OFCM Overview

1
Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology
DOE Meteorological Coordination Council Emergency
Management Issues, Special Interest Group
Meeting 5 May 2008
Lt Col Mark Fitzgerald Assistant Federal
Coordinator for US Air Force and Army Affairs
2
Overview

• OFCM Mission
• Coordinating Infrastructure
• OFCM Partners
• OFCM Affiliations
• Focus Improving Services
• Key Activities

3
OFCM Mission
Mission
To ensure the effective use of federal
meteorological resources by leading the
systematic coordination of operational weather
requirements, services, and supporting research,
among the federal agencies

• High-level focus on
• Needs and requirements
• Issues and problems
• Studies, reports, plans, and handbooks
• Crosscut reviews, assessments, and analyses

4
Coordinating Infrastructure
Federal Committee for Meteorological Services and
Supporting Research (FCMSSR)
Federal Coordinator for Meteorology
Interdepartmental Committee for Meteorological
Services and Supporting Research (ICMSSR)
National Space Weather Program CouncilCommittee
for Space Weather
Working Group for Urban Meteorology
National Aviation Weather Program
Council Committee for Aviation Services and
Research
Environmental Services, Operations, and Research
Needs
Environmental Information Systems and
Communications
Climate Analysis, Monitoring , and Services
National Operational Processing Centers Program
Council Committee for Operational Processing
Centers
Integrated Observing Systems
Cooperative Research
5
OFCM Partners
Independent agencies

• Environmental Protection Agency
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• National Science Foundation
• National Transportation Safety Board
• Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Executive Office of the President

• Office of Management and Budget
• Office of Science and Technology Policy

6
OFCM Affiliations
Western Governors Association (WGA)
National Science Foundations National Science
Board
University Corp. for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
US Climate Change Science Program (USCCSP)
National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)
American Meteorological Society (AMS)
7
Focus Improving Services

• ATD modeling/services response to
  accidents/terrorism, dispersion forecasts
• Urban Meteorology Joint Urban Testbed
• Wildland Fire Weather needs and issues
  assessment, framework to move ahead
• Multifunction Phased Array Radar risk reduction
• 5D Environmental Database network-centric,
  data-centric future ops
• Trop Cyclone research and operations IHC, TC
  RD Strategy
• National Post-Storm Data Acquisition Plan
  update in progress
• Operational Processing Centers cooperative
  support backup, data assim
• Severe Local Storms Ops Plan update in progress
• Aviation Weather NextGen, Volcanic Ash,
  wx-related mishap reduction
• Space Wx NPOESS SESS, SWx Assessment Follow-up,
  SDR
• Wx for Surface Transportation research
  priorities, transition research to ops
• Hydrometeorological assessment needs,
  capabilities, way ahead
• Climate Analysis, Monitoring and Services
  extreme/high-impact events
• Communications and Data Exchange standards,
  JMBL, XML, cooperation
• Forecast Uncertainty future approach to
  probabilistic forecasting
• Lightning Detection requirements collection
• More.

8
Key Activities

• Atmospheric Transport and Diffusion, Research and
  Development Needs and Priorities
• RD Recommended Improvements
• Quantify model uncertainties
• Capture and use existing data sets
• Implement ATD test beds
• Develop standards for model VV
• Improve spatial and temporal scale interactions
  between meteorological and ATD models
• Improve measurement technology
• Conduct special studies and experiments

9
Key Activities

• Atmospheric Transport and Diffusion
• Facilitating working relationship between NOAA,
  DTRA, and the DHS Interagency Modeling and
  Atmospheric Assessment Center (IMAAC)
• 4 Dec 07 Model Development/Collaboration NOAA,
  IMAAC, NARAC, DTRA, EPA, NRC
• Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated
  Trajectory Model (HYSPLIT) (NOAA Model)
• National Atmospheric Release Advisory Center
  (NARAC) (IMAAC modeling center of choice)

10
Key Activities

• Joint Urban Test bed Effort
• Multi-Agency effort to document
• Method for test bed selection
• Refine best combination of sensors, how many,
  installation location
• Provides services and data to model developers,
  test and evaluation personnel, and users
• Improve initial conditions
• Model VV
• Source term improvements
• Functional areas
• Severe weather
• Homeland security
• Climate
• Air and water quality

11
Key Activities

• Sponsored BASC Report (complete Jul 08)
• Developing Mesoscale Meteorological
  Observational Capabilities to Meet Multiple
  National Needs
• Goal 1. Characterize current mesoscale capability
• Goal 2. Compare US system to other
  benchmarksGoal 3. Describe desirable attributes
  of an integrated national mesoscale observing
  system
• Goal 4. Identify steps to meet multiple national
  needs
• Goal 5. Recommend practical steps to transform
  and modernize current, limited mesoscale
  meteorological observing capabilities

12
Key Activities

• Wildland Fire Weather
• Western Governors Association request
• National needs assessment
• Research and development
• User response, decision support, resulting user
  impacts
• Products, services
• Data collections
• Modeling, prediction, data assimilation
• Info dissemination technologies
• Education, training, outreach, partnering
• Funding and human resources
• Socioeconomic factors
• Capabilities review and gap analysis
• Establish framework to meet needs

13
Key Activities
Focus on Improving Services

• Multifunction Phased Array Radar
• WG/MPAR (FAA, DOD, DHS, DOC)
• Risk reduction, requirements, ops concepts
• Symposium, Oct 07 consensus to move forward
  with risk reduction/ implementation strategy
• 5-D Environmental Data Cloud
• Emergency Management
• Wildland fire weather
• ATD inputs
• Surface transportation weather
• Aviation weather and more

14

• OFCM

Lt Col Mark Fitzgerald Mark.Fitzgerald_at_noaa.gov We
bsite http//www.ofcm.gov [phone]