Trip Report - Washington, DC
26-27 April 1999 - Linda Miller
Monday, April 26, 1999 -
NWS, Silver Spring
Allan Eustis, Chief, Industrial Meteorology (301)
713-0258
-
Allan indicated that NIDS would more than likely be continued with the
three current NIDS providers for up to one more year. The NWS was unable
to collect all of the requirements, do all of the planning and gather the
funding together in time to transition
from the current arrangement. The current NIDS providers have
agreed to serve the Emergency Management community during the coming year.
(more on NIDS later in this report)
- NIDS data are flowing as part of the AWIPS/Modernization And
Restructuring Demonstration, but this will
NOT last. MARD will consist of 29 stations for the final test with up to
eight NIDS products being tested, however these will eventually be
encrypted from the current testing. These products should not be used as
a reliable data stream now.
-
The "user fees" issue is being raised again. This would mean ALL users
would be charged a fee for the data.
- I will monitor this closely.
-
Dr. Bob Winokur, Asst. Administrator for NESDIS, is retiring this
week.
- Susan Zevin, NESDIS, is in charge of the National Climatic Data Center
NCDC and other archive data
centers, within NESDIS. More on data archiving later.
Paul Hirschberg, Office of Meteorology, Principal Scientist -
(301)713-1858
-
Discussion of the composition of the CONDUIT Working Group.
- Paul
recommended that I contact Bob Gall before next Wednesday, 5 May, to
discuss the idea of members and observers. He also asked me to discuss
which participants' trips should be funded.
-
Private industry participants have not been contacting the USWRP for
access to CONDUIT. When they do, we need to have some plan in mind on how
to help accommodate them.
-
I briefed Paul on the AMS-IIPS Special Session 2000 to be held in
January 2000 in Long Beach, CA
-
Discussed the LDM special training workshop to be conducted this summer
for NOAA. Paul suggested that we contact NESDIS, in case they want to
send someone. He is going to forward the workshop announcement.
Skip Wright, Senior Executive Advisor to Director, NWS,
(301)713-3095
Skip is going to send two recent reports released from the NRC that he
felt would be of interest to Unidata. He will also forward the NWS
Strategic Planning Report, when it is ready for distribution.
LeRoy Spayd and Eli Jacks, Office of Meteorology (OM) -
(301)713-1970
-
Discussed funding arm for the Unidata side of the case study project from
the NWS. This project will be funded within the "research" side of the
research and training OM budget and will continue to be included in the
COMET budget.
-
They are quite happy with the number of case studies being made available
through the Web, but continue to suggest more is best.
-
We discussed the special AMS-IIPS session.
Mary Glackin, AWIPS Program Manager - (301)713-1975
- Reviewed letter to Kelly regarding N-AWIPS from Unidata.
- Mary will fax the letter to Louis Uccellini for his review. She will
contact us prior to the Unidata Policy Committee with comments.
-
It will be up to 18 months before N-MAP is integrated into AWIPS
- Bill Carrigg (301 713-0304) is the contact for this project
- AWIPS data archive will be performed by NCDC
- NCDC does not have the equipment working yet (NOAAPort is there, but
no AWIPS is set up yet)
- Requirement for model data archive at NCDC
- FSL is still maintaining the archive, COMET is also archiving
AWIPS data
- AWIPS source code will be provided to Unidata from FSL (Darien Davis
303-497-6347 is the contact)
- Planning is being done for NIDS to become a fifth channel on the
NOAAPort broadcast
- "Push" technology would be implemented for each "group" wanting the
data and that group would forward it on to other customers
or "universities"
- The data will be freely available (a couple of NWS representatives
say there will be a "cost of dissemination" associated with the broadcast)
ACTION: Track this, along with the "user fee" issue mentioned
above.
Tuesday, 27 April - Partners Workshop
Several topics associated with the NOAAPort and AWIPS data streams were
discussed. I have several handouts in my office on the following topics
if you are interested in learning more about them.
Valid Time Event Code (VTEC) - Kevin McCarthy 301-763-8000x7304
- Planned implementation of VTEC on a limited level is September 1999
- VTEC will facilitate automated delivery and routing of NWS text
messages
- full implementation is planned with AWIPS Build 5.0 in summer 2000
- introduces system tracking numbering - new numbers for each event
(several questions of coordination between WFOs)
- if problems occur, send the entire bulletin to Scott.Kiser@noaa.gov
with questions
WMO Headings/Spanish Language Products - Fred Branski 301-713-0880x146
- Some Spanish and English language versions of some products are being
issued under the same WMO heading
- San Juan, PR products being impacted
- NWS wants to hear from customers with ideas
- 3 proposals are being considered - see documentation in my office
Dissemination of Radar Products - Mike Carelli 301-713-1724x184
NWS will be centralizing the collection of radar products to meet its
requirements
- RFP for collection of radar products has been issued as an option on
the recompeted NOAA Weather Wire
- Once radar products collected at NWS headquarters, they will be made
available via a server to all users
- Other distribution methods include the use of NOAAPort and the Local
Data and Acquisition Dissemination System (LDADS)
NOAAPort Panel
A panel was convened to discuss NOAAPort issues.
- GMS satellite data will be added to NOAAPort
- Vis, IR and water vapor data will be added to Channel 4
- Build 5 will include sounding data
- setting up process for receiving input from end users
- NWS will provide updates and changes
- NWS will improve documentation
- I asked NWS to provide Web information on the WMO
headers which would
include the definition and frequency of the products being issued - this
became an action item--other attendees echoed the need
- will include updates on types of data available
NEXRAD - Bob Saffle 301-713-0304x111
- Two major upgrades to NEXRAD are being implemented:
- Open Systems Radar Product Generator (ORPG) to be deployed in
2000-2002, to enable additional scientific products and support better
communications and dissemination of base (Level II) data
- Open Systems Radar Data Acquisition (ORDA) to be deployed in
2002-2004, will enable improvements in data quality, including mitigation
of range folding techniques
- Dual polarization capability is also under development and if all
goes well will be deployed in 2005-2008.
ASOS - Marty Deiseroth/Doug Gifford 301-713-2093
- New product being planned for the ASOS is a sunshine sensor,
deployment beginning in early 2000.
- Dew Point Sensor to be deployed during 2001
- Ice-Free Wind Sensor, deployment beginning in 2003
NGM and Model Output Statistics (MOS) - Paul Dallavalle 301-763-8000x174
- One year overlap planned between NGM MOS and the new AVN MOS guidance
- partial AVN MOS package will be available by Nov 1999 and full package
by Apr 2000
- NGM and NGM MOS guidance available until Apr 2001
- New MOS Guidance
- Develop AVN MOS guidance from 0000 and 1200 UTC runs of the model, 3
hr intervals for projections out to 72 hrs for over 1000 stations in the
contiguous US, Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico
- Work underway to develop an Eta-based MOS system for predicting
thunderstorms and severe weather
- MRF-based MOS package will also be revised during next 18 months
- Timeliness concerns about the AVN MOS Guidance are being considered
- problems encountered at Eastern Region Headquarters from the 0600 and
1800 UTC cycles, considerations include earlier AVN, produce 4 runs/day or
Eta/MOS at 00Z/12Z)
Requirements Process - Rich Lane 301-713-1867x137
Storm Prediction Center - Joe Schaefer and Paul Janish 405-579-0701
- The SPC is proposing several
changes in representation of products to meet AWIPS communications and
transmission requirements
- Experimental Probabilistic Severe Thunderstorm Outlooks (I have
information), also check here for
additional on-line information and references.
- There will be information on their Web site with a place for customer
feedback.
Additional reference material will be in my office for review. It
includes:
-
NEXRAD Product Improvement: Open Systems Rehost
- Dissemination of WSR-88D Products
- Experimental Probabilistic Severe Thunderstorm Outlooks
- Watch Warning Advisory Chart
- Zone Forecast Product
- Short Fused Bullet Style Warnings
- NWS Communication Identifiers Implementation
- Severe Weather Watches by County
- WFO Alphanumeric Products for Phase I-Convective Watch
Decentralization
- SPC Alphanumeric Products for Phase I-Convective Watch
Decentralization
- Convective Watch Decentralization (Phase 1) Watch by County
- Planned Implementation of VTEC
- Future of NGM and Model Output Statistics (MOS)-April 1999
- ASOS
- Spanish and English Products
Linda Miller
lmiller@unidata.ucar.edu
Questions or comments can be sent to
lmiller@unidata.ucar.edu
Go to the Unidata Homepage.
