Fair Weather Effective Partnership in Weather and Climate Services (2003) / Chapter Skim
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5 Impact of Scientific and Technological Advances on Partnerships
5 Impact of Scientific and Technological Advances on Partnerships
Pages 75-92
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From page 75... ...
This chapter reviews scientific and technological changes in the weather and climate information system that have the potential to affect partnerships. The committee focuses on how the evolution of technology might alter the balance between the sectors, rather than on specific technologies, which have been the subject of numerous reported 1Hudson Trend Analysis, 2002, Final Report to tile National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Hudson Institute, Washington, D.C., 161 pp.
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From page 76... ...
Observations were analyzed subjectively, and forecasts were based largely on the empirical skill of government forecasters. Weather and cliCouncil, 2002, Broadband: Bringing Home the Bits, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 336 pp.; National Research Council, 2001, The Internet's Coming of Age, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 236 pp.; National Research Council, 2001, Embedded, Everywhere: A Research Agenda for Networked Systems of Embedded Computers, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 236 pp.; National Research Council, 1999, Adequacy of Climate Observing Systems, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 51 pp.; National Research Council, 1999, Assessment of NASA's Plans for the Post-2002 Earth Observing Missions, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 49 pp.; National Research Council, 1999, A Vision for the National Weather Service: Road Map for the Future, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 76 pp.; National Research Council, 1998, The Atmospheric Sciences Entering the Twenty-First Century, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 384 pp.
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From page 77... ...
Advances in technology, including remote sensing from satellites, radars, and in situ sensors; computers; information and communication technologies; and numerical modeling, coupled with increased understanding derived from investments in research, have produced a weather and climate information system in the United States that is at the cutting edge of science and technology. As scientific understanding and computational capabilities improved throughout the second half of the twentieth century, private companies found opportunities to use government data to create value-added products for clients.
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From page 78... ...
Declining instrument costs have permitted state and local government agencies, universities, and private companies to deploy Doppler radars and arrays of in situ instruments. Increased computing power4 and bandwidth at rapidly dropping prices have enabled a substantial number of private companies and universities to run their own models or models developed by others.
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From page 80... ...
and ground-based 5National Research Council, 1997, Toward a New National Weather Service: Continuity of NOAA Satellites, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 51 pp. National Research Council, 1998, The Atmospheric Sciences Entering the Twenty-First Century, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 384 pp.
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From page 81... ...
, as in the case of lightning data.9 It may soon be possible to deploy networks that reconfigure themselves in response to changing situations, thus providing optimal data coverage at relatively low cost.10 Some of these sensor networks can be automated, further reducing operating costs, although automation raises questions about transmission delays and the robustness and reliability of the underlying networks. The growth of private networks raises both scientific and policy issues.
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From page 82... ...
11National Research Council, 1999, A Vision for the National Weather Service: Road Map for the Future, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 76 pp. Research opportunities for the atmospheric sciences are also outlined in National Research Council, 1998, The Atmospheric Sciences Entering the Twenty-First Century, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 384 pp.
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From page 83... ...
increases, it opens new avenues of research in the academic sector and new business opportunities in the private sector, especially in agriculture, energy, and insurance.l9 16L.A. Treinish, 2002, Coupling of mesoscale weather models to business applications utilizing visual data fusion, in Third Symposium on Environmental Applications: Facilitating the Use of Environmental Information, American Meteorological Society, Orlando, Fla., pp.
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From page 85... ...
Weather Radio as well as television and commercial radio. The advent of digital communications increased the speed of data transmission and created new avenues for delivering data to users, such as the Internet, cable, satellite television, and wireless devices.
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From page 86... ...
Information analysis and search tools allow Internet users to obtain more specialized weather data anywhere, anytime. For example, both NWS and private sector web sites allow users to obtain weather forecasts by zip code.
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have been using digital forecast databases for several years. Examples include the Canadian SCRIBE (R.
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From page 88... ...
Making use of the full range of modern database technology can have a much larger impact on the weather enterprise than even the NDFD will have, because the NDFD will initially provide database access only to NWS forecast products. As described in Box 5.4, the use of a database management system for archiving and distributing the underlying data can greatly improve the usability and flexibility of the database.
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From page 89... ...
Advances in wireless and semiconductor technologies have created new opportunities for the private sector to deliver weather information to clients via portable wireless devices, such as cell phones, personal digital assistants, and pagers. All standard digital cell phones have a feature called "cell broadcasting" that allows text messages to be pushed to all phones in a given cell at no additional cost.26 Because the message is broadcast from the control channel, the system does not overload.
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From page 90... ...
However, weather information is of such interest to the public that regulatory mechanisms may not be required to encourage expansion of this new avenue of dissemination.29 Given the rapid technological advances in both wired and wireless communications, all sectors must constantly evaluate the costs and utility of the various dissemination approaches for meeting customer needs. Cooperation between the NWS and the private sector will greatly facilitate the efficient use of dissemination technologies that serve both the specialized user and the general public.
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From page 91... ...
31See, for example, National Research Council, 1995, Preserving Data on Our Physical Universe, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 167 pp.; National Research Council, 2000, Ensuring the Climate Record from the NPP and NPOESS Meteorological Satellites, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 51 pp.; National Research Council, 2002, Assessment of the Usefulness and Availability of NASA's Earth and Space Science Mission Data, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 100 pp. 32Testimony on NOAA's FY 2003 budget regarding satellite data utilization and management by Conrad C
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From page 92... ...
forecasts by the private sector, and the implementation of Internet search tools and the National Digital Forecast Database by the NWS. Prudent public policy must be based on the assumption that rapid advances in scientific understanding and technology will continue.
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