maximize accessibility, par21 ticularly in remote and underserved areas of the United 

22 States. 

23 (d) ASSESSMENT FOR MANAGEMENT AND DISTRIBU24 TION.—Not later than one year after the date of the enact25 ment of this Act, the Under Secretary shall complete an 

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1 assessment of access to NOAA Weather Radio. In con2 ducting such assessment, the Under Secretary shall take 

3 into consideration and provide recommendations regarding 

4 the following: 

5 (1) The need for continuous, adequate, and 

6 operational real-time broadcasts of the NOAA 

7 Weather Radio in both urban and rural areas. 

8 (2) Solicited inputs from relevant stakeholders 

9 on the compatibility of NOAA Weather Radio data 

10 for third party platforms that provide online serv11 ices, such as websites and mobile device applications, 

12 or deliver NOAA Weather Radio access. 

13 (3) Existing or new management systems that 

14 promote consistent, efficient, and compatible access 

15 to NOAA Weather Radio. 

16 (4) The ability of NOAA to aggregate real time 

17 broadcast feeds at one or more central locations. 

18 (5) Effective interagency coordination. 

19 (6) The potential effects of an electromagnetic 

20 pulse or geomagnetic disturbance on NOAA Weather 

21 Radio. 

22 (7) Any other function the Under Secretary de23 termines necessary. 

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1 SEC. 406. POST-STORM SURVEYS AND ASSESSMENTS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall con3 tinue to perform one or more post-storm surveys and as4 sessments following every hazardous weather or water 

5 event determined by the Under Secretary to be of suffi6 cient societal importance to warrant a post-event survey 

7 and assessment. 

8 (b) COORDINATION.—The Under Secretary shall co9 ordinate with Federal, State, local and Tribal govern10 ments, private entities, and relevant institutions of higher 

11 education (or a consortia thereof) when conducting post12 storm surveys and assessments under this section to opti13 mize data collection, sharing, integration, archiving, and 

14 access, as appropriate for research needs. 

15 (c) DATA AVAILABILITY.—The Under Secretary shall 

16 make the appropriate data obtained from each post-storm 

17 survey and assessment conducted under this section avail18 able to the public as soon as practicable after conducting 

19 each such survey and assessment. 

20 (d) IMPROVEMENT.—In carrying out this section, the 

21 Under Secretary shall— 

22 (1) examine the role of uncrewed aerial and ma23 rine systems in data collection during post-storm 

24 surveys and assessments conducted under this sec25 tion; 

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1 (2) identify gaps in and update tactics and pro2 cedures to enhance the efficiency and reliability of 

3 data obtained from post-storm surveys and assess4 ments; 

5 (3) to the maximum extent practicable, increase 

6 the number of post-storm community impact studies, 

7 including— 

8 (A) surveying-individual responses; 

9 (B) conducting review of the accuracy of 

10 prior risk evaluations; 

11 (C) evaluating the efficacy of prior mitiga12 tion activity; and 

13 (D) gathering survivability statistics; and 

14 (4) as appropriate, integrate community-based, 

15 social, behavioral, risk, communication, and eco16 nomic sciences elements into existing post-storm sur17 veys and assessments, including relating to efficacy 

18 of forecast and warning information, barriers to ac19 tion, and messaging challenges. 

20 (e) SUPPORT FOR EMPLOYEES.—The Under Sec21 retary shall provide training, resources, and access to pro22 fessional counseling to support the emotional and mental 

23 health and well-being of employees conducting post-storm 

24 surveys and assessments under this section. 

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1 (f) EXEMPTION.—Subchapter I of chapter 35 of title 

2 44, United States Code, shall not apply to the collection 

3 of information during the conduct of a survey or assess4 ment authorized under subsection (a). 

5 SEC. 407. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE REPORT 

6 ON ALERT DISSEMINATION FOR HAZARDOUS 

7 WEATHER OR WATER EVENTS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 540 days after the 

9 date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 

10 of the United States shall submit to the Committee on 

11 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and 

12 the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the 

13 House of Representatives a report that examines the infor14 mation technology infrastructure of the National Weather 

15 Service of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis16 tration, specifically regarding the system for timely public 

17 notification via alerts and updates regarding hazardous 

18 weather or water events. 

19 (b) ELEMENTS.—The report required by subsection 

20 (a) shall include the following: 

21 (1) An analysis of the information technology 

22 infrastructure of the National Weather Service, in23 cluding software and hardware capabilities and limi24 tations, including an examination of server and data 

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1 storage methods, broadband, data management, and 

2 data sharing. 

3 (2) An identification of secondary and tertiary 

4 fail-safes for the timely distribution to the public of 

5 notifications via alerts and updates regarding haz6 ardous weather or water events. 

7 (3) A process analysis to determine the source 

8 and extent to which public notifications via alerts 

9 and updates regarding hazardous weather or water 

10 events have been delayed and an identification of 

11 possible improvements or corrective measures to ad12 dress latency in the notification process. 

13 (4) An assessment of whether collaboration with 

14 other Federal offices, States, or private entities 

15 could reduce delays in notifications to the public. 

16 (5) A description of actions being undertaken to 

17 better identify critical steps in public notification via 

18 alerts and updates for hazardous weather or water 

19 events that may be vulnerable to disruption or fail20 ure in the event of communication, technologic, or 

21 computational failure. 

22 (6) The geographical differences in availability 

23 and effectiveness of rural systems, including an esti24 mated number of rural areas affected by unreliable 

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1 or unavailable accurate systems and barriers to ob2 tain or upgrade such systems. 

3 SEC. 408. DATA COLLECTION MANAGEMENT AND PROTEC4 TION. 

5 (a) DATA COLLECTION.—The Under Secretary may 

6 collect social, behavioral, and economic data, including 

7 Federal communication and related public response to 

8 hazardous weather or water events. Where appropriate, 

9 the Under Secretary shall encourage use of secondary 

10 data, purchase data, or partner with the private sector. 

11 (b) DATA MANAGEMENT.—The Under Secretary 

12 shall establish a central repository system for the National 

13 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for social, be14 havioral, and economic data related to the communication 

15 of and related public response to hazardous weather or 

16 water events, including data developed or received pursu17 ant to this title. 

18 (c) PROTECTION OF DATA.—The Under Secretary 

19 shall ensure that all data collected and managed by the 

20 Administration is done within with all legal, regulatory, 

21 and contractual obligations and in accordance with chap22 ter 31 of title 44, United States Code, and the Federal 

23 Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 (Public Law 

24 115–435). 

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1 (d) DIGITAL WATERMARKING.—The Under Secretary 

2 shall develop methods to reduce the likelihood of unauthor3 ized tampering with online public notifications of haz4 ardous weather or water events, such as developing digital 

5 watermarks. 

6 TITLE V—IMPROVING WEATHER 

7 INFORMATION FOR AGRI8 CULTURE AND WATER MAN9 AGEMENT 

10 SEC. 501. WEATHER AND CLIMATE INFORMATION IN AGRI11 CULTURE AND WATER MANAGEMENT. 

12 Section 1762 of the Food Security Act of 1985 (15 

13 U.S.C. 8521) is amended— 

14 (1) by amending subsection (h) to read as fol15 lows: 

16 ‘‘(h) SUBSEASONAL TO SEASONAL FORECASTING

17 PILOT PROJECTS.— 

18 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Under Secretary 

19 shall establish not fewer than two pilot projects, in 

20 accordance with paragraph (2), within the U.S. 

21 Weather Research Program of the Oceanic and At22 mospheric Research office of the National Oceanic 

23 and Atmospheric Administration to support im24 proved subseasonal to seasonal precipitation fore25 casts for the following: 

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1 ‘‘(A) Water management in the western 

2 United States. 

3 ‘‘(B) Agriculture in the central United 

4 States. 

5 ‘‘(2) OBJECTIVES.—In carrying out this sub6 section, the Under Secretary shall ensure the fol7 lowing: 

8 ‘‘(A) A pilot project under subparagraph 

9 (A) of paragraph (1) addresses key science 

10 challenges to improving forecasts and devel11 oping related products for water management 

12 in the western United States, including the fol13 lowing: 

14 ‘‘(i) Improving operational model reso15 lution, both horizontal and vertical, to re16 solve issues associated with mountainous 

17 terrain, such as intensity of precipitation 

18 and relative fraction of rain versus snow 

19 precipitation. 

20 ‘‘(ii) Improving fidelity in the oper21 ational modeling of the atmospheric bound22 ary layer in mountainous regions. 

23 ‘‘(iii) Resolving challenges in pre24 dicting winter atmospheric circulation and 

25 storm tracks, including periods of blocked 

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1 versus unblocked flow over the eastern 

2 North Pacific Ocean and western United 

3 States. 

4 ‘‘(iv) Utilizing outcomes from the At5 mospheric Rivers Forecast Improvement 

6 Program as authorized in section 204 of 

7 the Weather Act Reauthorization Act of 

8 2023 to produce operational tools and 

9 services. 

10 ‘‘(v) Improving the quality and tem11 poral and spatial resolution of observations 

12 and accurate operational modeling of air13 sea interactions, and the influence of 

14 oceans on subseasonal and seasonal fore15 casting. 

16 ‘‘(B) A pilot project under subparagraph 

17 (B) of paragraph (1) addresses key science 

18 challenges to improving forecasts and devel19 oping related products for agriculture in the 

20 central United States, including the following: 

21 ‘‘(i) Improving the quality and tem22 poral and spatial resolution of observations 

23 and accurate operational modeling of the 

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1 ing soil moisture and flash drought proc2 esses. 

3 ‘‘(ii) Improving fidelity in the oper4 ational modeling of warm season precipita5 tion processes. 

6 ‘‘(iii) Understanding and predicting 

7 large-scale upper-level dynamical flow 

8 anomalies that occur in spring and sum9 mer. 

10 ‘‘(3) ACTIVITIES.—A pilot project under this 

11 subsection shall include activities that carry out the 

12 following: 

13 ‘‘(A) Best implement recommendations of 

14 the National Weather Service’s 2020 Report, 

15 entitled ‘Subseasonal and Seasonal Forecasting 

16 Innovation: Plans for the Twenty-First Cen17 tury’. 

18 ‘‘(B) Achieve measurable objectives for 

19 operational forecast improvement. 

20 ‘‘(C) Engage with, and leverage the re21 sources of, institutions of higher education (as 

22 such term is defined in section 101 of the High23 er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)), or 

24 a consortia thereof, and entities within the Na25 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

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1 in existence as of the date of the enactment of 

2 this subsection, including Regional Climate 

3 Centers and the National Centers for Environ4 mental Information. 

5 ‘‘(D) Are carried out in coordination with 

6 the Assistant Administrator for the Office of 

7 Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and the Di8 rector of the National Weather Service. 

9 ‘‘(4) SUNSET.—The authority under this sub10 section shall terminate on the date that is five years 

11 after the date of the enactment of this subsection.’’; 

12 and 

13 (2) by amending subsection (j) to read as fol14 lows: 

15 ‘‘(j) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

16 are authorized to be appropriated $45,000,000 for each 

17 of fiscal years 2024 through 2028 to carry out the activi18 ties under this section.’’. 

19 SEC. 502. NATIONAL INTEGRATED DROUGHT INFORMATION 

20 SYSTEM. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 3 of the National Inte22 grated Drought Information System Act of 2006 (15 

23 U.S.C. 313d) is amended— 

24 (1) in subsection (b)— 

25 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

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1 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

2 ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; 

3 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by inserting 

4 ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; and 

5 (iii) by adding at the end the fol6 lowing new subparagraph: 

7 ‘‘(C) incorporates flash drought research 

8 and tools to enhance timely response;’’; 

9 (B) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

10 after the semicolon; 

11 (C) in paragraph (6)— 

12 (i) by inserting ‘‘(including ecological 

13 drought)’’ after ‘‘drought’’ each place it 

14 appears; and 

15 (ii) by striking the period and insert16 ing a semicolon; and 

17 (D) by adding at the end the following new 

18 paragraphs: 

19 ‘‘(7) advance and deploy next generation tech20 nologies related to drought and related publicly 

21 available data, such as monitoring, preparedness, 

22 and forecasting capabilities utilizing artificial intel23 ligence, machine learning, and cloud technologies; 

24 and 

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1 ‘‘(8) utilize observational networks, including 

2 the National Weather Service cooperative observer 

3 program, and refine drought indicators across a va4 riety of spatial and temporal scales for decision-sup5 port products by optimizing data and resources from 

6 across the Federal Government, including snowpack, 

7 soil moisture, groundwater, and rapid intensification 

8 data.’’; 

9 (2) in subsection (c)— 

10 (A) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

11 after the semicolon; 

12 (B) in paragraph (3), by striking the pe13 riod and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

14 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

15 paragraph: 

16 ‘‘(4) in partnership with the National Mesonet 

17 Program, establish memoranda of understanding to 

18 provide coordinated, high-quality, nationwide 

19 drought information for the public good, including 

20 integrated soil moisture information in accordance 

21 with the 2021 report, ‘A Strategy for the National 

22 Coordinated Soil Moisture Monitoring Network’.’’; 

23 and 

24 (3) by amending subsection (f) to read as fol25 lows: 

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1 ‘‘(f) MODELING UPDATE.—The Under Secretary, in 

2 partnership with National Integrated Drought Informa3 tion System and the Climate Prediction Center of the Na4 tional Weather Service, shall undertake an effort to transi5 tion existing drought products to probabilistic forecasts 

6 and incorporate new and improved dynamical and statis7 tical forecast modeling tools.’’. 

8 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section 

9 4 of the National Integrated Drought Information System 

10 Act of 2006 (15 U.S.C. 313d note) is amended to read 

11 as follows: 

12 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—From 

13 amounts made available to Operations, Research, and Fa14 cilities of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis15 tration, there are authorized to be appropriated to carry 

16 out this section the following: 

17 ‘‘(1) $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2024. 

18 ‘‘(2) $15,500,000 for fiscal year 2025. 

19 ‘‘(3) $16,000,000 for fiscal year 2026. 

20 ‘‘(4) $16,500,000 for fiscal year 2027. 

21 ‘‘(5) $17,000,000 for fiscal year 2028.’’. 

22 SEC. 503. NATIONAL MESONET PROGRAM. 

23 (a) PROGRAM.—The Under Secretary shall maintain 

24 the National Mesonet Program (in this section referred 

25 to as the ‘‘Program’’). The Program shall— 

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1 (1) obtain observations in all geographic envi2 ronments to improve understanding of and forecast 

3 capabilities for atmospheric and water events, with 

4 a prioritization on leveraging available commercial, 

5 academic, and other non-Federal environmental data 

6 to enhance coordination across the private, public, 

7 and academic sectors of the United States weather 

8 enterprise; and 

9 (2) establish memoranda of understanding with 

10 networks outside of the scope of the Program. 

11 (b) PROGRAM ELEMENTS.—The Program shall carry 

12 out the following activities: 

13 (1) Improve environmental observations used by 

14 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra15 tion and the National Weather Service to support 

16 baseline forecasts, including nowcasts, and warnings 

17 that protect the Nation’s citizens, businesses, mili18 tary, and government agencies, and enable such in19 dividuals and entities to operate in safe, efficient, 

20 and orderly manners. 

21 (2) When demonstrably cost effective and meet22 ing or exceeding agency data quality standards, le23 verage existing networks of environmental moni24 toring stations, including supplemental radar sys25 tems, to increase the quantity and density of enviVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:48 Oct 30, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00101 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6093.IH H6093
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1 ronmental observations and data available to the Ad2 ministration. 

3 (3) Establish means to integrate greater density 

4 and type of environmental observations into the Pro5 gram on an annual basis, including by encouraging 

6 local and regional networks of environmental moni7 toring stations, in situ sensor networks and satellite 

8 constellations to participate in the Program. 

9 (4) Yield increased quantities of boundary-layer 

10 data to improve numerical weather prediction per11 formance, including regarding subseasonal to sea12 sonal timescales. 

13 (5) Provide the critical technical and adminis14 trative infrastructure needed to facilitate rapid inte15 gration and sustained use of new and emerging net16 works of environmental monitoring stations antici17 pated in coming years from non-Federal sources. 

18 (6) Expand and enhance environmental obser19 vational networks in the roadway environment to 

20 provide real-time road weather and surface condi21 tions for surface transportation and related eco22 nomic sectors. 

23 (7) Identify available terrestrial or marine envi24 ronmental data, or quantifiable gaps in such data, to 

25 improve the understanding of air-sea interactions. 

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1 (8) Support the National Weather Service in 

2 reaching its target of a 30-minute warning time for 

3 severe weather through better predictive model algo4 rithms driven by increasingly effective observations. 

5 (9) Coordinate with existing Administration 

6 data used for forecasts, including data from the Na7 tional Environmental Satellite, Data, and Informa8 tion Service, the Integrated Ocean Observing Sys9 tem, the Global Ocean Monitoring and Observing 

10 Program, the National Data Buoy Center, and the 

11 National Ocean Service. 

12 (10) Identify and communicate to the Office of 

13 Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and other part14 ners priorities of research and development needed 

15 to advance observations in the Program. 

16 (11) Support the National Coordinated Soil 

17 Moisture Monitoring Network in acquiring soil mois18 ture and related data to support the development of 

19 decision-support products and other information 

20 services. 

21 (c) FINANCIAL AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—In furtherance of the Pro23 gram, the Under Secretary may, to the extent 

24 amounts are made available, award up to 15 percent 

25 of the Program’s annual appropriations for financial 

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1 assistance to State, Tribal, private, and academic 

2 entities seeking to build, expand, or upgrade equip3 ment and capacity of mesonet systems. Financial as4 sistance under this subsection may be made in co5 ordination with and in addition to awards from 

6 other Federal agencies. 

7 (2) AGREEMENTS.—Before receiving financial 

8 assistance under paragraph (1), the State, Tribal, 

9 private, or academic entity seeking financial assist10 ance under this subsection shall enter into an agree11 ment with the Under Secretary to provide data to 

12 the Program, subject to verification by the Program 

13 of the relative operational value and evaluation of 

14 the cost of such data, for use in weather prediction, 

15 severe weather warnings, and emergency response. 

16 (3) ASSISTANCE AND OTHER SUPPORT.—The 

17 Under Secretary may provide technical assistance, 

18 project implementation support, and guidance to 

19 State, Tribal, private, and academic entities seeking 

20 financial assistance under this subsection. The 

21 Under Secretary may provide technical and financial 

22 assistance for maintenance of monitoring stations in 

23 underrepresented or remote areas of the country 

24 where it is financially unfeasible for one entity to op25 erate such stations without such assistance. 

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1 (4) TERMS.—In providing financial assistance 

2 under this subsection, the Under Secretary shall es3 tablish terms to ensure that each State, Tribal, pri4 vate, or academic entity that receives financial as5 sistance under this subsection receives a level of 

6 Federal support commensurate with the quality and 

7 other characteristics of the data to be provided. 

8 (5) DETERMINATION.—A State, Tribal, private, 

9 or academic entity may receive financial assistance 

10 under this subsection only if the Under Secretary 

11 determines such entity shall provide sufficient non12 Federal financial support and full maintenance to 

13 maintain the quality of the mesonet system and as14 sociated data standards required by the Program for 

15 a period of not less than five years. 

16 (6) PRIORITY.—The Under Secretary shall 

17 prioritize providing assistance under paragraph (1) 

18 to at least one entity in an underrepresented or re19 mote area. 

20 (d) ADVISORY COMMITTEE.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall 

22 ensure the Program has an active advisory com23 mittee of subject matter experts to make rec24 ommendations to the National Oceanic and Atmos25 pheric Administration on the identification, impleVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:48 Oct 30, 2023 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00105 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6093.IH H6093
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1 mentation, procurement, and tracking of data need2 ed to supplement the Program, and recommend im3 provements, expansions, and acquisitions of available 

4 data. The Under Secretary may designate an exist5 ing Federal advisory committee, subcommittee, or 

6 working group, including, if appropriate, the Science 

7 Advisory Board of the National Oceanic and Atmos8 pheric Administration, to carry out this subsection. 

9 (2) ACADEMIC EXPERTISE.—The advisory com10 mittee under paragraph (1), in consultation with the 

11 Program, shall include expertise from one or more 

12 institutions of higher education (as such term is de13 fined in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 

14 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)) to assist the advisory com15 mittee to identify, evaluate, and recommend poten16 tial partnerships, regional or subregional consortia, 

17 and collaborative methods that would expand the 

18 number of participants and volume of data in the 

19 Program. 

20 (e) REGULAR REPORTING.—The Under Secretary 

21 shall provide regular briefings, not less than twice annu22 ally, to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 

23 of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 

24 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate on 

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1 all Program activities. Such briefings shall include infor2 mation relating to the following: 

3 (1) Efforts to implement the activities described 

4 in subsection (b). 

5 (2) Any financial or technical assistance pro6 vided pursuant to subsection (c). 

7 (3) Efforts to address recommendations re8 ceived from the advisory committee under subsection 

9 (d). 

10 (4) The potential need and associated benefits 

11 of a coastal and ocean mesonet, or other emerging 

12 areas of weather data needs. 

13 (5) Progress toward eliminating gaps in weath14 er observation data by States and regions of the 

15 United States. 

16 (6) Any other topic the Under Secretary deter17 mines relevant. 

18 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—From 

19 amounts made available to the National Weather Service, 

20 the Under Secretary, to carry out this section, shall allo21 cate up to the following amounts for each specified fiscal 

22 year: 

23 (1) $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2024. 

24 (2) $55,000,000 for fiscal year 2025. 

25 (3) $61,000,000 for fiscal year 2026. 

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1 (4) $68,000,000 for fiscal year 2027. 

2 (5) $70,000,000 for fiscal year 2028. 

3 SEC. 504. NATIONAL COORDINATED SOIL MOISTURE MONI4 TORING NETWORK. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary, in collabo6 ration with the Secretary of Agriculture, the Director of 

7 the United States Geological Survey, the Administrator of 

8 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and 

9 the heads of other relevant Federal agencies and depart10 ments, shall support the development, deployment, and 

11 maintenance of soil moisture monitoring networks by man12 aging the National Coordinated Soil Moisture Monitoring 

13 Network (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Network’’) 

14 within the National Integrated Drought Information Sys15 tem. 

16 (b) ACTIVITIES.—The Under Secretary shall ensure 

17 the Network includes activities that carry out the fol18 lowing: 

19 (1) Establishing a visible, user-friendly website. 

20 (2) Developing a set of criteria for high-quality 

21 data sources. 

22 (3) Supporting research necessary to develop or 

23 improve soil moisture monitoring products at a na24 tional scale. 

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1 (4) Increasing the number of long-term, high2 quality, in situ and remote sensing soil moisture 

3 monitoring stations across the United States. 

4 (5) Sharing methodologies and validation proto5 cols with the private sector. 

6 (6) Engaging with the citizen science commu7 nity. 

8 (7) Developing, releasing, and promoting new, 

9 nationwide point-based and gridded soil moisture 

10 data products that meet the needs of diverse end11 user groups. 

12 (8) Supporting community building and out13 reach to the network of individuals engaged with soil 

14 moisture information delivery, from data provision to 

15 end-user decision making. 

16 SEC. 505. NATIONAL WATER CENTER. 

17 Section 301 of the Coordinated Ocean Observations 

18 and Research Act of 2020 (42 U.S.C. 10371) is amend19 ed— 

20 (1) in subsection (a)— 

21 (A) in paragraph (1)(A)— 

22 (i) in the matter preceding clause (i), 

23 by inserting ‘‘as a component of the Na24 tional Centers for Environmental Pre25 diction’’ after ‘‘center’’; 

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1 (ii) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and’’ 

2 after the semicolon; 

3 (iii) in clause (ii), by striking the pe4 riod and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

5 (iv) by adding at the end the following 

6 new clause: 

7 ‘‘(iii) to provide service backup capa8 bilities and additional mission support 

9 services for River Forecast Centers.’’. 

10 (v) in paragraph (2), by adding at the 

11 end the following new subparagraph: 

12 ‘‘(F) Serving as the primary Center for 

13 collaboration and coordination of the National 

14 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 

15 water research and operational activities with 

16 existing Federal centers and networks, includ17 ing the Department of Agriculture, the Army 

18 Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Reclamation, 

19 the United States Geological Survey, and the 

20 Federal Emergency Management Agency.’’; 

21 (2) by striking subsection (b) and redesignating 

22 subsections (c) through (e) as subsections (b) 

23 through (d) respectively; and 

24 (3) by amending subsection (c), as so redesig25 nated, to read as follows: 

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1 ‘‘(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

2 is authorized to be appropriated $46,000,000 for each of 

3 fiscal years 2024 through 2028 to carry out this section.’’. 

4 SEC. 506. SATELLITE TRANSFERS REPORT. 

5 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact6 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Commerce shall submit 

7 to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor8 tation of the Senate and the Committee on Science, Space, 

9 and Technology of the House of Representatives a report 

10 describing the Department of Commerce’s authorities, 

11 policies, and Federal Government-wide policies related to 

12 transferring any portion of the weather satellite systems 

13 operated by the Department of Commerce to any other 

14 Federal department or agency. The report shall also in15 clude the following: 

16 (1) A description of the process for decommis17 sioning a Department of Commerce operational 

18 weather satellite, any existing agreements related to 

19 transfers of weather satellites, whether decommis20 sioned or not, and any reimbursable agreements re21 lated to the transfer of physical property or the op22 eration of Department of Commerce weather sat23 ellites on behalf of any other Federal department or 

24 agency. 

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1 (2) A summary of any Department of Com2 merce plans for potential transfer of existing or fu3 ture weather satellite systems to any other Federal 

4 department or agency. 

Æ