January 2010 1

NWS and Social Science

Jennifer M. SpragueStrategic Planning & Policy Office

National Weather ServiceNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

NWS Partners WorkshopJanuary 2010

January 2010 2

Social Science and NWS

• Social Science is “the process of describing, explaining and predicting human behavior and institutional structure in interaction with their environments.” (Social Science Working Group to the NOAA Science Advisory Board, 2008)

• Integration of social science into NOAA’s information, products and services enable us to go from a good agency to a great agency by helping science better inform policy.

• Integration of social science at the earliest stages of NOAA research and development and through the transition to operations ensures NOAA's science and services best serve the public and policy makers.

January 2010 3

NWS Update

• Social Science S&T Roadmap • NOAA Response to the SAB Social Science Report• NOAA’s Next Generation Strategic Plan and NWS Strategic Plan• Various Social Science Projects underway

– Warning Program– TsunamiReady Program– Storm Surge Warning Team – Climate Prediction Center Valuation Metrics– Forecast-at-a-Glance Icons– NWS Service Assessments– Communication of Flood Risk – Risk Communication and Uncertainty

January 2010 4

Partnerships

• AMS Commission on the Weather and Climate Enterprise Board on Enterprise Communication Plan entitled: “A Weather and Climate Enterprise Strategic Implementation Plan for Generating and Communicating Forecast Uncertainty Information”

– Now out for review: http://www.ametsoc.org/boardpges/cwce/docs/BEC/ACUF/2010-01-Plan.pdf)

• Continued partnerships with the social science research community and leveraging of their expertise.– NCAR Societal Impact Program (SIP)– OU Social Science Woven into Meteorology (SSWIM)– Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI)

• Commercial Weather Industry has extensive experience integrating social science and quantifying economic value of weather services to the Nation– Better understanding of customer needs– Better emphasis on communicating risk effectively