Transformation of National Weather Service IT: The data lake and how to get to it

NOAA is the primary authoritative source for water, weather, and climate data. These data serve as the foundation for Impact-Based Decision Support Services (IDSS), protection of life and property, and enhancement of the national economy. Effective and efficient data fusion is the bedrock to NWS Information Technology (IT) transformation.

The Data Consolidation team will establish and promote a collaborative cloud data environment that accelerates innovation and agility at pace and scale. By leveraging a cloud-based data lake and API infrastructure, the team aims to streamline data access and integration across the NWS network.

The focus will be on building capability and capacity in collaboration with the NESDIS cloud PDA team to develop data workflows for integration with IDP, WCOSS, SBN, testbeds, and more. This effort will prioritize NWS-produced data to accelerate other transformation efforts, such as AWIPS in the Cloud, Ops Model, Probabilistic IDSS, nAWIPS to AWIPS, Community-Centric Warnings, and Days 4-7 forecasting.

By creating a robust data infrastructure, this project will enable faster and reliable data processing, leading to improved decision-making and enhanced service delivery. Stakeholders are encouraged to engage with these efforts, providing feedback and insights to support the continuous improvement of the NWS’s data capabilities.