IIB 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1715 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 10, 2023 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

and Transportation 

AN ACT 

To direct the Department of Energy and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to conduct collaborative research in order to advance numerical weather 

and climate prediction in the United States, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Advanced Weather 

3 Model Computing Development Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

5 In this Act: 

6 (1) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 

7 means the Department of Energy. 

8 (2) NATIONAL LABORATORY.—The term ‘‘Na9 tional Laboratory’’ has the meaning given such term 

10 in section 2 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 

11 U.S.C. 15801). 

12 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

13 the Secretary of Energy. 

14 (4) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis15 trator’’ means the Administrator of the National 

16 Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

17 SEC. 3. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY AND NATIONAL OCEANIC 

18 AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION RE19 SEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT COORDINA20 TION. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary and Administrator 

22 shall carry out collaborative research and development ac23 tivities in artificial intelligence and high performance com24 puting focused on the advancement of climate models and 

25 operational numerical weather prediction relevant to agen26 cy missions. 


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1 (b) MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING.—The Sec2 retary and Administrator shall carry out the activities 

3 under subsection (a) through the establishment of a 

4 memorandum of understanding, or other appropriate 

5 interagency agreement. Such memorandum or agreement, 

6 as the case may be, shall require the use of a competitive, 

7 merit-reviewed process, which considers applications from 

8 Federal agencies, National Laboratories, institutions of 

9 higher education, nonprofit institutions, and other appro10 priate entities. 

11 (c) ACTIVITIES.—In carrying out the activities under 

12 subsection (a), the Secretary and Administrator may— 

13 (1) conduct collaborative research to develop 

14 new methods and optimization of modeling and sim15 ulation, machine learning, data assimilation, large 

16 scale data analytics, and predictive analysis tech17 niques; 

18 (2) explore options for performance portability 

19 of the optimized weather model codes between the 

20 operational computing systems of the National Oce21 anic and Atmospheric Administration and the De22 partment’s high performance computers; 

23 (3) develop methods to accommodate large data 

24 sets of weather and climate information; 


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1 (4) to the maximum extent practicable, and in 

2 compliance with national security policies, promote 

3 collaboration, open community-based development, 

4 and data sharing between Federal agencies, National 

5 Laboratories, institutions of higher education, non6 profit institutions, and other appropriate entities by 

7 providing the necessary access and secure data 

8 transfer capabilities; and 

9 (5) support maintenance of and improvements 

10 to scientific computing infrastructure that the Sec11 retary and Administrator determine appropriate. 

12 (d) COORDINATION.—In carrying out the activities 

13 under subsection (a), the Secretary and Administrator are 

14 authorized to— 

15 (1) carry out reimbursable agreements between 

16 the Department, the National Oceanic and Atmos17 pheric Administration, and other entities in order to 

18 maximize the effectiveness of research and develop19 ment; and 

20 (2) collaborate with other Federal agencies as 

21 appropriate. 

22 (e) REPORT.—Not later than two years after the date 

23 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary and Adminis24 trator shall submit to the Committee on Science, Space, 

25 and Technology of the House of Representatives, and the 


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1 Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

2 and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of 

3 the Senate, a report detailing the following: 

4 (1) Interagency coordination between each Fed5 eral agency involved in the research and development 

6 activities carried out under this section. 

7 (2) Potential opportunities to expand the tech8 nical capabilities of the Department and the Na9 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

10 (3) Collaborative research achievements. 

11 (4) Areas of future mutually beneficial gains as 

12 a result of the activities described in subsection (c). 

13 (5) Continuation of coordination between the 

14 Department and the National Oceanic and Atmos15 pheric Administration on activities described in sub16 section (c). 

17 SEC. 4. CLIMATE AND WEATHER PREDICTION ON HIGH 

18 PERFORMANCE COMPUTERS INITIATIVE. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator, in collabora20 tion with the Secretary, shall carry out an initiative, which 

21 may leverage Department high performance computers or 

22 expertise, to run advanced models in order to conduct 

23 proof of concept scenarios in comparison with current 

24 issued forecasts and models. The Secretary and Adminis25 trator shall carry out the initiative through a competitive, 


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1 merit-reviewed process, and consider applications from 

2 Federal agencies, National Laboratories, institutions of 

3 higher education, nonprofit institutions, and other appro4 priate entities. 

5 (b) COMPONENTS.—In carrying out the initiative 

6 under subsection (a), the Administrator shall prevent du7 plication and coordinate research efforts in artificial intel8 ligence, high performance computing, modeling and sim9 ulation, machine learning, data assimilation, large scale 

10 data analytics, and predictive analysis across the Depart11 ment, and may— 

12 (1) run real-time weather forecast scenarios to 

13 conduct comparative research between National 

14 Weather Service issued forecasts to forecasts devel15 oped through the use of operational models run on 

16 high performance computers; 

17 (2) share relevant modeling system and applica18 tions innovations developed through the initiative, 

19 including Unified Forecast System-based applica20 tions, through community-based activities; and 

21 (3) leverage related weather and climate efforts 

22 and data from the National Science and Technology 

23 Council, the Interagency Council for Advancing Me24 teorological Services, and other relevant interagency 

25 entities. 


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1 (c) REPORT.—Not later than two years after the date 

2 of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall sub3 mit to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 

4 of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 

5 Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the Com6 mittee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate 

7 a report evaluating the following: 

8 (1) The effectiveness of the initiative under sub9 section (a), including applied research discoveries, 

10 and advanced modeling improvements achieved. 

11 (2) Potential opportunities to expand the high 

12 performance computing capabilities of the Depart13 ment and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

14 Administration. 

15 (d) SUNSET.—The authority under this section shall 

16 terminate five years after the date of the enactment of 

17 this section. 

18 SEC. 5. RESEARCH SECURITY. 

19 The activities authorized under this Act shall be ap20 plied in a manner consistent with subtitle D of title VI 

21 of the Research and Development, Competition, and 


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1 Innovation Act (enacted as division B of the CHIPS Act 

2 of 2022 (Public Law 117–167; 42 U.S.C. 19231 et seq.)). 

Passed the House of Representatives May 9, 2023. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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