Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology WORKING GROUP FOR WEATHER INFORMATION FOR SURFACE TRANSPORTATION (WG/WIST) Meeting 05-3 Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research April 28, 2005

Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology 2 Recording In Progress NOTE: Audio recording in progress to assist with capturing Record of Actions.

Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology 3 Please sign-in on roster Life Support: Coffee, Tea, Sodas, Snacks, etc. Emergency Exits * Phones: * –Incoming messages: –Incoming faxes: –Dial 9 for commercial, 4 for DSN on DSN line Restrooms: Grab a key at the front desk* Parking Validation Administrative Info * slide follows

Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology 4 Elevators MEN WOMEN Toilet Kit Copier Fax DFC USN USAF FAA FC Emergency Exit WG Meeting room

Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology 5 Phones Elevators MEN WOMEN Toilet Kit Copier Fax DFC USN USAF FAA FC WG Meeting room

Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology 6 Elevators MEN WOMEN Toilet Kit Copier Fax DFC USAF FAA FC Restrooms USN WG Meeting room

Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology 7 1. OPENING REMARKS (10 minutes---8:30 – 8:40 am) 2.RECORD OF ACTIONS (5 minutes---8:40 - 8:45 am) 3.MEETING DISCUSSION TOPICS: A. INFORMATION GATHERING ACTIVITY TO DOCUMENT WHAT WIST R&D WORK IS ALREADY GOING ON AND CROSS FEED THE INFORMATION TO ALL MEMBERS (ACTION ITEM ). (15 minutes--8:45 – 9:00 am) B. FINALIZE THE WG/WIST TOR (ACTION ITEM ). (30 minutes--9:00 - 9:30 am) C. FINALIZE THE VISION AND GOAL(S) FOR A NATIONAL WIST PROGRAM (ACTION ITEM ). (30 minutes--9: :00 am). BREAK 15 minutes--10: :15 am D. USING PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED R&D NEEDS LISTS AS A GUIDE, DETERMINE A PRELIMINARY STRUCTURE FOR THE WG/WIST R&D PLAN TO CLEARLY EXPRESS THE R&D PRIORITIES OF THE WIST COMMUNITY (Action Item ). (60 minutes---10:15 – 11:15 am) E. REVIEW THE PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED R&D NEEDS LISTS AND SELECT A STRATEGY TO DETERMINE THE FEDERAL R&D NEEDS THAT WOULD BE THE FOCUS OF THE WIST R&D PLAN (Action Item ). (30 minutes---11:15 – 11:45 am) F. AGENCY INPUTS AND NEW ITEMS. (30 minutes---11:45 am – 12:15 pm) 4. REVIEW OF ACTION ITEMS (15 minutes---12: :30 pm) 5.NEXT MEETING (5 minutes---12: :35 pm) ADJOURN at 12:35 pm Tentative Agenda

Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology 8 Committee Chairpersons Opening Remarks

Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology 9 The draft Record of Actions was distributed to WG/WIST members on April 6, Minor changes were received and incorporated. Record of Action Review

Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology 10 WG/WIST ACTION ITEM : The Executive Secretary will work with the WG/WIST to perform an information gathering activity to find out what WIST R&D work is already going on and tabulate and cross feed the information to all members. On April 13, 2005, the WG/WIST Exec Secretary request input from WG/WIST members on WIST R&D activities in their agencies or activities their agency funds but are performed by another agency, academic institution, or private company. To help organize the data for the WG/WIST's use, it was requested that inputs use the following format wherever possible. PROGRAM NAME LEAD AGENCY / COLLABORATING AGENCIES LEAD AGENCY POINT OF CONTACT PROGRAM POINT OF CONTACT WIST R&D AREA(S) BEING STUDIED TYPE OF PROGRAM / APPLICATION (E.G., BASIC RESEARCH, APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT, SENSOR DEVELOPMENT) Inputs were requested by May 13, 2005, in a WORD file. Action Item

Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology 11 TERMS OF REFERENCE (TOR) ACTION: Finalize the WG/WIST TOR. Original TOR wording: The WG/WIST will: Conduct a detailed review of the WIST Report (Ref: f) recommendations and prepare an initial set of appropriate actions to be taken for each recommendation. Suggested change to TOR from the last meeting: The WG/WIST will: Conduct a review of the WIST Report (Ref: f) recommendations and prepare an initial set of appropriate actions to be taken for any recommendation that falls within the purview of the WG/WIST, as established by the ICMSSR at its May 14, 2004 meeting.

Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology 12 Finalize Vision VISION: Safe and efficient movement of people and goods on the surface transportation system, whatever the weather.

Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology 13 Finalize Goals Goals: 1. Timely, accurate, relevant and accessible observed and predicted information on weather and resulting surface conditions that will support decisions that contribute to: - A reduction in weather-related surface transportation deaths, injuries, and property damage. - Improved management of weather-related delays and operating costs. - Mitigation of adverse impacts of surface transportation operations on the environment. 2. Facilitate development and delivery of training and outreach materials to build capacity of surface transportation constituents.

Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology 14 Develop R&D Plan 1.Synthesize R&D needs 2.Define a structure for the needs 3.Prioritize needs a.Align R&D needs with goals b.Account for constraints: funding, staffing, time to completion, path to deployment 4.Document prioritized needs in a Program Plan (with accompanying time line) 5.Set Stage to Develop an Implementation Plan

Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology 15 Develop R&D Plan Structure Example structures follow….

Example of Road Weather Research Needs Transportation ModelingWeather/Road ModelingAdvanced Sensor Development Observation NetworksHazard Detection/PredictionIn-Vehicle Info Systems Information DisseminationStandard Development  Control strategy development Signal timing Ramp metering Variable speed limits Positive control strategies Dynamic message signs Optimal routing  Road weather data assimilation  Boundary layer physics  Mesoscale modeling  Ensemble modeling  Probabilistic products  Land surface modeling  Verification and validation  Pavement surface modeling  ESS improvements Pavement temperature Chemical concentration/freeze temp. Pavement contamination Precipitation type and rate Visibility Camera/Video processing Local radar  Mobile sensors  Data acquisition  Quality control  Data integration  Data dissemination  Fixed and mobile sensors  Interoperability  Formats and standards  Snow  Black ice  Fog  Hail  Heavy rain  High winds  Dashboard electronics  Navigation systems  Communications  Product generation  Product content and format  Human factors  Product data sources  Quality control  Communication protocols  Seamless operations  Presentation media  Human factors 511 Web Television DMS In-vehicle Decision support system  ESS reporting standards  ESS siting standards  Metadata standards  Data accuracy standards  QC process standards  Presentation standards Decision Support Systems Tactical and Strategic DSS Development  Winter maintenance  Non-winter maintenance  Traffic management  Incident management  Emergency management  Construction  Traveler information systems  Snow drifting  Road frost  Tornado  Flooding  Freezing precip.  Low friction [Partial listing only]

Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology 17 Road Weather Blueprint

Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology 18 Modified Blueprint Structure UrbanRuralCoastalAirport and Ports RoadwayRailPipeline ETC -> Rain Snow Ice Sleet Fog Smoke Blwoing dust Blowing snow Heat Tropical Storms

WIST Report Structure RoadwayRailwayPipeline transitmarine transportation airport ground operations- Improve Use of Observation Data Improve surface condition forecasting Detection and Predict Reduced Visibility Detection and Prediction of High Wind Events Improve weather and surface sensing Capabilities Improve access to and application of WIST data Development and Improvement of misoscale to mesoscale weather prediction models and applications Better integrate weather and other decision support factors Extend fundamental WIST knowledge Improve WIST related education and training

Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology 20 CTRE R&D Structure Weather providers Weather UsersMaintenance Management and Operations Traffic Management and Operations Design and Construction Intermodal Traffic Management and Operations Improved Weather Event Detection Improved Weather Event Prediction Improved Weather Information Communication Improved Decision Support Systems Improved Education and Outreach Improved Performance Measures Improved Weather-Related Accident Reporting

Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology 21 Modified CTRE R&D Structure Maintenance Management and Operations Traffic Management, Operations and safety Intermodal Traffic Management and Operations Weather Enterprise Design and Construction Observations Modeling and Forecasts Weather Information Dissemination Improved Decision Support Systems Improved Education and Outreach Improved Performance Measures Improved Weather-Related Accident Reporting

Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology 22 WIST R&D Needs Gameplan We have many WIST R&D Needs source documents: –WIST Report, 2002 –AMS Policy Forum, 2003 –FHWA Blueprint for Road Weather Research, 2003 –NRC Report, 2004 –NOAA Strategic Plan, 2004 –Iowa DOT/CTRE Report, 2004 –USWRP –Draft NOAA-FHWA Partnering Plan

Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology 23 WIST R&D Needs Gameplan How should we proceed to bring it all together to put together our Federal R&D Needs Plan? –Have technology, surface transportation operations, or surface transportation weather information needs changed that much since 2002? –What do we have time to do? –Just synthesize and prioritize what we have? –Bring in subject matter experts to validate already stated needs or provide new ones before synthesizing what we have? –Have a small group work up a draft listing? –Other ideas or comments?

Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology 24 WIST R&D Needs Gameplan WIST R&D Needs prioritization ideas…just to get thinking going. R&D NeedTime SensitivityShort-Term GainOverall Level of EffortLead TimeUltimate Gain Potential Bridge the modeling gapnear termaveragemoderateaverage exceptional Characterization of surface conditions & input data setsnear termaveragehighaverage exceptional Test and refine physical basis for sub-grid-scale parameterizationslonger termaveragemoderateaverage exceptional Characterize dispersion in complex environmentsimmediateaveragehighaverage high Improve ensemble construction and interpretationimmediateminimalhighshort exceptional Techniques to better estimate near termnear termaverageaveragemoderate wet and dry deposition Physical and high-resolution computational modelsmoderateaverageaveragehigh exceptional Improve tracer materials and measurement technologyimmediatehighmoderateshortexceptional Improve boundary-layer measurement technologyimmediatehighhighshortexceptional Improve and evaluate sensor-fusion techniquesimmediatehighmoderatemoderatehigh Data QA/QC for model fit and data assimilationimmediateaveragemoderatemoderatehigh Develop physics-based model evaluation methodsnear termhighlowaverageexceptional

Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology 25 ACTION ITEM : The Executive Secretary will establish a web site where all WG reference materials can be posted to ensure all WG/WIST members have access to them.STATUS: CLOSED ACTION ITEM : The Executive Secretary will provide all WG/WIST members with a consolidated listing of all WIST Report recommendations so they can review them and determine if the TOR’s paragraph 3a is too ambitious based on ICMSSR tasking actions from May STATUS: OPEN ACTION ITEM : The Executive Secretary will provide a synthesized R&D needs list so that WG members could review them and begin to determine the R&D needs that would the focus of the WIST R&D Plan and start to build a structure for the R&D Plan to clearly express the priorities of the WIST community. STATUS: OPEN ACTION ITEM : The Executive Secretary will work with the WG/WIST to perform an information gathering activity to find out what WIST R&D work is already going on and tabulate and cross feed the information to all members. STATUS: OPEN ACTION ITEM : WG/WIST members will review and comment on the draft vision and goals. STATUS:CLOSED Review of Action Items

Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology 26 Next Meeting??

Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology 27 Meeting Adjourned Thank you!