Volunteer Observing Ships (VOS) Port Meteorological Officers (PMO) Workshop John D. Murphy Director, Office of Science & Technology (U.S. National Weather Service) Acting Observation Portfolio Lead Aug 25, 2014

Outline NWS PPA and Hq Restructure Proposed Observation Portfolio Portfolio Introduction FY15 Thrust Areas Baseline Investments FY15 Milestones VOS Normalization

Restructured NWS Programs, Projects, Activities (PPAs) Existing Programs PPAs Surface, Ocean & Upper Air Observations, Aircraft Obs, Radiosondes, NEXRAD, ASOS, Buoys, Snow Surveys, Profilers, National Mesonet, Observations Support Observations Data Collection/Display, AWIPS, Model Implementations, Supercomputing, Advanced Hydrologic Prediction System Central Processing Forecast Process Analyze, Forecast, Support WFO Forecasts & Warnings, National Service Centers, River Forecast Centers, CWSUs, Tsunami Services, Decision Support Services, WCM/SCH Program We are also relying on the key part that social science can do to make our services as effective as possible. We are working to ensure that the message we deliver is the message that is received and that the message results in action that protects life and property. Social media plays an important part in our communication. A good example of how social media can help communicate occurred during a tornado outbreak last month in the Midwestern United States. People spread the news by cellphone and text message, warning large numbers of people who were in church on Sunday morning. There were, unfortunately, six fatalities, but we compare this with a similar outbreak on Palm Sunday in 1965, before messaging could occur, when we lost 267 people. Budget uncertainty is greatest challenge for NWS. We have concentrated on creating a budget structure that follows the forecasting process. IT & Dissemination Systems; Telecommunications Gateway, NOAA Weather Radio; NEXTGEN, Ground Readiness, NOMADS Dissemination Science & Technology Integration Research/Development/Assess, Environmental Modeling Center, Test and Demonstration, WRN Pilots, Testbeds, Training, CSTAR, Education & Outreach, SOO/DOH Program

Proposed HQ Organization Structure HQ Office Field Office Pre-Decisional & Administratively Confidential

High Level Organization Chart of NWS Observation Office Note: Below is the proposed office structure reviewed/approved by NWS AA/DAA on 6/5/2014 Divisions: Composed of 3 Divisions under an Observations Office: Maritime (NDBC), Radar (ROC), & SFC/UA Branches: NDBC and ROC branch structure left as is due to interagency/cross-agency coordination that would be required of any changes. In addition, they were told organizational changes would be limited to Silver Spring campus. Therefore, any changes should only occur following the new organizational stand up and only after proper functional/workload analyses. SFC/UA branches are proposed IAW major functions to be performed Observations Office Portfolio Responsibilities include (not limited): Portfolio Planning, Budget Execution Input, Schedule, Risk Management, Engineering Support, Program Management Support, Acquisition Support Portfolio Management Staff Alternative 2 is based upon further analysis and feedback from John Murphy as Observation Portfolio lead ROC NDBC SFC/UA Radar systems Maritime systems Surface/Upper Air Systems 5 Pre-Decisional & Administratively Confidential

OBS Portfolio Introduction Includes NWS systems (and ‘data buys’) that provide observations from radar, upper air, surface and marine environments used to support NWS’ mission of providing weather, water, and climate data forecasts and warnings for the protection of life and property; and for the enhancement of the National economy Funding supports O&M of existing systems as well as development and implementation (PAC) of new observational capabilities required to meet the NOAA strategic plan goals for a Weather-Ready Nation Funding for these systems provide up-to-date and accurate information to the Nation through support of the 122 WFOs, 13 RFCs, and 10 national Centers. It improves the resiliency of the American public and the US economy and reduces the potential of societal and economic impacts due to high impact weather events FY 2015 President’s Budget Estimate Funding ($ ,000) FTE *$213,591 804 *ORF & PAC

FY15 Thrust Areas “Do no harm” with PPA realignment Improve return on investments Normalize programs Smart data buys Lean logistics to achieve Ao

Baseline Investments Marine Comprehensive, reliable systems and marine observations to support missions of NWS and NOAA, promote public safety, and satisfy future needs of many external customers Operations & maintenance of buoys and coastal stations providing real-time meteorological, climatological, and tsunami data High quality meteorological/environmental data in real time from automated observing systems including buoys in the open ocean and coastal zones surrounding the US Engineering support, including applications development, buoy deployment & operations, and installation/operation of automated observing systems installed on fixed platforms Assessment: Investment Name ($ ,000) CWB C-MAN DART TWC Sea Level TAO PIRATA VOS GLOS Portfolio Total FTE’s 37.6 1.9 39.5 Labor $4,689 $274 $0 $4,963 PCS NSP Non-Labor $18,811 $9,998 $1,500 $6,100 $600 $180 $5 $37,014 TOTALS $23,500 $10,272 $42,157 Scenario 1:  $23.5M (NDBC labor, CWB/C-MAN, AK buoys & Hurricane buoys) + ~150 DAS from the USCG = ~70%   Scenario 2:  $26.0M (NDBC labor, CWB/C-MAN, AK buoys & Hurricane buoys) + ~150 DAS from the USCG + $2.0M for supplemental ship time = 80% Pre-Decisional & Administratively Confidential

FY 2015 Milestones (1) The 20 portfolio milestones are broken into 2 groups for ‘slidesmanship’ only… There are approximately 75 portfolio milestones collected by the OBS Team (NWSH & Field reps) Thrust Area Milestone $ ROM Quarter Due Sustain NEXRAD Maintain at Ao of 96% or higher $40.0M Q4 Sustain Rawinsonde Maintain 102 sites with GPS at 2 launches / day $22.0M Sustain ASOS Maintain 315 NWS/572 FAA systems at req’d sensor Ao $10.0M Smart data buys Leverage NOAA GPS-MET CRADA (data buy) $0.3M Q3 Normalize MESONET Establish MESONET Program Office $0 Q1 Sustain Critical Wind Profilers Maintain 3 AK sites at Ao of 96% or higher $1.6M Acquire 20 additional WVSS for aircraft observations $1M (SS) Leverage COSMIC partnership (data buy) $0.5M Q2 Leverage NSO GONG investment (data buy) $0.4M Sustain DART Maintain DART network Ao at 80% $10.3M

FY 2015 Milestones (2) The 20 portfolio milestones are broken into 2 groups for ‘slidesmanship’ only… Thrust Area Milestone $ ROM Quarter Due Sustain Hurricane Buoy Maintain Hurricane Buoy network Ao at 80% $4.2M Q4 Sustain CWB Maintain CWB network Ao at 73% $18.5M Sustain C-MAN Maintain C-MAN Ao at 80% $0.6M Sustain TAO Maintain TAO network Ao at 80% $6.1M Improve Investment Return Deploy NEXRAD RPG/RDA Software Build 15 $50K Q2 Evaluate automated Radiosonde launch capability $2.0M (FY13/15) Q3 Sustain ASOS Plan ASOS Service Life Extension Program acquisition $1.9M (FY13/14) Develop wireless temperature system for COOP $400 Normalize VOS Establish VOS Program Office $0 Q1 Lean Logistics Sustain 1 day turnaround for emergency requisitions and 2 day turnaround for routine requisitions 95% of time $4.4M

VOS Normalization Issue: VOS Normalization (Funding, PMOs, & Oversight) Impacts: None expected with planned funding Collects/Disseminates real-time maritime weather observations through recruitment and support of ships to fulfill National needs and International agreements supporting commerce, forecasts/warning programs, and safety of life at sea (SOLAS) worldwide Defines global climate and helps measure extreme weather events, climate variability, and long-term climate changes Operates at no cost to vessel: comm charges, equipment, and supplies from NWS U.S. VOS provides over 6,500 observations/day which is approximately 18% of the entire VOS fleet (national/international) Prior to VOS being transferred to NDBC from Hq (2000), it was funded at $210K/year (under resourced for years) Mitigation of risks and issues: Funding VOS at level sufficient to maintain existing capabilities (want to meet obligations/increase automation ~$250K/yr level) Oversight moved to Hq to increase standardization and improve visibility Workshop is first step in recovery Dependencies: AOML

Thank You Questions?