Archive of Spotlight Feature Articles

The Office of Weather and Air Quality: Leading Partnerships in Weather Research

By John Gaynor

“Everyone talks about the weather,
but nobody does anything about it.”

Thus goes a saying attributed to Mark Twain.

Of course the reason everybody talks about the weather – and presumably they always have – is that weather phenomena, whether a severe storm or sunny skies, affect how we live our lives every day.

Asserting that “nobody does anything about it,” however, might raise an argument from researchers around the world who have dedicated their lives to better understanding of weather, improving forecasts of dangerous weather, and seeking ways to make people and society less vulnerable to the vagaries of weather.

Leading the way in NOAA (the agency doing something about weather), is the Office of Weather and Air Quality (OWAQ), part of NOAA Research, or the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR). It is this coordinating office, the OAR/OWAQ, that fosters and leverages weather research, especially through initiating and coordinating partnerships throughout NOAA, across federal and state agencies, and with universities and international players.

Graph showing Atlantic hurricane track forecast errors

Collaborative work of NOAA's Office of Weather and Air Quality, such as that with the U.S. Weather Research Program, has contributed to improvements in hurricane tracking, as seen in graph.

For example, the US Weather Research Program (USWRP) involves three NOAA divisions - the National Weather Service, the satellite and data service, and NOAA Research - as well as the Navy, U.S. Air Force, NASA, and the National Science Foundation (NSF). The work of the USWRP has directly led to significant improvements in hurricane track forecasts, and the program also has funded the creation of a USWRP/NOAA/NCAR Societal Impacts Program.

The Societal Impacts Program is the only on-going activity for socio-economic studies for weather in the nation. One of its many success stories is the hugely popular Weather and Society Integrated Studies project.

THORPEX is an international program under the World Meteorological Organization involving 13 countries, and in the U.S., NOAA leads the effort that includes Navy researchers, NSF, and NASA. The field research under THORPEX aims to accelerate improvements in high-impact weather forecasts out to week two. It also provides a weather-climate link. In NOAA, OAR/OWAQ implements the program, working closely with NWS and NESDIS.

Global map showing satellite cloud cover

Photo collage showing global impacts of severe weather associated with a particular weather pattern.

NOAA leads the U.S. effort in THORPEX, which like weather patterns that extend across the globe (above), involves researchers from 13 other countries and the World Meteorological Organization in global research to extend accurate weather forecasts beyond a week. Illustrating the point, the photo collage (below) shows impacts of severe weather associated with Rossby wave-trains that encircled the globe during November of 2002.

Brochure cover for Grand Challenges for Disaster Reduction

NOAA's Weather and Air Quality office contributes articles on tornadoes, hurricanes, and other weather topics for a brochure on reducing impacts of hazards of all types.

The Subcommittee for Disaster Reduction (SDR) consists of 23 federal agencies and informs the President's Science Advisor on science issues. The SDR provides science planning guidance to the agencies so they can set their research priorities. One of the more recent documents authored by the SDR is the Grand Challenges for Disaster Reduction. Currently Grand Challenge science implementation documents are being prepared for each major hazard topic, and the Office of Weather and Air Quality is leading the preparation of all of the weather-related documents such as hurricanes and tornadoes.

Finally, OAR/OWAQ is leading the preparation of an interagency Wind Hazard Reduction Implementation Plan which will be publicly released soon. Related to this, OAR/OWAQ is also in the lead on an emerging NIST-NOAA partnership on community resilience to hazards (tsunamis, tornadoes, hurricanes, and storm surge). Additionally, a member of the U.S.-Japan Joint Panel on Wind and Seismic effects resides in OAR/OWAQ. The mission of this panel is to foster cooperative science projects within the wind and seismic themes between the U.S. and Japan.

The Office of Weather and Air Quality forms a critical link to other NOAA divisions and to our external partners in socially relevant weather research, taking full advantage of opportunities to leverage research and accelerate advancements.

3/6/2006

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