(A) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘and’’ 
after the semicolon; 
(B) in paragraph (3), by striking the pe-
riod and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(C) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph: 
‘‘(4) in partnership with the National Mesonet 
Program, establish memoranda of understanding to 
provide 
coordinated, 
high-quality, 
nationwide 
drought information for the public good.’’; and 
(3) by amending subsection (f) to read as fol-
lows: 
‘‘(f) MODELING UPDATE.—The Under Secretary, in 
partnership with the Climate Prediction Center of the Na-
tional Weather Service, shall undertake an effort to mi-
grate existing products to probabilistic forecasts and in-
corporate new and improved dynamical and statistical 
forecast modeling tools.’’. 
(b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 4 of the National 
Integrated Drought Information System Act of 2006 
(15 U.S.C. 313d note) is amended to read as fol-
lows: 
‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—From 
amounts made available to Operations, Research, and Fa-
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cilities of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-
tration, there are authorized to be appropriated to carry 
out this section the following: 
‘‘(1) $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2024. 
‘‘(2) $15,500,000 for fiscal year 2025. 
‘‘(3) $16,000,000 for fiscal year 2026. 
‘‘(4) $16,500,000 for fiscal year 2027. 
‘‘(5) $17,000,000 for fiscal year 2028.’’. 
(2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made 
by paragraph (1) shall take effect and apply begin-
ning on October 1, 2023. 
SEC. 3. NATIONAL COORDINATED SOIL MOISTURE MONI-
TORING NETWORK. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall sup-
port the development, deployment, and maintenance of soil 
moisture monitoring networks by managing the National 
Coordinated Soil Moisture Monitoring Network of the Na-
tional Integrated Drought Information System under sec-
tion 3 of the National Integrated Drought Information 
System Act of 2006 (15 U.S.C. 313d) (in this section re-
ferred to as the ‘‘network’’). 
(b) ACTIVITIES.—The Under Secretary shall ensure 
the network includes activities that carry out the fol-
lowing: 
(1) Establishing a visible, user-friendly website. 
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(2) Developing a set of criteria for high-quality 
data sources. 
(3) Supporting research necessary to develop or 
improve soil moisture monitoring products at the 
National scale. 
(4) Increasing the number of long-term, high- 
quality, in situ soil moisture monitoring stations 
across the United States. 
(5) Sharing methodologies and validation proto-
cols with the private sector. 
(6) Engaging with the citizen science commu-
nity. 
(7) Developing, releasing, and promoting new, 
nationwide point-based and gridded soil moisture 
data products that meet the needs of diverse end- 
user groups. 
(c) PARTNERSHIPS.—In partnership with the Na-
tional Integrated Drought Information System under sec-
tion 3 of the National Integrated Drought Information 
System Act of 2006 (15 U.S.C. 313d) and the National 
Mesonet Program, the network may establish memoranda 
of understanding to acquire and provide coordinated, high- 
quality, nationwide soil moisture information for the pub-
lic good. 
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(d) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘Under 
Secretary’’ has the meaning given such term in section 
2 of the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation 
Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 8501). 
Æ 
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