NWS Climate Services NCTP Regional Cores

1. NWS Climate Services NCTP Regional Cores Fiona Horsfall NWS/OCWWS/Climate Services Division Climate Prediction Applications Science Workshop Tallahassee, Florida March 9, 2004

2. Outline • NWS Climate Servcies • NOAA Climate Transition Program • Regional Climate Cores • Summary

3. NWS CLIMATE SERVICESDefinition • Real-time monitoring • Forecasting products and services • Models and technology, model output • Observations • Customer education, assistance, and outreach

4. NWS CLIMATE SERVICESVision • Real-time monitoring of climate variability (including drought conditions) coast to coast down to the county level

5. NWS CLIMATE SERVICESVision • New forecast products • Linking weather and climate on intraseasonal time scales • Downscaled to local levels • Reflecting new insight into warm season precipitation, drought, and the Southwest monsoon (NAME) • Extending beyond a year to a decade or more

6. NWS CLIMATE SERVICESVision • User-friendly resource to climate services middlemen and providers (including the private sector) of NWS • climate models • climate forecast model output • climate guidance products • know-how

7. NWS CLIMATE SERVICESVision • Capacity to ensure the accuracy and continuity of the U.S. historical record

8. POF (%) Forecasted Temperature (°F) NWS CLIMATE SERVICESVision • Fully-mobilized regional and field offices for • Customer outreach • Downscaling climate forecasts • Product and information dissemination • Integration and quality control of surface observations

9. NWS CLIMATE SERVICESImplementation • Regional Climate Services Program Managers in all six NWS regions • Developing partnerships with RCCs and AASC • NWS Regional and Local Climate Services Implementation Plan Released August 29, 2003 • Climate Services Focal Points appointed in every field office • Training developed (www.nws.noaa.gov/om/csd/pds/index.html)

10. NWS CLIMATE SERVICESImplementation • Climate Services Focal Points appointed in every field office • NWS local experts on climate and climate variability • NWS customer interface for climate information • Local conscience of historical climate record

11. NWS Climate ServicesOperations • 5 goals for plan for regional and local climate services Goal 1:Organize and equip the regional and local offices with guidelines and tools to enhance climate services Goal 2:Provide reliable, timely, accurate, and secure observations and metadata for the climate record Goal 3:Enhance and extend Climate Prediction Center’s (CPC) product suite to increase the use and effectiveness of regional and local climate information. Goal 4:Conduct education and outreach to regional and local customers of climate services Goal 5:Establish strong partnerships with the climate community to facilitate collaborations in the delivery of regional and local climate services Goal 5: Establish strong partnerships with the climate community to facilitate collaborations in the delivery of regional and local climate services

12. NOAA Climate Transition ProgramNCTP • What is NCTP? • Represents a new way of doing business essentialto advance delivery of climate services • A model forproposal-driven, transition to applicationsof research to expand regional/localclimate services • Collaboratively developed between NWS and OAR/OGP • Provides opportunity to develop best partnerships between NOAA assets and with the external community • Responds to NOAA’s vision for“…service delivery methods that continuously assess and respond to user needs with the most reliable information possible.”

13. NOAA Climate Transition Program • What are the program benefits? • Provides a mechanism for embedding research sustainably into operations • Advances scientific research • Supports the next generation of decision-maker relevant climate science • Supportsinteractive learning • Increases scientific and operational capacity • Develops infrastructure • Adapts as demand for climate services increases • Responds to user/decision-maker requirements • Results in products that have value to regional/local climate-sensitive decision-making processes • Competitive, but open to all

14. Problem Identification Education/ Outreach Prototype Development Transfer to Operations NCTP Unit Model Decision- makers Extension Research Operations

15. NOAA Climate Transition ProgramCriteria for Proposal • Clearly defined roles • Research • Operations • Decision maker • Extension • Definedparticipant contributions • Project management description

16. NOAA Climate Transition ProgramCriteria for Proposal cont’d • Formal agreement between participants • Statement of duration and timeline • Benefit analysis (socio-economic and other quantative analyses, ecosystem benefits, etc.) • Address post audit (validation, verification, refinement, maintenance) • Expected outcome clearly defined

17. NOAA Climate Transition Program • Good news! • NCTP is funded for FY05 (2-3 projects) • Currently drafting • FRN (Federal Registry Notice) • Announcement for position to manage program • Brochure with proposal guidelines

18. NOAA Climate Transition Program • What is the context within which NCTP functions? • In an environment that allows for robust interaction between research, operations, and decision-making communities • This requires the development of cohesive and collaborative interactions among the climate community to enhance knowledge, maximize opportunities and limit redundancy

19. The Climate Research-Services Conveyor Belt Information Gathering and Dissemination Research Operations/ Decision-makers NCTP

20. Regional Climate Cores • Cores for Regional Collaboration • Region domain defined by issues, not politics • Regional meetings/conferences • Standardized format for meeting structure • NOAA resource management • Contracted out to local assets, eg., RISAs, RCCs, SCs, universities, self-selecting • Frequency defined by participants

21. Regional Climate Cores Coordination/management NWS NESDIS NOS State entities Federal* research Federal* operations NMFS OAR NOAA RISAs CORE PPI Non-profit RCC Academia SCs Extension Private Sector County Offices *Non-NOAA

22. Share regional/local science Identify policy issues Identify operational issues Facilitate transitions of research to operations Maintain dialogue for regional issues Review consistencies across regions Establish collaborations Set planning guidelines Communicate funding opportunities Make recommendations for regional/local priorities Regional Climate CoreFunctions

23. Regional Climate Cores • A 3-step process • Gather information, needs • Regional conferences • Domain defined by issues, not politics • Develop a capacity for working • Research • Funding • Transfer • Operations • Extension • Delivery and improvement

24. Summary • NWS Climate Services – Leveraging regions and field to develop customer interfaces for delivery of climate services • NCTP and Regional Climate Cores • Provide mechanism for research needs identification and transition to operations • Enable collaborations with national, regional and local climate communities • Develop effective partnerships for decision-maker relevant climate research and service delivery