Fair Weather Effective Partnership in Weather and Climate Services (2003) / Chapter Skim
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3 Public, Private, and Academic Partnerships
3 Public, Private, and Academic Partnerships
Pages 43-56
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From page 43... ...
This chapter describes the National Weather Service (NWS) partnership policy, reviews examples of partnerships that have benefited users of weather and climate data and information, and summarizes areas of friction that may lead to inefficiencies in the weather enterprise.
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From page 45... ...
Government-Academic Partnerships Because weather data are scientific in nature, the government rightly seeks to have a strong scientific component in its national weather programs. Indeed, a significant effort in the NWS modernization program was the effort to collocate new weather service offices in academic research environments.2 (The great majority of state climate offices and regional climate centers are located at universities.)
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The South African Weather Service provided the meteorological support for the rescue mission, using an experimental real-time weather prediction modeling system (Antarctic Mesoscale Prediction System LAMPS]
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An example is the Northwest Regional Modeling Consortium, which was created in the early 1990s to collect upper-air observations over Puget Sound and improve predictions of local weather and air quality.6 Today, 10 agencies pool resources to gather real-time data from two dozen networks in the Northwest and fund the application of a highresolution mesoscale weather prediction mode!
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An example of government-private sector cooperation that is currently being forged is the Homeland Security Initiative.9 In the event of a biological or chemical attack, AWS Convergence Technologies will provide realtime access to data at no cost from its commercial network of 6000 automated weather stations most of which are located in major metropolitan areas to the NWS, the military, and emergency response agencies. The quality of the data and their application in NCEP models are currently being evaluated at NOAA's Forecast Systems Laboratory.10 The NWS hopes to add this information to its large information base to better assess local weather conditions and predict where airborne hazardous materials could spread.
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provides learning modules and offers opportunities for members of the private or academic sectors to participate as instructors, guest lecturers, or experts or to spend a sabbatical in the program.l2 The "WSI on Campus" program provides participating colleges and universities with workstations and animation software for training students in broadcast meteorology.l3 Williams Energy Marketing and Trading Company entered into a five-year partnership with the University of Oklahoma's school of meteorology to enhance weather and climate research, develop specialized technologies, and improve graduate and undergraduate meteorology education.l4 The agreement enabled the university to expand research on advanced weather analysis and prediction, apply a climate system mode! to energy-related concerns, purchase a supercomputer, create a computer laboratory for students, and fund graduate and undergraduate students.
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A more visible partnership was created for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. The partnership included private meteorologists, who provided site-specific forecasts at the various Olympic venues under the direction of KSL-IV chief meteorologist Mark Eubank.l8 NWS forecasters 15NIDS was operated by four private sector companies that had contracted with the NWS to disseminate NEXRAD data.
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example, in the 1996 Atlanta games, the Canadian Meteorological Service assisted by providing forecasters, especially those who spoke French. 19More than 110 agencies, universities, and commercial firms operate networks of weather sensors or contribute data to MesoWest, including the Bureau of Land Management, Soil Conservation Service, state resource and transportation departments, ski resorts and avalanche centers, and weather forecast offices.
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The examples cover issues such as the provision of similar products and services by multiple sectors, use of private sector technologies to improve federal products, dispute resolution, outsourcing, and data quality. Only one example concerns climate products (example 27~; the others concern weather products and services.
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Increasing amounts of data and more sophisticated quality control of the data in the analysis and modeling systems are addressing the impact of data errors on numerical weather prediction. The NWS expects that modernization of the Cooperative Observer Network, the planned upgrading of the Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS)
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Act call for activities that are not inherently governmental to be performed by the private sector whenever economically justified.24 The NWS currently spends $50 24OBM Circular A-76, Performance of Commercial Activities, Implementation of the Federal Activities Inventory Reform (FAIR) Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-270)
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Another company suggests that the infrastructure for observing, communicating, and data processing be consolidated and contracted out to enable local forecast offices to focus on operations and research, rather than on routine systems operation and maintenance (example 18~. In its response, the NWS notes that given the new NWS requirements for centralized NEXRAD data collection and distribution, it was more cost-effective to expand NWS capabilities than to contract out the service.
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Behavior may be perceived as unfair if a contract is seen to have been violated. The 1991 NWS public-private partnership policy states that the NWS "will not compete with the private sector when a service is currently provided or can be provided by commercial 38 The committee commissioned a paper on the issues of "fairness" in the context of government relations and services.
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