NOAA:

1
NOAA Promoting Safe and Efficient Commerce and
Transportation
Charlie Challstrom
January 2005
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Presentation Overview

• Surface Weather within NOAA
• Current Activities
• Future Activities Opportunities
• Challenges

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Surface Weather within NOAAWhy Were Here

• NOAA is responsible for protecting life and
  property and promoting safe and efficient
  commerce and transportation
• Weather contributes to 1,400,000 weather-related
  highway crashes and 7,000 deaths per year
• 17 of all highway fatalities occur during
  adverse weather
• A 1 reduction in Intersection Crashes Saves 100
  Lives and 1.24 Billion/year

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Surface Weather within NOAAWhy Were Here

• Goal
• Identify and implement activities within NOAAs
  mission to reduce the annual loss of life and
  productivity from surface transportation crashes
  and delays

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Surface Weather within NOAA Why Were Here

• Vision
• Safe, secure, efficient, and seamless movement of
  goods and people in the U.S. transportation
  system.
• Environmentally sound development and use of the
  U.S. transportation system

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Surface Weather within NOAA Why Were Here

• NOAA Surface Weather Program
• Established June 2004
• Charter
• Provide the Nation with timely weather and hazard
  information on a scale that supports improvements
  to safe and efficient transportation.
• Apply research and development to all surface
  transportation modes with highways as a priority
  and for prototype purposes.

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Current ActivitiesObservations-Applications-Outre
ach
NDFD
Clarus
MDSS
Training
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Current Activities Partnerships

• US Environmental Information Enterprise
• Public-Private-Academic
• Continuing to communicate and work with the
  Commercial Sector
• Interagency Partnerships
• FHWA Clarus, Vehicle Infrastructure Integration
• OFCM WIST Working Group
• Transportation Community
• NOAA membership in Intelligent Transportation
  Society of America

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Future Activities Opportunities for Partnerships

• Integrated Surface Observing System
• Operational assimilation, ingest, and management
  system for external data
• Add more weather sensors to Geodetic Reference
  Stations
• Identify infrastructure vulnerability through
  Height Modernization
• Vehicles as mobile sensors
• Potential uses of Vehicle Infrastructure
  Integration data temperature, precipitation,
  visibility

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Future Activities Opportunities for Partnerships

• Getting Information to Travelers
• E.g. Linking warnings and advisories to highway
  Variable Message Signs via the Emergency Alert
  System
• Expanding Surface Transportation Weather Research
• Public-Private-Academic Collaboration
• Promoting Best Practices
• StormReady recognition, Training, Education

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Future Activities Trends

• Digital Services
• Users can pull the information they want when
  they need it
• Easier to integrate with information and display
  systems
• Next Generation of Models
• Higher frequency and resolution
• More ground level information
• Hardware Technology
• Radar enhancements for spatial resolution and type

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Challenges

• Technical
• Integrating assimilating data from various
  networks
• Improving prediction of the surface layer of the
  atmosphere
• Turning mobile sensor data into meaningful
  information

• Institutional
• Public-Private-Academic dynamics
• Bringing the weather and transportation
  communities together
• Privacy Issues (particularly mobile sensors)

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Conclusion

• NOAA is responsible for protecting life and
  property and promoting safe and efficient
  commerce and transportation
• A partnership between weather and transportation
  communities can save lives and enhance the
  economy
• More information at surfaceweather.noaa.gov