NOAA Priorities and Planning Workshop-Washington, DC February 15, 2000

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NOAA Priorities and Planning Workshop-2000

NOAA Priorities and Planning Workshop-Washington, DC
February 15, 2000

NOAA identified four Environmental Assessment and Prediction Missions for NOAA:

Advanced Short-term Warning and Forecast Services
Implement Seasonal to Interannual Climate Forecasts
Promote Safe Navigation
Predict and Assess Decadal to Centennial Change

I was invited to participate in the Advanced Short-Term Warning and Forecast Services group of the NOAA workshop. Within this group, there were six breakout tables of 6-10 people to discuss the following topics:

Things that NOAA had done to meet expectations
Things where NOAA did not meet expectations
New Initiatives

The participants at my table included:

Some of the issues that were highlighted for future consideration (planning for FY2002 funding) from the combined Advanced Short-Term Warning and Forecast Services group were:

"Get serious" about funding level for USWRP
Improve and coordinate archiving and access to observational data to the operational and research community, including forging partnerships with other agencies, e.g., NASA, DOD, NSF, NCAR
Enhance use of current satellite data
Accelerate the Advanced Hydrology Prediction System (AHPS)
Improve marine coastal observations
Address NCEP computer power problems
Expand wind profiler network
Make NEXRAD precipitation processing usable in the west and nationwide (i.e., mountainous areas)
Streamline implementation process for the next generation NWP hardware and software
Improve funding and increase emphasis on operational customer support (help desk)
Develop a more integrated budget process by retaining program integrity
Provide an on-line catalog of products, from the NWS, for users and stakeholders
......

A luncheon was held for the Environmental Assessment and Prediction combined working groups, with Dr. James Baker, NOAA Administrator, who provided a presentation about NOAA activities. The current themes for NOAA appear to address the areas of oceans, climate, and space weather.

Returning to the workshop, the facilitator (who was excellent) moved things along quickly, leaving time for discussion of the top two issues presented from each table. There was time for comments from the other tables and some of the issues were combined to build a stronger case.

The summary will be provided by NOAA, from each working group, and will be published within a month. Upon receipt of the URL, I will forward the information to the staff and anyone interested in learning more about all aspects of the workshop.

Linda Miller lmiller@unidata.ucar.edu

Questions or comments can be sent to lmiller@unidata.ucar.edu

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