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UrbaNet
Public/Private Meteorological Partnership
The Air Resources Laboratory of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has initiated a research program involving the private sector, to explore the utility of using local meteorological data from private as well as government sources in forecasting for urban areas. The program is referred to as "UrbaNet." In response to Congressional guidance, the first studies will be focused on the National Capital Region and ten additional metropolitan areas. The first phase of this study will begin in FY 2006. Subsequently, the work will address other cities and urban areas, to be identified on the basis of homeland security threat, scientific need, and data availability. It is anticipated that this project will be three years in length.
The work will be in collaboration with the operator of a private/commercial meteorological network with a large array of measurement sites within the United States. The network in question will provide data on wind velocity, averaged over fifteen minute periods, and accompanying evaluations of the variability of each wind component. In addition, accurate temperature data will be required. All such data will be quality assured using the NOAA MADIS system.
Congress believes there is great potential in the application of commercial mesonet data for homeland security and emergency management. Congress has directed NOAA to initiate a research program with an existing commercial national mesonet provider to validate the benefits of the application of such data for all relevant hazards. The commercial mesonet provider should have an existing national network of weather stations that is centrally managed with uniform instrumentation. Based on these criteria and extensive market research, NOAA ARL has identified AWS Convergence Technologies (AWS) as the sole qualified commercial provider that meets the criteria assigned by Congress.
The goal of this cooperative agreement is to determine an optimal methodology for determining how meteorological data collected by entities other than the National Weather Service can be integrated with observations presently employed, so as to improve the accuracy of urban and other local forecasts. The focus will be on the forecasting of personal exposures to hazardous materials. This cooperative agreement will demonstrate the utility of this methodology, with initial attention to the National Capital Region and subsequently to ten other high threat areas in Year I of the program. NOAA/ARL will also develop and maintain a research network of specialized observation stations within the National Capital region and in other urban areas as necessary. NOAA/ARL's network will serve as a testbed for testing and evaluation of the utility of integrating diverse mesonet data for the urban environment.
This Cooperative agreement takes advantage of AWS Convergence Technologies’ existing network of surface meteorological systems, erected primarily on the roofs of buildings, providing data in real time, and comprehensively covering much of the greater urban area of the National Capitol Region; AWS Convergence Technologies operates a centrally managed natio nal network. Data from the AWS network have been made available to NOAA through NOAA's Global Systems Division (formerly the NOAA Forecast Systems Laboratory, FSL) of the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research via the FSL MADIS system. UrbaNet Public/Private Meteorological Partnership Blank Blank Research Meteorological Data News & Events NOAA/ARL Milestones Presentations Blank
