1 / 17

Herb White NOAA’s National Weather Service National Hurricane Conference April 6, 2004

Information Dissemination Technologies & Architecture: Meeting the Growing Needs of Decision-Makers and the Public The National Weather Service Perspective. Herb White NOAA’s National Weather Service National Hurricane Conference April 6, 2004. NWS Mission

shani
Download Presentation

Herb White NOAA’s National Weather Service National Hurricane Conference April 6, 2004

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Information Dissemination Technologies & Architecture: Meeting the Growing Needs of Decision-Makers and the PublicThe National Weather Service Perspective Herb White NOAA’s National Weather Service National Hurricane Conference April 6, 2004

  2. NWS Mission Forecast & Warning Environmental Hazards All-Hazards Warning Responsibility NWS Role in Dissemination NWS IT Architecture Support for the Mission All-Hazards: What Do We Mean? How Civil Emergency Messages Reach the Public NWS Dissemination Major Users and Methods Change Considerations NWS Digital Services Vision New Codes and Formats Discussion Outline

  3. Produce Weather, Water and Climate Forecasts and Warnings For All Americans To Protect Life and Property To Enhance the National Economy Data and Products: Government Agencies Private Sector The Public Global Communities Weather and data are becoming more important to economy and business decisions “The annual cost of electricity could decrease by at least $1 billion if the accuracy of weather forecasts improved 1 degree Fahrenheit.” USA Today, 6/19/01 The NWS Mission

  4. Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act provides FEMA the authority to delegate the responsibility “for necessary emergency preparedness communications and for dissemination of warnings to the civilian population of a hazard.” FEMA’s National Response Plan (NRP/FRP) Communications Annex (Emergency Support Function - ESF #2) to NRP/FRP tasks NOAA/NWS to “provide public dissemination of critical pre and post event information on the all hazards NOAA Weather Radio.” Former FEMA Director Joe Allbaugh in June 2002 reaffirmed NWS responsibility under ESF #2 to disseminate “all hazards” emergency information over NWS systems NWS All-Hazards Responsibility

  5. NWS Role in the Dissemination of Information Observations International Organizations NWS Commercial Services and Media Federal, State, and Local Agencies Public

  6. Mission Mission support Administration • Forecasts and Warnings • Coordination with the • Partner/User Community • Backup Operations • Archiving • Performance Verification Business Architecture Business Architecture Components Mission Component Functions

  7. “All-Hazards” emergency messages include: Natural Hazards (tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, earthquakes) Accidents (chemical releases, oil spills, nuclear power plant emergencies, maritime accidents, train derailments) Terrorism Criteria to disseminate non-weather (i.e. civil emergency) messages: Public safety is involved Message comes from an official government source Information is time critical Broadcast of All-Hazards Emergency Messages entails: Message collection, authentication, and dissemination “All-Hazards” MessagesWhat Do We Mean?

  8. How Civil Emergency Messages Reach the Public HazCollect (2005) Civil Emergency Message Weather Forecast Office NOAA Weather Radio Weather Wire Service Family of Services Commercial Radio/TV (Emergency Alert System) LEGEND Commercial Vendors Message delivered Message delivered if appropriate receiver exists Message delivered according to state plans Voluntary Public

  9. Partners & Customers Local, State, Federal Governments & Agencies Local & National Media Academic & Professional Community Private Meteorological Companies Public International Meteorological Community Methods Family of Services (FOS) NOAAPORT Emergency Managers Weather Information Network (EMWIN) NOAA Weather Radio (also input to EAS) NOAA Weather Wire (also input into EAS) Internet NWS DisseminationMajor Users and Methods

  10. Partners and customers becoming more sophisticated Demand for faster access to information and updates Data Explosion Increased resolution and frequency of observations and forecast models Increased number of sensors and improved sensing technology New spatial and temporal requirements Graphics, imagery, and video Thousands of small products IT has provided new information exchange pathways Internet services (ex.: http, ftp, push) Digital data exchange Graphical Bandwidth Technology selection Estimation of capacity growth Transmission of ‘information’ versus ‘raw data’ Allow scientists to focus on content rather than format NRC recommendation to provide data and products in digital form Why Digital Services?

  11. Change Considerations • Federal agencies to use “voluntary consensus standards” • PL 104-113 (National Technology and Transfer Act of 1995) • Government Paperwork Elimination Act of 1998 • eGovernment Act of 2002 • National Academy of Sciences NRC’s “Fair Weather: Effective Partnerships in Weather and Climate Services” • NWS’ interactions with myriad systems, domestic and international. Ex.: • NWR is NWS’ primary input to EAS • Global Telecommunications System (GTS) • International Satellite Communications System (ISCS)

  12. To meet customer and partner needs for high quality, accessible, and reliable digital weather, water, and climate services through optimized forecast operations. NWS Digital Services Vision

  13. More timely and consistent weather information Information delivered in a variety of formats to meet diverse needs Higher temporal and spatial resolution Focus on science Easier access to, and use of, information Support for Partners and Weather Enterprise Benefits

  14. Digital Services will support the growing demand for reliable, updated, high resolution weather information Maximize use of technology and science Utilize scalable systems and software allowing staged approach to meet customer needs & requirements Digital database will become the primary product of the NWS Improved partnerships to facilitate evolution of digital services Summary

  15. Valid Time Event Code (2004-2005 implementation) VTEC will reduce errors and ensure consistency and continuity in watch, warning and advisory text products VTEC will improve Partners’ use and interpretation of critical NWS watches, warnings and advisories Formats (use by NWS is experimental) XML (Extensible Markup Language) CAP (Common Alerting Protocol) RSS (Really Simple Syndication) NewCodes and Formats

  16. Will migration from fixed format products to information or content-centric service meet emergency managers’ and public warning needs? Correct approach? What format types? What is the future need for plain-text products? Forecasts? Warnings and advisories? Open the Discussion

  17. NWS Dissemination ServicesNWS Office of Climate, Water, and Weather ServicesHerbert.White@noaa.gov301-713-0090 x146

More Related