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Transcript of 1st National Weather and Climate Enterprise Partnership Summit John Horel NOAA Cooperative Institute...
1st National Weather and Climate Enterprise Partnership Summit
John HorelJohn HorelNOAA Cooperative Institute for Regional NOAA Cooperative Institute for Regional
PredictionPredictionDepartment of MeteorologyDepartment of Meteorology
University of UtahUniversity of [email protected]@met.utah.edu
MesoWest: Ad Hoc Approach to MesoWest: Ad Hoc Approach to Integrating MesonetsIntegrating Mesonets
MesoWestMesoWest• A cooperative program to collect, archive, and distribute environmental observations across the Nation
with emphasis on the western United States– 200+ agencies/commercial firms – 1000s of HAM radio operators– 9000+ stations nationally (3500+ stations in western US)
• Primary support: NWS and BLM• Considerable effort placed on basic metadata and MySQL database• Delivery of data via web portal
(http://www.met.utah.edu/mesowest)• For high end users: FTP and LDM
delivery; direct access to MySQL database planned
MesoWestMesoWest
Ben Lomond Peak Snotel, UT (8000’)
Beacon Light RAWS, NV (4800’)
Gunnison Is, UT (4242’)Ben Lomond Peak Snotel, UT (8000’)
Portable fire RAWS, USFS
Mt. Allen, UT (9400’)
MODIS Active Fire MapsMODIS Active Fire Maps
October 29October 31
Establishing Standards for Data Quality: Establishing Standards for Data Quality: Data Quality classes could be misleadingData Quality classes could be misleading
• Quality standards tied to meteorological reporting practices ignore observing needs and sampling strategies required for other environmental applications
• Accurate metadata are critical
• Automated and manual quality control procedures applied to mesonet data are vital
• Mesonet observations must be tagged with estimate of uncertainty for value added products such as gridded analyses
Mt. Allen, UT (9400’)
MetaData Example: Assigning Station IDsMetaData Example: Assigning Station IDs• MesoWest:
– Use NWS Handbook 5 ID if available from NWS Location Identifier (NWSLI) system
– Other networks have often confusing internal ID systems, e.g., RAWS: Satellite ID; non-Satellite; HADS ID; WIMS ID
– We assign temporary IDs to stations that are likely to eventually obtain a NWSLI ID
– We define IDs for all other stations avoiding conflicts with NWSLI
• Recommendations:– Establish an automated nationwide registry for environmental observing
platforms– Encourage equipment manufacturers to develop simple procedures for
station owners to register platforms during installation process– Keep zeroth order registry simple (station name, location, parameters
measured; station owner, contact information) but allow flexibility for owners willing to take effort to provide additional metadata
– Recognize need for metadata for mobile platforms: fire RAWS; instrumented vehicles
Data Rights IssuesData Rights Issues• MesoWest paradigm:
– We accept provisional data from anyone willing to share the data at no cost and allow dissemination of the data to users without additional charge
– We stress to prospective data providers that increased use of their data will help to justify deployment of the existing equipment and future upgrades
– Data ownership resides with the station owner– We coordinate with other groups (FSL/MADIS, WFOs, universities) to
exchange data collected locally, regionally, nationally to minimize duplication of effort
– Disclaimer: Data contained in MesoWest arise …
• Recommendation:– Encourage unfettered exchange of weather data especially from
equipment deployed by government agencies
Data Distribution and Availability:Data Distribution and Availability:Real-time and Retrospective AccessReal-time and Retrospective Access
• MesoWest approach:– We accept provisional data in any format and store it in a MySQL
database– Access to real-time and retrospective data is seamless for many
types of applications– Require users to fill out request form if can’t be retrieved from web
interface
• Recommendations:– Many data providers perform QC on provisional data with time
delays of order a day. Should develop procedures to collect QC’d data for retrospective access
– Acceptance of mesonet data into regional/national climate databases should be encouraged
Legal and Economic IssuesLegal and Economic Issues• Data providers to MesoWest are often initially concerned about the use
of provisional data in litigation (permitting, agency actions and accidents, etc.)
• Local & regional efforts to deploy, collect, archive, and disseminate environmental information are chronically underfunded. National efforts will succeed if they build upon local needs/expertise/experience.
• The economics of MesoWest:– Current “business model”:
• Data are free• Value added products and direct access to database should be
supported by users• Considerable effort justified (inappropriately?) as public service
– Limited support for ongoing development and maintenance by NWS and BLM
– Consortium established to provide way for major users of MesoWest to contribute to maintenance and R&D
– MesoWest resources are underexploited for commercial applications
What’s Required for Success?What’s Required for Success?• Recognize the diverse needs, requirements, and approaches for collecting
environmental information– Support ongoing local and regional efforts to collect environmental information
– Encourage best-practice models for installation and maintenance
– Promote data quality standards that are not biased by user community, sampling strategy, etc.
• Develop straightforward procedures to register environmental platforms• Distinguish between the needs for provisional data in near real time vs. QC’d data
retrospectively– Provisional data requires automated QC procedures
– Incorporating more extensive QC procedures, including human evaluation, should be encouraged for archival level data
• Encourage coordination and reduce duplication of effort by establishing stations that have multiple purposes
– For example, COOP Modernization would be greatly enhanced if additional sensors added: wind, RH, pressure. Pavement sensors? Air quality?
• Support R&D that helps to develop new sensor and communication technologies, deployment strategies, QC methodologies, value added products, etc.