that improve the forecasting of timing, track, 
intensity, and severity of high impact weather, 
including through— 
(i) the development of more effective 
mesoscale models; 
(ii) more effective use of existing, and 
the development of new, regional and na-
tional cloud-resolving models; 
(iii) enhanced global weather models; 
and 
(iv) integrated assessment models; 
(E) quantitative assessment tools for meas-
uring the impact and value of data and observ-
ing systems, including OSSEs (as described in 
section 8), OSEs, and AOAs; 
(F) atmospheric chemistry and interactions 
essential to accurately characterizing atmos-
pheric composition and predicting meteorolog-
ical processes, including cloud microphysical, 
precipitation, and atmospheric electrification 
processes, to more effectively understand their 
role in severe weather; and 
(G) additional sources of weather data and 
information, including commercial observing 
systems.
(4) A technology transfer initiative, carried out 
jointly and in coordination with the Assistant Ad-
ministrator for NWS, and in cooperation with the 
American weather industry and academic partners, 
to ensure continuous development and transition of 
the latest scientific and technological advances into 
NWS operations and to establish a process to sunset 
outdated and expensive operational methods and 
tools to enable cost-effective transfer of new methods 
and tools into operations. 
(c) EXTRAMURAL RESEARCH.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the program 
under this section, the Assistant Administrator for 
OAR shall collaborate with and support the non- 
Federal weather research community, which includes 
institutions of higher education, private entities, and 
nongovernmental organizations, by making funds 
available through competitive grants, contracts, and 
cooperative agreements. 
(2) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 
Congress that not less than 30 percent of the funds 
authorized for research and development at OAR by 
this Act should be made available for this purpose. 
(d) REPORT.—The Under Secretary shall transmit to 
Congress annually, concurrently with NOAA’s budget re-
quest, a description of current and planned activities 
under this section. 
SEC. 4. TORNADO WARNING IMPROVEMENT AND EXTEN-
SION PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary, in collabo-
ration with the American weather industry and academic 
partners, shall establish a tornado warning improvement 
and extension program. 
(b) GOAL.—The goal of such program shall be to re-
duce the loss of life and economic losses from tornadoes 
through the development and extension of accurate, effec-
tive, and timely tornado forecasts, predictions, and warn-
ings, including the prediction of tornadoes beyond one 
hour in advance. 
(c) PROGRAM PLAN.—Not later than 6 months after 
the date of enactment of this Act, the Assistant Adminis-
trator for OAR, in consultation with the Assistant Admin-
istrator for NWS, shall develop a program plan that de-
tails the specific research, development, and technology 
transfer activities, as well as corresponding resources and 
timelines, necessary to achieve the program goal. 
(d) BUDGET FOR PLAN.—Following completion of 
the plan, the Assistant Administrator for OAR, in con-
sultation with the Assistant Administrator for NWS, shall
transmit annually to Congress a proposed budget cor-
responding to the activities identified in the plan. 
SEC. 5. HURRICANE WARNING IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary, in collabo-
ration with the American weather industry and academic 
partners, shall establish a hurricane warning improvement 
program. 
(b) GOAL.—The goal of such program shall be to de-
velop and extend accurate hurricane forecasts and warn-
ings in order to reduce loss of life, injury, and damage 
to the economy. 
(c) PROGRAM PLAN.—Not later than 6 months after 
the date of enactment of this Act, the Assistant Adminis-
trator for OAR, in consultation with the Assistant Admin-
istrator for NWS, shall develop a program plan that de-
tails the specific research, development, and technology 
transfer activities, as well as corresponding resources and 
timelines, necessary to achieve the program goal. 
(d) BUDGET FOR PLAN.—Following completion of 
the plan, the Assistant Administrator for OAR, in con-
sultation with the Assistant Administrator for NWS, shall 
transmit annually to Congress a proposed budget cor-
responding to the activities identified in the plan.
SEC. 6. WEATHER RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN-
NING. 
Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment 
of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Assistant Admin-
istrator for OAR, in coordination with the Assistant Ad-
ministrators for NWS and NESDIS, shall issue a research 
and development plan to restore and maintain United 
States leadership in numerical weather prediction and 
forecasting that— 
(1) describes the forecasting skill and tech-
nology goals, objectives, and progress of NOAA in 
carrying out the program conducted under section 3; 
(2) identifies and prioritizes specific research 
and development activities, and performance metrics, 
weighted to meet the operational weather mission of 
NWS; 
(3) describes how the program will collaborate 
with stakeholders, including the American weather 
industry and academic partners; and 
(4) identifies, through consultation with the Na-
tional Science Foundation, American weather indus-
try, and academic partners, research necessary to 
enhance the integration of social science knowledge 
into weather forecast and warning processes, includ-
ing to improve the communication of threat informa-
tion necessary to enable improved severe weather
planning and decisionmaking on the part of individ-
uals and communities. 
SEC. 7. OBSERVING SYSTEM PLANNING. 
The Under Secretary shall— 
(1) develop and maintain a prioritized list of 
observation data requirements necessary to ensure 
weather forecasting capabilities to protect life and 
property to the maximum extent practicable; 
(2) undertake, using OSSEs, OSEs, AOAs, and 
other appropriate assessment tools, ongoing system-
atic evaluations of the combination of observing sys-
tems, data, and information needed to meet the re-
quirements listed under paragraph (1), assessing 
various options to maximize observational capabili-
ties and their cost-effectiveness; 
(3) identify current and potential future data 
gaps in observing capabilities related to the require-
ments listed under paragraph (1); and 
(4) determine a range of options to address 
gaps identified under paragraph (3). 
SEC. 8. OBSERVING SYSTEM SIMULATION EXPERIMENTS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—In support of the requirements of 
section 7, the Assistant Administrator for OAR shall un-
dertake OSSEs to quantitatively assess the relative value
and benefits of observing capabilities and systems. Tech-
nical and scientific OSSE evaluations— 
(1) may include assessments of the impact of 
observing capabilities on— 
(A) global weather prediction; 
(B) hurricane track and intensity fore-
casting; 
(C) tornado warning lead times and accu-
racy; 
(D) prediction of mid-latitude severe local 
storm outbreaks; and 
(E) prediction of storms that have the po-
tential to cause extreme precipitation and flood-
ing lasting from 6 hours to 1 week; and 
(2) shall be conducted in cooperation with other 
appropriate entities within NOAA, other Federal 
agencies, the American weather industry, and aca-
demic partners to ensure the technical and scientific 
merit of OSSE results. 
(b) REQUIREMENTS.—OSSEs shall quantitatively— 
(1) determine the potential impact of proposed 
space-based, suborbital, and in situ observing sys-
tems on analyses and forecasts, including potential 
impacts on extreme weather events across all parts 
of the Nation;
(2) evaluate and compare observing system de-
sign options; and 
(3) assess the relative capabilities and costs of 
various observing systems and combinations of ob-
serving systems in providing data necessary to pro-
tect life and property. 
(c) IMPLEMENTATION.—OSSEs— 
(1) shall be conducted prior to the acquisition 
of major Government-owned or Government-leased 
operational observing systems, including polar-orbit-
ing and geostationary satellite systems, with a 
lifecycle cost of more than $500,000,000; and 
(2) shall be conducted prior to the purchase of 
any major new commercially provided data with a 
lifecycle cost of more than $500,000,000. 
(d) PRIORITY OSSES.—Not later than June 30, 2014, 
the Assistant Administrator for OAR shall complete 
OSSEs to assess the value of data from both Global Posi-
tioning System radio occultation and a geostationary 
hyperspectral sounder global constellation. 
(e) RESULTS.—Upon completion of all OSSEs, re-
sults shall be publicly released and accompanied by an as-
sessment of related private and public sector weather data 
sourcing options, including their availability, affordability, 
and cost effectiveness. Such assessments shall be devel-
oped in accordance with section 50503 of title 51, United 
States Code. 
SEC. 9. COMPUTING RESOURCES PRIORITIZATION REPORT. 
Not later than 12 months after the date of enactment 
of this Act, and annually thereafter, the NOAA Chief In-
formation Officer, in coordination with the Assistant Ad-
ministrator for OAR and the Assistant Administrator for 
NWS, shall produce and make publicly available a report 
that explains how NOAA intends to— 
(1) aggressively pursue the newest, fastest, and 
most cost effective high performance computing 
technologies in support of its weather prediction mis-
sion; 
(2) ensure a balance between the research re-
quirements to develop the next generation of re-
gional and global models and its highly reliable oper-
ational models; 
(3) take advantage of advanced development 
concepts to, as appropriate, make its next generation 
weather prediction models available in beta-test 
mode to its operational forecasters, the American 
weather industry, and its partners in academic and 
government research; 
(4) identify opportunities to reallocate existing 
advanced computing resources from lower priority
uses to improve advanced research and operational 
weather prediction; and 
(5) harness new computing power in OAR and 
NWS for immediate improvement in forecasting and 
experimentation. 
SEC. 10. COMMERCIAL WEATHER DATA. 
(a) AMENDMENT.—Section 60161 of title 51, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: ‘‘This prohibition shall not extend to— 
‘‘(1) the purchase of weather data through con-
tracts with commercial providers; or 
‘‘(2) the placement of weather satellite instru-
ments on cohosted government or private payloads.’’. 
(b) STRATEGY.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months 
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary of Commerce, in consultation with the Under 
Secretary, shall transmit to the Committee on 
Science, Space, and Technology of the House of 
Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, 
Science, and Transportation of the Senate a strategy 
to enable the procurement of quality commercial 
weather data. The strategy shall assess the range of 
commercial opportunities, including public-private 
partnerships, for obtaining both surface-based and
space-based weather observations. The strategy shall 
include the expected cost effectiveness of these op-
portunities as well as provide a plan for procuring 
data, including an expected implementation timeline, 
from these nongovernmental sources, as appropriate. 
(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The strategy shall in-
clude— 
(A) an analysis of financial or other bene-
fits to, and risks associated with, acquiring 
commercial weather data or services, including 
through multiyear acquisition approaches; 
(B) an identification of methods to address 
planning, programming, budgeting, and execu-
tion challenges to such approaches, including— 
(i) how standards will be set to ensure 
that data is reliable and effective; 
(ii) how data may be acquired through 
commercial experimental or innovative 
techniques and then evaluated for integra-
tion into operational use; 
(iii) how to guarantee public access to 
all forecast-critical data to ensure that the 
American weather industry and the public 
continue to have access to information crit-
ical to their work; and
(iv) in accordance with section 50503 
of title 51, United States Code, methods to 
address potential termination liability or 
cancellation costs associated with weather 
data or service contracts; and 
(C) an identification of any changes needed 
in the requirements development and approval 
processes of the Department of Commerce to 
facilitate effective and efficient implementation 
of such strategy. 
SEC. 11. WEATHER RESEARCH AND INNOVATION ADVISORY 
COMMITTEE. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Under Secretary shall es-
tablish a Federal Advisory Committee to— 
(1) provide advice for prioritizing weather re-
search initiatives at NOAA to produce real improve-
ment in weather forecasting; 
(2) provide advice on existing or emerging tech-
nologies or techniques that can be found in private 
industry or the research community that could be in-
corporated into forecasting at NWS to improve fore-
casting; 
(3) identify opportunities to improve commu-
nications between weather forecasters, emergency 
management personnel, and the public; and
(4) address such other matters as the Under 
Secretary or the Advisory Committee believes would 
improve innovation in weather forecasting. 
(b) COMPOSITION.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall 
appoint leading experts and innovators from all rel-
evant fields of science and engineering that inform 
meteorology, including atmospheric chemistry, at-
mospheric physics, hydrology, social science, risk 
communications, electrical engineering, and com-
puter modeling. 
(2) NUMBER.—The Advisory Committee shall 
be composed of at least 12 members, with the chair 
of the Advisory Committee chosen by the Under Sec-
retary from among the members. 
(3) RESTRICTION.—The Under Secretary may 
not appoint a majority of members who are employ-
ees of NOAA-funded research centers. 
(c) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Advisory Committee 
shall transmit annually to the Under Secretary a report 
on progress made by NOAA in adopting the Advisory 
Committee’s recommendations. The Under Secretary shall 
transmit a copy of such report to the Committee on 
Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Rep-
resentatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, 
and Transportation of the Senate. 
(d) DURATION.—Section 14 of the Federal Advisory 
Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply to the Ad-
visory Committee until the date that is 5 years after the 
date of enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 12. INTERAGENCY WEATHER RESEARCH AND INNOVA-
TION COORDINATION. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director of the Office of 
Science and Technology Policy shall establish an Inter- 
agency Committee for Advancing Weather Services to im-
prove coordination of relevant weather research and fore-
cast innovation activities across the Federal Government. 
The Interagency Committee shall— 
(1) include participation by the National Aero-
nautics and Space Administration, the Federal Avia-
tion Administration, NOAA and its constituent ele-
ments, the National Science Foundation, and such 
other agencies involved in weather forecasting re-
search as the President determines are appropriate; 
(2) identify and prioritize top forecast needs 
and coordinate those needs against budget requests 
and program initiatives across participating offices 
and agencies; and
(3) share information regarding operational 
needs and forecasting improvements across relevant 
agencies. 
(b) CO-CHAIR.—The Federal Coordinator for Meteor-
ology shall serve as a co-chair of this panel. 
(c) FURTHER COORDINATION.—The Director shall 
take such other steps as are necessary to coordinate the 
activities of the Federal Government with those of the 
American weather industry, State governments, emer-
gency managers, and academic researchers. 
SEC. 13. OAR AND NWS EXCHANGE PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Assistant Administrator for 
OAR and the Assistant Administrator for NWS may es-
tablish a program to detail OAR personnel to the NWS 
and NWS personnel to OAR. 
(b) GOAL.—The goal of this program is to enhance 
forecasting innovation through regular, direct interaction 
between OAR’s world-class scientists and NWS’s oper-
ational staff. 
(c) ELEMENTS.—The program shall allow up to 10 
OAR staff and NWS staff to spend up to 1 year on detail. 
Candidates shall be jointly selected by the Assistant Ad-
ministrator for OAR and the Assistant Administrator for 
NWS.
(d) REPORT.—The Under Secretary shall report an-
nually to the Committee on Science, Space, and Tech-
nology of the House of Representatives and to the Com-
mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the 
Senate on participation in such program and shall high-
light any innovations that come from this interaction. 
SEC. 14. VISITING FELLOWS AT NWS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Assistant Administrator for 
NWS may establish a program to host postdoctoral fellows 
and academic researchers at any of the National Centers 
for Environmental Prediction. 
(b) GOAL.—This program shall be designed to pro-
vide direct interaction between forecasters and talented 
academic and private sector researchers in an effort to 
bring innovation to forecasting tools and techniques avail-
able to the NWS. 
(c) SELECTION AND APPOINTMENT.—Such fellows 
shall be competitively selected and appointed for a term 
not to exceed 1 year. 
SEC. 15. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) AOA.—The term ‘‘AOA’’ means an Anal-
ysis of Alternatives.
(2) NESDIS.—The term ‘‘NESDIS’’ means 
the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and In-
formation Service. 
(3) NOAA.—The term ‘‘NOAA’’ means the Na-
tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 
(4) NWS.—The term ‘‘NWS’’ means the Na-
tional Weather Service. 
(5) OAR.—The term ‘‘OAR’’ means the Office 
of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. 
(6) OSE.—The term ‘‘OSE’’ means an Observ-
ing System Experiment. 
(7) OSSE.—The term ‘‘OSSE’’ means an Ob-
serving System Simulation Experiment. 
(8) UNDER
SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Under 
Secretary’’ means the Under Secretary of Commerce 
for Oceans and Atmosphere. 
SEC. 16. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
(a) FISCAL YEAR 2014.—There are authorized to be 
appropriated for fiscal year 2014— 
(1) $83,000,000 to OAR to carry out this Act, 
of which— 
(A) $65,000,000 is authorized for weather 
laboratories and cooperative institutes; and 
(B) $18,000,000 is authorized for weather 
and air chemistry research programs; and