National Surface Transportation Weather Symposium

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National Surface Transportation Weather Symposium
3rd

• Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., U.S.
  Navy (Ret.)
• Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and
  Atmosphere
• NOAA Administrator
• July 25, 2007

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Todays Agenda

1. Background Information
2. Define NOAAs Role
3. Partnerships
4. Research to Operations
5. Future Plans

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BACKGROUNDSix Modes of Surface Transportation
Airport Ground Operations
Marine
Roadway
Long-haul Railroad
Rural Urban Transit
Pipeline
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BACKGROUNDWhy is Surface Transportation Weather
needed?

• Safety
• Efficiency
• Environmentally sound

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BACKGROUNDSafety
24 of all crashes are weather related
95-05, 865 weather-related crashes
Roadways
Railway
11 of all mishaps / 3.6 recreational
4 fatalities,14 injuries
Marine Transportation System
Pipeline
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BACKGROUNDEfficiency

• Door to door forecasts
• Routing efficiency to aid the loss of time and
  money in congestion 2.2-3.5B
• Aiding road maintenance crews

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BACKGROUNDEnvironmentally Sound

• Americans lost 2.3B gallons of gas sitting in
  traffic jams in 2003effect on the environment
• A need for new strategies for mitigating
• De-icing conditions
• Road and rail infrastructure clearing from
  weather related information
• Extreme weather hazards

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DEFINE NOAAS ROLENOAAs Mission Goals
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DEFINE NOAAS ROLEWhy NOAA Is Here

• The impacts of adverse weather, annually, on the
  Nations roads are significant
• 7,400 deaths
• 1.4 million crashes
• More than 600,000 injuries
• 42 billion in economic loss

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DEFINE NOAAS ROLEWho in NOAA is involved

• National Weather Service (NWS)
• Observations, forecasts, National Digital
  Forecast Database (NDFD), etc.
• Oceanic Atmospheric Research (OAR)
• Research models, Maintenance Decision Support
  System (MDSS)
• National Ocean Service (NOS)
• GPS and water vapor correction information
• Port observations and coastal surveying
• National Environmental Satellite, Data
  Information Service (NESDIS)
• Satellite data and all archiving of data (NCDC)

NOSs Geodetic Survey Equipment
NWS NDFD Model, July 24, 2007
OARs Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory
Hurricane Katrina Forecast Model
NESDISs NOAA N Satellite
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DEFINE NOAAS ROLEMarine Transportation System
(MTS)1 of 6 modes

• The MTS links together all harbors,
  public/private ports, marine terminals, inland
  and intercoastal and coastal waterways and
  connects with rail, interstate highways.

These interactions account for 2.5 billion tons
of freight, 134 million ferry passengers and
contributes more than 742 billion to the U.S.
Gross Domestic Productproviding more than 13
million jobs
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DEFINE NOAAS ROLENOAAs Interagency role

• 2004 US Ocean Action Policy established a Cabinet
  level interagency committee on MTS
• NOAA current chair of CMTS
• OFCM coordinates interagency efforts

December 17, 2004, President Bush signs U.S.
Ocean Action Plan Executive Order
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PARTNERSHIPSMaking Surface Transportation
Weather Information Work

• Federal, State and local governments along with
  academia, private companies and media working
  together to take observations model future
  events, provide the forecasts in a useable manner
  to decision makers and let them develop a plan
  of action

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PARTNERSHIPSNOAAs Involvement Vs. Partnerships
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PARTNERSHIPSPartnership Examples

• Weather Information for Surface Transportation -
  WIST
• Maintenance Decision Support System (MDSS)
• Tool for decision support to winter road
  maintenance managers
• The Clarus Initiative
• Develop surface weather observing, forecasting
  and data management systems
• Training material linking state DOTs, the NWS and
  academic institutions

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PARTNERSHIPSThe Clarus Initiative
Example of GEOSS Implementation

• Integrates RWIS observations with other data for
  traveler safety
• Showcases potential of ISOS and GEOSS
• Assesses the utility of environmental information
  to meet the needs of the transportation enterprise

RWIS
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RESEARCH TO OPERATIONSFocus AreasResearch and
Development
Automated Surface Observing Systems (ASOS)

• Define user needs
• Focus RD efforts
• Modeling and Forecasting
• Useful Products

Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy System Measures
Wind, Air Temperature, Wave Height
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RESEARCH TO OPERATIONSPriorities of RD

• Observations
• Modeling, forecasts, warnings, verification
• Education, outreach and awareness
• Data access, archive and assessment
• Performance Measures and weather-related crash
  reporting

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RESEARCH TO OPERATIONSFocus AreasGlobal Earth
Observation System of Systems (GEOSS)
Act Locally
Model Regionally
Observe Globally
Act Globally
Model Regionally
Observe Locally
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FUTURE PLANSResearch to Practical
ApplicationsAn Example

• Study inland flooding from tropical weather
  systems
• Forecast areas of potential heavy rainfall more
  accurately inland up to 48 hours prior to
  landfall
• National Digital Forecast Database - point and
  click forecasts

NWS Hydrometeorological Prediction Centers
Qualitative Precipitation Forecast
NWS NDFD Model, July 24, 2007
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FUTURE PLANSResearch to Practical Applications

• Study fatalities associated with inland flooding
• Number one killer driving into flooded roadways
• Partner with DOT to include Turn Around, Dont
  Drown questions on drivers license exams
  watch our words ponding
• Flood Safety Videos

NWS Flood Safety Video with Darryl Waltrip
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FUTURE PLANSProducts Services for Planning

• National Centers of Environmental Prediction and
  other models Probabilistic products or ensembles
• 4-Dimensional aviation data cube
• Improved observations every vehicle in the
  future may observe
• Advances in dissemination

Example NCEP Ensemble Short Range Mean/Spread
Surface Pressure Forecast
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FUTURE PLANSThe Vehicle Infrastructure
Integration (VII) Initiative

• Data from mobile sensors (vehicles)
• Vehicle as a collector of atmospheric and
  automotive data turned into observational data
  points
• Data to improve safety via immediate
  decision-making

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Objectives of the Conference

• Articulate a clear observation strategy
• Prioritize RD to contribute to saving lives and
  improving efficiency
• Continue to develop partnerships
• Define the needs for computing
• Investigate socioeconomic impacts
• Identify new dissemination technologies
• Identify the needs for new products and services

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Questions?
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Practical Applications

• Future work with legislative branches to make
  law in all 50 states
• Turn Around Dont Drown
• Better use of words to convey the message no
  more Ponding of Water on Roadways

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Practical Applications

• Work with American Association of Motor Vehicle
  Administrators on including driving in flooded
  roadways safety in all state DOT handbooks.
• Work with TWC on flood safety videos.
• New Yellow permanent Turn Around Dont Drown DOT
  approved highway signs

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Summary

• Surface Transportation Weather is very important
  for safety and commerce
• Current status is good with all six forms of
  surface transportation only through the great
  cooperation of all agencies, academia and private
  companies actively involved
• The future is open with advances in observations
  (GEOSS), outreach and education (such as driving
  in flooded roadways) and models such as the 4D
  aviation data cube and advances in
  dissemination