1. NPOESS Science Advisory Team Gregory W. Withee Assistant Administrator for Satellite and Information Services July 16,2003 A Proposal to the NOAA Science Advisory Board

2. Background The IPO and NESDIS share responsibility for components of the overall NPOESS system A number of groups provide guidance, advice and/or oversight concerning various aspects of the overall NPOESS system There is no group looking at the overall NPOESS system from the perspective of NOAA end users

3. NPOESS Top Level Architecture Space Segment Command & Control Segment NPP (1030) NPOESS 1330 NPOESS 1730 NPOESS 2130 Mission Management Center (MMC) at Suitland Alternate MMC at Schriever AFB Interface Data Processing Segment 15 Globally Distributed Receptor Sites Field Terminal Segment FNMOC NAVOCEANOAFWANESDIS/NCEP GPS Low Rate Data/ High Rate Data (LRD/HRD) NPP Science Data Segment CLASSADS NPP Data & Control Flow NPOESS Data & Control Flow CLASS ADS NOAA Comprehensive Large Array Data Stewardship System NPP Archive & Distribution Seg Svalbard

4. Data Collection NPOESS Satellite NPOESS Functional Architecture Command, Control & Communications Interface Data Processing Segment L3/4 Product Generation Blended Products Reformatted Products NOAA Central Science Support Product Processing Long Term Archive (CLASS) User Community NOAA IPO XDRs (HDF5) Data Utilization Environ. Modeling Systems System Integration Operational Test & Eval. Data Assimilation

5. Groups providing guidance, advice and/or oversight for NPOESS NPOESS Science Advisory Team, an internal group reporting to Northrop Grumman NPOESS Science Advisory Board, an external group chaired by Joe Friday reporting to Northrop Grumman Integrated Weather Product Test Bed Team, overseeing Raytheon’s IDPS and reporting to Northrop Grumman A number of Instrument Cal/Val Teams reporting to Northrop Grumman and the IPO Eight Operational Algorithm Teams and a Central Users’ Forum reporting to the IPO Data Archive Board reporting to NESDIS OSDPD Council on Long-term Climate Monitoring, presently chaired by Tom Karl and reporting to NOAA SAB Climate and Global Change Panel chaired by Otis Brown and reporting to NOAA SAB A new 1-year NAS/BASC study looking at Climate Data Records

6. Wide Range of NOAA Users Operational – operational observations to support, for example, weather and ocean forecasting – where these is feedback within hours to days re: the impact of observations on forecasts Research – sustained systematic observations to support, for example, climate change and Earth science – where similar feedback may not come for years to a decade or more

7. Opportunities for Visibility Understanding how NPOESS will contribute to meeting these needs is of special importance given the visibility now being afforded Earth observations: G-8 Summit early last month Earth Observations Summit July 31 COP-9 in December A subsequent summit in Japan next May

8. Proposed General Terms of Reference Provide guidance and advice to NOAA concerning the NPOESS system in the overall NOAA architecture from the perspective of the end user This can: Provide a mechanism for the research community to interact with NPOESS Inform NOAA of opportunities to interact constructively with other agencies or institutions

9. Proposed Specific Terms of Reference Performance assessment– how well the overall system will provide sustained systematic Earth observations to meet the wide range of user needs Product improvement – how to access, provide feedback on, and secure improvements in the generation of data and products – especially as they contribute to the long-term climate record Identification of possible gaps – how to satisfy, for example, needs for continuing observations of sea surface topography and surface vector winds

10. Suggested Research Members Atmospheric – Rick Anthes, Kevin Trenberth Oceanographic – Mark Abbott, Otis Brown, Charlie Kennel Terrestrial – Berrien Moore, Eric Barron, John Townshend Space Weather – Ernie Hildner Polar – Roger Barry

11. Suggested Operational Members NWS NCEP – Louis Uccellini ECMWF – Tony Hollingsworth Private Sector: The Weather Channel, OceanWeather – Vince Cardone DoD: FNMOC, NavOceano, AFWA – National Ice Center – Director Ocean.US – Director Other Agencies: FEMA, USGS –

12. Next Steps NOAA SAB approve proposal and agree to membership First meeting in early CY04 The NPOESS Science Advisory Team starts by reviewing the various components of the overall NPOESS system